Laying the Music to Rest

by Dean Wesley Smith

A former college professor turned bartender, Doc finds himself trying to save his friends from a ghost under a lake in the wilderness of Idaho. From diving into a sunken ghost town to trying to stay alive on the sinking deck of the Titanic, this time-travel science fiction novel reads like a rollercoaster ride with all the twists and turns. First published in paperback in 1989 from Warner Questar Books, Dean Wesley Smith’s first published novel gives a lot of hints of his future series and his bestselling career spanning over a hundred and fifty novels.

Genres: Fiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1989

About the author

Pen Names
Edward Taft
Dee W. Schofield
Sandy Schofield
Kathryn Wesley

Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names.

With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons.

Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.

Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books.

Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.

Reviews

[Edit Engelmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It ws definately one of the better science fiction novels I have written. Ghosts, the Titanic, a Flood in Idaho - and all very well and witty combined in one exciting story. It is 1989 book and absolutely blood-free. Strongly recommended for those SF friends who - like me - think that the most recent ones dive in too much brutality and too less of a story. This one is or least should be classic.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Available for Kindle at, currently, $5. If you can afford that purchase, go ahead; if, like me, you really don't think so, don't feel yourself greatly deprived. It's an excellent mashup of the ingredients listed in what seems to be the author's own review here, at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..., but not quite the classic he hopes.

Me, I had my copy on the shelf since its first printing.

Tangential: The cover illo is symbolic and atmospheric at best. For one thing, if at an unathletic 40 Doc is that kind of a square-jawed hunk, his narrative fails to suggest it.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly decent addition to the series. I did like that this one hinted at some of what is to come later, the disaster that has been hinted at in so many other books in this and other series. Nothing solid yet, but the full picture is slowly emerging. For that reason alone, I'll continue reading these stories.

[Anitra E. H. L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great read! I loved it.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting mystery/adventure where the characters are teleported back in time to the Titanic