Joseph Lewis's Blog, page 12

Meet Cyndi Brec – An Author!

Unlike nearly all the authors I’ve interviewed, Cyndi Brec has an agent and is looking to publish in one of the larger publishing houses. Cyndi is the author of the Marked for Life series. She’s the debut author of The Secrets Beneath Scars, a young adult urban fantasy romance. She says fans of Brigid Kemmerer’s A Curse So Dark and Lonely and Charlie N. Holmberg’s Spellbreaker might find her new novel enjoyable.

Cyndi lives with her best friend, her husband, her two crazy-fun-loving kids, and her embarrassingly energetic dogs, who find unending trouble. She graduated with a degree in Recreational Therapy and worked in Geriatric psych and with the mentally challenged before discovering her deep love of writing. Cyndi loves exploring history to build the facets of her story world—a world soaked in legends, myths, and lies. 

I hope you enjoy my interview with Cyndi and find it entertaining.   

What was it that made you decide you had a story to tell and to become an author?

The story of my protagonist, Callie Tresham, kept unfolding before my eyes; scene by scene, images stalked me and prodded me to continue developing and writing the Marked for Life series.   

I’ve never thought of myself as an author, more of a storyteller. The big thing is my passion for sharing the story. I’m an avid reader of several genres, and after reading a paranormal romance book, I thought I could do that. So, here I am. Lol

I love the challenge of writing, but more so diving deep into creating a story world and twisting ideas, thoughts, legends, and making something different. Something unique that will connect with a reader, make their heart cry, allow them to experience a new emotion, and have an escape. Some of our greatest authors draw upon readers’ feelings from the start. They engage their hearts and take them on a compelling, emotional journey.

As an author or writer, what sets you apart from others?

Writing is in my blood. I love writing challenges, and I’m a natural problem solver. I’m not afraid to do something different. Visualizing the emotional plot of an opening scene is easy for me; crafting the stakes in a story and watching the events unfold into conflict, disasters, and reactions to the events is something I thrive on. However, I love unexpected story endings that offer a new piece to the storyline puzzle.

What genre do you write, and why?

Young adult, urban fantasy with elements of romance.

Writing fantasy opens the door to new ideas, unchartered territories, and conflicts. I grew up on mythology and studying legends. The process of searching for lost civilizations, their history, and customs is mind-bending. However, if you dive deep into pseudoarcheology, it allows you to tweak a legend and put a ‘fantastical’ spin on an existing belief or idea, breathing life into a new story. There are unending creative possibilities when writing fantasy and peppering in a bit of romance only adds to the sizzle. Lol

If you were to name one or two books that you deem unforgettable and that had a major impact on you, what would they be, and why?

Twilight was a remarkable book for me, but not for the reasons an author/reader might think. The Twilight series stressed something affecting that secret worlds can hide in plain sight.

I’m an avid reader of many genres, from Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen and Brigid Kemmerer’s A Vow so Bold and Deadly, to mystery novels that keep you in utter suspense to character-driven Christian stories.

What authors do you read regularly? Why?

My reading list is long and can go on forever, but Victoria Aveyard, Audrey Grey, Brigid Kemmerer, Karen Marie Moning, and James Patterson are a few of my regular reads. Escapism is a requirement for me to label a book as unforgettable and to read an entire series.

If you were to have dinner with 5 individuals living or dead, who would they be and why?

Right now, I’d love to have dinner with Plato. He wrote of the lost continent of Atlantis in Timaeus and Critias. My protagonist, Callie, searches for answers and must dive deep into a library riddled with legends, only to discover who she is. I’ve used parts of the Critias to frame my world building. So, I’d love to ask him, “Did you like how I tweaked the Critias?” Lol

Other people I’d love to have dinner with are my grandmother and grandfather. They’ve been an inspiration to me and a blessing.

What is your writing routine? When you write, do you plan or outline ahead or are you a “pantser”?

Undeniably I’m a Pantser. My characters drive the story’s direction. My routine involves my office, a timer for writing sprints, a glass of ice water, and my laptop.

When writing, how much do you read? Do you read in or out of your genre?

When I’m writing, I don’t usually read in my genre. I’ll slip into a mystery and romance novel that is engaging.

Is there something you set out to do, but somehow, it didn’t work out for you? (In writing, or something else you felt was important to you at the time?)

Yes, this is a beautifully weird story because after I wrote my first book, I set out to find an agent. However, I received a few redirection letters (I don’t like to label them rejection letters). With the assistance of my writing group, I reevaluated my plan and decided on the Indie route, even hiring a publicist and a designer to format my book. My goal was set, and I was ready to run … However, I met Jonas Saul at a conference in 2020, and shortly later, he asked if he could represent me. Jonas’s belief in my story has inspired me. I’m an optimistic person and couldn’t imagine working with a better agent. He’s got my back, and he values my style of writing.

What tips would you give to new or even experienced writers?

Write about what brings you happiness. Write what challenges you to be the best author. You always need to hone the craft of writing and sharpen your skills. Never compare yourself to another author. Each author is as unique as their writing style.

How do you handle a negative critique?

Not all readers like fantasy. That’s okay. That’s what makes each person unique, we don’t have to agree to like the same story or idea, and that’s where respect for someone’s opinion comes in. I’ll thank them for their time, critique, and move on.

Is there a type of writing/genre that you find difficult to write? Why?

I’m not a horror or erotica writer. My values stop me from writing sexy scenes and horror … it is too tough for me. I’ve witnessed things in life that are difficult and would rather not live them again.

How important are the elements of character, setting, and atmosphere to a story, and why?

The setting and atmosphere can enrich a story. It’s significant because it can improve the reader’s experience and add to the story’s development with plot, tone, and character. However, characters, especially the main characters’ personalities, are pivotal to a storyline’s success. They serve as a driving force. The reader experiences everything through the main character’s eyes. So, the character must be believable to engage the reader.  

Do you see yourself in any of the characters you create? How/Why?

Yes, and no. Pieces of me show up in some of the main characters in The Secrets Beneath Scars. I attempt to have my genuine reaction shared within the story, but I’m always balancing it out with ‘what moves the story forward’ and what makes the story compelling.

Is there an unforgettable or memorable character that will not leave your head, either of your own creation or from a book you’ve read?

Of course, I’m in love with my unforgettable character, Callie. She’ll always be memorable to me.The more the character’s arch develops from the story’s beginning to the end, and the stakes increase, the more the character becomes remarkable.

Tell us about your most recent book. The Secrets Beneath Scars blurb:

MURDER WAS JUST THE BEGINNING

Callie Tresham’s perfect world was shattered when her family was murdered. Now, after being haunted for years by visions and memories, she strives to be a normal teenager. When her grandmother dies in a car accident, Callie meets Trystan Dougrey, leading her straight into the path of a notorious killer.

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENT

Trystan Dougrey protects the secrets of his world—the Theran world—a world soaked in archaeological mystery. No human has access to their secrets; no human enters their world. Powers are rare and sacred, so when he witnesses Callie using the power of sight, he confronts her. To protect her secrets, they make a deal. She’ll use her gift of sight to hunt for a murderer if he keeps her secrets.

NOW THE FATE OF THE THERAN WORLD HANGS IN THE BALANCE

Now that she’s made the bargain, Callie’s questions dredge up more danger than answers. Determined, Callie and Trystan wade through a world of corruption, legends, lies, and the pitfalls of first love in a world where justice is served through the eyes of a killer.

The future of Theran-kind is at stake—and now, so is her life.

How did you come up with the concept?

I’m a lover of secret worlds hidden in plain sight and the struggles to keep the world concealed. The story developed from there.  

How did you come up with the title?

Truthfully, I didn’t come up with the title on my own. An author friend, Linda Morgan, inspired the title. We took the central theme of ‘secrets’ and worked it into an emotionally compelling title.

From your book, who is your favorite character? Callie is my favorite character. Why? I love the discovery journey Callie must struggle through to feel comfortable in her skin. The misery she’s endured with the loss of her parents has made her a stronger person. I like strong female leads, but I also like a hesitant character at the story’s opening. Watching a character stumble and grow through the storyline is more believable.

Who is your least favorite character? Mr.Sykes. Why? He’s not a nice guy—not at all. Lord Kingston, the mastermind, actually has more compassion.

Where can we find your book?The Secret Beneath Scars is being pitched to publishers by Jonas Saul from Imagine Media Group Literary Management.

I’m looking forward to her book’s publication, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed she lands a publishing deal.

You can connect with Cyndi on social media through the following links:

www.cyndibrec.com

www.instagram.com/cyndibrec7

Tweets by CyndiBrec

https://www.facebook.com/CBrecFantasy/

Fiction Parallels Reality, Honesty and Integrity

Brian has been a staple of my books since I introduced him briefly in Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, and fully introduced him in Caught in a Web. He has undergone changes as well as challenges, but what has definitely become his hallmark is his honesty and integrity, despite all I’ve thrown at him between the pages.

In Splintered Lives, Brian lost his twin brother, Brad, who also has continued in each of the stories. Those of you who have read my work will recognize him and understand his role. In Caught in a Web, Brian lost his parents and was adopted by Jeremy. In Spiral Into Darkness, he took on a mentally unstable character in the woods in a blinding snowstorm, and also struggled with his own sexuality. Both storylines continue through the next books.

But it was in Betrayed where we saw Brian’s honesty and integrity play out, almost to his death.

Sidebar: those of you who read my work, know my book titles have an obvious meaning, but also several other meanings that are gleaned from careful reading. The title, Betrayed, has no less than a double, even triple meaning to it.

In Betrayed, Brian makes a promise to his mother to watch over his two brothers, Brett and George. She reasons George will be primarily focused on finding his missing childhood friend and might not be aware of pitfalls as he encounters them. Brett can be impulsive and tends to do (and say) things his own way. She doesn’t want harm to come to them, and she also doesn’t want harm to come to Brian. But Brian doesn’t pay much attention to the harm as it comes his way, because he is intent on protecting George and Brett.

Betrayed-Joseph-Lewis-book-promotion

For all Brian and Brett know, they are going hunting for elk, something they never hunted before. They have no idea that the hunters become the hunted, and neither of them understand why until the end. So initially, Brian sees the promise he made as benign, something one brother would do for another.

But as the story plays out, events and situations become more threatening and he realizes that by protecting his brothers, he will put his own life on the line. This becomes apparent as he sits in a booth in a small rundown bar/diner late at night and writes a letter to Jeremy and Vicky, his parents. Brian’s honesty and integrity come through clearly. The letter to his parents, in part, reads:

Dan and Mom,

I needed to write this letter to you because I don’t know if Brett or George or I will make it back home. There is some serious stuff happening here. None of us know exactly what it is, but we’re in the middle of it.

… Mom, I want you to know that I will do everything I can to make sure Brett and George are safe. I know Brett means more to you than George or me, and Dad, I know George means more to you than me. After all, he was adopted before I was. So, if I have to make a choice about whether it’s them or me who might die, I will try to make sure they live. I’m okay with that. I’ve prayed about it. I’ve accepted it. It’s okay.

Heady stuff for a fifteen-year-old. But he’s no stranger to death. He watched his twin brother die. He lived through his parents’ death. Of the brothers, he is the most religious and his spirituality guides him.

Another example of Brian’s honesty and integrity are on display in the second chapter of my newest book, Fan Mail. Brian is in a sophomore English class discussing the book, Lord of the Flies. The teacher, Penny Rios, poses the question, Who do you think is a strong, independent character? Perhaps a leader? The answers range from Ralph to Jack to Piggy. It reads, in part:

“Brian, you’re pretty silent today. What are your thoughts?”

He said, “It depends upon what you think strong means. Honestly, I don’t think any of them are strong. Being strong means having integrity. Ralph didn’t defend Piggy even when he was being picked on. If he had integrity, he would have defended Piggy no matter who was against him. Jack broke rules he felt weren’t necessary, even though there needed to be
order. A person with integrity doesn’t break rules just because he might not like them. Piggy whined and complained, but he tried to establish order. I think because of his size and his whining, no one paid attention to him. A leader has to have followers.”

“What is your definition of integrity?” Rios asked.

Brian didn’t wait to be called upon. He said, “Someone who speaks the truth and lives it even when others don’t. A person who is genuine.”

“That can make someone pretty unpopular, don’t you think?”

Brian nodded and said, “It’s what makes someone strong. Speaking the truth and following the rules, no matter who else does or doesn’t. Being willing to take a stand, even if it’s unpopular. Standing up for your beliefs. If you don’t do those things, you don’t have integrity and you aren’t strong.”

The thing about Brian my readers have come to know and understand, is that he not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. Later in the book, he demonstrates his integrity and honesty even to the point of death, once again.

The title of this post is Fiction Parallels Reality, Honesty and Integrity.

Characters come from the author’s imagination. In this case, me. Brian embodies my belief about honesty and integrity. I’ve tried to live my life (and write my books) as honestly as I can. Honesty and integrity are very important to me. I gravitate towards those who exemplify these two traits, and I shy away and barely tolerate those who do the opposite. I try to live my life truthfully, and I try to live my life with integrity. In the end, that is all you leave in this world. One’s reputation is built on this foundation- either you have it, or you lack it, and I think we are quick to see who has it and who doesn’t.

For those of you who might be interested, I’ve placed the book descriptions and links for my books mentioned in this post below. I hope you give them a read. I also hope you give me some feedback on this post. I’m hoping you find it helpful and thought-provoking. As always, thanks for checking in and joining me on this journey.

Betrayed : Two Top Shelf Awards: 1st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696

Fan Mail – A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he?

Amazon Link: amzn.to/3eNgSdS Black Rose Writing Link: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail

Fiction Parallels Reality, Loss

There are several axioms about fiction versus reality. One is, “Fiction has to be logical, while reality isn’t always logical.” Another is, “Fiction has to tell the truth while weaving a beautiful lie.” I’m not sure if I heard those or where I read those or if they just popped in my head, but they seem true to me.

When I first wrote the Prequel and the First Book of the Lives Trilogy, Taking Lives and Stolen Lives, my family and I experienced and lived through a terrible event. We are still living through that event and always will, to some degree, live with this event.

In July 2014, the time Taking Lives was originally published, my son, Wil, was shot and killed as he walked down a street after eating lunch and shopping for his and his wife’s apartment in Chicago. Unbeknownst to him, Wil was behind a gang member. A car full of rivals spotted the gang member, and according to court records, the driver handed a .45 with an extended magazine to a fifteen-year-old and told him to “wet his shirt.” The fifteen-year-old got out of the car with an accomplice and chased down the rival.

Wil was caught between them. The rival used my son as a shield so he could get away, and as a result, my son was struck with one bullet- the only bullet that hit anyone, and died.

A tragedy, to be sure. We feel it at various times, but mostly at holidays when there is an empty chair where Wil would normally sit. We feel it at special occasions, like my daughter’s wedding, when a crafted sign was placed on an empty chair, “In loving memory for those who can’t be with us“, along with a picture of him in a locket in her floral bouquet.

It was difficult to celebrate the publication of Taking Lives and Stolen Lives while we mourned the loss of our son. As a former counselor with a background in psychology, I know grief hits different people in different ways. I see it in my family, in me, but it didn’t really hit me until I reread all of my previous work in the past two months.

Even as dark as child sex trafficking is (the storyline of the Lives Trilogy and Prequel), my work will always be of hope, of survival, of family relationships, with a coming-of-age thread woven into a thriller. Tough to do? For me, at least, not really. Because I see hope and survival in life. I have a deeply held belief that good will, and does, triumph over evil. My characters exude that belief. It oozes out of their words and their actions in the pages you, the reader, reads.

For example, in the Third Book of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives, there is a conversation that takes place between Brett, a character in all of my books, and Brian, a character that was first introduced in Splintered, but has since become a primary character in each of the successive books. This will be a spoiler of sorts, so be aware, but it beautifully emphasises life imitating art. Brian just lost his twin brother, Brad, who died tragically, along with many other children and adults, at a soccer game just the night before this conversation takes place.

Just a week or two before this conversation, Brett, along with 30 other boys, were rescued from a brothel. Brett was held captive for twenty-two months. He has always been frank and honest, telling it like it is, and his language, especially at this time, hasn’t been cleaned up or filtered. Like I said, he tells it like it is- at age fourteen.

… Brian said softly, “Life isn’t fair.”

“It’s not fair, but is isn’t unfair, either. It. Just. Is.” Brett paused, took hold of Brian’s hand and said, “It just is.

“As bad as all of that was, there was some good, too. I didn’t … couldn’t, see it at the time, just like you can’t see it right now. It takes time. I’m not over it. Shit, I’ll never really get over it, just like Mikey and Stephen and Bobby won’t get over it, but you kinda live with it. You move on. You get up each fucking morning, and you breathe. You put one fucking foot in front of the other and you move. You fucking move and you don’t stop, and the next morning, you do it all over again, because that’s the only choice you have. The only choice. It sucks. It hurts. It hurts so bad, Brian, I know that. But you keep breathing and you keep moving.” (Splintered Lives, page 287)

I think that’s what happens to those of us who experience loss. We get up, we breathe, we put one foot in front of the other and we move and don’t stop. We get up the next morning and repeat it. Over and over. We live with it. We deal with it. At times, we feel the loss coming on, and we fight back by keeping ourselves busy and we try not to think about it. At other times, we give in and we let that wave wash over us, hoping we don’t drown.

I guess my point is, and there are several points, in all of this, is that even in as dark as the Trilogy and Prequel are, there is hope, faith, companionship, caring, and, of course, survival. They survive. We survive.

In my next post, I will give you another of my beliefs that comes through in my writing using my current and newest book, Fan Mail. Until then, I would love to hear your thoughts on my post. Just add them below. And thanks for following along on my journey.

Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives  

The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
 
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  
 
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 

An Interview and a Part in a Blogger’s Post

One of the fun things I do as a result of my writing is taking my books to sales and signing events. The people are incredible and supportive, inquisitive and constructive in their feedback. Inevitably, I get asked some of the same questions at each event.

How do you come up with ideas?

My answer has always been the same: I observe my world. Like Stephen King said (paraphrasing badly), sometimes two or three completely unrelated events take place, collide, and an idea forms.

For my book, Caught in a Web, I was reading the paper. On one page was an article about the rise of adolescent and young adult deaths because of a deadly mix of fentanyl and heroin. A couple of pages further, there was an article about MS13, a deadly gang that had its origins in El Salvador. It seems that the gang is making inroads in my area of Northern and Central Virginia, and not only among high school kids, but middle school kids. The idea hit me to combine the two into a book, and Caught in a Web was born.

For my book, Spiral Into Darkness, my background is counseling and psychology. I was having a conversation with one of my teachers, who taught psychology, and we discussed Nature vs Nurture. I went home that evening and watched a Criminal Minds episode about a serial killer. I wondered whether a serial killer was born or if it was caused by an outside event that triggered it in someone, and Spiral Into Darkness was born.

For my trilogy and prequel to the Lives Trilogy (Taking Lives, Stolen Lives, Shattered Lives, and Splintered Lives), I spent 13 years as a counselor, and several of those years I worked with the Wetterling Foundation for Stranger Abducted and Sexually Exploited Children in educational outreach. I would teach parents how to keep their kids safe, teach kids how to keep themselves safe, and for caring adults who work with kids, what to look for and listen for. When my wife and I had our own children, instead of picturing Johnny Gosch, Etan Patz, and Elizabeth Smart, I thought of my own children. As a result, I had to take a break. But I always wanted to tell the story of missing kids. The Lives Trilogy and Prequel was born.

The other thing I remind people about is that once you write, ideas come on their own. Like rabbits, they multiply.

Another fun thing I get to do is take part in other writer’s blogs. Here is a post by Kimberly Charleston on Negativity and Criticism, something all writers have to deal with. You can find it here: https://kimberlycharleston.com/the-authors-journey-stepping-into-the-negative-space/?fbclid=IwAR3rmtPP4duzvTBLv_gHno52CTaarM0hG4YlNPE5MnXxZbYs7knP59p-f1Q#

And, there are always interviews. Here is an interview I had with Literary Titan regarding my newest book, Fan Mail. I hope you enjoy it. https://wp.me/p3cyvH-e00

Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below. Also, here is a list of my books and their descriptions.

Enjoy!

Fan Mail: New Release!

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he?

Blaze In, Blaze Out:  Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann. The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP

Betrayed : Two Top Shelf Awards: 1st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed  is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback!  https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm

Caught in a Web : A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web  is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback!  http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
 
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  
 
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives  

Two More Reviews for Fan Mail!

Whenever an author publishes his work, no matter who it is, there is a moment of jitters. Maybe more than just one moment. While the author thinks what he or she wrote is pretty good, the book doesn’t “end” when it’s published. The book always ends with each reader who reads it. It becomes their book.

That’s the way it should be. A good book will open eyes. A good book will cause the reader to ask questions to which there might not be many, if any, answers. The reader will pour into any book he or she reads the ‘baggage’ the he or she brings to the book: past experience, present experience, hurts, joys, sorrows, hope. Each will color the book differently depending upon who reads it. It’s magical, really.

Still, when someone says, “So, I read your book …” there is for me, at least, a moment when I suck in my breath and gulp. My mouth gets dry and I might even shake at the knees. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but you get the picture. After all, I just spent nine months to a year taking an idea and bringing forth a work that is now published. I’ve invested my heart and soul into making that book as best I can make it- not just for me, but for each of you.

In Fan Mail, there were times I wept as I wrote several passages. There were times when I became angry, felt hopeless, felt joy, and smiled. All the feelings and emotions I know will happen to any reader who reads it. There is pain and suffering, but there is also hope and joy.

Now, you can imagine what I felt when best-selling and award-winning author, Sharon Middleton, author of the McCarron’s Corner mysteries, sent me an email with the subject line, Fan Mail Review. I was at once eager to open it, but also hesitant to open it. Her opinion means that much to me. Here is what she wrote:

“Very powerful. Tough. Gritty. Character development is remarkable. Lewis cuts deep as he tackles teen sexuality questions as well as dangerous stalkers. The story explodes with tension and strength, reflective of the personalities involved. Highly recommend it!”

I am still smiling from that review. It means the world to me.

One week later, I receive a review from Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer for Midwest Book Review, and Editor of California Bookwatch. She writes the kind of review that can make or break you as an author. So with the same feelings I had when I opened Sharon’s email, I opened Diane’s. Hers was a much longer review because it goes to librarians across the country as well as bookstores. She wrote, in part:

“Fan Mail is hard to easily peg. At once a coming-of-age story that will appeal to mature teens, a thriller that can reach into adult audiences, and a psychological suspense novel that holds elements of deeper life inspections about sacrifice, redemption, and discovery, its gripping saga will reach a wide audience of readers and age groups.

Libraries looking for a vivid, fast-paced story that moves from LGBTQ+ issues to family ties and beyond will find Fan Mail a fine acquisition.”

I about jumped out of my skin with this review. I am pleased with the powerful 5 Star Reviews Fan Mail is receiving. I’ll hang onto the positive reviews I’ve received so far.

Purchase Fan Mail prior to March 30, 2023, use code: PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount!

https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail

Meet Tracy Ball – An Author!

I have long been a Tracy Ball fan. We are both with Black Rose Writing, and we follow each other on Facebook, but it was her humor that hooked me. For instance, when I said tell me about yourself, she responded, “I am made entirely of rum and snacks! I have hung out with murderers and dined with people who have dined with the Pope, which is why I need the rum… and a nap.”

There is honesty in her writing you will like, and her personality comes through in the pages. She writes real and raw interracial romance with an intensity that burns because she has been busting stereotypes while teaching interracial and generational healing for more than a quarter of a century.

I hope you will enjoy her interview as much as I did.

What was it that made you decide you had a story to tell and to become an author?

I wanted to be an author all my life. The thing that became the story I had to tell was meeting my husband and getting involved in an interracial relationship.

As an author or writer, what sets you apart from others?

I didn’t become a writer. I was born this way. And while, I still have to hone my craft and sharpen my skills, writing is in my blood. It gives me a different approach to every aspect of world-building.

What genre do you write, and why?

Interracial Romance (just about every sub-genre). It’s who I am.

If you were to name one or two books that you deem unforgettable and that had a major impact on you, what would they be, and why? 

Roots by Alex Haley taught me who I was. And, Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien opened the door to endless possibilities. 

What authors do you read regularly? Why?

I read the Indy authors in my writing circles- we have to support each other. I also read Sharon Kay Penman. I hope to one day write as flawlessly as she did. And Christine Feehan. She knows how to use the full range of her topic.

If you were to have dinner with 5 individuals living or dead, who would they be and why?

My parents (deceased) and three of my ancestors. I have so many questions.

What is your writing routine? When you write, do you plan or outline ahead or are you a “pantser”?

Definitely a panster. I get one or two scenes and then my story becomes how they got there and what happens next. I am never without my laptop—my preferred writing tool—and I work on something writing related every moment I can.

When writing, how much do you read? Do you read in or out of your genre?

I don’t read much while I’m writing a story and nothing in my genre. I don’t want to subconsciously draw from someone else’s work.

Is there something you set out to do, but somehow, it didn’t work out for you? (In writing, or something else you felt was important to you at the time?)

I believe things work out the way they are supposed to. Not necessarily the way I want, but usually for the best. (I’m an overly optimistic person. lol)

What tips would you give to new or even experienced writers?

If you’re not writing for yourself, don’t bother. If you want to use your writing to teach a lesson, other than children’s stories, don’t bother. If you’re seeking perfection (rather than realness) don’t bother. Comparing yourself to other authors is a waste of valuable writing time.

How do you handle a negative critique?

If someone doesn’t like what I write, that’s okay. I didn’t write it for them.

Is there a type of writing/genre that you find difficult to write? Why?

So far, I love everything I have tried. Horror intimidates me a little, but I’ll get to it.

How important are the elements of character, setting, and atmosphere to a story, and why?

The “story” is ultimately, “what happened.” But the difference between talking at someone and inviting them into your world is the balanced application of those elements.

Do you see yourself in any of the characters you create? How/Why?

 Yes. All of my stories contain a real person, place, thing, or event that I relate to. At least one character shares my honest reaction.

Is there an unforgettable or memorable character that will not leave your head, either of your own creation or from a book you’ve read?

I tend to write antiheroes. I am fond of my bad boys. Baldassare! He is a cursed pirate who is content with his hell and changes the world rather than himself. He is too much fun and absolutely unforgettable.

Tell us about your most recent book. 

Swords & Cell Phones – Sometimes it’s your destiny to change your fate.

How did you come up with the concept?

I’m a LOTR fanatic. The story came about after a conversation with a teen about the handling of the ring.

How did you come up with the title?

The title was easy. It’s an example of their most readily available tools.

From your book, who is your favorite character? Who is your least favorite character? Why?

Favorite: Trill. He redefines loyal and has the hardest job.

Least favorite: Christif. Much of the trouble he caused was intentional. 

Snippet from Swords & Cell Phones:

After one accurately placed jab with Loathel’s blade, Honor considered her feat. Responding to movement behind her—movement she hadn’t been aware of—she concluded somehow the Elve was doing it. He had to be. She deftly switched the longknife from her right hand to her left, lashed out, and was rewarded with a pained yelp from something else she didn’t know was there. Wow, I’m better than Jalen. 

Loathel, standing in front of her, switched his sword from his left hand to his right and back again six times over, arcing and swirling, in a blaze of movement that left four Queons, three

Kildar, and a wolf dead.

“Okay. So you’re better than Jalen.”

“I should hope.” He stabbed something over her head.

After that, they were both too busy to hold the conversation.

Book Links:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/swords-cell-phones-tracy-a-ball/1141355226

Her published works include:

Blood Like Rain; The Other Shore; Civil Warriors; Swords & Cell Phones; Dragonfly Dreams; KAYOS: The Bad & The Worse; The Right Way to Be Wrong; The Tiger & The Snake; White Russian Lies; Mail Duty; If By Chance: A Shorts Collection; Welcome to BBs; Death’s Desire; Big Guns & Bullsh@t; Peaches & Dreams; A Song in the Storm; Mercury Chain Thomson; Kitten-Shipped; Imogene’s Flowers; Thorns; Black’s Magic; Truly Madly Kiss Me; Cumberland Christmas; Train Ride.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/601509103800290/625996514684882/?

https://www.instagram.com/tracya.ball/

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/tracy-a-ball

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3171920.Tracy_A_Ball

https://tracyaball.wordpress.com

Fan Mail Book Trailer and Three More Reviews!

One of the toughest things to do for any author is to split time between writing and promotion. I have to admit, I’m not the best at promoting my work. I would much rather write than promote, and I’d rather be at sales and signing events than promote. Though I guess selling and signing my books is part of promotion.

There are several things I do to promote my work. One is to solicit reviews from trusted authors and bloggers. I’ve been fortunate to have several “go to” people who will read and review my work, and I do the same for them. Each is a talented and gifted author in their own right, and to have them not only read my work and then write a review is quite an achievement. I value their opinion, and fortunately, they’ve given me great reviews.

A second thing I do is hop on a blog tour. These are average, ordinary folks who would describe themselves as bookworms. They enjoy reading and writing about what they read. My book, Fan Mail, will be on two different blog tours closer to publication day, March 30, 2023.

A third thing I do is pay for a book trailer. A book trailer is similar to a movie trailer, and it will run about a minute or so and give the highlights of the plot of a book to encourage readers to purchase my book.

Literary Titan is a company that has done book trailers for each of my books. Their work is impressive. The link to the book trailer for Fan Mail is below. I hope you take a peek at it and let me know what you think.

Book Trailer for Fan Mail:

          YouTube: https://youtu.be/MS5VjTzCvM4

            Literary Titan: https://wp.me/p3cyvH-dj5

I also seek reviews from respected and trusted organizations and companies that review books. Some of them have contests associated with them, and that is an added bonus. I’ve been fortunate enough to land not only highly rated and great reviews for my work, but I’ve walked away with awards. I think at last count, I’m up to fifteen and counting. In fact, in the next day or week, I will have a terrific announcement for one of my books that just blew me away. More to come with that.

One such company that does reviews and has a contest associated with it is Readers’ Favorite. I reached out to them and entered their contest with Fan Mail, and the reviews by three different reviewers are below. Each reviewer highlighted a different aspect of Fan Mail, which was something I liked about them. One talks about one character, Brian. One talks about the family structure, while a third talks about the intense plot. All three nailed my intentions and the themes of the book when I wrote it, and I’m more than pleased with them. They are below, so read them over and let me know what you think.

Review #1: Review by Vincent Dublado

Review Rating: 5 Stars 

Reviewed by Vincent Dublado for Readers’ Favorite

Fan Mail by Joseph Lewis is a compelling coming-of-age tale that crosses the suspense genre with an LGBTQ theme. They say blood is thicker than water, but could it apply to Brian, who is an adopted child? His foster siblings, Randy and Bobby, along with their fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that becomes increasingly threatening. They don’t pay attention to it until the sender notches up the game, causing the boys to spiral into a world of danger and taking its toll on their friendship. There might be jealousy involved, but the boys never imagined that it would be taken to such an extreme. Brian has already saved the lives of his brothers once during an unforgettable event in Arizona that left him with a deep emotional scar. Will he risk his life for them once again, now that someone out there is making wrong choices that disrupt the lives of the people he loves?

Some stories remain with you for a while and others for a lifetime. Fan Mail is likely to endure, as it is the type of novel that becomes popular by word of mouth. The plot grabs your attention, and it will not let you go until the last page. It’s the kind of story that is perfect for a film adaptation to draw a mass audience of young adults. It is very much a part of the obsession or stalker film genre, which is truly creepy because it is a type of horror that exists in real life. It has a touching message to the young about the importance of family, which is conveyed effectively as Joseph Lewis devotes time to exploring his characters. The climax works rather well. There are many reasons why you should read this book.

Review #2: Review by Keith Mbuya

Review Rating: 5 Stars  

Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers’ Favorite

The recent events seemed too much for Jeremy, a counselor at Waukesha North High School, Milwaukee, to handle, causing him to suffer a heart attack and be hospitalized. Two of his seven sons were receiving threats through the mail, demanding that they quit a music band they had joined called Bits and Pieces. He also discovers secrets about five of his adopted sons that threaten to break his family apart. Jeremy and his wife had involved the local detectives to investigate the threats. The detectives find three leads during their inquiries, all involving Danny, the leader of Bits and Pieces, and his father Jeff, a successful author. Previously, the boys had survived an explosion after a soccer match at a local stadium in Milwaukee. The results of the investigations show that the explosion had targeted Jeff. Did all this have anything to do with the author and will the detectives solve the mystery? Find out more in Fan Mail by Joseph Lewis.

Joseph Lewis hatches an engrossing plot in this enthralling read. He anchors the storyline on a tale of teenage drama, family, relationships, love, passion, envy, and secrets. The cast’s conflicts are built on real-life themes, ranging from parenthood to sexual orientation. Fan Mail is like a mirror held up to contemporary society, brilliantly reflecting and portraying our lives, struggles, troubles, delicate relationships, and so much more. His vivid depictions excited my imagination and made the reading entrancing. Lewis kept me on edge with suspense and drama. His brilliant way of bringing out the characters’ qualities made the reading experience feel like being on a rollercoaster of intense emotions. This made it easy for me to connect, empathize with, and experience the individual lives of the large cast. Some of the scenes left me hurt, while others made my heart melt with joy.

Review #4: Review by Grace Ruhara

Review Rating: 5 Stars 

Reviewed by: Grace Ruhara for Readers’ Favorite

Fan Mail by Joseph Lewis is a dramatic and thrilling novel that will juggle your emotions between excitement and sympathy. It is also a clear reflection of an ideal family set-up consisting of fights, laughter and, most importantly, love. An anonymous fan has been sending rude and life-threatening letters to Danny, Bobby, and Randy, who are part of a band. The letters stress the family members to the extent of causing their father, Jeremy, to have a heart attack. A month before the heart attack, there had been a car bomb explosion that the detectives feared might be linked to the letters. Who could this anonymous and daring person be? What is their next move? Do they end up hurting more people, or are they caught before the next sinister action?

There are so many aspects I liked about Fan Mail by Joseph Lewis. Among them is the dialogue. I empathized with the characters’ emotions, feelings, and thoughts from the conversations. They were so intense that I found myself almost crying. I also liked the development of Brian’s character as caring, a leader with a selfless nature, and a loving brother. Despite being hurt by his brothers, he lets go of his feelings and brings them together in the most devastating times. He calms them down and tries to be strong for them. The fact that he is always ready to risk his life to save his brothers is commendable. This is an interesting character that I would like to emulate. Lewis is a tremendous storyteller and I recommend this novel to readers who love thrillers, family dramas, and police investigations, since it includes all three. It will have them entertained in every scene.

I hope you enjoyed the book trailer and the reviews for Fan Mail. Please let me know what you think. In case you’re interested, I’ve put the preorder link below. If you use the code, you get 15% off the purchase price.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and giving my blog a look. Until next time …

Purchase Fan Mail prior to the publication date of March 30, 2023, and use the promo code: PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount! https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail

Another 5 Star Review and Chapter Two – Fan Mail

I was pleased to receive another 5 Star Review of Fan Mail, this time from Joan Livingston, who some of you might know as the author of the acclaimed Isabel Long Mystery Series. She was gracious enough to read my novel and review it. She wrote:

Headline: Readers will have a hard time putting this book down!

5 Stars 

“Joseph Lewis gets readers’ attention right from the first chapter in his latest crime fiction, Fan Mail, when a car bomb explodes outside a school sports stadium. Then, there is threatening mail sent to members of a band from an anonymous source and a stressed-out father’s heart attack. So what will happen to that group of teenaged boys who have survived dire life experiences, including sex trafficking, to find a safe home with a caring couple? Readers will have a hard time putting this book down.” 

​“We’ve gotten to know these characters well in Joseph’s other books. The adopted brothers appear inspired to excel at everything from sports to music. But that also makes them a target. Joseph draws on his experience as a longtime educator to accurately portray teenagers trying to find their way in this sometimes confusing and dangerous world. An interesting coming-of-age novel with a dark twist. Looking forward to the next one.​” 

“So good to get lost in a book!”

       – Joan Livingston, Author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series

​To say I was pleased is an understatement.

Here is the Second Chapter of Fan Mail for you to enjoy. Chapter One was in my last post. I apologize for any formatting issues.

CHAPTER TWO

APPROXIMATELY ONE MONTH LATER

Brian crumpled up the call slip summoning him to the guidance office. He
pushed it to the corner of his desk as far away as possible without tossing it
on the floor. His English teacher, Penny Rios, looked at him questioningly,
but didn’t question him about it.

Brian didn’t want to see his father, Jeremy. The ride to school was not
only unexpected, but uncomfortable. Normally, Jeremy signed his own slips,
not Farner, the assistant principal. That was a twist. Still, he ignored it.
Besides, Rios was one of his favorite teachers, and the discussion they
were having on Lord of the Flies was a good one. Even though they were only
supposed to read up to the fourth chapter, Brian had reread the entire book
in three days. Because only a third of the students had read the book, Rios
decided to have the entire class read Lord of the Flies, or in some cases, reread
it.

“Who would you consider a strong, independent character? Perhaps a
leader among the boys?” Rios asked.

The answers ranged from Jack to Ralph to Piggy. Brian’s friend,
Shannon Pritchert, mentioned Simon, which was an unusual answer.

Puzzled, Rios asked, “Why Simon?”

“I don’t consider him to be a leader, but he was independent. He wasn’t
buying into either side. He spent most of the time by himself,” she said.
Brian nodded.

“Brian, you’re pretty silent today. What are your thoughts?”

He said, “It depends upon what you think strong means. Honestly, I
don’t think any of them are strong. Being strong means having integrity.
Ralph didn’t defend Piggy even when he was being picked on. If he had
integrity, he would have defended Piggy no matter who was against him.
Jack broke rules he felt weren’t necessary, even though there needed to be
order. A person with integrity doesn’t break rules just because he might not
like them. Piggy whined and complained, but he tried to establish order. I
think because of his size and his whining, no one paid attention to him. A
leader has to have followers.”

He looked over at Shannon, smiled, and said, “I have to think about
Simon. I hadn’t thought of him being independent until Shannon
mentioned him.”

“What is your definition of integrity?” Rios asked.

Brian didn’t wait to be called upon. He said, “Someone who speaks the
truth and lives it even when others don’t. A person who is genuine.”

“That can make someone pretty unpopular, don’t you think?”

Brian nodded and said, “It’s what makes someone strong. Speaking the
truth and following the rules, no matter who else does or doesn’t. Being
willing to take a stand, even if it’s unpopular. Standing up for your beliefs. If
you don’t do those things, you don’t have integrity and you aren’t strong.”

There was a knock on the door and Tommy Harrison, the head
basketball coach and one of the physical education teachers, stuck his head
in, smiled at Rios and said, “I’m here to get Brian Evans. He’s wanted in the
office.”

Brian first stared at the crumpled call slip and sighed. Then, reluctantly,
he stood up.

“Bring all your stuff.” Harrison turned to Rios and said, “I don’t think
he will be back in your class today.”

“Okay, thanks,” Rios smiled and said, “Brian, your assignment is to read
the next two chapters by Friday.”

Brian grinned at her. “I finished the book already.”

She laughed and said, “I thought so. Just skim over the next two chapters
so they’re fresh in your mind for Friday.”

Brian stuffed the paperback, his notebook, and his pen into his
backpack, and left the room with Harrison.

As they walked down the hallway, Harrison asked, “Since when do you
ignore call slips from the assistant principal?”

“I thought it was from my dad.”

“Since when do you ignore call slips from your dad?”

“We were having a discussion on Lord of the Flies. It was a good one.”

Harrison smacked him playfully on the shoulder and said, “The book or
the discussion?”

Brian laughed and said, “Both!”

They walked into the guidance area. There were three students sitting
at a table, and one working on a computer in the corner. All four stopped
what they were doing and stared at him.

He also noticed the silence and the lack of a hello from Kristi Johnson,
the guidance secretary and his dad’s friend. Normally, she was smiling and
outgoing. Today, she was quiet. She looked sad as if she had been crying.

“Kristi, are you okay?” Brian whispered as he stood in front of her.

She barely glanced up at him and nodded. She dabbed at her eyes with a
tissue.

Brian turned and saw his dad’s dark office with the door closed.

“We’re in the conference room,” Harrison said as he put an arm around
his shoulders, guiding him through the guidance area and down the small
hallway.

“We?”

Harrison nodded, and then before opening up the conference room
door, he hung onto Brian’s arm and said, “Bri, I want you to know if you or
the guys need anything, and I mean anything, all you have to do is ask.”

Brian wanted to ask him what he meant, but before he could, Harrison
opened up the door and stood to the side so Brian could enter. Inside were
his brothers, minus Two, who was at Butler Middle School. Jeff Limbach
was there, along with his son, Danny. Bob Farner, the assistant principal,
Chuck Gobel, the principal, and Gloria Beatleman, one of the other
counselors, were there.

Detectives Pat O’Connor, Jamie Graff, and Paul Eiselmann stood
against the wall behind Randy, Bobby, and Danny. George sat at one end of
the table, facing Farner and Gobel. On the other side of the table were Billy
and Brett, with an empty chair between them. Brian assumed the empty
chair was for him. Harrison stood with his back against the closed door.

Brian’s father was not in the room.

Brian and his brothers were puzzled. No one knew why they were called
to the office, and he was certain his brothers wondered where their father
was, just as he did.

Farner was a big man with a bald head on top and brown hair on the
sides, and the guys liked him, especially Danny and Randy, who supplied
him with songs after they recorded them.

He cleared his throat. As often as he spoke in front of groups, he was
uneasy and less than confident. He said, “Guys, I have some news to share.
Please, let me finish before you ask questions, okay?”

The guys nodded. Brian glanced at O’Connor and then at Graff to see
if he could read anything from their reactions. He couldn’t, though
O’Connor’s eyes met Brian’s.

“This morning, just after the start of first period, your dad fainted.
When he woke up, our nurse checked your dad’s blood pressure. It was
higher than normal. Your father also complained of chest pressure and
tingling in his left arm.”

“Heart attack,” Brett said quietly, not taking his eyes off of Farner.

Ignoring Brett for the moment, Farner plowed on. “As a precaution, we
called for an ambulance, and they took your dad to the hospital.”

Ignoring the no question request, Brett asked, “Did you call our mom?”

“Yes, we did,” Farner nodded. “She requested the ambulance take him
to Froedtert Hospital, where she works. She’s planning on meeting the
ambulance at the hospital.”

“Have you heard anything about how Dad is doing?” Brett asked.

Farner shook his head and said, “No. Nothing yet.”

Brian glanced around the room. Bobby and Randy wept quietly. Billy
cried openly and unashamedly. Brian reached over and held his forearm.
Danny sat with his hands folded on the table. He couldn’t read George’s or
Brett’s expressions. Probably they were as stunned as he was.

Brett turned to Brian and asked, “When dad took you to school, was he
sick then?”

Brian shook his head and said, “He didn’t seem like it.”

Gobel said, “Mr. Limbach is going to drive you guys to the hospital so
you can be with your mom and dad.”

Brian held up a hand like a traffic cop and said, “Does our brother
Michael know?”

“Oh shit,” Farner muttered. “Sorry, excuse the language. No, I didn’t
think of it.”

Brian half-turned to Jeff and said, “Jeff, would you take Randy, Brett,
Bobby, and Danny to the hospital? George, Billy and I will go to Butler and
pick up Michael.”

Jeff nodded and said, “Yes, I can.”

Brian explained to Farner and Gobel, “Brett and Bobby need to be with
mom. Their mom. Randy needs to be with dad.”

“What about Billy?” Randy asked.

“George and I will be with him. We won’t be far behind.”

“Brian, I don’t think you should drive,” Gobel cautioned.

“I’ll be fine,” Brian said with finality. “Mr. Farner, can you call the
middle school and tell them to have Michael ready? But make sure no one
tells him about dad. George and I will.”

“Brian,” Mr. Gobel objected, when O’Connor cut him off.

“I’ll escort them to Butler and then lead them to the hospital.” To Brian,
he said, “Do you know how to get there?”

“I’ve been there once or twice, but I’ll put the address in my nav system
just in case.” With the amount of construction and his lack of familiarity
with that area of Milwaukee, he wasn’t so sure. O’Connor knew it.

Brett, who had driven Brian’s truck to school, searched his backpack for
Brian’s keys and placed them on the table in front of Brian.

To Farner, Brian said, “It’s important they don’t tell Michael. We will.
I don’t want him freaking out when no one is with him.”

There didn’t seem to be any further discussion, so Brian stood up and
said, “Okay, let’s go.”

Graff said to Jeff, “We’ll bookend you. I’ll lead, and Paul will be behind
you.” To Brian, he said, “Bri, I want you driving carefully.”

Brian nodded.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Graff asked.

Brian leveled his gaze at O’Connor and then at Graff. He said, “I’m
fine.”

“Can you please let us know any news?” Farner asked.

“I have your cell. I’ll call or text you and coach,” Brian said. He stopped
at the doorway and asked, “Is Kristi going to be okay?”

Gobel smiled and said, “We’ll take care of her. It was thoughtful of you
to ask about her.”

The boys, the cops, and Jeff filed out of the conference room, leaving
Harrison, the administrators, and the counselor standing there in silence. It
was Farner who broke it.

“Brian, wow! I didn’t expect him to take charge. Brett, maybe, but not
Brian.”

Harrison smiled, shook his head and said, “It was crunch time for them.
Now you know why, if the game is on the line, the guys look to Brian. If
there’s one shot left, Brian will take it. You saw the same thing in football
with the forty-seven-yard field goal to win the sectional final. Brian is scary
calm and most always in control.”

“I always thought Brett was the leader. Maybe Randy,” Farner said.

Harrison shook his head. “In some ways, maybe. Probably a lot of ways.
With something like this, all of them follow Brian.”

Purchase Fan Mail prior to the publication date of March 30, 2023, and use the promo code: PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount!

https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail

A Review and a Snippet – Fan Mail

I received my first review of my newest book, Fan Mail, yesterday, so I thought I would share it along with a passage from the book. Karen E. Osborne, author of Reckonings and Tangled Lies, wrote:

“I really enjoyed Fan Mail. I meant to read it over several weeks, but once I got started, I had to keep going.”

Headline: Couldn’t Put It Down!

5 Stars

Once again, author Joseph Lewis has written a page-turning thriller. I liked the suspenseful plot, and the adopted brothers and their journey were compelling. Short chapters, fast-paced, and terrific attention to telling details combined with a strong plot and great characters added up to a satisfying read. Thanks for another excellent story! What’s next?

I’m pleased a terrific and well-respected author such as Karen liked Fan Mail. Honestly, it felt “right” as I wrote it, and much of it wrote itself. This one, like my others, uses the same characters, but it has a coming-of-age thread embedded in a tight thriller-crime-mystery that I think readers will enjoy.

Here is the first chapter of Fan Mail for your enjoyment. More to come in subsequent posts. I apologize in advance for the cutting and pasting feature not working well.

CHAPTER 1

The boys, victorious in the soccer match against their cross-city rivals, walked away from their end-of-game team huddle when the first of the explosions rocked the ground they stood on. No one knew what the explosion was, only that it came from the stadium parking lot. Several explosions, actually. Two at least, maybe a third.

The stadium shook. The press box, not the newest of structures, fell down on one side and those in the box scrambled, pushing and shoving to get out.

Stunned, the crowd was silent.

At first.

Then, in panic and confusion, they ran, sometimes climbing over one another, knocking down whoever was in their way.

“Guys! Stay here! Get down!” Brian yelled as he ran out in front of his team, his arms out like a traffic cop.

The boys listened and hit the ground, huddling with one another.

Brian and Coach Bennett stood facing the crowd.

“Here! Here!” Brian waved his arms, his eyes locking in on his brothers and friends in the first row.

They responded by jumping over the fence and down onto the track separating the field from the bleachers, and ran to join the team laying frightened and confused on the ground.

Most of the parents followed.

Jeremy sent Vicky and others to the field.

Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor, and Paul Eiselmann- all three detectives- stopped parents and spectators from going into the parking lot, and redirected them to the field.

Fortunately, the stadium had emptied as the press box fell completely into the top rows and rolled half-way down the bleachers until it broke apart and came to a precarious rest.

Graff took charge and shouted, “Stay where you are until we determine what happened. 9-1-1 has been contacted, and the fire department is on the way!”

He and the two other cops, Jeremy, and the assistant principal, Bob Farner, made their way to the parking lot. Eyes blinked back tears caused by the rancid smoke. Coughing expelled as much smoke that had been inhaled.

Three vehicles towards the back and side of the lot were on fire. They sat in a row near the visitor bus and the marching band trailer. Fortunately, they were situated away from other vehicles.

The heat and smoke kept them from venturing too far. Parents were kept away from their cars until the fire department could assess the situation. What they could see, three vehicles were twisted and burned or burning.

“Jesus!” Jeremy uttered.

“Yeah, I know,” Farner responded.

“No, I mean, that’s Jeff’s SUV in the middle.”

Fan Mail by Joseph Lewis

I hope you enjoyed it. If you Purchase Fan Mail prior to the publication date of March 30, 2023, use the promo code: PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount!

Use the comment section below to let me know what you thought of chapter one of Fan Mail. Thanks for checking in!

A New Book and a Short Story

I am happy to share with you the cover of my new book, Fan Mail that was designed by David King of Black Rose Writing, the publisher of each of my books. I don’t know how he does it, but he comes up with a home run each time.

Fan Mail by Joseph Lewis, Cover Design by David King of Black Rose Writing

Fan Mail is similar to my other books, yet different in many ways. Like my other books, Fan Mail has most of the same characters you’ve come to know and enjoy. Like my other books, Fan Mail is written in the thriller-crime genre. However, it is more than a thriller-crime novel. There is a coming-of-age story with an LGBTQ+ theme running in the pages. I am certain you will laugh and weep throughout the book. I found myself doing that when I wrote it and again, when I edited it.

I will keep you posted on the preorder date. The paperback of Fan Mail will be available before the Kindle or Nook version and I will update you as I find out more information. The official release date is March 30, 2023.

As promised, here is another short story, The School, that fits with our spooky season of ghosts, goblins, and ghouls. I hope you enjoy it. I apologize ahead of time if the copy/paste feature upsets the normal formatting. I’ll try to fix it as I encounter it, but sometimes, this program has a will of its own.

Main Building, JFK Prep, St. Nazianz, WI Photo by Joseph Lewis

The School

by Joseph Lewis

            “We need to check it out,” Jayson said to his two friends. “Seriously.”

            Cross country practice had been over, and the three friends were leaning against Jayson’s older model Chevy Impala talking, drinking Gatorade, and eating Cheetos. The Cheetos were courtesy of Madi Foster. They stood a couple of feet apart from one another because all three were sweaty and ripe from the workout.

            They were seniors at Germantown High School in Wisconsin, and Keith and Madi were dating, sort of. Nothing official. Group dates mostly. But the volume of texts between the two of them would make War and Peace look small. Jayson Cook was their best friend. He was unattached at the moment and not looking for a girlfriend. He was so easygoing that if one came along, fine. If not, that was okay, too. Easygoing in that part of his life. Intense when it came to running.

            “I don’t know,” Keith Barton said. “First, it’s in St. Nazianz, and that’s about an hour away. Probably longer. Second, you said yourself the property is condemned. That means there will be no trespassing on the property, right?”

            “It’s not condemned. It’s just boarded up.” Jayson thought it over and said, “Maybe condemned.”

            “Part of me wants to go just to check it out,” Madi admitted. “But I don’t want to get caught and end up in jail.”

            Jayson, excited that he had at least one partial commitment, smiled broadly, flicked his long hair back and leaned forward.

            “Just listen before you decide, okay? This Father Oschwald dude has to leave Germany because of religious persecution or something. But there is another account I found that said he got kicked out of Germany for practicing healing and shit. He was a mystic, whatever that means. And he used herbs and plants to heal people. He and a bunch of followers leave Germany and land in New York. Most of his followers stay there, but some come to Wisconsin. They start this village and eventually, this boarding school. Pretty normal, right? Except for the mysticism shit and healing people with plants, even though he wasn’t a doctor.”

            “I suppose,” Keith admitted.

            “My dad’s friend, we call him Joe-Mama, went to that school in the early seventies. He told us some weird shit that happened there.”

            “Like what?” Madi asked.

            “There are tunnels from building to building. They were locked up and none of the students could use them, even in cold weather. They weren’t allowed. Students had to help clean up the place, like the classrooms and the kitchen and cafeteria. They’d do dishes, sweep the floors and wipe down the tables. One guy hid in the kitchen and used the tunnel to sneak into a building that was the laundry. No one was around, but he got to the second floor and found four small beds. Smaller than a twin, but larger than a baby bed. They were made up and didn’t look like they were used. But they were. This guy found a bible and a rosary on one nightstand, and there were clothes in the dresser. Small clothes, like a kid in elementary would use. Except, it was a high school and there were no elementary kids at the school.”

            Keith blinked at him, and then exchanged a look at Madi, who said, “That’s weird.”

            “And the doors were locked from the outside, not the inside,” Jayson whispered, leaning forward.

            “Outside? Like they were prisoners or something?” Keith asked.

            Jayson shrugged and said, “Joe-Mama never said, but it seemed like it.”

            “That’s creepy,” Madi said.

            Jayson shook his head and said, “That’s not the creepiest story. Joe-Mama said somebody snuck up onto the fourth floor of a dorm. None of the students were allowed to go up there. Brothers or priests or somebody had rooms on that floor. One night, this guy sneaks up there and finds the archives.”

            “The what?” Madi asks.

            “Archives. The history of the place dating way, way back to 1860. Something like that. There was a church on the grounds, St. Ambrose, named after this Father Oschwald. One brother, that’s what they called themselves- brothers and sisters- was found one night hanging from the bell tower. From the rope thingy that rang the bell. Except you needed a long ladder to ring the bell because the rope wasn’t long enough. And this brother was bouncing up and down on the rope, but there wasn’t a ladder around. No one knew how he got up there.”

            “Damn!” Keith said.

            Madi hugged herself like she was cold, even though the afternoon was hot and sunny.

            “It turns out that this same guy wanted to leave and quit the community, but the head guy convinced him to stay a week and pray on it. It wasn’t even a week, and the guy was found hanging on the bell rope thingy.”

            “They didn’t want him to leave?” Madi asked.

            “Or they didn’t let him leave,” Keith muttered.

            “There was a report of exorcisms and shit. At least two, Joe-Mama said.”

            “Exorcisms? I thought that was just a haunted story thing. I didn’t think it was real?” Madi said.

            “There were two stories that scared the shit out of me,” Jayson said as he ran his hand through his long, dark hair. He took a deep breath. “Joe-Mama told us a story about when he was a freshman. Two seniors snuck out of the dorm at night to have a cigarette. That wasn’t allowed at the school. They were talking and smoking and suddenly, one guy sits up. The other guy asks him what’s wrong, and the other guy shakes his head and said, ‘Nothin.’ So, they’re sitting there and the same guy sits up again and asks, ‘You hear that?’ The other guy says, ‘Hear what?’ and the first guy said, ‘It sounds like a girl screaming.’ He looks over his shoulder and said, ‘From over there where the auditorium is.’ The other guy says, ‘I didn’t hear anything.’ The first guy stands up and said, ‘Some girl is screaming.’ The other guy stands up and said, ‘I don’t hear anything. Honest.’ And the first guy takes off running towards the auditorium.

            “The building is locked up and they can’t get in, but they search around the building and the woods on the side of it. They didn’t find anything, but the guy is going crazy because he still hears some girl screaming. The other guy convinces him it’s a fox or the wind or something, but the one guy says it’s a girl screaming. Eventually, they go back to their dorm.

            “The next morning, the guy who heard the girl screaming does some research or talks to one of the older priests or a brother and finds out that the night before was the anniversary of some girl from St. Nazianz who was found murdered. The person who killed her was never found. It’s still an unsolved case.”

            “Jesus!” Keith said. He licked his lips and said, “And you want us to go explore this school? Shit, Jayson!”

            “Yeah, I don’t know,” Madi said.

            “The other story is even weirder. Joe-Mama, his football coach, and a couple of other students are in the Oschwald guy’s tomb. A crypt. They have a séance. They had a book that was written by Oschwald. At some point, it got really cold in the tomb, even though the night was warm. A candle holder, I don’t know the right name of it, fell over and one of the glass pieces whizzed by Joe-Mama’s head. It almost hit him. They got scared, even the football coach, and they got out of there. But on the way down, they heard the church bell ringing. It never rang that time of night. They saw one brother leaving the school and walking to his residence and they asked him why the church bell rang. The brother said there was no bell. It never rang. The football coach argued with him that they heard the church bell, but the brother said it never rang. Weird, huh?”

            “Too weird,” Keith said.

            Madi looked doubtful, and Jayson didn’t know if she didn’t believe the story or if she had doubts about going to the school.

            Jayson sighed and said, “Look, I’ll drive. I’ll even pay for food. If you guys come along, you can stay in the car. I’ll go explore. I just don’t want to go alone.”

            Keith and Madi stared at each other for a moment. Finally, Keith shrugged and Madi nodded.

            “Okay, but Madi and I don’t have to go into the school. We can stay by the car.”

            Jayson smiled and said, “Yeah, that’s fine. I just don’t want to drive up there by myself.”

            “Are your parents okay with you driving up there? I mean, do they even know you’re thinking about this?”

            Jayson shrugged, but looked away as he said, “They’re fine with it.”

            “They’re fine with it,” Keith said, not believing him.

            “Look, all I want to do is drive up there and look around. If I can get into the school, I’ll do that because I want to see the inside. If I can get into the other buildings, I’ll do that too. I want to see it for myself.”

            “What happens if you get caught?” Madi asked.

            “You mean, what happens if we get caught?” Keith said. “I mean, we’ll be in his car waiting for him.”

            “I won’t get caught,” Jayson said. “I’ll be careful.”

            Keith chuckled and said, “You’re going to be careful breaking into a place that is locked up. A place that probably has a hundred no trespassing signs everywhere. A place that sounds haunted as hell.”

            Jayson smiled and said, “Yeah, I’ll be careful.”

            “You’re nuts,” Keith said.

            Jayson laughed and said, looking from one friend to the other, “So, what do you say?”

            Keith hesitated. A part of him wanted to see this place, even if the stories Jayson told them were bullshit. It sounded like a cool place to see.

            Madi pursed her lips, frowning. “As long as I can sit in the car with the doors locked.”

            “And you pay for the food,” Keith added.

            Relieved, Jayson smiled and said, “Awesome! Okay! Do you want to go Friday night or Saturday night?”

            “Wait!” Madi said. “We’re going to go at night? To some spooky, crazy, haunted school? At night?”

            “It wouldn’t have to be night, night,” Keith said. “It could be late afternoon that goes into the night. Early night. Not the middle of the night.”

            Disappointed, Jayson nodded and said, “Okay, late afternoon. Early evening. I’ll drive and I’ll pay for the food. But we don’t tell anyone we’re going. I don’t want sixteen cars driving up there in a freaking caravan or something. Just the three of us.”

            “What do we tell our parents?” Madi asked.

            “That we’re hanging out, getting something to eat and going to a late movie,” Keith suggested.

            Jayson nodded and said, “That works.”

            Madi frowned. The whole idea troubled her, but like Keith, she wanted to see the place.

            Madi had been silent, almost brooding, since they left Germantown. Both boys tried to engage her in conversation, but after only getting one or two word responses, they gave up.

Finally, Madi leaned forward and said, “I did some research on this Oschwald guy. I think both of you need to hear it.”

The two boys were stunned, and Keith finally said, “Like what?”

“When he left Germany, he wasn’t a priest. The Catholic church was pissed at him after he wrote a book. They called it heresy. The archbishop basically stripped him of any duties, and this was after they shuffled him around from parish to parish. What I read didn’t use the word occult, but that’s what it sounded like.”

“The mysticism stuff,” Jayson said.

“More than that. Oschwald tried to recruit people into something called the Magnetic Society. Like a cult. The church was pissed, so Oschwald quit being a priest. He was more into medicine and claimed to have healed over 3,000 people.”

Jayson and Keith exchanged a look, not lost on Madi.

“That’s why he left Germany. I don’t understand, if he gave up being a priest and had all his priest duties taken away, why did he go by Father when he wasn’t? Only seventy of the 113 people who left Germany stayed with Oschwald. He didn’t just start this school. He started the whole village of St. Nazianz. From what I read, it was more like a commune. They called themselves Brothers and Sisters. After he died, the community kind of fell apart.”

“This guy sounds weird,” Keith said.

“That’s what my dad’s friend said,” Jayson said. “He said the whole place was weird.”

They were fifteen or twenty minutes away when Madi said, “Do we really want to do this? I mean, go see this school?”

“We’re almost there,” Jayson said as he caught her eyes using the rearview mirror.

Keith was silent for a beat and said, “We are almost there, Madi. It will be okay.”

“I’m staying in the car and I’m locking the doors. You two fools are on your own.”

            It was that time when night kisses the day goodbye and takes over the watch. No moon, no stars. Nothing but clouds. A slight breeze. No crickets. No noises, animal or otherwise.

            They had parked in a field roughly two football fields away, and tucked themselves just into the tree line on their approach.

            “Sssss, wait!” Madi hissed.

            Both boys jumped at the sound, and Keith whirled around in a fighting crouch. They relaxed when they saw her.

            “I thought you were going to wait in the car?” Keith said.

            “It was too creepy sitting in the dark by myself.”

            “Okay, how do you want to do this?” Keith asked Jayson.

            Jayson wiped his mouth off with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. “We can’t walk down the main driveway. Too open. I think we stay close to the trees until we get to that small building.”

            “What building is that?” Keith asked.

            “I did a Google Earth of St. Nazianz and the school grounds. I think that’s the auditorium.”

            “Great! Where the girl was murdered. The unsolved murder,” Madi said.

            Jayson looked at Keith, and both shrugged at her.

            “Idiots!” she muttered.

            They ran hunched over, but stopped every so often to make sure they blended into the trees and bushes on the edge of the school property. It was awkward, but they didn’t make much noise. They arrived on the side of the auditorium hidden from the main building of the school. They were till in the trees and only fifteen yards away.

            “Do you want to check it out?” Keith whispered.

            “I do. Are you two coming with me?”

            Keith looked at Madi and, not taking his eyes off of her, said, “I think I do.”

            “Sure, what the hell? Let there be three more unsolved murders.”

            The two boys laughed, and in response, Madi muttered, “Idiots!”

            They sprinted the short distance and crouched down under a closed window. Jayson, being the tallest, raised himself up at the side of the window and peeked in. It was too dark to see much of anything. He made out piles of folding chairs and a small stage at one end of the room. There were two exits on either side of the stage at floor level, and the main entrance was at the end opposite the stage.

            He tried to raise the window, but it wouldn’t budge. He said, “I’m not sure if it’s locked or if it’s just stuck.”

            “Probably locked,” Keith said.

            “I think there is a door on the side over there, and there is a main door in front to our left.”

            “Which are probably locked,” Madi muttered.

            Jayson sighed. Madi was getting to be a pain.

            “Keith, can you help me raise the window?”

            The two boys struggled and strained, but the window wouldn’t move.

            “Let’s try the side door,” Jayson suggested.

            They duck-walked along the side of the building until they came to a door. He reached for the doorknob, but Madi put her hand on Jayson’s arm.

            “Wait! What if there is an alarm?”

            Neither boy thought of that. If an alarm sounded, it would alert the neighbors. There was one house diagonal from the main road, but across the road and down about thirty to forty yards away. No other neighbors were close by. If an alarm was hooked up to the police, a sheriff might drive up, but St. Nazianz was small. Jayson didn’t know if the little town had its own force.

            “This place is shut up. Two of the windows have a board over the top. I doubt if there is an alarm,” Keith suggested.

            “Do you want to take that chance?” Madi asked.

            The two boys thought it over and Keith said, “If an alarm goes off, we get to the woods and run back to our car and get the hell out of here. If there isn’t an alarm,” he stopped and shrugged.

            “Then we’re good,” Jayson finished for him.

            Jayson gripped the doorknob, held his breath, and turned it. The knob turned, but the door didn’t budge.

            “Deadbolt?” Keith asked.

            “Probably,” Jayson said. He was disappointed. He thought it would be easier than this.

            “What if we try moving the board from the window?” Keith suggested. “They’re just plywood, and if there was a window, why would they need a board?”

            The two boys duck-walked back to a window covered by a board. They gripped it and gave it a yank. Gently at first, but when it didn’t budge, they pulled harder until it gave away. As Keith had suggested, nothing but a gaping hole where the window should have been. Only shards of glass remained in the pane, but the center of the window was gone.

            “Wait!” Madi said.

            Jayson sighed, thinking she was going to prevent them from climbing in. Rather, she bent down, grabbed a rock, and knocked out the remaining glass from the window.

            “No sense in anyone getting cut up,” she said. “Be careful. There might be bits of glass on the windowsill.”

            As a precaution, Jayson stuck his hands into his sleeves, and gripped the lower edge of the windowsill and pulled himself up, then he jumped down. He heard something small scurry off towards a corner.

            “Mice,” he said to Keith and Madi.

            “Do you want me to help you up?” Keith asked.

            “No, I’ll wait out here.”

            Keith used his sleeves to cover his hands the same way as Jayson did, climbed up, and dropped in. He waited until his eyes adjusted to the dark.

            “Can I use my phone as a flashlight or is that too risky?” he asked.

            “You can, but keep it pointed down. Shield it if you can.”

            “It stinks in here,” Keith said.

            “I don’t see anything special,” Jayson said. “Let’s go up on stage and maybe down into the basement.”

            The two boys rummaged around on the stage, careful not to make any noise. They found nothing of interest. The curtains were torn and coming off the pulleys, and were dirty and dusty. Three rooms on the side of the stage were empty, except for a couple of toppled folding chairs.

            “Let’s go downstairs,” Jayson said.

            “Where did they find the girl who was murdered?” Keith asked.

            Jayson shook his head and said, “No clue.”

            The stairs were narrow and worn by age and nature. At one point, Keith, the heavier of the two by fifteen pounds, almost fell through.

            “Careful,” he said as much to himself as he did to Jayson.

            The basement smelled dark and dank. Slimy was Jayson’s thought. He heard scurrying.

            “Mice.”

            “Or rats.”

            Jayson shivered and said, “I didn’t need to hear that.”

            When they stumbled on the restroom, which smelled of centuries’ old excrement and urine, Jayson said, “I’m going to piss. I didn’t want to do that in front of Madi.”

            He finished, and then Keith did the same. Of course, the plumbing and water had been turned off, so their urine just sat in the bowl.

They were about to step fully into the basement when they saw light flashing in the stairwell and heard the floor creaking above them.

            Jayson grabbed Keith’s arm, and both stood still, eyes wide, and ready to bolt if it came to that.

            “Madi?” Keith whispered to Jayson.

            Jayson made no response.

            Keith killed the light on his phone, and both boys waited in silence. The light disappeared and the noise of the creaking floor stopped along with it.

            “What the fuck?” Keith whispered.

            Jayson bent low to Keith’s ear and whispered, “Maybe someone saw or heard us and they’re waiting for us.”

            Both boys looked up at the ceiling and then at the near stairwell.

            A light flashed on from the side of the basement opposite them. Both boys jumped.

            “There you are,” Madi said. “There’s nothing in here except mice and mice poop and bats. I’m pretty sure I stepped in bat crap!”

            “You scared the shit out of us,” Keith said, breathing a sigh of relief.

            “What’s a little more poop to go along with the poop already on the floor?”

            Jayson chuckled.

            “Can we get out of here? Please?” Madi asked.

            They stood in the back of the main building after leaving the auditorium the same way they got in. To their left was a natural bowl, and one rusted out goalpost teetered precariously at the far end. Behind that was a shed. Jayson figured this was their old football field, and the shed behind it once held the football dummies, a sled, and other things needed for practice and games.

            Ahead of them was what looked like a breezeway between the main building and what might have been the gym. Above the breezeway was a window into the main building, but it was covered with a plywood sheet. He wondered if, like the auditorium, the plywood sheet was placed there because the window had been broken out. If so, it wasn’t the only window that had been broken.

            On the second and third floors of the main building, several windows were broken, but nothing covered them. Jayson thought village kids or kids from the neighboring town, Valders, might have come to party and ended up throwing rocks at the windows.

            Jayson nodded at the plywood covering and whispered, “That might be our way in.”

            Keith hoisted Jayson onto the roof of the breezeway, then did the same for Madi. Laying down on his belly, Jayson reached over the edge and helped Keith up.

            From the roof of the breezeway, they saw the empty back of the campus. Fingers of fog crept in from the trees, reaching across the bowl where the football field was. They watched the fog reach for the little cemetery and crypt where Oschwald was buried, along with other members of the community. Jayson shivered, and Madi held her arms around herself, not so much because she was cold but because she was fearful. She didn’t want to break into the school after all, and would just as soon leave. She didn’t voice her opinion because she thought no matter what she said, Jayson and Keith wanted to explore the school.

            As they did before, Keith and Jayson took hold of the plywood patch on the window, and to no surprise, the window was gone. Not even shards of glass remained in the window frame.

            “Ready?” Jayson asked.

            Keith nodded, but Madi stared at him blankly.

            “Ok, let’s go. You can use your phone as a flashlight, but tilt it down so it doesn’t attract any attention.”

            He was the first to climb in, followed by Madi, with Keith bringing up the rear. They found themselves in what looked like an office. A toppled desk was pushed to the side. Various spray-painted messages and tags were on the walls, indicating they weren’t the first to explore the old building.

            Jayson stepped out into the darkened hallway. Electricity must have been cut off, because the exit signs, which would normally glow red, were off. The one on the far end of the hallway hung precariously off the wall.

            “Which way?” Keith whispered.

            Jayson took stock of his surroundings and saw several doors along the hallway and a double-door across from him. “Let’s go down the hallway and then come back and go through the double-doors and see what’s there.”

            They tiptoed silently down the hall, through one door, then out, and into another. Graffiti covered the walls of the hallway and the classrooms. In one room, there were beer and liquor bottles, broken or left lying around. An empty tin can of soup that had been eaten by someone sat in the near center of a room. It had been converted into an ashtray.

            The air smelled of mold, mildew, cigarettes, beer, and weed. Whoever came here partied hard. Jayson even saw several used condoms flung against the wall and floor.

            “That’s sick,” Madi whispered. “Gross!”

            “Yeah,” was all Keith said.

            They worked their way to another set of double-doors and pushed through.

            What was once a library stood before them, taking up all the front of the second floor facing the main driveway. Empty shelves, except for one or two books and partial books, remained in place. Work tables shoved to the side or tipped over and a few broken wooden chairs were all that was left. Even those were covered in spray-painted graffiti. Evidence of parties from long ago to more recent was strewn on the floors and whatever tables remained upright.

            “What the hell is that smell?” Keith said.

            Madi already had her face up to her nose, tucked under her sweatshirt.

            “Jesus!” Jayson said.

            Someone, more than likely more than one, used the library as a toilet. Maybe an animal or a family of animals did the same.

            “Can we get out of here?” Madi asked.

            Neither Jayson nor Keith knew if she meant just the library or the building. And neither wanted to ask.

            “Yeah, let’s get to the other side, but watch where you step. Keep your lights low because these windows face the road,” Jayson said.

            They navigated the obstacle course of tipped tables and chairs, books, and various types and piles of feces past what was left of the checkout desk to the set of doors leading to the hallway. Once there, they stopped and breathed deeply, though the air was only slightly better than in the library.

            They reached a stairwell, and Jayson asked, “Up or down?”

            “Any idea what’s up there?” Keith asked.

            “Dad’s friend said dorms were on the third floor. Below us in the basement are classrooms.”

            “Let’s go upstairs. Basements freak me out,” Keith said.

            “This whole building creeps me out,” Madi said.

            “Okay, we’ll check out the upstairs, then go down to the basement.”

            They climbed the stairs, sticking to the walls until they reached the third floor. A heavy metal door was cracked open by a book. Most of the rooms were empty. Other rooms had old furniture stored in them. Still others had moth or mice eaten, ripped and torn mattresses. No telling who used them or what used them. They were stained in various colors, including what looked like blood. Bones of animals were piled in a corner.

            “What the fuck?” Keith asked.

            “Someone killed animals in here?” Jayson asked.

            “I hope that’s all they killed,” Madi said.

            “Shit, no doubt,” Keith muttered. “No guarantees. Look at the amount of blood on that mattress.”

            “I can’t. I’ll get sick,” Madi said, but her eyes were drawn to the mattress and she couldn’t turn away.

            “Come on,” Jayson said, taking Madi by the arm, knowing Keith would follow.

            Two other rooms towards the end of the hall were like that. Bones. Blood. The smell.

            “What the hell?” Keith said. “What did they do?”

            “I don’t want to know,” Madi said.

            They reached the end of the hallway and found another heavy metal door. They pushed through and found the stairs on one side, and another metal door on the other.

            “Let’s look in here,” Jayson said.

            He pushed open the door and stepped into an empty room that ran the entire length of the wall. It mirrored the library on the floor below them, except it wasn’t a library. It was empty except for the ever-present signs of parties, past and present, and blankets on ripped or chewed mattresses, and a few disgusting looking pillows without covers. Every few steps were used condoms.

            “Somebody slept in here? Seriously?” Keith asked.

            “I bet someone did on a dare,” Jayson answered.

            “No way in hell,” Keith said.

            Madi saw it and froze. Or at least, she thought she saw it, but still froze.

            “What was that? In the corner? Something moved.”

            “What? Where?” Keith said, backing up until he held Madi, leaving Jayson exposed.

            “I didn’t see anything,” Jayson whispered.

            “Something moved. Like a dark shadow. It was weird.”

            Jayson squinted and searched the area in front of him but didn’t see anything.

            “Could it have been a light causing a shadow?” he asked.

            “I don’t know. I thought I saw something.”

            “Keith, did you see anything?”

            “No, not really. But maybe we should get out of here just in case.”

            The three of them moved quickly and didn’t care about any noise they made. They pushed through the door and took the steps, running until they reached the basement.

            If it was possible, it was even darker in the basement than it was on the second or third floors. Using their phones as flashlights, they moved from room to room. Dusty. Damp. One smelling worse than the other. Decades of dirt and decay, mold and mildew. Nothing indicating any classroom except ancient chipped or broken chalkboards. Some housed stacked chairs or desks. Others remarkably empty.

Alarmingly, in one room towards the center of the hallway, was another pile of bones and a large stain on the chipped linoleum floor. At first glance, in the dark, it resembled paint or chocolate syrup. But when Jayson flashed his phone on it, it was clearly dried blood. A lot of it.

            “My God!” Keith said. “What the fuck did they do in here?”

            “Can we please get out of here?” Madi said.

            “This place gives me the creeps,” Jayson admitted, surprising even himself.

            They stepped out into the hallway and made their way to the metal door leading to the stairs.

            “Wait a minute,” Keith said.

            “What?” Madi asked.

            “The bones and the blood and shit. Either someone was killing animals for kicks, which is just sick,” he paused, glanced at both Jayson and Madi and said, “or could they have been doing animal sacrifices? Like Satanic worship shit?”

            “Damn, I don’t want to think about that,” Jayson said, his hand on the door.

            Madi shivered and wiped a tear from her eyes.

            “Are you okay?” Keith asked her.

            “No.” She shook her head, and said, “No, I’m not. This place is sick. It’s gross.” She shivered and hugged herself.

            “Okay, let’s go,” Jayson said.

            He pushed open the door, and all three heard it.

            Faint humming or a chant. Something foreign. More than one voice echoing along the hallway and darkness.

            Eyes wide, they stared at one another.

            Finally, Jayson whispered, “Do you hear that?”

            Heads nodded, and Madi cried harder, but silently. Her hands covered her mouth.

            “Just above us, I think,” Jayson whispered. “First floor.”

            “We have to be quiet,” Keith whispered. “I don’t want them to find us.”

            Jayson led them up the stairs single-file, with Keith bringing up the rear, each on tip-toes, eyes upward, with Madi gripping a handful of Jayson’s sweatshirt. They reached the metal door to the first floor. The faint chanting became louder, still quiet enough that they didn’t understand what was being sung.

            Jayson faced the door to the first floor. Unlike the others, it was shut completely and not propped open. He hesitated. Part of him wanted to open it to a crack so he could peek in. He wanted to see who was singing and where it was coming from.

            Keith shook him and whispered, though it was no more than mouthing the words, “Let’s get out of here.”

            Jayson hesitated. He heard Madi weeping, though her hands covered her mouth. Keith shook him again and whispered louder, “Let’s get out of here! Now!”

            The chanting stopped. The three kids froze.

            Keith pushed Jayson towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Jayson didn’t hesitate. He took off, with Madi and Keith following close behind. They didn’t care how much noise they made, just wanting to get out.

            They reached the second floor and pushed through the door and into the hallway, racing for the room that led to the window above the breezeway.

            Jayson stopped in his tracks with his arms out like a traffic cop, and both Madi and Keith piled into his back.

            Standing at the end of the hall was a figure in a black robe, carrying an old-fashioned lantern emitting a faint orange glow. They saw the figure clearly, except they couldn’t see the figure’s face. 

            Wanting to get away, and thinking they might have better luck heading back to the first floor, Keith turned around, but stopped.

            Another figure, dressed in a dark robe and carrying a lantern like the other figure at the other end of the hall, stood blocking their retreat.

            Both figures advanced slowly.

            “Fuck!” Jayson yelled, though he didn’t mean to yell anything.

            He reached behind him and pulled Madi as they ran to the room with the window. Keith followed.

            “Out! Now!” Jayson said, pushing Madi towards the window.

            She climbed through, but hesitated before she jumped. The drop wasn’t far, but far enough.

            “Keith, come on!” Jayson yelled.

            Keith pounded through the doorway and threw himself out the window and onto the breezeway. Jayson stood guard at the window.

            “I’ll go first and help you down,” Keith said to Madi.

            He jumped, landed awkwardly, but got up and limped over to the side.

            “Hang off the edge, and I’ll catch you.”

            “Hurry!” Jayson yelled.

            As he did, he saw one figure standing in the doorway.

            “Oh, God!”

            Madi let herself go, but Keith caught her. Jayson jumped off the breezeway onto the ground, fell, and rolled.

            One figure stood on the roof of the breezeway and pointed at them. That was all they needed.

            The three of them ran in the most direct, fastest route back to Jayson’s car. Keith tripped and fell once, as did Jayson. Madi pulled both of them upright.

            They reached the car, gulping in deep breaths of air as they did.

            “Go-go-go!” Keith yelled at Jayson, who hit the key fob opening up the doors.

            Jayson threw himself behind the wheel, started the engine, and backed out, with Keith barely in the passenger seat with his door still open.

            Jayson didn’t know how fast he was going as he hit the highway, hoping no other cars were on the road. Fortunately, there wasn’t any. Just them.

            As they sped past the driveway to the school, one lone figure in a black robe carrying an old-fashioned lantern stood and pointed at them.

I hope you enjoyed the story. Let me know what you think of the short story in the comment section below. And, let me know what you think of the cover of my newest book, Fan Mail. As always, thanks for stopping by.