the LITVERSE
The Enigma of Twilight Falls Trilogy
A non-linear trilogy, The Enigma of Twilight Falls consists of the horror/murder mystery The Green-Eyed Monster, the surreal coming-of-age thriller Negative Space and the metaphysical occult saga Waking Gods. Each book, through its own individual characters and events, opens a new vantage point on the deep mystery at the heart of Twilight Falls: a small town nestled in the redwoods of Northern California, and a place of wonder, revelation and darkness.
The Green-Eyed Monster was rated by an editor at Horror Novel Reviews as being among the 10 Greatest Horror Novels Ever Written. It was also honored with the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for Best Horror Fiction, 2020.
Skunk Ape Semester
Prompted by a health scare and an academic shake-up, zoologist and amateur Bigfoot researcher Dr. Jeremy Fishleder goes on sabbatical and plans a road trip around the country to places of strange repute. Three students decide to join him and, as they delve into the wilds of earth and steel, together they discover secrets hidden in the shadows of outer as well as inner nature.
9.75 / 10 from Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize (Quarter-finalist):
"Wondrous prose...brings a refreshing scope and lens to the Bigfoot mythos."
"'On the Road' meets 'The X-Files'!"
-- Marla Miller, author and columnist
"A love song to Fortean Americana....a truly unique book."
-- Richard Freeman, author and director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology
"A journey of the heart, mind and spirit. I was captivated from the first page."
-- Syrie James, bestselling author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray
A Collection of Weird Fiction
Also available on Audible, here.
A beer run becomes an interdimensional excursion.
Two men settle their differences after discovering an extraordinary secret in the wilderness.
A woman navigates the bureaucracy of a digital afterlife.
A grieving man seeks to know where his wife was reincarnated.
Strange lights in the sky transform the lives of a small town.
God and the Devil play pool for people's souls.
A teenage deity's science projects sprouts a startling discovery.
These and more dream-like detours into the surreal, interstitial and inexplicable await within.
"Much more than slices of surreal life. Highly recommended."
-- Howard V. Hendrix, author of The Labyrinth Key and Spears of God
The Prince of Earth
In 1988, young American traveler Quincy Redding is trekking across the misty terrain of the Scottish Highlands. She is destined for the infamous peak Ben MacDui, the summit of which soon finds her inexplicably debilitated and at the mercy of a malevolent entity.
The Prince of Earth spans twenty years, alternately following Quincy in her 1988 ordeal in Scotland as well as Quincy in 2008, when, as an adult, she begins experiencing abnormalities that threaten her family and her life -- phenomena that may be related to what happened all those years ago.
As both older and younger Quincy learn more of their situation, and as their worlds further entwine, she becomes increasingly uncertain of the perceived temporality or reality of each period.
"Fresh, innovative ... captivating."
-- HorrorNews Network
The Atheist
Author and lecturer, Dr. Arthur Moore, has made a credible name for himself in books and interviews by denouncing faith, advocating science and reason and clashing with the voices of America's increasing religious majority. Despite his public success, he has made far more enemies than friends and struggles to maintain relationships with his homosexual son and the people in his life. After a freak tragedy leaves him briefly, clinically dead, a chance encounter brings him to privately question his worldly and cosmic perspectives, a struggle he must inevitably reconcile with his established public image.
The Atheist is a broad-minded examination of the dynamics of belief and non-belief in America, a glimpse into our fascination with the unknown and, at its heart, a stirring and intimate psychological portrait.
"An examination of big spiritual and philosophical issues with insights that are thought-provoking and, at times, quite brilliant."
-- Natasha Bauman, author of The Disorder of Longing
Dreamshores: Monster Island
Restless and fire-hearted, ten-year-old Sierra Nevada Smith was always chasing monsters, whether through the pages of her favorite books or in the woods behind the secluded California town where she grew up. Fantastic new worlds opened for her, however, when she discovered the films of legendary stop-motion animator Russell Boylan.
Ten years later, she finds herself working aboard a yacht, adrift at sea and in life, her peers nicknaming her the 'Monster Girl', a sad consolation for her own stunted career as a stop-motion animator in this era of computer-generated effects. When their boat is mysteriously pulled through a corridor of fog, the crew finds themselves deposited on the shores of an extraordinary island, a place where the stomping, roaring, clambering dinosaurs and creatures of Russell Boylan's classic films have been relegated to live beyond script or screen, and to evolve.
And it is here that Sierra discovers not only an incredible power, but what may be her purpose.
Hurakan's Chalice (with Aiden James)
The Talisman Chronicles #3
The long-awaited third installment of the bestselling Talisman Chronicles finds brothers Jack and Jeremy Kenney, wanted in the US for murders they didn't commit, loitering on Mexico’s white sand beaches and inexorably succumbing to their growing wanderlust.
Three years into their exile, Jeremy ventures across South America in search of the ancient castle of the Essenes, responsible for saving his and Jack’s lives. But to get there means braving the largely uncharted Amazon jungle ruled by violent drug cartels – and a bloodthirsty local god, Hurakan.
When Jeremy doesn't return as promised, Jack sets out after him. His excursion takes a turn for the surreal as he enters the realm of Yitari, a tribe of interdimensional beings engaged in a tug of war for power with Hurakan’s demonic horde.
As the brothers tease out the truth of their shared destiny, they must decide if an old Essene prophecy is worth pursuing, or if it is better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Only one thing is certain: whichever choice they make, it will come with perils and regrets that will last the rest of their lives.
Also on Audible!
Dishonor Thy Father (with M.J. Richards)
ESCAPE. DECEPTION. MURDER.
Amid political and racial protests in a Los Angeles hospital, female surgeon Dr. Marika Javid is brutally murdered. In the ensuing investigation, Detective Michael Tucci finds himself compromising his job and his life as he embroils himself in an affair with the victim’s associate, the beautiful and enigmatic Dr. Tara White — who could be the killer’s next target.
Inspired by the controversial issue of honor killings, Dishonor Thy Father is a multicultural thriller spanning three decades and two continents that boldly explores contemporary issues of ethnicity, sexism, spirituality, and social mores in today’s complex and heated political environment.
"From beginning to end, Dishonor Thy Father is an intuitive and riveting novel...that explores sexism, racism, and bigotry through a fresh lens..." -San Francisco Book Review
"...The authors offer jaw-dropping twists until the end. Tami Hoag fans will be pleased." -Publishers Weekly
"...a rousing mystery...an unforgettable narrative saturated with romance, mystery, perseverance, and commitment...earns five stars for its originality and command of language..." -Manhattan Book Review
"A persistently suspenseful crime drama..." -Kirkus Reviews