Carrie Green

Thomas, an expat from America, is living in Kenya at the Tanzanian border overlooking the Serengeti. One day, he's watching the sunrise outside his isolated native-style home, drinking coffee, and enjoying a morning smoke, when he has the near-death experience of a lioness approaching him. She paws at his spilled coffee and sniffs at the burning ember of his dropped cigarette, but he is not injured. Thus begins a curious relationship between man and beast, where this lioness continues to visit and he starts to feed it and even invites the big cat into his home.

People who are attracted to dangerous exotic animals, attempting to domestic what is wild, often end up featured in Animal Planet documentaries. Their friends and neighbors will express how this person (usually killed and/or eaten by their pet) thought that they had a special affinity with the animal, that they could control it, how it would never harm them, or others.

Thomas seems to suffer a similar self-delusion, not only does he believe that he is close to this animal, but he imagines that he is communicating with it through his dreams. He brushes aside the warnings from his closest villager friend--who recently lost a relative to a lion attack and who is a survivor of a lion attack, himself. Not even hearing the graphic retelling of this attack or seeing the man's prominent scars is enough to move Thomas from his path.

The author, Van Heerling, is clever and allows the reader to determine, on their own, if domestication has taken place or not, as the novel rushes towards its eventual confrontation of man vs. nature. I delighted in the complexities of Thomas' character and I took joy in deciding if he was a trustworthy narrator or not. Extremely well-written, it's a roaring good read!

Purchase at Amazon here.  For a limited time Amazon Prime members may also borrow this novel for free.

I'm a huge fan of legal thrillers such as those written by John Grisham, Scott Turow and Richard North Patterson. In this fine tradition, author and attorney, Lisa M. Lilly has created her own genre--legal horror!

Love it! Simply a brilliant idea. All three stories feature a lawyer as the protagonist. These are intelligent, well-written, beautifully edited stories that will satisfy your craving for horror in pinstripes.

I especially enjoyed that Lilly exploited the Sears/Willis Tower as the setting for her third story. After 9/11, none of us will see working in a landmark highrise building quite the same way--it created a nice undercurrent of dread for me while I read that tale. I'm excited to read more of Lilly's horror writing!

Pick up a copy of The Tower Formerly Known as Sears on Amazon today!  For a limited time Amazon Prime members may also borrow this book for free.

It's #TeaserTrain time again, when I feature a teaser from another author that my readers may enjoy.  Check out The Nefarious:  Prince of Shadow by Keith Weaver!

Winston was busy setting up the lighting like Von Helman had wanted him to. He was alone, and only had himself to talk to.

"I can't believe that I forgot to do this area. Man, I am so stupid! Just because Von Helman didn't tell me to, I should know better. Now he is probably going to be mad at me for days. Why do I always have to be this pathetic?"

Winston was in a frenzy to get the lighting set-up as quickly as possible. The only thing that would make Von Helman even more mad now would be to take a long time to get the job finished. If he caused any more delays, his neck would be wrung for sure.

As the man worked, he noticed how dark the caverns were around him. The only area that he could see at all was the one he was in because of the lights. This cavern was a little different form the rest. The floor and walls were mostly dirt, with some rock mixed in. Most of the caverns that they had been in so far were pretty much just rock and stone. There was also no way that he would be able to see anyone coming from any direction. There was nothing but total darkness around him. It was very creepy, and being alone made Winston a little nervous. He wanted to get done and get the heck out of there.

Just then, Winston thought he heard a noise down one of the caverns. He stopped what he was doing and listened. Sure enough, his ears weren't deceiving him. He had indeed heard something. It was kind of a scratching noise, but he couldn't quite make it out. All Winston was sure of was that the noise, whatever it was, was coming right for him.

"Von Helman, Sir, is that you?"

There was no answer to Winston's question. Instead there was just the sound getting louder and closer to him. Suddenly, a strange fear came over Winston. He hoped that Von Helman wasn't coming to yell at him for taking too long. Or even worse, maybe he was coming to fire him. Winston went back to work as he called out.

"Sir, is that you? Jake? Anyone?"

Still there was no answer. Yet, Winston was sure that it was Von Helman, or Jake checking up on him.

"I'm almost done here, guys. Just a few more minutes and this little mishap will be corrected. No need to worry."

As the sound continued to get louder and closer, it became more distinct. It sounded almost like something scraping against the cavern walls as it went along. Or, was it scraping along the cavern floor? This made Winston flat out scared. He had completely stopped what he was doing.

"Hey, who is it? If this is some kind of prank, it's not that funny. So knock it off!"

Still, there was no response. Again, only the scraping noise coming out of the darkness. Winston picked up his flashlight and shined the light down towards the noise. It didn't matter, though. The caverns were so dark and his flashlight so small, he still wouldn't be able to see who it was until they were in the same, lighted area as him.

By this time, Winston was almost in tears from being so scared.

"Alright, I'm serious now, that's enough of this! You guys come out now!"

The movement stopped just short of the lighted area, but continued to make its eerie noise. Winston knew that someone or something was waiting in the darkness in front of him. The noise had bothered him moments ago, but the fact that it stopped moving was even worse.

The Nefarious:  Prince of Shadow can be purchased (or borrowed for free, if an Amazon Prime member) at Amazon here.