We Have a Book!!
By Your Side is on track for a March 2013 release and will launch at Farpoint , a SF Media convention that will take place February 15-17, 2013 in Timonium, MD.
What's it about?
While haunted by visions of her brother's suicide, psychic-medium Miranda Lorensen is called to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to investigate a series of bizarre deaths—some of which are also suicides. Miranda and her team of paranormal investigators quickly find themselves confronted by a vengeful spirit awakened thirty-three years after a bloody family tragedy. Miranda realizes that only she can stop the entity before it claims its final victims, but will her obsession for saving lives redeem her for the brother she failed?
Here is an excerpt! This scene is from the POV of our protagonist, Miranda Lorensen...
"Nancy!" Miranda called. "None of this is going to bring back the life you had, or the children you lost. Ginny never did anything to you. She’s innocent!" What had started as a dull ache in her shoulders and upper back was now becoming unbearable. She desperately wanted to collapse on a soft bed in dry pajamas. Lord, please. I’m getting too old for this. Help me out here.
Ginny spun, her eyes burning with rage. The eyes of Nancy Vernon. "So were my children!"
"Then why take another child’s life?" Miranda shook her head. "I won’t allow it. Give Ginny to me, now!"
"You can’t stop me. You can’t win this."
There was a blur of motion to Miranda’s left. Amy bolted from the stairwell on a dead run. Startled, Ginny clumsily swung a leg over the rail.
Miranda gasped. "No!"
Amy lunged forward, wrapping one arm around Ginny’s midsection. The girl screamed and slid several inches along the slick rail before Amy’s weight brought her down to the asphalt roof in a crumpled heap. Miranda cringed, inhaling sharply through gritted teeth.
Ginny cried out, wincing in pain. For a few moments, she was utterly motionless, her mouth hanging open. Her chest heaved as she began breathing in spasms. Beside her, Amy pushed herself to her knees and swept a veil of drenched hair from her face. Miranda could see scrapes and scratches on Amy’s hand and arm that were just beginning to bleed.
"How’s that for being stopped, bitch?" Amy said.
Miranda hurried toward them. "Are you okay?"
Amy nodded just as Ginny rolled onto her side with a strangled moan and drew her knees up to her chest in a fetal position. Amy slipped her arm from the girl’s waist and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I’m sorry, Ginny."
"Don’t be." Miranda crouched down beside Ginny. "She may be hurt, but you saved her life." She grasped Ginny’s ankles. "We need to be careful now. Hold her down. If Nancy’s still—"
"Get away from her right now!"
Miranda and Amy looked up in unison as a man of average height and build approached from the fire escape. He wore faded jeans and a dark blue polo shirt. A police badge was clipped to his belt.
And his semi-automatic was leveled at Miranda.
She lifted her hands, palms out. "Sir, we’re not armed."
"I don’t care. Move away now."
"Denny!" Ginny cried. Her raspy voice was tinged with panic. "These are the people I told you about, the ones from the library and the restaurant. They forced me up here and tried to throw me off." Her body trembled as she began sobbing. "Help me, please."
So Nancy’s still in her head. This should get interesting.
Taking one hand off the gun, the cop pointed toward the stairwell access. "I’m going to tell you this only once. Both of you will release Ms. Knedlhans and get over there on your knees, hands on your heads, now."
Miranda refused to budge. "If we let Ginny go, she’ll jump. She was already up here when we arrived. Now, you can shoot us but I guarantee you’ll be scraping her off the street. All we want is to get her safely back inside. Then I’ll explain everything."
"I don’t think so, blondie," Ginny scoffed. Miranda glanced at her but it was Nancy Vernon who met her gaze. She shot a sidelong glance at the cop. "I’m so sorry, Denny. I know how much she meant to you."
Meant?
Denny took a step forward. "Ginny, what are you—"
The girl swung her fist upward and backhanded Amy, sending her stumbling into the iron railing.
Miranda leaned over Ginny to pin her arms to her side but Nancy anticipated her. She slammed both feet into Miranda’s midsection, knocking the wind out of her. Miranda doubled over as Ginny gracelessly pushed herself up and reached for the rail.
Denny lowered his gun and bolted forward. "Ginny, stop!"
Without hesitation, Miranda charged ahead, grasping for Ginny with both hands. By the time she stopped moving, Miranda was bent over the rail with a bird’s eye view of the parking lot. She felt Amy’s arms around her legs, providing ballast.
Miranda strained to breathe against the pressure of the metal against her abdomen. Taking short breaths, she ignored it and focused on Ginny dangling precariously in her grasp. With one hand, she held Ginny’s left forearm while in the other, a wad of stretched maroon tank top that was already beginning to tear.
"A little help," Miranda groaned. The fleeting image of a frightened girl in an oak tree flashed through her mind. Don’t let go…"I can’t hold her."
In her peripheral vision, Denny climbed the rail to her right. He hooked his feet under it and held on with one hand as he crouched down. He extended his free hand, fingers brushing Ginny’s shoulder.
"Give me your other hand, sweetheart," Denny said.
Ginny tilted her head and gazed up at him quizzically. "Now why would I do that? Didn’t I make myself clear? This can only end one way. The blonde can’t hold on forever."
Miranda knew that only she could see Nancy Vernon. To Denny, his best friend’s daughter was ten stories and two tentative grips away from joining her father. Don’t let go.
At that moment, a hole opened up in the back of Ginny’s tank top but Miranda maintained her grip. She squeezed Ginny’s forearm with her other hand in a feeble attempt to ward off the growing numbness in her fingers.
Denny stretched his arm desperately. "Ginny, please."
If I can get her closer. Miranda braced her knees against the rail and arched her back, pulling Ginny upward until she was within Denny’s reach. Nancy made no motion to hinder her effort. She merely allowed Ginny’s body to hang like deadweight, waiting for Miranda’s grip to weaken.
"That’s good." Denny slid his way closer along the rail. Miranda marveled at his courage but feared for him nearly as much as for Ginny. "Just a little higher."
Somewhere below them, Miranda heard excited voices and the rattling of metal but ignored it. She pressed her foot against the rail for support. Denny wrapped a hand around Ginny’s bicep and began to lift her—but Nancy would not have it. She yanked her arm from Miranda’s grasp and goudged the back of Denny’s hand with her fingernails. He howled in pain and recoiled, dropping her arm.
Fabric tore. Amy gasped.
And Ginny fell.
