Hi peeps, we have F.E. Feeley popping in today with the cover to his upcoming re-release The Haunting of Timber Manor, we have a great excerpt so check out the cover and enjoy the post! <3 ~Pixie~

The Haunting of Timber Manor

F.E. Feeley

While recovering from the recent loss of his parents, Daniel Donnelly receives a phone call from his estranged aunt, who turns over control of the family fortune and estate, Timber Manor. Though his father seemed guarded about the past, Daniel’s need for family and curiosity compel him to visit.

Located in a secluded area of the Northwest, Timber Manor has grown silent over the years. Her halls sit empty and a thin layer of dust adorns the sheet-covered furniture. When Daniel arrives to begin repairs, strange things happen. Nightmares haunt his dreams. Memories not his own disturb his waking hours. Alive with the tragedies of the past, Timber Manor threatens to tear Daniel apart.

Sheriff Hale Davis grew up working on the manor grounds. Seeing Daniel struggle, he vows protect the young man who captured his heart, and help him solve the mystery behind the haunting and confront the past-not only to save Daniel’s life, but to save his family, whose very souls hang in the balance.

2nd Edition. 1st edition published by Dreamspinner Press January 2013.

Excerpt

Daniel

THE rain pounded down on the cab of the truck, the wiper blades furiously working to no avail. I felt like he was driving underwater. The music on the radio station turned almost completely down, I held the steering wheel in a viselike grip. I had the air conditioner cranked up on high to keep the windows from fogging up. Lightning danced across the sky, instantly followed by a peal of thunder that shook the world around me. My heart leapt into my throat as the thunder rumbled like a cranky dragon awakening from a deep slumber to find his treasure gone. I had slowed the truck to a near crawl almost ten miles back when the torrential rains began. The two thousand or so miles from Texas to here had passed pretty uneventfully, and I had made very good time. Now it felt like I was not moving at all, and I could barely make out the road in front of me. No cars passed me coming from the other direction, and nobody came up behind me. I felt alone and isolated, like the rest of the world had disappeared and all that existed was me and my old Chevy truck. Those thoughts didn’t help the panic that was building. Should I pull over and wait the rain out? Or perhaps keep going until I found a gas station to pull into? I didn’t like the situation at all; this was how horror novels started. Some maniac wielding a knife—or some other kind of sharp weapon—would come hurtling out of the woods or appear at Billy Bob’s gas station. You know, one of those rusted old out-of-the-way service stations that no one has seen in…. Stop it! Quit thinking that shit!

My throat was dry and begging for a drink, and my eyes were strained and grainy from staring out into the night as the rain sloshed my windshield and my headlights peered into the darkness in their sad attempt to guide me to my destination. How did I get myself into these situations? A few nights ago, I had been sitting at a campus bar with some of my friends, lamenting about the end of the semester, and here I was, wishing I were back in my dorm room surrounded by my belongings, homework, and familiarity, which were so far away. Now I was out in butt-fucked who knows where trying to reach my estranged aunt’s house, where I would stay for the summer. With one hand, I removed a Marlboro from its pack, put it into my mouth, and lit the end. Sweet nicotine heaven poured into my lungs as I placed my hand back on the steering wheel and thumbed the window control. A deluge of rain pelted me on the side of the face, but I didn’t care. I put the cigarette in my right hand so it wouldn’t get wet. Addicts do the strangest things to get their fix. Besides, if I was going to die here in the backside of nowhere—either by a terrible car accident or a knife-wielding maniac—I was having a damned cigarette.

The rain coming through the cracked window was cool on my fevered skin, and the air, which carried the smell of the storm and the woods that surrounded me, pushed the smoke from my cigarette away with its fresh, clean fragrance. Another lightning flash lit the sky, and I nearly jumped out of my seat as the world around me instantly turned a brilliant white and then disappeared. The thunder pealed again, this time closer and louder than previously, and I knew this storm wasn’t going to let up soon. I had to pull over or I was going to end up crashing into a tree. Game over. No law school for me. I slowly pulled off to the side of the road and turned on my emergency flashers to hopefully avoid getting creamed by a passerby. Yet, somewhere deep inside, I didn’t think that anyone would be traveling down this road tonight, and I hoped more than anything that I was wrong.

I put the truck in park, engine running and wiper blades slapping furiously, like a drowning man trying to hail a lifeguard at a beach. I took one last drag of my cigarette, flicked it out into the night, and rolled up my window. The left side of me was pretty rain soaked, and I shivered from the cooled air pumping out of the registers on the dashboard. I looked at the radio clock for the time, and it was only nine thirty at night. Still pretty early, but the storm cut out all ambient light except for the occasional flash of lightning. I leaned back into the seat and let the warm leather embrace my aching back as I laid my head against the headrest.

“Damn,” I whispered. I checked my phone for missed calls or messages, but there was no signal. So now I was not only stranded out in the middle of nowhere, I had no way to call for help should I get attacked by Cletus the dog-faced boy. The rain pounded relentlessly on the cab of my truck. It began to have a lulling effect on me, and my eyes grew heavy. Trying to keep myself awake, I began to thumb through the radio stations. Not too many were available out here in the middle of nowhere, except for country music and a lone preacher saying, “We must have revival in this land!” I decided against both.

“This was a mistake,” I said out loud as I wiped the nervous, clammy sweat from my brow. I didn’t even know this lady, and all of a sudden she came out of the blue now that Mom and Dad were gone? “This is nuts, Daniel,” I whispered to myself as the anxiety threatened to take over. Lightning danced outside as if replying to my words, and the thunder shouted its amen almost instantly. Yet something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I thought I saw movement along the tree line as the world lit up like fire. I sat bolt upright in my seat, eyes peering out into the rain-soaked darkness. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until my chest began to hurt and my temples began to ache. I let it out in a slow manner, as if my exhale would alert whatever ghoul or ghost or serial killer was lurking inside the shadows of the woods. Another flash and my eyes locked on a pair of yellow eyes staring at me from the place I had seen them before. Not a ghost or a killer but a wolf. Standing about twenty feet away, a huge, magnificent wolf was watching me with an oddly disconcerting amount of intelligence in his eyes. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Instead of fading into the darkness, he began to walk forward into the headlights of my car. He never took his eyes off of mine, and it was like he was staring right through my soul.

My heart began to hammer, and my breathing quickly picked up. My hands went back to the steering wheel and clamped down on it again, as white-knuckled as before. A chill passed through me and the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. As if the wolf could sense my distress he stopped and gave me a wicked grin. “You know I can see you don’t you?” I whispered aloud. “You know I am afraid.” The wolf, in response, tilted his giant head up toward the rain and gave out a chilling howl as if to confirm that. “Why, yes, I do know dear boy. What do you think I’m doing here?” The blood ran cold in my veins as another chill passed through me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. The lightning danced across the sky in giant arcs, illuminating the night, and, just as fast as he had appeared, the wolf was gone.

About F.E.

First and foremost, I am a husband to my wonderful husband, John. I am a father of our five-year-old German Shephard, Kaiser. I am an avid reader of Mysteries, Horror, and Suspense, and biographies. I am a gamer. My favorite ones are Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Star Trek Online,Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, and Civilization Five. I love to cook and I love trying new recipes (hint hint). I am an avid music junkie from POPular music to Opera, to Showtunes, Gospel, Rock, Rap, and Hip Hop. I am also a Poet – a lot of which is offered on this web page for free. And I do some gay fiction writing from time to time.

I love connecting with people. As an ex- fundi, I grew up in a world where there was this invisible boundary set down between me and the world around me. I felt more like an observer than an actual participant in that world. Since I’ve left fundamentalism – it has been my constant endeavor to be a part of the world. To be a part of humanity. And when I write my poetry or my books, I draw from the experiences of being raised in that environment as well as the experiences of tasting the bouquet of humanity I’d been denied all those years ago.

It’s a way to entertain people, writing is a way to connect to them, as well as a way for me to recover from the world I’d lived in all those years ago. Thank you for coming on my journey with me.

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