by Lyn I. Kelly
That was when Sheriff Cotton Briggs found the body, slaughtered beyond recognition inside a random boxcar. The trains have always moved through McGregor Falls, Texas, but now they have brought something into town, something Briggs had hoped was forever in the past.
Fifteen-year-old Travis Braniff while exploring an old trainyard with a friend, encounters that same something. Both boys escape the creature’s murderous intent, but now it is after them and will stop at nothing to prevent its secret from being revealed…too soon.
In Lyn I. Kelly’s newest novel, the werewolf mythology is explored and rewritten, as vengeance is rendered onto a small Texas town and secrets are revealed. Skinwalker. Lycanthrope. Werewolf. Whatever the name, whatever the legend, an old evil has found its way into McGregor Falls, and no one is safe.
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Travis turned, Mark at his heel, and took a haphazard step towards the hill they had descended only a short time previous when another sound, a new sound, froze him in his tracks. Something was coming up from behind them. Even through the wind, he could hear it, heavy and deliberate.
Travis stopped to find that Mark was already looking behind them, his body language telling Travis all he needed to know. He followed his friend’s line of sight until he stopped on the dark shadow standing just beyond the boxcar they had been investigating.
Even at this distance, Travis knew it was enormous—its shoulders and chest heaving rhythmically, hot plumes of smoke emerging as its breath and body heat dispelled into the air. Travis did not know what it was, but it was not a man.
“Mark, run,” Travis said, the fear choking his throat allowing for little more than a whisper, and either Mark could not hear, could not move, or both, because his friend did not budge.
Travis started to nudge his light in the shadow’s direction but could not find the courage to do it. In fact, he had never felt more incapable of movement in his life. Run! Tell Mark to run! Both of you run! His mind screamed at him, but he could do nothing. The shadow took a step forward, and Travis was certain this was how he was going to die when—
—the creature screamed forth the most violent of roars, a haunting song whose cadence shifted from pain to anger to rage, metamorphosizing into a throaty, animal rumble.
That was when Travis found his legs.
He started to pull away only to realize that Mark had not moved. He grabbed his friend roughly with both hands. “Move!” he screamed, spinning Mark into action.
Through the yard and up the hill both boys ran, Travis hearing the unmistakable sound of the shadow thing chasing after them. He looked back and saw that not only was it chasing them, but it was also closing fast. Instinctively, he threw his flashlight at the creature, hitting it square in the chest. He turned ahead to find that in his moment of distraction, Mark had sprinted well ahead.
He watched as his friend reached the top of the incline only to pivot, stumble, and disappear over the hill in a swell of obscenities. In two huge bounds, Travis was atop the incline and straddling the railroad tracks looking down the other side where Mark had fallen.
Travis part-ran, part-slid down the hillside and drew up behind Mark. He hastily put his hands under his friend’s arms, Mark jumping at the touch, and hoisted him up.
“I caught my foot on the tracks,” Mark wheezed, almost apologetically.
“We gotta move,” Travis beseeched, pushing Mark ahead of him.
“What was that? A dog? Coyote?” Mark asked as he ran over the gravel road and towards the woodland edge.
Travis didn’t answer, but it was no coyote, much less any sort of dog. He cautiously looked back towards the hillside. The sky was overcast and loomed darkly, and without any light source, everything was painted a deep, unforgiving midnight blue; however, his peripheral vision still caught a shadowy silhouette explode atop the tracks and leap down into the darkness.
“Faster, Mark!” he screamed. They were both heading for the woods, but Travis understood the woods would do nothing, not hide them, and certainly not protect them. It still had to be better than being out in the open, he reasoned.
Through their footfalls and Mark’s labored breathing, Travis heard a new sound: a sharp crunching. That thing, whatever it was, was close, so close that Travis felt a smattering of rocks kicked up by the thing’s pursuit sting the backs of his legs. In desperation, Travis grabbed Mark’s arm in the hopes of helping his friend move faster, but two steps later, they both stumbled and fell.
Travis felt a burning as his cheek skid roughly across the gravel while somewhere around him, Mark let out a shout as they tumbled over the other before settling in a frightened mound of cold pain. For a moment, there was no sound except for his and Mark’s anxious breathing as they lay twisted and cold on the barren gravel road, but then a dark shadow swelled over them, turning the blue night black.
It was pouncing, Travis realized. Instinctively, he turned, throwing his right arm over his face, and felt something like a hot knife slice effortlessly through his jacket and into his forearm before pulling free with a terrible squelch.
Travis heard the thing land in the leaves and twigs of the bordering forest, and he tried to reach for Mark, knowing another attack was coming, but his right arm would not respond. Aside from a sickly warm sensation that was flowing down his arm, it was numb. He switched to his left arm, again trying to help Mark—and himself—up, but after a confusing dance of struggling to right the other, they both collapsed back to the ground.
Travis could hear the thing circling around in the woods, moving towards them. Unable to run, he shut his eyes tightly, hoping that whatever was out there would lose interest and, if not, would be quick about its intent.
Then there was the explosion.
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What are your top 10 favorite books/authors? I would really have to think about my top ten favorite authors and books, but I can give you at least eight of my top books.
- Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
- The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (so much better than the movie series)
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
- The Last Run by Todd Lewan
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthoney Doerr
- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
- It by Stephen King
- Patriot Games by Tom Clancy
What book do you think everyone should read? That is an exceptionally tough question because everyone has different tastes so to speak. I will say that I believe Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is one of – if not the most – well written novels I have ever read. He truly has a mastery on the English language.
How long have you been writing? I have been writing since I was about eleven years old.
Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write? The main characters I have in mind before I start writing and many of the second-tier characters are there as well. The other characters I create where needed, to tell a story or bridge a gap. Sometimes these lesser characters grown into (almost) main characters.
What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book? I will do research on history or myths and legends when applicable before I begin writing. While writing a will research specifics on certain types of equipment, cars, uniforms for Federal or State entities and the like.
Do you see writing as a career? I see writing as a passion and a hobby. If I ever saw it as a “career”, then I think I would be doing it wrong.
What do you think about the current publishing market? I believe the current publishing market is broken. Right now I promise you there are writers out there who are better than anyone we have ever had the privilege to read, but they are currently toiling in obscurity because of the current publishing industry. It is a subjective market where subjective agents are the gatekeepers. I had an agent tell me once that because of bad financial investments by the major publishing houses they will rarely – if ever – invest in new talent. They will only invest in proven commodities or celebrities with a following (even if they cannot write at all). How backwards is that? If you go to medical school, for example, and graduate at the top of your class, you will be offered a job and given the chance to prove yourself. If you are a writer, you have to know somebody or have a parent who is already an established writer, before anyone will give you a chance. That is why so many small and mid-market publishing houses are failing and the larger publishing houses are losing market share: people are tired of being told what they should read and are investing their time (and money) in independent authors and small market authors.
Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre? I appreciate all genres excepting for the romance genre.
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why? I prefer to write in silence because I am too easily distracted.
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time? I write one book at a time.
If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose? That is another tough question. Maybe Cold Mountain? Maybe the Harry Potter series? Maybe any of a dozen-plus books.
Pen or type writer or computer? Computer.
Tell us about a favorite character from a book. The first character that comes to mind is Snape from the Harry Potter series. Gray or conflicted characters are the most fun to read – and to write for that matter. I also enjoy “villains” whose motives are understandable and with whom you would completely empathize with were it not for their methods.
What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision? I have an overactive imagination, and writing is my outlet for that. So, yes, it was the right decision.
A day in the life of the author? The day in the life of an author is no different than a day in the life of anyone else, especially when writing is not your proverbial day job. It is not glamorous.
Advice they would give new authors? The advice I give to new authors is that they need to write their story, what they are passionate about, not what the market tells you to write. If you write about something about which you are passionate, it shows in your work. However, if you are writing about something just because it is popular and it is not your passion, that will also show, and your readers will see through that, and your work will suffer.
Describe your writing style. My style is an amalgam of almost anyone I have ever read. These days there are no unique styles, just styles based on other writers. If I had to be more specific, I would say I like to be detail oriented so that my words paint pictures in my readers’ heads. I also am not one to use too much profanity, if at all. I once heard it opined – by another author – that profanity are cheap words used by those too ignorant to come up with something more appropriate.
What makes a good story? Well developed characters make a good story. There are very few original ideas out there, but there are original characters. It is the placement of those characters in a situation – new or rehashed – that makes the story worth reading.
What are you currently reading? I am currently reading In the Woods by Tana French.
What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? I plan out the story, knowing how it will begin, end, and the conflicts in between. Then, I start writing and let the characters and situations take me where they will. After the first draft, it is time for the second and third drafts, or “reshoots” as I like to call them. Then, my editor gets a hold of it. After she is done, I read it one more time and tweak anything that I find needing.
What are common traps for aspiring writers? Aspiring writers are either hesitant to write or get trapped trying to make their first draft perfect. Just start writing and see where it takes you.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Noise. I cannot write anywhere it is exceptionally noisy.
Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want? I write about what I am passionate about, and I hope it intrigues the readers.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? I would tell him to start writing sooner.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? As a guy, I will admit that women are much deeper and more complicated than we (guys) are. Women see things and appreciate things from perspectives we will not ever have. So, when I write from a woman’s perspective, I try to be more inclusive in my thought process. I have a wife and two daughters, so I also think about how they had handled past situations. In my Dark Lands series, there are two primary characters, a brother and a sister: Webb (17) and Sundown (14). I was very nervous being a forty-something guy (at the time) writing from a fourteen-year-old girl perspective, especially when in book three of that series, she became the lead character throughout. Ironically, book three is the favorite book in the series for those readers who have emailed me or engaged me at a Fan Expo, and one of the reasons is because Sundown was their favorite character.
How long on average does it take you to write a book? I am one of the world’s slowest writers (and readers). It usually takes me a year or two to write a book. It took me four years to write Tracks.
Do you believe in writer’s block? Yes, I believe in writer’s block, and I suffer from it frequently. Purportedly, most writers suffer from it because they are worried that their next book will not do as good as their last book. For me, writer’s block stems from depressive episodes, times where I am not motivated to write because I just feel down or lethargic.
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