Something in the Dark

Something in the Dark

Just Passing Through… Jed Horn was on his way home when he stopped for a bite to eat in the small town of Leutenburg. Something warned him that there was something off, but that was part of why he stopped. Jed doesn’t back down from premonitions of evil. When he’s just about thrown out by the sheriff, he discovers that there’s more to Leutenburg than even he suspected. An ancient evil stalks this town, an evil that’s come back despite seeming to be killed over and over for a century. And the other newcomer who’s dabbling in things he shouldn’t be makes matters worse. It’s up to Jed, with the power of holy water, prayer, and his .45-70 Winchester to put things to rights. If he can survive what’s waiting in the dark. Get it today on Kindle or in Paperback! It’s been a long time since I visited Jed. There was an uptick in interest with the popularity of The Lost, and being between series, I thought it was finally time to come back to our Winchester-toting Witch Hunter. In some ways, as I started my career as a storyteller scaring the sleep out of Boy Scouts around campfires, many,

Something in the Dark Chapter 2

Something in the Dark Chapter 2

I wasn’t sure at first whether the older man who came through the door was the sheriff or one of his deputies. He was probably in his late fifties, balding, and with a bit of a gut, though I wouldn’t have called him fat. He was wearing a uniform jacket over his dark brown shirt, pulled aside to show the star on his chest and hiked up to keep his sidearm clear. He walked past my table as I leaned back, clearing my access to my own sidearm, just in case. I wasn’t eager to get in a gunfight with the local law, but I’d seen enough in little towns where the heebie-jeebies put my hackles up to know that I couldn’t necessarily count on things to stay sane. I didn’t know what was going on here, but the fact that the diner’s staff had apparently called the sheriff over some stranger who just wanted to eat given the relatively early hour didn’t bode well at all. I was taking care not to stare at the sheriff or the waitress as she came to the counter and spoke softly to him, pointing toward my table, of course. The sheriff—his presence

Something in the Dark Chapter 1

Something in the Dark Chapter 1

While I couldn’t put my finger on it when I drove into town, there was something about Leutenburg that was just a little off. Now, granted, when you’ve spent as much time as I have in this profession, you start to realize that every place is a little off.  Evil likes to burrow in like a tick, whenever it’s given an opening.  And human nature being what it is, somebody’s always going to open that door.  Demons are legalistic, and once they’re given a foothold, they’ll cling to it by right like the miserliest miser who ever went to sleep holding onto bags of cash. That metaphor got away from me a little, but you get the idea.  The point is, no matter how bucolic and peaceful a place looks on the surface, somewhere there’s a dark side to it.  Nature of the world as it is. Of course, the Otherworld is every bit as tenacious in the legalistic department, even if they aren’t usually quite as bad as the demons. I paused at the first of the three stop lights on Main Street, thankful for the momentary red light so that I could take stock. Try to figure out

Lovecraftian?

Yes, I’m pretty deep into the shooter genre mode right now, having just passed 75,000 words on the first draft of Lex Talionis, but I’m going to digress for a little, to explore a thought I had while sitting in the “Death Is The Least Of Your Worries: Writing Lovecraftian Fiction” panel at LTUE. The panelists agreed (and so would I) that the nature of Lovecraft’s horror lay in the confrontation of unfathomable powers which barely noticed human beings.  You might get squished along the way, but it was hit or miss as to whether the monster actually noticed you in the process.  A vital part of the Cthulhu Mythos is mankind’s insignificance, and helplessness, in the face of the chaotic forces that rule the cosmos.  You can try to fight Cthulhu, but it won’t end well for you. Granted, this is not entirely a hard and fast rule even within the (admittedly broad) confines of the Mythos itself.  Brian Lumley’s Titus Crow bests a few eldritch abominations, and no less towering a figure than Conan the Cimmerian (Howard was a regular correspondent with Lovecraft) banished a few to whatever weird dimension they’d come from with a powerful stroke of