Forgotten Souls - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Originally from Auburn, Maine, T.G. Arsenault is currently in his 17th year of service with the U.S. Air Force and hopes to retire to write full-time in the near future. He currently resides in California with his wife, Diana and son, Christopher. His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies, R.A.W. Random Acts of Weirdness and Octoberland, as well as various online venues. His short story, The Eighth Day, received an honorable mention in the Year s Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection. Visit T.G. Arsenault online for contact information, news and fiction.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Whispers of the dead passed through his little fingers.

Hushed exclamations suddenly erupted from all sides, echoing a fury of tangled words into a common center of boiling excitement.

It s him! It s him!

She could almost see their translucent fingers being pointed at the boy standing before her, their misty shapes surrounding him with arms that wanted, but were unable to, embrace him within the halo of their presence. They existed at the periphery of her vision, like the faint illumination of distant stars, quick to disappear if she should look directly at them.

He s the one! The bellow of a man s voice commanding, powerful.

Oh, sweet goodness, it s almost time! Quivering syllables of an elderly woman on the brink of ecstatic laughter.

The Chosen One is here . . . A subtle whisper soon swallowed by the surrounding fever of discovery.

More whispers. Rising in pitch, quickly becoming shouts and screams of joy. They traveled the lengths of her fingertips, found their way through the tingling surfaces of her arms, neck, and head.

And entered Andrea Varney s mind, sending pleasant ripples of recognition fluttering through her body with searing pinpricks of heat, enough to all but eliminate the cold winter air the boy had brought with him inside the library only a moment ago.

Andrea felt her heart rise a few inches within her chest, and her eyes widen as if she were about to be hit by a truck. Severed breaths hitched within her throat as the boy began to remove his nervous fingers from her hand. His mouth opened in a silent gasp and cheeks flushed a slight shade of red.

He felt it too.

Aus dem Klappentext

Andrea Varney spends her childhood in the cemeteries dotting the hillsides, finding a certain peace in the quiet cities of the dead, cities led to ruin by years of neglect. Cracked and weathered headstones send pangs of sadness through her, but keep her coming back. An overwhelming sense of obligation pierces her heart as she wonders why people seem to have forgotten those that once walked the Earth. When the first whispers of the dead fill her ears, Andrea learns of a journey she must undertake, a mission to fulfill: to remember the dead who have lost their hold in the memories of the living. The world depends on it. But not yet, a partner will be presented to her, a person she will immediately recognize.

Darren Jacobs feels something funny when the librarian shakes his hand. He says nothing, but looks at his fingers and wonders about the way Ms. Varney keeps looking at him. Darren soon follows a sparkling cloud of energy to a decrepit headstone and feels the presence of the person below his feet. In fact, for a brief moment, he knows everything about everyone buried in this hidden cemetery, knows they haven t been resting at all. They have been forgotten and will continue to burn.

An elderly woman, Faye Clark lies in a coma, determined not to die until she makes contact with a woman whose life parallels hers in so many ways. An evil presence is ready to repeat what it has already tried many times before. It has to be stopped again. Faye must be certain Andrea has a vital link to the other side, an ability to gather forces of energy that, when united, are powerful powerful enough to strike down the Devil. The first attempts at contact almost take her life. She is running out of time.

Together, Andrea and Darren embark on an unthinkable journey to remember the dead. What they are doing has a higher purpose. Their simple plan is quickly changed because something is determined to stop them. When the earth cracks and the first clawed hand reaches for the surface, they have to hurry.