Michael Richan's Blog, page 9

Steven and Roy return in a stand-alone Christmas novel!

A CHRISTMAS HAUNTING AT POINT NO POINT is available for pre-order now!

This is a stand-alone novel, and no prior reading is necessary to enjoy it.

Here’s the book description:

Steven’s brother and his family have come to visit for the holidays. Looking for a relaxing and quiet location to enjoy the scenic beauty of Puget Sound, Steven chooses Point No Point, the oldest lighthouse in the region. Here, the lighthouse keeper’s quarters have been remodeled into a vacation rental, and it seems to be the perfect location.

Perfect, if your idea of quiet is loud thumpings coming from the abandoned museum next door. Perfect, if your idea of relaxing is a slow, creeping infection emanating from the shipwrecks just off the shore.

In this stand-alone novel, Steven and his father Roy find their picturesque Christmas holiday turning into a family nightmare as they unravel the haunted secrets from the deadly shores of Point No Point.

A Christmas Haunting at Point No Point is the eleventh novel in The River series, but no prior knowledge of the series is required to enjoy it.

I’ve always wanted to have Steven and Roy in a holiday setting, where the peaceful, contented pace of family and Christmas could be jarringly disrupted by something ghostly and terrifying.

Christmas is, after all, as much about the past as it is about the present. Sometimes the past insists on being heard, regardless of how much we try to ignore it.

I wanted this episode in The River series to be independent of much of the current storyline that’s converging between all three series ­­— like a pause, a rest…a breather from the norm, like Christmas itself.

The events in The Cycle of the Shen and The Blood Gardener will continue to develop after the holiday, I promise! For now, I’m enjoying spending some time with Roy and Steven, his brother Bernard, Bernard’s wife Marlene, and their daughter Emily, as they survive their Christmas amongst the foggy environs of the Kitsap Peninsula, and the oldest lighthouse in Puget Sound: Point No Point.

Thank you for following me, and I hope this new story adds to the warmth of your holiday.

(Well, maybe not warmth, exactly…)

Michael

Blood Oath, Blood River FREE at Amazon right now!

Blood Oath, Blood River, the first book in The Downwinders series, is available FREE at Amazon now through November 2.

Pick up a copy and jump into this twisted version of the River, where the radioactive fallout of the desert southwest have made the ghosts more frightening and unpredictable!

 

The Blood Gardener now available at Amazon, and Book 1 on sale for 99 cents!

The second book in The Dark River series, The Blood Gardener, is available now at Amazon.

Here’s the book description:

In the real world, Derick is just a retired cop; but in the Dark River, he’s public enemy number one, living in a land of ghosts.

Most people with the gift won’t enter the Dark River. It’s a disturbing place of evil, where it’s easy to lose oneself in its depraved pleasures – or die in the jaws of a horrifying creature.

Though Derick isn’t gifted, he’s found a way to enter the Dark River, but only to pay the bills: people pay him to go there and extract loved ones from its clutches.

After an extraction goes wrong, Derick becomes a wanted man. Wanted for helping rebels. Wanted for murdering Yann, the great torturer. Wanted for destroying an entire town by fire.

Derick also finds himself the de facto father of A, a monochild with secrets of his own.

Derick’s journey takes him to the gory graveyard of The Blood Gardener, where he forms an uneasy alliance. Will this help him destroy the forces determined to hunt him down?

The Blood Gardener is a fast-paced paranormal mystery, filled with strange twists and turns in a macabre setting. It’s the second book in The Dark River series, set in the same universe as its companion series, The Downwinders and The River.

 

 

 

The Dark River: A on sale for just 99 cents!

Pick up the first book in The Dark River series for just 99 cents from October 28 to November 4 and jump into this creepy new series!

 

 

 

Coming Soon! The Blood Gardener

Book Two in The Dark River series, The Blood Gardener, will be released in the next couple of weeks, before the Halloween holiday!

In this title, Derick goes even deeper into the Dark River. Fans of The River series will find this title particularly intriguing!

The book will be available on Kindle and as a paperback soon; it will not be available for pre-sale.

If you’d like to receive an announcement when it’s live on Amazon, make sure you’re subscribed to Michael’s New Release email list!

 

Next Dark River title announcement coming soon

Happy Friday!

I’m busily at work on the next novel in The Dark River series. The title is selected, and the cover art is underway. I hope to make an announcement about it next week and share the cover art with you, so stay tuned!

I’d also like to thank Kimberly Y, Sherry Baker, and NanKat47 for their kind reviews of The Cycle of the Shen at Amazon! Your reviews matter a great deal to me, and I appreciate you taking the time to share you thoughts about the novel.

 

Real-life events from The Cycle of the Shen

Tina Bailey wrote to me about a line in The Cycle of the Shen where Terrell references a recent explosion at a motel in Bremerton, Washington. She wanted to know how it made it into the novel.

This was based on an actual event: Gas Explosion Reported at Bremerton Motel.

I traveled to Bremerton just after the accident occurred, and here’s a photo I took. You’re looking at the end of the motel that lost several rooms:

There is a scene in the book where Terrell is instructed to empty the second floor tenants of the Victor Smith Building by claiming there was a gas leak. This scene was already in the story when the Motel 6 accident occurred. The coincidence of the explosion just after writing about one was a little creepy to me, so I inserted the reference to the Bremerton explosion during the final edit.

I like to set my novels around real historical events and places. Some other things from The Cycle of the Shen that are true:

There really was a Victor Smith, and he was a prominent leader in Port Angeles’ history. He died in the famous wreck of the Brother Jonathan.
Port Angeles was indeed laid out by the feds. It was known as the “Second National City.” The port of entry was briefly moved from Port Townsend to Port Angeles.
In 2003, a multi-million dollar graving dock project in Port Angeles uncovered the largest pre-European contact Native American village in Washington State, revealing more than 10,000 artifacts and 335 intact skeletons. The project was abandoned in 2004 and the land was returned to the  Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.

 

The Cycle of the Shen reviews

A couple of early reviews are in! Thank you “Kacee24″ and “Joy” for the great reviews you left at Amazon. It is much appreciated!

I’m hard at work on the sequel to “A”. I’m quite happy with the direction it’s going. A few surprises, of course, and an ending I can’t wait to write! Look for the announcement of the title soon.

Let me know what you thought of The Cycle of the Shen – please leave your review at Amazon, where it will help other readers find the book!

Thanks for your support of The River series.

“Bank” free, “Oregon” 99 cents to celebrate release of “The Cycle of the Shen”

The release of Book 10 in The River series, The Cycle of the Shen, is just a few hours away. We’re now very deep into the story, and this new title is definitely not stand-alone. To celebrate the release, Book One The Bank of the River and Book Two A Haunting in Oregon are both on sale!

The Bank of the River is free, and A Haunting in Oregon is just 99 cents during the holiday weekend. You can use Amazon’s gift feature to send these books to a friend. Jumping into The River has never been easier!

For those of you who pre-ordered The Cycle of the Shen, my thanks. It should arrive soon, perhaps today, even though the official release date is tomorrow. The paperback is also available now.

I hope you enjoy this new installment!

Michael

Order the next book in The River series: The Cycle of the Shen

Steven and Roy return in book ten of The River series, just announced and available for pre-order at Amazon.com now!

Here’s the book description:

Does paradise only exist in our minds?

Eximere always seemed like paradise to Steven and Roy. Having agreed to act as caretakers for the mansion, they have been spending more time at Eximere, becoming acquainted with its quirks and idiosyncrasies.

However, the more Steven and Roy learn about Eximere, the more disillusioned they become.

Their recent discoveries of Eximere’s nature have extended their circle of caretaking, and now a century-old creature from a tiny town on the peninsula threatens to unravel the delicate balance that keeps Eximere functional. As they struggle to stop this strange entity from destroying everything they love about Eximere, more of James Unser’s bizarre design is revealed — and the results are devastating to Steven and Roy.

The Cycle of the Shen is a fast-paced paranormal mystery, and the tenth book in The River series.

Releases September 5, 2015. Reserve your copy today at Amazon.com!

 

One more day!

The Blackham Mansion Haunting releases tomorrow! Those who pre-ordered it will start receiving it today. Thank you to everyone — the support for this title has been truly overwhelming! I hope you enjoy it.

(And if you do, please let me know! There’s no kinder way to help promote my books than by leaving a review at Amazon!)