Authors: Tamara Thorne,Alistair Cross
Mother
Late Night With Morning Glory Circle
Still Crazy After All These Years
The Secret Life of Timothy Martin
There’s Something about Priscilla
The Ones that Mother Gives You
COMING IN 2016 from Thorne & Cross
Books by Thorne & Cross
The serialized Ghosts of Ravencrest installments
The Ghosts of Ravencrest: Darker Shadows
The Ghosts of Ravencrest: Christmas Spirits
The Ghosts of Ravencrest: Night Moves
The Ghosts of Ravencrest: Dead Girls
The Ghosts of Ravencrest: Danse Macabre
The Ghosts of Ravencrest: Spellbound
The serialized Witches of Ravencrest installments
The Witches of Ravencrest: Grave Expectations
Books by Alistair Cross
Books by Tamara Thorne
Short Stories
Praise for Thorne & Cross
“
Mother
is about as disturbing as one can get. Thorne and Cross are seriously twisted individuals who know how to horrify and entertain at the same time.”
- Fang-Freakin-Tastic Book Reviews
“A delightfully sinister walk up the shadowed staircase to the room Mother arranged especially for you. So, what’s in the cupboard? What’s she hiding in the basement? Inside the garage? Under the floorboards? With
Mother,
Thorne and Cross reanimate the “familiar,” leading you down a path of familial treachery that gets midnight-dark all too quickly.”
- Michael Aronovitz – author of
Phantom Effect
“
Mother
is a thriller in the truest sense of the word. What begins with a walk through a nice neighborhood in a nice town quickly becomes a chilling and unnerving descent into madness that is harder and harder to escape. Because I wear a fitness tracker I have scientific proof that the finale is a wild ride. Although I was curled up on the couch reading,
Mother
caused my heart rate to go up ten points! I’ll never look at a neighborhood block party the same way.”
- QL Pearce, bestselling author of
Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs
“Thorne and Cross bring the goods with THE CLIFFHOUSE HAUNTING, a clockwork mechanism of gothic chills designed to grab the reader by the scruff and never let go until the terrifying conclusion. Atmospheric, sexy, brooding, and brutal, the book manages to be simultaneously romantic and hardboiled. Highly recommended!
- Jay Bonansinga, the New York Times bestselling author of
The
Walking Dead: Invasion
,
Lucid
, and
Self Storage
.
“In
The Ghosts of Ravencrest
, Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross have created a world that is dark, opulent, and smoldering with the promise of scares and seduction. You'll be able to feel the slide of the satin sheets, taste the fizz of champagne, and hear the footsteps on the stairs.”
-Sylvia Shults, paranormal expert and author of
Fractured Spirits
and
Hunting Demons
“In this classic-style gothic, young Belinda Moorland takes a job as governess for the children of Eric Manning, whose family mansion, Ravencrest, was reassembled stone by stone after crossing over from England. Now stalked by a bevy of quirky, shady characters … the sinister estate and its naughty nightside hijinks take center stage in this expert tale of multi-generational evil - and love.
The
Ghosts of Ravencrest
will chill you and make you hot and bothered at the same time. There’s nothing like a stay in a California town created by Thorne and Cross!”
- W.D. Gagliani, author of
Wolf’s Blind
(the Nick Lupo Series)
“Alistair Cross’ new novel THE CRIMSON CORSET … is taut and elegantly written taking us into the realms where the erotic and the horrific meet. Reminiscent of the work of Sheridan Le Fanu (CARMILLA, UNCLE SILAS) in its hothouse, almost Victorian intensity, it tells a multi-leveled story of misalliance and mixed motives. The language is darkly lyrical, and the tale is compelling. Read it; you'll be glad you did.”
- Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, author of the
Saint-Germain Cycle
“Tamara Thorne is the new wave of horror - her novels are fascinating rides into the heart of terror and mayhem.”
- Douglas Clegg, New York Times bestselling author
“Tamara Thorne has become one of those must-read horror writers. From her strong characters to her unique use of the supernatural, anything she writes entertains as much as it chills.”
- Horror World
MOTHER
Tamara Thorne & Alistair Cross
Mother
© 2016 Tamara Thorne & Alistair Cross
All Rights Reserved
Glass Apple Press
First e-book edition April, 2016
This ebook is for your personal device only. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the authors.
Cover Design by Mike Rivera
Mother is dedicated to our own mothers,
Louise Curry and Linda Anderson,
who thankfully, are nothing like the mother in this book.
And to
her
… the mother of all mothers,
who made this novel possible.
Acknowledgements
We’d like to thank the following people, without whom this novel would not be the same.
Q.L. Pearce, for listening to us all day and always being there for us.
Berlin Malcom, for all the hard work she does on our behalf.
Libba Campbell, for being our eyes.
Mike Rivera, for waving his magic wand and turning our ideas into true works of art.
Jay Bonansinga, for being a great friend, and welcoming us into the
Walking Dead
family.
Mark Hein, for being absolutely brilliant.
Douglas Clegg, for feedback and good times.
Heather Anderson, for her impeccable attention to detail and for supporting this ongoing venture.
Robert Damien Thorne, for his infinite patience, his wonderful cooking, and his cat-daddy skills.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, without whom the writing world would be a very different place.
Mike Aronovitz, for rocking our blog and writing such great reviews.
Andrew Neiderman, for setting the bar … and for being wonderful.
Kevin O’Brien, for saying yes.
Sven, for that unbreakable spirit … you will not be forgotten.
Our feline companions, our muses: Riki, Pawpurrazzi, Sir Purrcival, Mikey, and the rest of the the feline gang, for their conditional love and scratching ability..
Gold Country, for its majestic beauty, its mists, and its inspiration.
All the guests over at Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!, for sharing their wit and wisdom, and being a pleasure to know.
And most of all, to
you
… our readers.
And they say writing is a lonely business …
Prologue: Timothy Martin
“No more,” he whispered. “No more.”
At twenty years old, he’d had enough. Enough pain, enough heartbreak.
She
had traveled a thousand miles to find him. And now he was once again
her
prisoner.
He stared at the prescription bottles in his hands. There were enough pain pills and tranquilizers to send him on a permanent vacation, as long as
she
didn’t discover what he’d done before the train left the station.
He stared down at his broken leg. He and Steffie had been hiking one of the steep hills in Brimstone when his foot caught on an exposed root, sending him down the incline in a shower of rocks and dirt. His own body had betrayed him and when
she
came, he knew he was finished. He’d been looking over his shoulder since he’d left home, and he was tired. He would never be free.
The cast ran from his knee to his ankle, and he’d wanted crutches, but she’d insisted he use his stepfather’s old wheelchair because it was a compound fracture. Half an hour ago she tried to force him into bed, saying she knew best, but he refused, claiming he wanted to look out the window.
Fuck you, Mother
.
Now he turned and peered at the bedroom’s open doorway. She’d had the door removed the minute she’d dragged him home, saying it was for his own safety and that she needed to keep her eye on him. His privacy was gone. Again. No freedom, no say in his own life. He thought of Steffie, her long auburn hair and deep green eyes. Hot tears burned and he wiped them away.
Mother had unplugged all the phones, but even if she hadn’t he wouldn’t try to call Steffie. He was humiliated, resigned. Steffie deserved better than a life with a broken man and his overpowering mother.
This isn’t the way I planned it. I’m so sorry, Steffie.