The Night Hunter
A small town in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains becomes isolated by a colossal snowstorm. Thinking of this as a "normal" disaster, the town folk pull together at first, and everyone helps each other out. After weeks of doing without food, electricity, communication, and the other comforts of modern life, the people begin to wonder whether they'll ever be rescued.
Then, some say the "ghost cougar" of a local Indian legend is killing people quietly in their sleep. Men and women are dying, but why? Soon, modern technology is useless, communication with the outside world stops, and food is running out. Panic spreads through the village like an unfought fire. Laws become meaningless, and many resort to violence, robbery, rape, even murder to survive or get what they want. Bare, primal fear becomes the new order of the day—and night!
How
would you react in a situation like this? As a "page-turner" thriller
packed with violence, sex, and action, The Night Hunter
definitely delivers. Yet, the novel offers much, much more. When read
thoughtfully, its story mirrors American society and individuals "in the
raw."
The pages entice readers to imagine how they would face the
terrors, dilemmas, and moral choices of the main characters.
This dramatic tale follows individual lives in this close-knit community as they interact in ways, selfish and unselfish, peaceful and violent, patient and power-mad. The story follows all the characters as they struggle to survive their ordeal, fighting against forces of nature, as well as one another.
As a novel with ideas as well as action and suspense, The Night Hunter seeks answers to ageless questions. Do forces for good and evil struggle among us in realms unseen, influencing humanity and allowing us to influence them? Or do brute chance and fate, blind forces of nature, govern our lives beyond human choice?
The Night Hunter offers no easy answers. Instead, it lays bare the
struggles of ordinary people as they cope with extreme crisis, panic, and
horror. The "real stuff" of the characters does emerge as they move beyond
the pale of social nicety. In the end, each faces the spirit
of the Night Hunter alone.
Could the cougar be a mass hallucination? Is it a vengeful ghost from Indian legend? Are the villagers facing a primal force unleashed by climate change gone out of control?
It's up to you, as the reader. You decide.
To discover the story's exciting conclusion and buy The Night Hunter now through Amazon.com, click here. You won't be disappointed!
xxx
Books Ready for Publication
Williams has written five novels and is beginning work on a sixth, As Dreams Are Made, set in Los Angeles and the Philippines. He has the following novels in completed manuscript form, ready for publication:
Fall of the Sparrow
Johnny didn't go home to Nashville after his time in Vietnam was up. Instead he wandered the
country during the seventies and eighties in search of a place for
himself. After a failed marriage, drug addiction and years on the
streets, he found himself working a hellish job in a boiler factory and
living in a flop-house.
He blames his older brother, Seth, for the suicide of his beloved
sister, Janice, and his own self-destruction. One day, he gets a
telegram announcing his mother's death. When he goes home for her funeral, he determines he will exact revenge and kill Seth.
However, on his return to Tennessee, he finds his brother terminally ill
and living in misery and pain. What would his revenge mean now?
For Johnny, being back in Nashville brings out the memories of his life,
and he relives much of a tortured past with an abusive family. Most of
all, he recalls the summer he was five, when Janice and Seth were both
teens, at the time of her death. It was then that his family discovered
to their horror, that she was having an affair with a black man. The
revelation led to a chain of events ending in tragedy.
So now Seth taunts Johnny to "put him out of his misery" or leave
Nashville a coward. Seth senses without words, what Johnny wants to do.
Does Johnny exact his revenge? What are justice and judgment, and why do
they mean so much to us? Do we answer only to our own desires and laws
or to principles higher and greater than ourselves?
As Fall of the Sparrow
unfolds, past and present converge to determine Johnny's destiny and his
choices between life and death.
What Gift, Oh Father, Father
Michael and Stacey are twins in their
late 20s, living in Bakersfield, California. Stacey is straight, works
as a waitress, and dates truck drivers. Michael, who is gay, runs a
motel and cares for his older partner, Dan, who's dying from AIDS. Late
one night Michael calls Stacey in panic for her to come help him with
his Dan. They know he's near death and desperately drive him "over the
mountains" to Los Angeles and a hospital.
So begins a journey of self-discovery for both siblings, as they realize
that their true histories did not begin in Los Angeles but with their
family and early home in Tennessee. They begin searching for a wealthy
relative's inheritance while trying to fend off Brent, a drug-dealer
adopted brother gone bad. Their paths take them from Bakersfield to L.A.
to the Sierras, and even to Tennessee.
Finally, they realize the real money is in the hands of their dark
brother, Brent, who threatens their lives and their happiness. The death
of Michael's partner and the deepening love between Stacey and her
latest boyfriend only harden their resolve to discover the secret of
their family money and try to get it for themselves.
However, Brent has other plans and tries to continue a pattern of
abusing both the twins, especially Stacey, a cycle that began when they
were all young children. Finally, Michael and Stacey realize that money
won't help their problems. The real solution lies only in the healing of
past family wounds and confronting Brent and defeating him once and for
all.
What Gift, Oh Father, Father shows the corrosive effects of
evil passed down from generation to generation. Yet, the story also
affirms that redemption and real love can transcend this evil and heal
broken lives.
Past Help and Grief
At his office in San Francisco, Jake
gets a phone call with he news his older brother Aaron, back home in
Scarborough, Tennessee, is dead. The death was expected, as Aaron had
been sick for a long while. What Jake didn't expect was the caller's
telling him he
inherited the old family home.
Taking time off from work, he returns to Scarborough to sell the house.
He cares little for his family, who had rejected him 25 years ago when
they discovered he was gay. He left town then, never to return until
now. As anticipated, Aaron's widow, Jenny, still hates him. She was once
his fiancé, and she quickly switched to Aaron right after Jake’s
exposure forced him to leave town. All she wants is for Jake to sell the
house and leave as fast as possible. Jake entirely agrees.
When he visits the house, he discovers it's a wreck. The family had
abandoned it years ago, and Aaron never rented it out, leaving it to
ruin. Unbelieving, Jake explores the place realizing he's probably the
first person to enter there in years. Suddenly, a floor gives way
beneath his feet, and he plunges into the cellar. Amazingly unhurt, he
starts to leave but stops short when something catches his eye. Under
faint light, the thing turns out to be a skeleton, and a necklace
pendant it still wears tells him immediately he's found the remains of
his dead sister, Diane.
How did Diane die? She was his only sister, and he loved her dearly.
During the seventies, she married an African-American rock singer. Their
father was a conservative senator who couldn't tolerate a gay son, so he
detested his daughter's "mixed" marriage as well! Then, two years later,
she was strangled. A well publicized "circus trial" convicted her
husband, Joe, and sent him to prison, but on a lesser charge. Now free,
Joe now wanders the town alone, demented and homeless. Meanwhile, police
dig up the coffin everyone thought held Diane's remains in the cemetery,
just to find it empty!
Then, Jake changes his mind. Determined to stay in town until he solves
the mystery of his sister, he starts questioning everyone who might have
information. Being a newspaper reporter by trade, he knows how to
investigate and gives the police, as well as many of the other "higher
ups" in town, a monstrous headache. Apparently no one wants to stir up
these old memories.
On the way, he meets Don, Diane's son and his nephew. He's young, fiery,
and arrogant and plays in a rock band while attending a local college.
Still, Jake feels a kinship with him. Seeing old family members again
brings back memories of a past and a gay teen lover who betrayed him.
Joe's black minister has clues, but won't tell everything. Most of all,
Bill, Jake's old frat buddy from college, who's now the town football
coach, seems to be holding back information. Jake turns relentless in
his quest for the truth.
As he becomes more obsessed, Jake realizes he may be losing his grip on
sanity. His personal life is a mess. He's lonely and knows
he's HIV positive. All he has left is his work. He feels an
emptiness that's tearing him apart. Now, as he relives the past and his
dark relationship with Diane, he hallucinates, hears voices,
and even sees ghosts! To make things worse, thugs beat him up and leave
him for dead, with more threats if he doesn't stop digging up the past.
What are the answers to all the mysteries surrounding Jake's sister?
More important, how did all of this affect his early life? Dark
things were happening in secret, events his family kept from him. Should he really
find out the truth, or would everyone, including Jake, be better off without it? Maybe there
are no answers to the questions he chases after so desperately.
As Jake's quest in Past Help and Grief leads him to darker and darker realms, he realizes all
human truth is only memory, faint remembrances that make us who we are.
In the end, he can't rely on anyone's stories of the past, not even his
own.
Sadly, Jake discovers that the very unreliability of everyone's
recollections reduces us all to mere ghosts. As past, present, and future
unravel before Jake's eyes, he discovers that the real truth he seeks is
not in his Scarborough past, but within himself.
The Sword and Chalice
An Arthurian fantasy for older children
and young teens, this story is about the struggle of Lord Markon to
regain the throne from the usurper, Xeiden. After Lord Xeiden has the
true king, Lord Markon's father, murdered he takes the throne himself.
Lord Markon must flee, along with his friend and comrade, Sir Tabor.
Sword and sorcery adventure abounds as Markon and Tabor, with a small
group of loyal knights, struggle against all odds, natural and
supernatural, to regain the kingdom of Shanandar. There is one battle
after another, culminating in a final meeting of armies and conflict between Xeiden and Markon.
Lord Markon's struggle is both spiritual and physical as he tries to
regain his rightful heritage. Yes, the strongest warrior can gain the
throne. However, The Prophet proclaims that only he who sees the "Vision
of the Chalice" will keep the kingship for himself. This is an exciting
tale of the age-old battle between good and evil set in an imaginary
land halfway between King Arthur and Middle Earth.
The Sword and Chalice will excite and delight older children, and indeed any
children at heart, of all ages.