REPLACES CURRENT LISTING FOR GHOSTS OF THE PAST
Solve the mystery and save planet Beinan from certain doom in part one of this two part thriller!
Mysterious paranormal forces are at work as terrorists target healing centres across Beinan. When Lord Knight Elendir loses both his parents to two separate bombings, the haunted knight begs Prince Kendric for permission to investigate. But finding the answers will not be easy for the young anti-hero as he falls victim to manipulation by his parents’ killers. Will Elendir unmask the conspirators before it is too late or will Elendir be forced to watch everyone he loves die?
Continue the adventure with part two, “Princess Anyu Returns.”
Targeted Age Group:: Teens and adults
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Great question! The entire Peers of Beinan series was originally intended to be fan fiction. In 1983 I fell in love with the short lived television series “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince.” Ghosts of the Past was meant to be a prequel to that series — until I found myself writing something completely different and creating a vibrant and very science-grounded universe of my very own.
Ghosts of the Past is the fictional outpouring of everything I love about science fiction, especially the classics like original Star Trek, original Battlestar Galactica, and Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” It’s also an outpouring of my life experiences, including my experience living just five miles from the World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001 and the very near miss I had that morning which saved my life.
Ghosts of the Past is very much a dystopia. There’s murder around every corner and plot twists to excite and delight mystery and thriller fans. I channelled into this book my darkest memories as a survivor of extreme domestic violence and in that way it was very therapeutic for me to write. But for all of the darkness and terror, Ghosts radiates with my optimistic outlook with themes of rebirth and healing even as it tackles social issues, asking questions about the role of religion in terrorism and how we should respond when people use religion to justify mass murder. Music helped me cope with my childhood so naturally six original songs fill its 400+ pages. I sing two of those songs in videos on youtube which I sincerely hope you will take a listen to.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Lord Knight Elendir is my anti-hero. I have a bachelor of arts in writing, psychology, and history and I think he’s almost the inevitable outgrowth of that background. Elendir is very real; we meet him on the beinor (Beinarian day) he is born and watch him struggle after the death of first his father, then his mother in two separate terrorist strikes. Like so many children who lost parents on 9-11, Elendir grows up feeling very lost and he makes some serious mistakes along the way, mistakes that cost him dearly as the epic unfolds.
Villains in Ghosts of the Past are grounded in my aforementioned experience as a survivor of extreme domestic violence. The darkness in those characters is a darkness I know first hand; writing this book literally gave me nightmares as long repressed memories surfaced. These are not the sort of things one talks about directly; too difficult for most people to understand, but through these characters I am able to communicate some of what I experienced. It makes for a thrilling read for you even as it helped me heal in the writing. If you look at me today you would absolutely never guess I experienced those challenges. I have this book to thank for that.
Book Sample
Prince Kendric paced anxiously at the palace docking port, his eyes stained with tears, his body visibly shaking. A low altitude shuttle carefully pulled into the docking port, its angular exterior glistening from the subtle docking port lightning. Outside, a fierce storm raged. An upper atmosphere hurricane twice the size of the hurricane that raged outside of the Ten-Arian monastery during Lord Knight Corann’s “battle” with Lord Knight Bevin descended from the upper atmosphere, bringing rain and elevating the already high tides created by an unusual convergence of Beinan’s three moons. This was a dark morning – literally and metaphorically. Thunder and lightning raged just outside the enclosed sections of the docking port. A torrent of green-violet rain pounded the ground which seemed to shake from the impact, flooding the ground foliage across two hundred sixty square li 里 and elevating the Amur River to flood stage.
Hastily, the shuttle hatch opened, opening a new pathway for the flooding rain to enter the docking port and, by extension, the palace itself. With rain coursing around the shuttle, the upper and lower shuttle hatches slid open, its ramp extending painfully slow in comparison to the flood. Lord Knight Elendir leapt out of the shuttle, his left foot touching the flood before the ramp could touch the ground. Rain filled Elendir’s humble black leather shoes and soaked his feet and ankles. Behind him stepped Lady Priestess Aisling and Lady Abbess Althea, each of them in their most humble of raiments. On a simple belt Althea clipped a case filled with medical instruments. In her heart, she prayed she would not need to use them. Prince Kendric bowed to his friends as he motioned a steward to close the exterior door to the docking port in hopes of limiting the flood inside the palace, “Thank you all for coming so quickly.”
“We hear and obey the command of our prince,” answered Lady Abbess Althea.
“I pray I do not need you, any of you, save for moral support. But I fear the worst. Come,” motioned Kendric. Obeying, the trio followed the prince, keeping up with him as his walk transformed to a run through palace corridors rarely used by the court or palace staff. Time was of the essence.
Kendric led his esteemed friends to Princess Lidmila’s apartment. The doors separating her private garden swung open unexpectedly, admitting the deluge battering the garden from the hurricane into the otherwise beautiful and carefully ornamented abode. Carefully but swiftly Kendric led his friends down the carefully laid out paths to a great tree located twelve zhang 张 from Lidmila’s gazebo, a near perfect replica of the same gazebo in Kendric’s garden where Lord Knight Corann attempted to propose to Princess Anlei. But unlike the pale white Nara wood of Anlei’s and now Kendric’s gazebo, this gazebo was stained a pale blue that barely displayed the natural grain in the wood. Green-violet rained poured down from the gazebo roof dolefully, as if mourning what only it and Prince Kendric so far understood.
Between the tree and the lamenting gazebo lay Lidmila, looking as if she was sleeping. As Althea approached, she instinctively pulled out a medical scanner, distressed by the position the princess slept in. As Kendric stopped three zhang 张 from Lidmila, Althea knelt, touching Lidmila’s pale skin and opening her green eyes professionally.
Distressed, she pulled out another medical scanner, running a small scanning ball over the skin on princess’s arm. Looking at the computerized readings, she carefully restored the lid over Lidmila’s eye, worry and sadness in her face, “The princess is dead, my liege.”
“How?” commanded Kendric.
“Poison, My Prince. I need to verify my readings with more powerful equipment to know exactly what killed her. But one thing is clear, Your Highness: she was without a shadow of doubt murdered,” proclaimed Lady Healer Althea, rising from the body.
Tears flowed from Kendric’s eyes, “There is more for you see, Your Grace.”
Elendir put his hands on his sister’s shoulders as she looked into Kendric’s doleful eyes, “Show me.”
Kendric led the way to a small pond filled with ornamental fish-like animals. A pair of water birds paddled on the pond’s surface, chased by six tiny chicks. In the center of the pond floated Prince Ohtaraha on his back. Careful of her dress, Althea waded into the water which came to chest height by the time she reached the prince. It took only a single touch for Althea to recognize the truth, “Your son is dead, Your Highness. Come, help me get him out of the pond so I can better examine him.”
Kendric and Elendir together waded into the water, drawing the motionless prince away from Althea and gently guiding him towards the pond’s edge. Together, they lifted Prince Ohtaraha out of the pond and laid him down on the ground nearby. Lady Priestess Aisling knelt next to him, careful of her dress. Touching his brow, she drew the emblem of Abka Biya upon his forehead, “Be at peace, young prince. May the goddesses guide you into your next life.”
Althea began her scans of the boy. Footsteps sounded on the path behind them. A rain soaked woman clad in a blue violet kirtle approached, on her breast was embroidered the sailing ship heraldry of house Cashmarie. Lady Aurnia hugged Kendric, “Is it true, Kendric? Are your wife and son dead?”
Links to Purchase Print Books
Buy The Ghosts of the Past Print Edition at Amazon
Buy The Ghosts of the Past at CreateSpace
Buy The Ghosts of the Past Print Edition at Barnes and Noble
Buy The Ghosts of the Past Print book for sale at other booksellers
Links to Purchase eBooks – Click links for book samples and reviews
Is this book in Kindle Unlimited? No
Buy The Ghosts of the Past On Amazon
Buy The Ghosts of the Past on Barnes and Noble/Nook
Buy The Ghosts of the Past on Smashwords
Buy The Ghosts of the Past on iBooks
Buy The Ghosts of the Past eBook via other booksellers
Have you read this book? Tell us what you thought! All information was provided by the author and not edited by us. This is so you get to know the author better.
