Novels

Following are some novels that I have written, or are currently working on in one fashion or another. I may post a few chapters. If I do, I'll put a link on the name. They were listed in no particular order, but I've changed that now to "alphabetical" order. I thought about using the Dewey Decimal System ("Don't you know the Dewey Decimal?" - name that quote!) but he was a stinking communist.
The Black Pool	Things seem to be going badly for Officer Jim Davis when he meets an old acquaintance for lunch, only to watch the man murdered before his eyes. After his suspicious department fires him, he accepts a job with the employer of his dead friend as an insurance fraud investigator and finds himself on a trail that ultimately leads to a place of revenge, fortune and great loss. Sequel to Endangered Species, and I like it much better (so far) than the first installment in the chronicles of Jim Davis. (I really think I need a better name, don't you? Like Homer Simpson's Max Power?)
Endangered Species	Uniformed police officer Jim Davis never suspected that the drug-bust of his career would turn the sleepy little central Florida town of Hammond upside down, uncovering a web of murder and intrigue that reaches too close to home. But when the dark spring waters yield up their secrets, he finds himself in a fight for his survival. It isn't just the alligators who are an endangered species. An early effort, heavily influenced by John D. Macdonald (one of my favorite authors). The fact is, I have a hard time writing novels (as opposed to short stories.) When I write, I like to tear into a subject and get right to the point. Drawing things out takes an effort of will and discipline for me, and this novel was (maybe) practice. Not my best work. I'm sure it could benefit from some re-writes, but after I finished it I pretty-much moved on.
Eubanks	NASA Engineer Dr. Calvin Eubanks is rational and materialistic, but depressed as he contemplates the fact that the speed of light is a limiting factor that cannot be conquered. Mankind will never leave this solar system. Or will it? The mysterious stranger Tolbert says that there is a way to exceed the possibilities of the physical universe, what he calls "the rational," and Eubanks becomes his student, hoping to one day lead man's pilgrimage to the stars. But his powerful master is both more and less than he seems, and Dr. Calvin Eubanks soon finds himself venturing into an irrational and terrifying reality where he will confront his darkest desires and a peril beyond his wildest imagination. I'm not sure that "Eubanks" will be the eventual title, but I haven't given the title much thought yet. I'm working on this one now, and will probably complete it before any of the other "works in process."
The Pastor's Wife	WELCOME TO HAILEY An idyllic hamlet nestled within the tiny Cooper River Valley in north central Tennessee. It is a quiet community of decent, hard-working people … for the most part. Pastor Daniel Carter and his wife Lynn are dearly loved by the little flock he shepherds at the Hailey Baptist Church, but all is not well in his household nor in his church. Evil is at work, as always, but ultimately, the unseen hand that guides the events is not the Enemy's. "In a way that seems strange, even to us, Satan himself is but a tool, wielded by a greater Hand." Come with us as we peer into the private lives of saints and monsters, and witness what can and cannot be seen by the human eye. But be warned … this ain’t Mitford. I think that this novel is one of the best things that I have ever written. It is unlike anything I have ever read before, and is so unique that everyone says they doubt that it can ever be published because they can't imagine a "target audience." Oh well.
Peters Woods	Remember all those scary stories you heard growing up? Peters Woods is the place in all those stories, the place where bad things happen. But tonight this group of teenagers will learn that there is more than just scary stories lurking in the woods around the old Peters Estate. A work in progress. Sort of an anthology of all those frightening legends about "Peters Woods" that I heard as a kid, wrapped around a couple of other scary stories I invented.
Witness (Not to be confused with the tome by Whitaker Chambers, which is almost as long as the tribulation period, just as depressing and a little more difficult to get through. 'Just kidding!)	My answer to the popular Left Behind series. For those unfamiliar with eschatology, Left Behind is based upon the pre-trib Rapture. Belief in a secret pre-tribulation Rapture of the church (a two-part return of the Lord Jesus Christ) is extremely common among evangelicals today, but is a relatively recent doctrine and (frankly) isn't found in scripture. In this novel (a work in progress) the hero discovers that he has been chosen as one of God's two witnesses (Rev. 11:3) that will deliver God's message to the world just prior to the apocalypse. But the story is not just about him, the Witness. It is about others, including us, who are commanded to be a witness also, no matter what the cost.
Xenophile	Elena Sorenson finds herself alone on a strange desert planet, the sole survivor of a fiery crash that demolished her ship. But she finds she is not alone when three small, winged creatures come to investigate the crash. Their ability to communicate is limited, but they leave and return with another alien who despite the obvious differences in physiology, is unambiguously male. Intrigued by this strange creature, he finds the ability to connect with her on more than one level and (despite her initial fear and loathing) she eventually finds herself drawn into that ultimate crime: xenophilia. Wow. This was my first novel, and probably my first attempt at writing anything serious. It's actually kind of an allegory about Men and Women, and feminism. Did I mention that I have trouble drawing things out? This story just keeps going and going and going ... Elena is dead now, and so is her true love, the alien, but I'm still writing the tale of her daughter, Elayne, and the renegade offspring of Sarn the alien. I know what's going to happen, but I can't seem to get time to finish it. I keep writing a little more every now and then, and maybe one day it'll be done. Frankly, I'm not sure it's any good, but it has sentimental value for me. In a strange way, this story helped pull me out of a hole and may have saved my life.