AustLit

'Nick Wheeler’s subject matter has always been controversial. A venerated photographer motivated to capture the malign elements of human existence – suicide as illusion and artifice – his career is suddenly in tatters after a near-fatal work accident plunges him into a coma.

'A sleep paralysis victim, Nick’s descent into oblivion ushers him back to where it all began: winters spent in the rugged foothills of Deception Pass. It was here, among the secret grottos and old-growth forests, where ancient forces first showed their hand: Shadow Men capable of paralyzing the body and manipulating generations into serving an otherworldly agenda.

'To survive, Nick must confront the past ... and the Shadows, evermore monstrous disguised by human faces.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'At thirty four years of age, dark fiction scribe Micha Tudor has finally had enough trying to eke out a living as an author. Suicide, that eternal taboo of man, could potentially provide an escape hatch for an exhausted spirit seeking a reset button.

'But when Micha awakens in a world of his own making - a world straight from the pages of his new novel - he soon discovers the afterlife is far from an escape hatch or even oblivion. For in Hadley Grove, monsters walk the streets. Towering creatures composed of mercury who seem tied to the town’s ancient church brooding above the oceanic bluffs. Presided over by the ominous sibling priests Malphas and Natal Purson, their hellish cathedral seems inextricably linked with Hadley Grove … And now, Micha himself.

'Schizoid is a dark-hued fable of the often precarious line between our waking lives and the restorative power of storytelling.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In his 2013 novel Dark Meridian, Matthew Tait introduced us to Adam Lavas: a washed up rock star who retires in solitude and discovered another world in the process. Welcome to the second story in Adam's narrative ...Olearia.

'Once a popular scholar in UFO circles, world-renowned writer Alex Barnett has also retreated from the public-eye. After a near-brush with death years previous on a remote outback station, Alex has been gifted (or cursed) with numinous abilities that ultimately bring harm to those he loves the most. But soon his withdrawal is hampered by a new mystery: the whereabouts of Adam Lavas. Sensing a kinship with the failed musician (and believing Adam to be more than human), Alex journey's to the secret mansion known as Meridian in the foothills of Adelaide, there to discover an ally whose true form is married to mystery of the stars.'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'Once a bustling school playing host to the elite of Cranston, Providence Place now sits completely abandoned; a derelict world of memories for the populace of Rhode Island. It's also a place where people come from all over the country seeking their scares. People like Dillon Cook, a budding film-maker who decides to recruit four past pupils for his next independent film. A director with a taste for the tragic places of the world, Dillon sees Providence Place as the perfect backdrop for tragedy to unfold ...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Fifteen years ago the affluent gated-community of Slander Hall was the setting of the largest mass suicide in U.S. history; dozens of men and women committing the ultimate sacrifice and embracing the covenant of their leader to shed their bodies for a life in outer space. Now a modern ghost town, it boasts only the decaying and derelict phantoms of a withered populace. Cedar Jarrell, sole survivor of the holocaust that claimed so many, returns to the dark heart of Slander Hall on a final pilgrimage where not all who take the journey will survive…

'Also included in this second edition are two more tales – stories that put the reader into a disturbing world of lunacy and paranoia that could be just around the corner for any of us. In Doll Steak, an average man is trapped within a room of sinister dolls and quickly learns that staring into the abyss only amplifies his worst fears. With Terrica, Matthew Tait invites you to a small town where vehicular manslaughter is a way of life ... and highways are a preying ground for monsters.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Hidden within the Pitch Pines of Cyclone Cove forty-five years prior, Wyvern Way becomes a sinister backdrop when a young autistic child bears witness to atrocity. Rescued by an unlikely source, the two make a final pact that resonates throughout the future generations of the town.

'Though small, the municipal of Cyclone Cove sits at the very apex of cutting-edge technology, thanks to the giant computing firm: Azarcheal Systems Conglomerate. Led by Samara Reagan, the ASC maintains its stranglehold through means sometimes not of the human world …

'Elusive and equally mysterious, Norman Perks is a wealthy recluse whose house looks down upon the town like a haunted idol – and whose love of the written word propels him to chronicle the ongoing story of Cyclone Cove.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Peru, 1835, and the Order of Sant’Antonio have just witnessed something that goes against all belief: a ball of light has penetrated their sanctuary. Nobody has seen anything like it before and Brother Chabuca Cristal knows that one of his own flock is responsible for its presence. When Brother Meridian is abducted by the flying object and taken away, all except Brother Cristal breathe a sigh of relief that the ordeal is over...

'Two centuries later and half a world away, Adam Lavas has returned home. After gaining momentum in the arena of rock ‘n’ roll in a way nobody else predicted, his band Solid State became a global sensation known throughout every continent. But there is a price – a price that not even commercial or critical success can hope to balm. For in the corridors of the creative heart, dark things have always lurked – taking the forms of depression, addiction, and some things even worse. So when he finds a certain mansion named Meridian hidden within the hills of Adelaide, it seems like the perfect home where he can deal with terminating his celebrity status and perhaps even himself.

'Step into Meridian’s halls, and discover a doorway into another world.'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'A writer is disturbed from his daily grind by blood dripping from the ceiling, which gets steadily worse. Soon, the blood becomes his own personal metaphor in a battle of denial.

'When a compulsive gambler is forced to seek out a loan shark rooted in myth, he discovers the dark savior teaches a lot more to his pupils than mere deliverance from debt.

'Trapped within a room of sinister dolls, an average man is forced to confront his very worst fears ... and quickly learns that sometimes staring into the abyss does not grant you a reprieve from them.

'Interweaving darkness into socially relevant spiritual and philosophical themes, GHOSTS IN A DESERT WORLD is the debut collection from Australian author Matthew Tait.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.