Curtains (21 page)

Learn more about the supernatural stories in
Ashes
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/ashes.htm

THE FIRST

By Scott Nicholson

A collection of dark fantasy and futuristic
stories from award-winning author Scott Nicholson. Dystopia,
cyberpunk, and science fiction flavor these stories that visit
undiscovered countries and distant times. Includes two bonus essays
and Nicholson's first-ever published story, in addition to the
four-story Aeropagan cycle.

Learn more about the fantasy and science
fiction stories in
The First
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/the
first.htm

MURDERMOUTH: ZOMBIE BITS

By Scott Nicholson

A collection of zombie stories, from the
zombie point-of-view to the shoot-‘em-up survival brand of
apocalyptic horror. Proof that even zombies have a heart . . .Based
on the comic book currently in development by Scott Nicholson and
Derlis Santacruz. With a bonus story by Jack Kilborn, a comic
script, and Jonathan Maberry’s “Zombie Apocalypse Survival
Scorecard.”

Learn more about
Murdermouth: Zombie
Bits
and see zombie art:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/murdermouth.htm

AS I DIE LYING

By Scott Nicholson

Richard Coldiron’s first and last novel
follows his metafictional journey through a troubled childhood,
where he meets his invisible friend, his other invisible
friend...and then some who aren’t so friendly.

There’s Mister Milktoast, the protective
punster; Little Hitler, who leers from the shadows; Loverboy, the
lusty bastard; and Bookworm, who is thoughtful, introspective, and
determined to solve the riddle of Richard’s disintegration into
either madness or genius, and of course only makes things worse.
They reside in the various rooms of his skull, a place known as the
Bone House, and take turns rearranging the furniture. As Richard
works on his autobiography, his minor characters struggle with
their various redemptive arcs.

Richard keeps his cool despite the voices in
his head, but he’s about to get a new tenant: the Insider, a
malevolent soul-hopping spirit that may or may not be born from
Richard’s nightmares and demands a co-writing credit and a little
bit of foot-kissing dark worship.

Now Richard doesn’t know which voice to
trust. The book’s been rejected 117 times. The people he loves keep
turning up dead. And here comes the woman of his dreams.

Learn more about
As I Die Lying
and
the six people in Richard Coldiron’s head:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/dielying.htm

DISINTEGRATION

By Scott Nicholson

Careful what you wish for.

When a mysterious fire destroys his home and
kills his young daughter, Jacob Wells is pulled into a downward
spiral that draws him ever closer to the past he thought was dead
and buried.

Now his twin brother Joshua is back in town,
seeking to settle old scores and claim his half of the Wells
birthright. Jacob’s wife Renee is struggling with her own guilt,
because the couple had lost an infant daughter several years
before.

As Jacob and Joshua return to the twisted
roles they adopted at the hands of cruel, demanding parents, they
wage a war of pride, wealth, and passion. They share the poisonous
love of a woman who would gladly ruin them both: Carlita, a
provocative and manipulative Hispanic whose immigrant family helped
build the Wells fortune.

Joshua wants other things, too, but Jacob’s
desires are divided between the forbidden love he can’t possess,
the respectability he can never have, and the revenge he is dying
to taste. And Renee has dark motives of her own.

If only Jacob can figure out which one to
blame. But the lines of identity are blurred, because Joshua and
Jacob share much more than blood.

And the childhood games have become deadly
serious.

Learn more about the psychological thriller
Disintegration
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/disintegration.htm

FOREVER NEVER ENDS

By Scott Nicholson

It falls from the heavens and crashes to
earth in the remote southern Appalachian Mountains.

The alien roots creep into the forest, drawn
by the intoxicating cellular activity of the humus and loam. The
creature feeds on the surrounding organisms, exploring,
assimilating, and altering the life forms it encounters. Plants
wilt from the contact, trees wither, animals become deformed
monstrosities, and people become something both more and less than
human.

A telepathic psychology professor, a
moonshine-swilling dirt farmer, a wealthy developer, and a bitter
recluse team up to take on the otherwordly force that is infecting
their town. The author’s preferred edition of the 2003 paperback
release
The Harvest
.

Learn more about the science fiction thriller
Forever Never Ends
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/foreverneverends.htm

TROUBLED

By Scott Nicholson

When twelve-year-old Freeman Mills arrives at
Wendover, a group home for troubled children, it’s a chance for a
fresh start. But second chances aren’t easy for Freeman, the victim
of painful childhood experiments that gave him the ability to read
other people’s minds.

Little does Freeman know that his transfer
was made at the request of Dr. Richard Kracowski, whose research
into the brain’s electrical properties is revealing new powers of
the human mind. Kracowski is working for a secret society called
the Trust, but also has his own agenda in exploring the nature of
the soul. His experiments have an unexpected side effect, though.
The electromagnetic fields used in his experiments are summoning
the ghosts of the patients who died at Wendover back when it was a
psychiatric ward.

Freeman simply wants to survive, take his
medicine for manic depression, and deceive his counselors into
believing he is happy. When he meets the anorexic Vicky, who may
also be telepathic, he’s afraid some of his darkest secrets will be
uncovered. But when the other children develop their own
clairvoyant abilities, and insane spirits begin haunting the halls
of Wendover, he can’t safely hide inside his own head anymore.

Meanwhile, the Trust is installing
sophisticated equipment in the home’s basement, aggressively
probing the threshold between life and death. And they’ve brought
in another scientist who doesn’t share Dr. Kracowski’s reluctance
to push the limits.

This scientist is a pioneer
in ESP induction, and he performed most of his work on a very
special subject: his son, Freeman Mills.
The author’s
preferred edition of the 2005 U.S. paperback release
The
Home,
in development as a feature film.

Learn more about the paranormal thriller
Forever Never Ends
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/troubled.htm

CREATIVE SPIRIT

By Scott Nicholson

After parapsychologist Anna Galloway is
diagnosed with metastatic cancer, she has a recurring dream in
which she sees her own ghost. The setting of her dream is the
historic Korban Manor, which is now an artist’s retreat in the
remote Appalachian Mountains. Drawn both by the ghost stories
surrounding the manor and her own sense of destiny, Anna signs up
for the retreat.

Sculptor Mason Jackson has come to Korban
Manor to make a final, all-or-nothing attempt at success before
giving up his dreams. When he becomes obsessed with carving Ephram
Korban’s form out of wood, he questions his motivation but is swept
up in a creative frenzy unlike any he has ever known.

Sylva Hartley is an old mountain witchwoman
who is connected to Ephram Korban both before and after his death.
Her knowledge of Appalachian folk spells and potions has bound her
to the manor in a deeper and darker way. Sylva harbors a family
secret that refuses to stay slumbering in its grave.

The manor itself has secrets, with fires that
blaze constantly in the hearths, portraits of Korban in every room,
and deceptive mirrors on the walls. The house’s brooding atmosphere
affects the creative visions of the visiting artists. A mysterious
woman in white calls to Anna from the forest, while Mason is driven
by the whispers of an unseen critic. With an October blue moon
looming, both the living and the dead learn the true power of their
dreams.

It’s a power that Korban craves for himself,
because he walks a shadowy land where passions burn cold and even
the ghosts are haunted. The author’s preferred edition of the 2004
U.S. paperback release
The Manor
.

Learn more about the paranormal thriller
Creative Spirit
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/creativespirit.htm

SOLOM

By Scott Nicholson

Katy Logan wasn’t quite sure why she left her
finance career in the big city to marry religion professor Gordon
Smith and move to the tiny Appalachian community of Solom.

Maybe she just wanted to get her 12-year-old
daughter Jett away from the drugs and bad influences. Maybe she
wanted to escape from the memories of her first husband. Or perhaps
she was enchanted by the promise of an idyllic life on the farm
that has been in Gordon’s family for 150 years.

But the move has been anything but
stress-free, because the man she married seems more interested in
the region’s rural Baptist sects than in his new wife. The Smith
family secrets run deep: Gordon teases Katy and Jett with a story
about a wicked scarecrow that comes in from the fields at night to
slake an unnatural thirst. Gordon’s great-grandfather was a
horseback preacher who mysteriously disappeared while on a mission
one wintry night, and some say a rival preacher did him in.

Gordon’s first wife Rebecca died under
equally mysterious circumstances, and Katy’s starting to believe
Rebecca’s spirit is still in the house. The scent of lilacs drifts
across the kitchen, doors slam shut with no one else home, and the
kitchen curtains flutter even when the windows are closed. Katy
becomes obsessed with Rebecca’s recipes and clothes, and she finds
herself driven to find out more about Rebecca to emulate her and
therefore please Gordon. To make matters worse, Gordon’s herd of
goats watches Katy every time she leaves the house, fixing their
rectangular pupils on her as if waiting for some silent
command.

Jett is worried about Mom, but she has
worries of her own. A Goth girl in a rural elementary school, she
gets teased for being different. She misses her dad, and feels
guilty because her drug abuse forced Mom to enter a hasty marriage
with Gordon. The pressure leads her back to drugs despite her
promise to Mom. Now she fears the drugs are blowing her mind. She’s
starting to hallucinate, and the goats, scarecrows, and a strange
man in a black hat are all part of her madness.

But the residents of Solom know all about the
man in the black hat. They whisper the legends around the
pot-bellied stove at the general store, they pray for protection
from him in their little white churches, they think about him as
they gather hay, harvest corn, and work their gardens. The brave
ones talk about him, believing him dead and buried, but nobody
dares to utter his name.

The Reverend Harmon Smith has come back more
than century after his last missionary trip, and he has unfinished
business. But first Katy and Jett must be brought into the family,
and the farm must be prepared to welcome him home. Gordon has been
denying his heritage, but now it’s time to choose sides. Does he
protect the ones he loves, or surrender to the ancestral urge for
revenge?

Learn more about the paranormal thriller
Solom
:
www.hauntedcomputer.com/solom.htm

Contact me at [email protected]
because I’d love to know what you think—even if you want to cut my
fingers off and feed them to a demon. Let me know about any
misspellings and formatting issues, since books in the digital age
are living documents.

Thanks to the Microchips: Neal Hock, Gail
Lang, Pamela Haworth, and Andy Weeks.

This is a work of fiction. All people,
incidents, and places are solely the products of the author’s
imagination. The writer begins the journey, but you complete it. .
. .

Scott

[email protected]

http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

http://hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com

###