Welcome to Behind the Walls of Nightmare!

Welcome to my new horror blog, which heralds the publication of the revised and updated edition of my first novel, The Ghost Man.  It is now available for purchase as a KDP Select eBook: just click on the cover image on the right. If you prefer paperbacks, rest assured that the trade paperback edition is on its way.

The Ghost Man is a supernatural thriller that I wrote for my son Tim. He grew up reading ghost stories and watching paranormal television shows. As well, he has an impressive collection of horror DVDs, both the campy kind and those that are downright scary. My son provided ongoing feedback for the first edition of this novel, which was published in 2008. If he liked a scene, he'd tell me “that sounds pretty cool,” and it was sure to survive the cut.

The Ghost Man is set in eastern Ontario. It tells the story of Simon Guthrie, a chef de cuisine and the owner of a popular restaurant that bears his name. His life changes forever in a car accident that kills his wife and leaves him with a serious head injury. While recuperating in the hospital, he tries to make sense of a near-death experience in which he encounters a malevolent presence he cannot identify. Once he's discharged from hospital, he discovers that he's become a beacon for ghosts still trapped in this world. The novel is structured on eight days of his present life in which events come to a head, culminating in his showdown with the malevolent force controlling his destiny and that of his friends and neighbors.

I plan to continue writing horror novels as a separate stream from my crime fiction. In this way I'll be able to draw from a wealth of sources concerning the supernatural and paranormal, including myths and legends, oral story-telling traditions, and modern paranormal investigations. I'll set the horror stories in Canada, which has its own abundance of lore concerning hauntings and the supernatural. As I always say, ghosts can appear anywhere, so why not right around here?

I've set up this blog to talk about horror writing, the themes and writers I admire, and stories of the supernatural culled from various sources that will appeal to lovers of the genre. I'd enjoy hearing from you and would welcome any suggestions you have on subjects for this new blog.

Here's to sharing many good scares together!!!!