What’s on the iPod? My novel Gnelfs as an audio book. Just released from Crossroad Press.

It’s available via Audible.

So I’m wearing a free t-shirt from the postal service that reads en-vi-ron-mail-ist. It’s a perk via the corporate marketing day gig. I occasionally write some direct mail pieces. It’s olive. Goes with my cargo pants. 

I’m at the deli counter at the grocer to ask for sliced turkey pastrami, when this guy who’s already been noticeably loud turns to me and says: “You know, I’m with you people on one thing.”

I’m looking behind me to see who’s encompassed in that you—have any other people of Irish descent suddenly joined me—when I realize he’s talking about the tee. 

“I’m against clear cutting,” he says. “I”m from Arizona, and the we have pine trees. That might surprise you.”

“I’ve been to Arizona,” I manage.

“They used to come put a big orange C on the trees, and I asked what that was about. They said: `That’s the forest service marking trees for culling.’”

I nodded. Sounded sensible. 

“Clear cutting’s not good,” he continues. “Level a whole acre. No rain forests means no rain whether it’s South America of Viet Nam.”

I continue to nod. No argument with that. 

“In California they stopped construction on a hospital, though. There were some kinds of insects on the property. That’s where I part with you people.”

I nod again. I don’t know the particulars on this case he’s talking about. I’m thinking “One butterfly flaps its wings and..” but I don’t really see a need for debate at the deli counter.

“People need hospitals. They don’t need insects,” he continues. 

OK, time to go. We need things like bees, right? But again I’m not at the supermarket to debate. Lady hands me my turkey pastrami, and I smile.

“With you on the clear cutting,” I say and point to my chest. “Free tee shirt from the postal service.”

I beat a path for the cash registers before he can go postal or anything. 

Some Saturdays are just more interesting than others.

Prologue

The Ceremony

The knife’s silver blade caught the reflection of flame, and the light slid along the honed edge—a flare of orange-gold.

The children watched through wide eyes as the man slowly moved the blade over to his arm, inserting the point near the base of his hand. Katherine winced as he applied pressure and the sharp tip penetrated his flesh.

A single drop of blood squeezed through the tiny cut, running slowly back along the metal, painting it black-red. Papa had instructed them not to fear the man, but she couldn’t help being frightened. He was sinister, a tall, rail-thin figure with skin drawn so tightly his face seemed to be no more than a skull, especially with his deeply sunken eyes. He wore a crimson robe, and the deep red fabric made his flesh seem even more ghostly.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Papa nodded and turned to Mama, whose arm stretched around Andrew’s shoulders. He was the eldest child, three years older than Katherine and cold toward her, jealous that when she had been born all of the focus had shifted from him. She had tried to change that, but he had never yielded.

Katherine squeezed her younger sister Elizabeth’s hand, hoping their mother might reject the notion, but Mama nodded. She was ready.

The nod brought fresh tears to Elizabeth’s eyes. She had been quivering since they had been summoned down the stairs.

The gaunt man smiled. “Then let us begin,” he said, his voice deep, accented from familiarity with a tongue Katherine had never heard. He was “from the Continent” the family had always said, though the country of his origin was never clear.

Katherine didn’t understand why this had to come when she was so close to starting her life. She had talked to Mama of possibly writing stories for newspapers, but now that was unlikely. Everything was unlikely.

Longer excerpt

Get the e-book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Smashwords, Crossroad Press

You may have already seen the mention on Twitter, but, at a glance, this is the synopsis so far for my upcoming thriller novel Midnight Eyes. Any reaction or feedback is appreciated.

Men are being lured to agonizing deaths in the small Louisiana city of Aimsley. Brutalized bodies are displayed on the riverbank and in little-travelled bayou country, and a mysterious dark-eyed beauty may be connected. It’s a case with tremendous human suffering and a challenging political labyrinth for Sheriff Ty Hood. It means calling on the last person he wants to for help—his son. 

Former FBI agent Wayland Hood is a brilliant criminologist and writer. He’s immersed in a project to unravel the mysteries inside the minds of four of America’s most heinous serial killers. Only unresolved issues with his father can draw him into the dark quest for buried secrets that fuel modern bloodshed in his home town. As father and son clash with each other and with canny reporter Jemy Reardon, who has her own goals and theories, the body count increases. Only a terrifying excursion into the darkest heart of midnight can hope to bring the nightmare to an end.   

I’d forgotten this fun blurb on my novel Gnelfs.

It’s from the Mystery Scene review of the paperback edition: “Gnelfs is powerfully written, a fantasy mind-ride into the depths of humanity’s darkest souls.”  

Gnelfs is now an e-book: http://amzn.to/fzEHmN or http://bit.ly/igKwyd

I ran across this wonderful little suburban noir thriller via the Netflix recommendation engine. It’s an offbeat mystery with twists and several surprises.

It’s also filled with wonderful performances by Thomas Haden Church in the lead, by Elizabeth Shue as a mysterious beauty and by M. Emmett Walsh, on hand no doubt as tribute to “Blood Simple”—one of the flim’s influences.

It’s really a deceptive little offering, looking sort of clean and brightly lit for noir yet with all the seedy darkness of a grim thriller.

Video discussion of Blood Hunter, horror-thriller now available as an e-book.