Jump To: The River Series | The Downwinders Series | The Dark River Series | Mausoleum Series | Other Titles
Some of the characters and events overlap between series. If you’re starting from scratch, try the Suggested Reading Order.
The River series currently consists of seventeen novels and one novella (Residual).
Steven and his father, Roy, are central to each book. There are some recurring characters and events. As with any series, reading them from start to finish is the most satisfying, and the later books increasingly rely on plot elements from the earlier books. Because the story intertwines with two other series, following the Suggested Reading Order is the best way to enjoy these novels.
What is The River? Here’s a bit of dialogue from The Bank of the River that helps explain it. Roy is trying to explain his “gift” to his son, Steven:
There’s a wide river in front of you, rushing along, thousands and thousands of gallons of water moving every second, all coming from somewhere, all going somewhere. You can’t see what’s in there, but there are things in there, moving along with it. We both know that. You, because someone told you there’s things in the river. You like to pretend they’re not there. Me, I know they’re there because I jump into it and find them, touch them, experience them.”
Steven wasn’t prepared to go along with it. It sounded too kooky. “A river?”
“Not a literal river, no. It’s one that most people can’t see or choose not to see. But it’s there, moving, full of things. I found out when I was younger that I could jump into that river, swim in it. Find things. Come back out. When I told some people about it, it scared the hell out of them, but my father knew what I meant. He could do it too. He taught me to be selective in whom I told.”
In The Bank of the River, rational skeptic Steven comes to learn about his father’s gift while they battle an evil force in Steven’s house. In subsequent novels, Steven learns from Roy how to develop his gift.
The Bank of the River
Steven is anticipating a quiet sabbatical at a new home. Instead, knockings and grisly apparitions begin to haunt him, relentlessly tormenting him at night. With a recent divorce and a son in college, he is left alone to deal with the ghosts lurking in the shadows of his house.
Steven is determined to find a rational explanation. His father Roy offers to help, and soon Steven discovers Roy has dormant supernatural skills. Steven’s natural skepticism clashes with Roy’s “gift,” but soon Steven finds himself assisting Roy as he battles the forces inside his home. Together they unearth something much more sinister and evil than either expected: ghosts are just the beginning of the problem!
The Bank of the River is a fast-paced and thrilling horror novel that explores evil, ghosts, disturbing creatures, and the supernatural gifts a father and son use to fight them.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound, Audiobook.
Residual
In Residual, Steven and Roy discover that Steven’s house isn’t as clean as they thought after destroying Lucas. The story takes place between the events of The Bank of the River and A Haunting in Oregon.
The novella Residual isn’t for sale. It’s only available to members of Michael’s new release email list. Sign up today and receive your free copy!
Version available: mobi ebook Kindle only (delivered via download following newsletter signup), paperback.
A Haunting in Oregon
Mason Manor, tucked away in the forests of Oregon – historic, beautiful, and completely haunted. The estate, built in 1850, is now a bed and breakfast run by Pete and Sarah. Once a wonderful place to stay, now it’s not so great – guests don’t survive the night, and are found the next morning in bed, in a pool of blood. Pete and Sarah turn to an old friend, Roy, who has “the gift,” but are they too late to stop whatever malevolent force is prowling the halls at night?
Roy and Steven jump into the mystery and find things are much worse than they appear. They endure horrific encounters with the ghosts of the manor and discover a sinister force at work. Roy and Steven will need to use Roy’s gift and marshal the help of others to save Mason Manor from the terrors within.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound, Audiobook.
Ghosts of Our Fathers
Steven is scared – he’s awakened in the middle of the night by a mysterious figure that threatens to kill him. Is it a ghost, or some other evil creature? Steven’s determined to figure out what it is and how to stop it. He would normally turn to his father, Roy, who is educating him on how to use “the gift” to deal with ghosts and other threats, but Roy isn’t available. Steven turns instead to his gifted friends Eliza and Daniel. Daniel’s an expert on time, and they all soon discover the true nature of the threat: it comes from the past and it’s worse than any of them realized. Strange ghosts and creatures stand between them and the solution. Time is running out as Steven, Roy, Daniel and Eliza dig into the past to learn of half-finished business that is coming back to haunt them all.
Ghosts of Our Fathers is a fast-paced horror-thriller where Steven and Roy confront a ghostly history that is determined to take revenge upon their entire family.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
Eximere
Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest lies the haunted Unser Estate. A group of individuals with “the gift” assemble to find out what lurks inside the mansion. At first, Steven and Roy are hesitant to work with unfamiliar people, but with their good friend Eliza, all three become committed to helping the others determine why the Unser mansion is poisoning the nearby town.
A simple team effort to rid the estate of hauntings soon turns into a nightmare as the group suffers attacks by strange, evil forces more sinister than mere ghosts. Dark and mysterious threats await them as they explore the mansion and determine exactly what James Unser was up to – a plan so evil, it threatens to destroy them all.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Suicide Forest
In these dark, secluded trees in Washington State, it’s easy to get lost, and desperation hangs in the air. The Suicide Forest is full of demons, drawn to those who come to kill themselves. Steven and Roy find themselves here, facing down an evil greater than any before.
The evil starts in the haunted Seattle home of June, grandmother to Robbie, a ten-year old boy who shares “the gift” with Steven and Roy. Steven suspects the ghostly attacks on June and Robbie are much more than a mere haunting and soon realize they are in over their heads.
They seek the help of Judith, an elderly eccentric, who guides them to a climactic confrontation in the dark clearing of The Suicide Forest.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Devil’s Throat
Far away, in the remote deserts of southern Nevada, lies a cave with secrets: strangely twisted creatures, mass deaths, and a hole so deep, anything that goes in, never gets out.
Steven’s son Jason has been taken to this desolate place by someone bent on vengeance. Steven and his father Roy pursue them in a desperate attempt to save Jason’s life.
However, the River is different here, where fallout from nuclear testing has altered the ghosts and entities inhabiting the many abandoned mines and hidden caves surrounding Devil’s Throat. Steven and Roy are on unfamiliar ground; they seek the help of locals Winn and Deem to save Jason from a horrific ghost town, once submerged, now revealed.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Diablo Horror
Diablo is a small company town – twenty nondescript homes, tucked against a cliff at the base of a huge dam. These houses are all the same, except for one – the one haunted by a bloody and horrific crime that replays again and again.
Steven tries to wrap up the deal he made with a demon before rescuing his son from St. Thomas. This leads Steven to the Diablo house with his father and son. Unprepared for the powerful entities inside the house, Steven soon learns he’s made a fatal mistake. Eliza joins them as they attempt to battle the most evil force they’ve ever encountered.
In one of the most chilling books of The River series, Steven, Roy, and Eliza learn that when it comes to making a deal with a demon, there’s one unfortunate truth:
Demons lie.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Haunting at Grays Harbor
Barbara’s new home overlooks the beautiful, dark waters of Grays Harbor. She and her family live so close to the ocean, they can smell it from the front porch. On the outside, the home seems perfect. But inside, Barbara has called on her third priest, and he’s about to throw in the towel. The chilling apparitions in the house are terrorizing her daughters — and the local clergy! — and Barbara is desperate for help.
Steven has “the gift,” and along with his father, Roy, has offered to investigate — but a hired crew of ghostbusters from Seattle are in the way and making things worse. When Steven discovers a strange object in Barbara’s house, he and Roy realize the ghostbusting outfit are about to unwittingly set in motion a series of events that will heighten the family’s horrors.
Grays Harbor is only minutes from Eximere, and Steven and Roy discover things are not normal there either. Large pieces of the strange underground estate are disappearing, and Steven and Roy are desperate to find out why. They’ll have to dig deeper into the mystery of James Unser and the bizarre world he constructed if they’re to save Eximere from oblivion.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
It Walks At Night
In the quiet town of Clearlake, something dark and evil roams the streets at night, searching for a victim to haul into the forest and kill. When it targets Eliza’s son, forces are quickly aligned to fight it. Eliza asks for help from Steven and Roy, her friends in Seattle who have “the gift,” an ability to see things others cannot by entering a place called “The River.”
Their battle will take them to dark mausoleums and haunted groves. The answer may lie in the hands of a reclusive woman, a specialist in death… or it may revolve around a stalker, a man intent on creating an abomination.
Eliza, Steven, and Roy have worked together before, but the creatures that walk the streets of Clearlake will challenge them, bringing them to the edge of disaster.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Cycle of the Shen
Does paradise only exist in our minds?
Eximere always seemed like paradise to Steven and Roy. Having agreed to act as caretakers for the mansion, they have been spending more time at Eximere, becoming acquainted with its quirks and idiosyncrasies.
However, the more Steven and Roy learn about Eximere, the more disillusioned they become.
Their recent discoveries of Eximere’s nature have extended their circle of caretaking, and now a century-old creature from a tiny town on the peninsula threatens to unravel the delicate balance that keeps Eximere functional. As they struggle to stop this strange entity from destroying everything they love about Eximere, more of James Unser’s bizarre design is revealed — and the results are devastating to Steven and Roy.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
A Christmas Haunting at Point No Point
Steven’s brother and his family have come to visit for the holidays. Looking for a relaxing and quiet location to enjoy the scenic beauty of Puget Sound, Steven chooses Point No Point, the oldest lighthouse in the region. Here, the lighthouse keeper’s quarters have been remodeled into a vacation rental, and it seems to be the perfect location.
Perfect, if your idea of quiet is loud thumpings coming from the abandoned museum next door. Perfect, if your idea of relaxing is a slow, creeping infection emanating from the shipwrecks just off the shore.
In this stand-alone novel, Steven and his father Roy find their picturesque Christmas holiday turning into a family nightmare as they unravel the haunted secrets from the deadly shores of Point No Point.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Port of Missing Souls
When the ghosts of grotesque, bloated bodies invade Eximere, Steven and Roy investigate only to find that other people are exploring the Unser Mansion above them, just like they did years ago. Somehow their arrival has released the spirits of dozens of drowning victims, who now wander the halls.
Secret rooms with no windows or doors hide new mysteries inside the mansion. It will take knowledge of the Dark River to figure things out. Although the Dark River is accessible from Eximere, Roy forbids it, and Steven has promised never to go there.
When Derick arrives to conduct his own investigation, it becomes clear that the Dark River is where the answers to James Unser’s mysteries lie. Will Steven travel there, breaking his promise to his father?
The Port of Missing Souls brings together characters from three series, and is the climactic culmination of the Eximere story.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Haunting of Johansen House
The Victorian mansion sitting at the end of the street is full of horrors. It waits, its secrets hidden, its influence deadly. The events that happened within its walls are a mystery so deep, the truth may never be fully known. Uncovering its chilling history will take determination and skill.
Steven bought the house when it went up for sale, surprising his father Roy. As they use their gift to explore its rooms, they discover it’s full of unusual, terrifying spirits — some unresponsive, others violent.
Their search through Lukas Johansen’s past takes them to far-flung destinations, digging for explanations about his bizarre, depraved behaviors. Through it all, Roy wonders why Steven is so intent upon revealing the answers. Steven, for his part, isn’t entirely sure why he feels compelled to resolve the mysteries of the mansion — he simply knows that Johansen was a fundamental part of his past, and that he must pursue the truth.
When the truth is finally revealed to Steven, it is much worse than what he imagined…
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Evocation
Eliza thought she was doing a favor for a friend. Instead, it turned out to be a twenty-year nightmare.
Forced to aid a madwoman intent upon bringing a new evil into the world, Eliza seeks help from Steven, Roy, and Terrell – but they’re completely unprepared for the horror facing them. Attacked by those they are trying to help, they soon become trapped in the dark, mysterious passageways of a labyrinth, where a monstrous evil is gestating, waiting to be birthed.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Node
When Steven and Roy agree to help a woman who accidentally animates a collection of antique dolls, they find themselves in a much deeper haunting than either expected. At a house near Deadwood, South Dakota, they uncover a room full of dead people.
Each has a strange metal tube sticking out of one ear.
Deem joins Steven and Roy along with Terrell and a cast of new characters, all trying to unravel the mystery of the corpses and the tubes, exposing a deadly conspiracy within the town. In the process, they confront uncomfortable questions about death: How long does it really take to die? At what point are we really gone?
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Spirit Lake
The distant screams raced over the surface of the water.
They weren’t just screams of pain. Something inhuman was happening on the small boat crossing the lake.
It was supposed to be a quiet fishing vacation, but Steven and his father Roy find themselves wrapped up in a deadly mystery that lurked at Spirit Lake long before Mount St. Helens erupted forty years ago. Back then, the eruption ended a string of strange disappearances. Now, more people have gone missing, and the monstrous secret behind the vanishings slowly reveals itself the deeper Steven and Roy dig into the past. Exposing the dormant evil will be only half the battle; they will have to defeat it using methods given by a dead man. It’s a race against time as they use every skill they possess to end the horrors of Spirit Lake.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Cultus Contracts
A giant saw blade rose out of their beds, slicing down their spines, killing them in their sleep.
Things are going wrong – very wrong – in the small town of Astoria. Ghostly apparitions haunt the streets, tragic accidents are all over the news, and horrific deaths stump the police – all since Terrell made a terrible mistake and unwittingly unleashed a terror that had long been forgotten.
He pleads for Steven and Roy’s help. As they dig deeper into what has happened, they uncover hidden histories going back hundreds of years. They encounter ancient ghosts, shipwrecks, and Astoria’s terrifying destruction by fire before they finally discover the cause of the trouble – and find themselves neck-deep in solving it before the entire town is devastated again.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
The Downwinders is a series in The River universe, using elements and some characters from The River series. It’s set in the US southwest in places known as “downwind” from the Nevada Test Site, sixty-five miles northwest of Las Vegas, where hundreds of above-ground and underground nuclear tests were conducted from 1952 to 1992.
The mushroom clouds from the tests could be seen as far away as St. George, UT, over a hundred miles away. And since the winds carry the fallout from west to east, a wide area of southern Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, northern New Mexico, and western Colorado were impacted. The closer to the test site you were, the more radiation you got. Deem and Winn live and work in one of the places most heavily impacted by the fallout, southern Nevada.
The damage done to humans living downwind was real. In 1990, the US Congress, recognizing the damage that had been done to “downwinders,” passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The law was meant to reimburse people living in the fallout areas who had suffered “increased incidence of cancers, non-cancerous thyroid diseases, and congenital malformations.”
The damage to the River in that area was different. The congenital malformations humans suffered from the fallout seemed to diminish after several generations, but in the River, they were still happening, as though the half-life of the radiation didn’t matter. It’s these mutations that Deem and Winn, both gifted and living downwind, fight on a daily basis.
Deem and Winn first appeared in the novel Devil’s Throat, the sixth book in The River series.
Book 1: Blood Oath, Blood River
Downwind: the area of the United States that received the brunt of the fallout from nuclear testing. As a result, humans developed cancers and congenital malformations… and so did the creatures in the River, the place where people with “the gift” see things others cannot.
Twenty-year-old Deem is gifted, but she is on her own without her mentor, her late father. Deem’s family is now targeted by a strange creature that climbs on their roof at night and infects the house with poison. With help from the charismatic Winn, Deem tries to stop the attacks, but this is only the beginning, with more ghosts, Callers, and mutated creatures to come.
Deem met Steven and Roy when she helped save their son from the ghosts at St. Thomas. She was impressed by Roy’s use of their ancestors’ journals to assist with their work. Deem is confident her father left behind a journal for her somewhere, but her dangerous search becomes riddled with menacing secrets and revelations, putting people’s lives at risk.
Deem and Winn are not alone; they are helped by Awan, a handsome Paiute who knows Native American tradition and can explain the strange forces targeting Deem. They also meet Carma, a friendly soul with a fantastic and valuable secret buried in her house.
Blood Oath, Blood River is a stand-alone novel; no prior experience with The River series is necessary to enjoy it. Fans of The River series will be intrigued by this new exploration of the River, set in a place where downwind radiation has made the ghosts and creatures of the River strange and unpredictable.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover.
Book 2: The Impossible Coin
Young Winn has recently discovered he has “the gift,” though he hardly knows how to use it. When his friend Brent suggests they search for treasure in the hills surrounding their Tucson suburb, Winn joins him and puts his newfound skills to use. They discover a cave filled with mutated ghosts possessing unusual powers. Here, Winn finds something so incredible, it begins a nightmare that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Winn’s mother is distant and uninterested in mentoring his abilities, so Winn turns to Marty, a neighbor who steers him toward a solution. On the way, they meet Jeanette, a crazy but prophetic resident of their trailer court, and Ida, a firecracker who gave up part of herself to confront a similar nightmare.
If the ghosts in the cave were normal, Winn and Brent might stand a chance. But the ghosts are downwind, where radiation changed everything…
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 3: The Graves of Plague Canyon
Deem and Winn both have “the gift”, an ability to enter a place called the River where they can see the things that most of us cannot. They are asked to help a young woman stricken with a mysterious ailment. The cure lies in the ancient cliff dwellings of Plague Canyon, hidden on the private property of a zealous and paranoid owner.
Warren, a rancher patrolling the canyon, shows an interest in Deem. She agrees to date him, hoping to manipulate him into letting her enter the ruins. Deem is surprised to find her interest in Warren becomes more than just a way into the canyon.
Winn is with her every step of the way as they explore treacherous mines and corpse-filled caves. Meanwhile, Carma and Lyman are planning a secret retaliation, and Deem is about to find herself in the middle of a deadly confrontation with Council forces.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 4: The Blackham Mansion Haunting
Blackham Mansion was built next to a graveyard for a reason. Spiritualists who gathered there to make contact with ghosts knew the deceased were only a few feet away. Over the years, they became very successful at rousing the dead and inquiring about the afterlife.
Too successful.
Deem, a gifted nineteen-year-old, learns that the long-abandoned mansion holds secrets she must investigate. She becomes wrapped up with the unusual house located downwind, where years ago the brunt of Nevada’s nuclear testing fallout rained down from the skies. As a result, Blackham Mansion isn’t any ordinary haunted house. The entities inside — some helpful, some monstrously hideous — are things she’s never dealt with before. Her friends Winn, Carma, and David try to help, but the forces inside the house overtake them all.
Winn and Deem come face to face with a terrifying reality: Be careful what solutions you hope for; sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 5: The Massacre Mechanism
Cryptic messages must be deciphered. Traitors must be tracked. And a massacre must be avoided — or instigated, depending on your perspective!
In the delicate moments just before sleep arrives, Winn is plagued with symbols racing through his mind. He has no idea what they mean, but he suspects they’re a message, sent to him from someone trapped in a place where messages aren’t supposed to escape.
With the help of Carma and David, Winn begins a quest to find out what the symbols mean. Along the way, he faces maniacal ghosts and unsavory opportunists. Thankfully, his friend Awan has connections that can help, and soon they discover dangerous, evil forces moving all around them, gathering for a confrontation.
When they uncover the nature of the impending conflict, they’re frightened — terrified of what might happen, terrified of the role they’re expected to play, and terrified for Deem.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 6: The Nightmares of Quiet Grove
Something evil is buried at the estate of Quiet Grove, so deeply hidden that Deem and Winn are unable to reach it with their “gift.” David’s aunt lives in fear on the estate, plagued by sleepless nights with an unbearable gnawing sensation inside her head. When Deem and her friends try to locate the source of the estate’s hauntings, they uncover a shocking secret that leads them into uncharted waters. They soon find themselves out of their depth, unsure how to combat the nightmares that become real.
Quiet Grove lies east of the Nevada nuclear test site in the heart of the fallout zone. Ghosts from its sinister history have mutated into horrifying creatures, terrorizing Deem, Winn, David, and Erin in this new paranormal mystery.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 7: Descent Into Hell Street
When David suggests Winn and Deem accompany him to explore a soon-to-be-sealed mine, Winn is apprehensive; not a fan of caves, tight spaces, and the radiated ghosts that haunt them downwind, Winn is more interested in having a good time with the women he sneaks into Carma’s place than prowling around in the dark.
David convinces them to go, discovering a place hidden from time: Canyon Diablo, and its notorious “Hell Street”. The town has a history of violence and tragedy, and soon the three are wrapped up in the violence…and their own tragic events.
It’s time for old hauntings to surface and be cleared away, but at a heartbreaking price.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 8: The Remains
Why is the town mortuary secretly removing bodies in the middle of the night?
Deem, a young woman living downwind in southern Utah, is using her gift to figure that out. Spying on the old funeral home with the help of her boyfriend Warren, she confirms that corpses are being stolen – but for what purpose?
With Winn and David away in Europe, and Warren too skeptical to be much help, Deem is grateful when her cousin Alice comes to the rescue. Together they stake out the mortuary and begin an adventure that takes them all over the southwest, coming face to face with a giant conspiracy that threatens to overtake them all.
Just as she is on the cusp of solving the mystery and dispensing some justice, Deem is betrayed by everything she has come to rely on – with devastating consequences.
Things may never be the same…
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 9, novella: Inheritance
Not yet ready to reconcile with Carma and Lyman, Deem decides to spend Christmas with David and Winn. Away from Lyman’s compound, they camp out in the empty house left by David’s parents in Ivins.
Hoping to enjoy a quiet Christmas with each other, they deck the home with old decorations discovered in the attic, and Deem sets about baking massive amounts of cookies – a tradition she used to perform with her mother. It seems like the three of them will be able to have a merry Christmas on their own, away from Lyman and Carma.
However, something in the house has other ideas. Confronted with their own ghosts, Deem, Winn, and David must discover the deeply buried secrets that haunt the homestead. Is it something that Lyman has cooked up, trying to force them to return to Leeds? Or is it a new threat that will require Lyman’s help to solve?
Spend a Christmas with Deem, Winn, and David…and find out!
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 10: The Dead Kingdom
“He didn’t die how they said…”
While at his young relative’s funeral, Awan finds these words on a slip of paper in his pocket. He learns many people in the small town of Tropic don’t believe the child died of natural causes as local authorities claim. Awan discovers whatever caused the death of the child is still active, moving through the town at night, enticing children to commit brutal acts of violence. Even worse, the local religious leaders and police seem in on it, facilitating the attacks.
Devising a method to track the entity, Awan discovers an abandoned graveyard. There, a corpse leads him on a wild chase through the desert Southwest where fallout from nuclear testing has made ghosts frighteningly feral, and strange mutations have spawned bizarre creatures.
Awan ultimately uncovers a vast army of the dead he cannot tackle alone. With the help of Winn, Lyman, and Carma, he wages a battle against a religious zealot who requires blood atonement to keep his followers in line.
The Dead Kingdom is the tenth title in The Downwinders series. It is a fast-paced ghostly mystery, full of interesting characters, fascinating locations, and terrifying creatures.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Book 11: House On Fire
Awan’s mother raised her hand and snapped her fingers. “The Lady in White…she will kill you like that!”
Awan heard his mother give warnings before, but never like this.
When Winn and Awan offer to help an FBI agent in Southeastern Utah, they don’t understand what they’re getting themselves into—unusual arsons, with houses burning so fiercely, firemen are forced to retreat. Strange mounds covering victims in the rubble. A student film that somehow played a role in resurrecting an ancient force that is terrorizing innocent victims.
David returns from California to help, but the task at hand grows more difficult and more daunting with each facet they discover. Everyone is baffled, but Awan’s mother knows what they need to do—and how dangerous it will be.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
Read more about downwinders at Wikipedia’s “Downwinders” page. You can also read more about the Nevada Test Site.
The Dark River: the place in the River where most gifteds will not go, a place of evil and addiction where only the desperate, foolish, or depraved enter.
First introduced in The Haunting at Grays Harbor, The Dark River is a place inside the River. It can only be accessed in specific physical locations. One of these locations is in the eastern U.S., near Appalachian country. The other is in Utah, twenty miles north of St. George, near the Utah/Nevada line. A takes place at the eastern access point.
There is crossover between events in this series and the first series, The River. Be sure to check out the Suggested Reading Order.
A
Derick was once a cop who, like every other cop, ignored the strange and inexplicable things that would pop up every now and then in his police work. After he retired, he decided to explore these unresolved things, and he discovered a clandestine world of people who are able to communicate with the dead. Though not gifted himself, he found a way to not only enter the Dark River, but also to make some money, taking contracts to pull people out and back to the real world.
This time, the contract he takes turns out to be more than he bargained for, and it takes him deeper into the Dark River than he ever wanted to go. He faces strange, sadistic creatures, an infection that requires routine treatments to keep at bay, and the constant threat of firestorms as he escorts a woman with a secret through the foreboding landscape to her destination in a rebel town.
A is a fast-paced paranormal mystery, filled with strange twists and turns in a sinister setting. It’s the first book in The Dark River series, set in the same universe as its companion series, The Downwinders and The River.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Blood Gardener
In the real world, Derick is just a retired cop; but in the Dark River, he’s public enemy number one, living in a land of ghosts.
Most people with the gift won’t enter the Dark River. It’s a disturbing place of evil, where it’s easy to lose oneself in its depraved pleasures – or die in the jaws of a horrifying creature.
Though Derick isn’t gifted, he’s found a way to enter the Dark River, but only to pay the bills: people pay him to go there and extract loved ones from its clutches.
After an extraction goes wrong, Derick becomes a wanted man. Wanted for helping rebels. Wanted for murdering Yann, the great torturer. Wanted for destroying an entire town by fire.
Derick also finds himself the de facto father of A, a monochild with secrets of his own.
Derick’s journey takes him to the gory graveyard of The Blood Gardener, where he forms an uneasy alliance. Will this help him destroy the forces determined to hunt him down?
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Capricorn
Things have changed in The Dark River since Derick, a retired cop, found a way to take down the powerful LeFever. Chaos rules. Factions are vying for power. There’s a leadership vacuum at the top, and people want Derick to fill it. The trouble is, Derick doesn’t want to be in power.
Staying too long in the Dark River allows worms to hatch in the blood , eliminating the ability to return to the real world. A cure that would purge the worms is in jeopardy. Derick is pressured to take charge and govern in LeFever’s place. To ensure the cure is instituted successfully, Derick reluctantly accepts his new role.
He soon learns troubling details: researchers are trying to make the cure work — but they’re also investigating the strange circumstances of LeFever’s death. Derick is stunned to learn that LeFever might have used an ancient ritual to survive death by changing himself in a bizarre and unimaginable way.
The intrigue of the Dark River deepens as new alliances are forged and betrayals emerge. In the end, he can only rely on A, the monochild. But A has disappeared…
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Divertimento
Imagine something so horrible, so shocking, that simply looking at it can kill you…
You’re tied down…helpless…forced to see an unspeakable creature. The terrifying visual stimuli short-circuits your brain, causing organ failure and massive hemorrhages.
A serial killer is using such a device, brutally murdering people all over the United States. Derick Hall has been tasked with finding and stopping the perpetrator, but the more he learns about the killer’s victims, the more he wonders if he’s doing the right thing. In the Dark River, what seems noble is often not, and the forces that compel Derick to eliminate the killer become as questionable as the killer himself.
In this disturbing and fast-paced novel, as Derick finds himself wrapped up in an ugly hunt for a madman, he helps Deem seek answers to her questions – with disastrous consequences.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
Malfunction 61
Ex-cop Derick used to control the Dark River – a strange, Lovecraftian world only those with the gift can enter – but he abandoned it for the sunny beaches of Belize months ago. His time in the sun is cut short when a new mystery draws him back to face a mind-bending threat.
Leaving Deem in control of the Dark River has not gone well. After a long delay, treatments for the worms have finally rolled out – but the treatments are killing people, not curing them. When her boyfriend James goes missing, Deem secludes herself in Eximere, and no one has been able to reach her.
As Derick investigates what has gone wrong, he discovers new dangers forming in the wastelands of the Dark River, capable of massive destruction. Strange clues and bizarre pieces of evidence lead him to a confrontation greater than any the Dark River has seen before – one which he and A may not survive.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
The Mausoleum Series
Mausoleum: Anomaly
Thousands of remains rest within the marbled halls of Lexon Mausoleum. Its daytime visitors come to mourn, unaware of the secret hidden behind its walls: a secret so unusual, so powerful, that people will kill to obtain it.
Nate and his colleagues were hired to protect the mausoleum. Its mere existence activates spirits and attracts dangerous creatures, making it a perilous place to safeguard. Using their gift to patrol the blocks that surround the building, they search the River to discover and neutralize ghostly threats. When one of their own is brutally murdered, they learn their defenses are not as strong as they thought; an enemy has outwitted them, threatening to overtake the mausoleum from the inside.
Nate, Crier, and the other members of the team face a daunting task: keep the mausoleum safe, even as saboteurs work to undermine their efforts. It will require unleashing their own innate abilities to save the mausoleum from destruction.
Mausoleum: Hex Roots
Strange new forces confront Nate, Crier, and the entire team as they continue their defense of the Mausoleum and the terrifying secret it holds!
* Note: the description below contains spoilers from the first book in the series, Mausoleum: Anomaly. *
With Aceveda gone, a new leader, Foster, takes over the Mausoleum project. Nate and Annya, a new hire at Capella, are tasked with assisting their new leader. Foster seems intent upon reclaiming a long-abandoned mansion within the zone. At first, Foster’s reasons seem clear, but as they penetrate the haunted building, Nate and Annya grow concerned: the mansion contains deadly traps, and Foster’s reasons don’t always hold up. As Red Star regroups for a new attack upon the Mausoleum, Foster’s focus on the mansion seems misguided, potentially leaving everyone at risk.
Meanwhile, the teams dig further into the history of the Mausoleum and reveal new terrors, unleashing forces that could destroy them all.
Mausoleum: Memento Mori
It’s a terrifying race against time to uncover more secrets of the mausoleum…before their teammates are wiped out, one by one.
* The book description below contains spoilers from previous books in the series *
Nate and Annya were offered a deal, but they didn’t accept it. As a consequence, horror has descended upon their friends and teammates with a vengeance. Struggling to make sense of the mysterious facts they discovered underground in old, secret tunnels, they try to quickly piece it all together…
Why are there six houses surrounding the mausoleum, and not just the three they’re familiar with?
Why were spectres in the abandoned underground tunnels – and where have they gone?
What resides inside the old warehouse where one of the mansions used to stand?
What exactly is the Hexalignment, and why is San Francisco so sketchy about it?
As a ghostly disease begins to take out their teammates, Nate and Annya – along with Crier and Aceveda – race to finally uncover the truth, stop the forces aligned against them, and keep the mausoleum and its terrifying contents safe.
Other Titles
The Haunting of Pitmon House
No one, not even experienced ghost hunters and mediums, will enter Pitmon House. Its dark, abandoned halls hold inhuman secrets, and the spirits inside are violent and uncontrollable. Exploring its rooms is an easy way to get killed. So Pitmon House sits — locked up, abandoned, and silent.
Eliza’s younger brother is struck down by an infection that has turned him from a normal, vibrant teenager into a raving lunatic, requiring constant sedation. She quickly realizes the medical community can’t help him; she will have to use her dormant “gift” to save his life. Although Eliza is frustrated that her father died before teaching her how to use the gift, with practice she starts to see things that normal people cannot. Thanks to her co-worker Rachel’s encouragement, Eliza becomes convinced that she can save her brother.
When the clues point to Pitmon House, even Rachel has second thoughts. Eliza must find the courage within herself to enter the frightening and perilous mansion, even if it puts everyone’s lives at risk.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Haunting of Waverly Hall
For a hundred years, people have moved out of Waverly, but not in.
The reason? It’s haunted. Especially the old town hall.
When Rachel returns to Eliza begging for her help, Eliza agrees to use her “gift” to help Rachel redeem her past. Rachel takes her to the small, long-abandoned town of Waverly, where the few remaining houses hold a terrible secret that killed Rachel’s friend many years ago. All of the houses seem interconnected, especially the old town hall, where the most frightening hauntings occur.
Eliza unravels the town’s hidden past while trying to avoid the fate of Rachel’s friend. She discovers why the hall is haunted — but understanding a ghost’s reasons for being aren’t always enough to get it to stop, especially when it’s addicted to sick and horrific behaviors. Her friends Robert and Granger help, but there’s no guarantee they can conquer the ghosts of Waverly Hall.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
A Haunting In Wisconsin
A long weekend at a remote B&B was supposed to give Eliza and Robert some downtime. They soon discover that sleeping in the building unearths the spirits of people long dead, reviving a haunted mystery that has waited many decades to be solved. Eliza and Robert’s plans to relax are put on hold while they try to help the owner of the B&B salvage his business.
Eliza and Robert both have the “gift,” but using it is difficult in the old building; something is wrong here, something that obscures their ability to see what’s truly happening. They discover a fiendish child who has taken diabolical secrets to the grave, intent on harming others. Their harrowing search for her — and the surprises buried with her — is filled with danger, as they discover much more evil and malevolent forces at work.
A Haunting in Wisconsin is a fast-paced paranormal mystery with an enjoyable cast of characters. It is full of twists and turns, as Eliza and Robert fight to save the B&B — and themselves. It is a stand-alone novel. No prior reading is necessary to enjoy this title.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The School of Revenge
Who wouldn’t want revenge upon their high school tormentors?
Paying the bullies back for their misdeeds is a fantasy every terrorized kid entertains. Freshmen Aaron and Phillip have been on the receiving end of relentless bullying, and when a mysterious method to exact revenge comes their way, they jump in wholeheartedly, anxious to see the kids who beat and humiliate them get what they deserve.
It goes way, way too far.
When Aaron begins to have second thoughts, he finds himself trapped, wrapped up in a cultish group determined to keep him involved in secret meetings, executing horrific acts of revenge all over the school. As Aaron comes to realize that revenge isn’t what it’s always cracked up to be, he looks for a way out. When he finally discovers it, he finds himself in the middle of a battle between good and evil, where evil will stop at nothing to achieve its ends.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
Slaughter, Idaho
The horror comes every sixteen years…
Slaughter used to exist in Idaho years ago. Something happened to the town, something that caused it to fall a fraction of a second behind the rest of our timeline — and the entire town disappeared.
Andrew knows the rare skill of travel between timelines, but finding a town like Slaughter — unmoored, isolated, drifting in time — is a difficult task, and traveling to it is even harder.
The space between timelines is a hunting ground for strange creatures that feed on meat they find in places like Slaughter. Andrew lands in a town under siege, with residents arguing about how to best prepare for the invaders who arrive every sixteen years.
He meets Helen, who lost her parents in the last attack. The next cycle is due any day, and the town is hunkering down, deploying new defenses. When the creatures arrive on schedule, Andrew and Helen try to repel the attack, but they are overpowered: people are dragged from their homes and rounded up like cattle, then fed while still alive to giant Eaters. It’s a huge farming operation for the invaders, where half the town’s population will be used as food.
The attack usually lasts for days, but this time, the invaders leave suddenly, well before their normal departure, sparing most of the town. The citizens think they’ve been lucky, but Andrew and Helen soon learn the truth: the worst is yet to come.
Can Andrew and Helen convince the town of what they’ve learned? Or will the citizens of Slaughterid ignore them, thinking they dodged a bullet? The political and religious forces within the town all have their own agendas, and Andrew and Helen’s warnings don’t fit nicely with their plans.
When the new terror arrives, they’re completely unprepared…except for the few who listened.
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Coldwater Haunting
An isolated house. Ghosts in the windows. Something climbing the stairs.
Ron lands the home of his dreams, isolated on a rural mountain, away from the noise and crowds of the city. With the house in need of repairs, he works on fixing it up before his wife and son join him. Unfortunately, the more he repairs, the more problems he uncovers.
During the day, he works on the mundane: septic system, plumbing, electrical wiring. But when the night comes and a deep darkness settles on the lonely property, a whole new set of troubles develop: scratching at the windows, the sound of footsteps on the stairs, shadowy figures in the yard. Threats. Attacks.
Ron comes to realize the house is unsafe — not because of the physical problems, but because of the unseen. He needs to rid the building of whatever evil has taken hold, but there’s one huge obstacle: he doesn’t believe in ghosts. He’s a total skeptic.
His friend Jake helps with the repairs. Jake is more willing to accept that the nightmarish apparitions in the house are real, and his girlfriend Freedom attempts to cleanse the house. Her methods backfire, so she leaves, frightened, refusing to return to the house. She demands Jake leave too, but Ron convinces Jake not to abandon him.
Desperate to solve the haunting, Jake ropes in others who claim to have “the gift,” but they all fail, unable to confront and outwit the evil inside the house. While Ron and Jake try to uncover the mystery, they go on a frightening journey, eventually coming to terms with the mountain’s troubled history. An ugly, brutal war waged between two families still consumes the area, and Ron’s house is caught in the middle of it.
The Coldwater Haunting is a ghost novel of over 100,000 words. It contains chilling scenes some may find disturbing. Advance readers report the book interfering with their dreams…
Versions available: Kindle and Paperback.
The Seances
This is the most dangerous part…waiting in the dark, not knowing which spirits will respond…
Jon Olson wasn’t comfortable performing a high-stakes seance for his client, the wealthy Julia Marstead. Though Julia was willing to pay any price to contact her lost daughter, Jon felt she was not completely honest, concealing things from him. As the seance began, he sensed overwhelming danger. Suddenly, Julia dragged him into her twisted world, setting off a chain of events that would change Jon’s life forever.
The Seances is an epic paranormal story, spanning the course of many seances and personal losses, where the terrifying mystery of the Marstead estate is revealed, along with the horrific destiny of Jon Olson.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound, Audiobook.
I Reside Here
Ruby is terrified of the menacing girl that haunts the hallway outside her bedroom.
The ghost orders her to leave, but Ruby has nowhere else to go – her parents went missing, so she’s been sent to live with a relative she hardly knows in a strange mansion brimming with secrets.
Specters haunt hidden closets, entire sections of the house have been declared off-limits, and Arthur, the young boy living with her, seems to possess a strange ability to see supernatural entities.
As she discovers the mysteries of the mansion, she learns just how dire her and Arthur’s situation has become – or is it all imagined? Just paranoia? To survive, she’ll need to unlock abilities of her own and come face-to-face with the terrors that inhabit their home.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
I Reside Here II
Left by themselves, Ruby and Arthur begin exploring the off-limits areas of Floyd’s creepy mansion. Ruby is determined to understand what Floyd was up to, and she believes the answer lies within the locked rooms of the house. Using keys they find in The Forbidden Zone, Ruby and Arthur encounter horrific apparitions. Were the doors locked not to keep Ruby and Arthur out, but to keep the spirits locked in?
Meanwhile, Ruby works hard to refine her abilities so she can perform the tasks required by Mr. Gee. While attempting to harness and control Ruby’s telekinesis, a succession of instructors and guardians meet disastrous ends.
When an unresolved project of Floyd’s balloons into a crisis, a new terror is unleashed within the house, one that is determined to destroy Ruby and Arthur. While Ruby’s abilities help as before, it will also require Arthur’s skill to save themselves.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
Aunt Death
A frightening paranormal mystery begins when an eccentric aunt dies and leaves her strange house to a surprised nephew.
Troy didn’t know his late aunt very well, so he is stunned when he inherits her Victorian mansion. His relatives are also surprised, wondering why Troy was singled out while they receive only a pittance of the woman’s estate.
The old Victorian would fetch good money on the market, and Troy considers listing the house for sale. However, the mansion begins to reveal secret upon secret, wrapping him up in its mysterious past. He wants to be free of the house but is torn – the bizarre and frightening contents of the mansion are too intriguing, demanding he find out what his aunt was up to and what led to the unusual circumstances of her death.
Soon Troy is plunged into the most terrifying journey of his life.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
Terrify
There are other ghosts in this house. Not just me. Worse ones.
Much, much worse.
Zeke is a troubled fourteen-year-old. After his family moves into a new house, his brother becomes gravely ill, his common-sense mother behaves strangely, and his strict and ultra-religious father is dead set against Zeke’s new relationship with a girl.
Zeke begins to see frightening things in his home: bizarre apparitions, ghostly visitations, and gory spectacles. Although they terrify him, he suspects he could eliminate these terrors if he overcame his guilty feelings and accepted who he really is.
Luckily, his new girlfriend knows exactly what is happening, and involves her mother to help. Both realize Zeke is under attack, and they must do something before his entire family is destroyed. Their journey will take them to the edge of sanity, battling ghost trains, violent entities, exorcisms, and the most daunting enemy of all – fear.
Will Zeke conquer all the conflicting thoughts and emotions in his head and learn to accept and use the gift his father forbade him to use – before it’s too late?
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
The Warder
Tackling an ancient vampire is not for the weak of heart…
Charlie glanced at the clock and saw that it was after 1AM. He listened to the sounds of the room and closed the book, about to place it on his nightstand when he heard the door creak. Fear instantly shot through his body as though the sound itself had injected him with a needle. Wanting to appear asleep, he placed his head on its side on his pillow, and watched intently as the door moved slightly.
Someone – or something – was pushing it open. Frozen in place, he observed as it filled the doorway, then stepped forward to enter, its head barely clearing the doorframe. It stood inside the room, dark and big. Charlie could hear it wheezing. It glanced around, centering on Charlie’s bed.
He closed his eyes tightly, terrified.
So begins the odyssey of ten-year-old Charlie, who discovers that his family’s neighbor invades their home each night, somehow passing through the communal wall of their duplex and attacking his mother and sister while they sleep. Charlie can see the wounds the attacks leave on their necks — but his family cannot, and they don’t believe him.
As the attacks worsen, Charlie realizes it’s up to him to defend his family from the vampire next door. But how?
One night, the ghost of a horrifically murdered boy appears to Charlie in his closet, leading him to the boy’s hidden phone. It’s the breakthrough Charlie needs, and it begins an unexpected adventure far beyond anything Charlie could have imagined, into a new world where he learns the skills he’ll need to successfully ward the vampire.
The Warder is a spine-tingling horror adventure in which a boy discovers a universe he never knew existed — where he sets a plan in motion to destroy the creature attacking his family and save them from an evil they cannot see.
Versions available: Kindle, Paperback, Hardbound.
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