Novels

The Event

Twenty-one-year-old Jordan Media dreams of being a travel photographer. Instead, he finds himself wearing a rut in the narrow Kansas highway between his family’s farm and a nearby cargo airport where he works the graveyard shift. He is shaken from his monotony one night when a man calling himself Robert appears out of thin air, claiming to come from another star system.

Referring to an 1859 solar storm known as the Carrington Event, Robert warns Jordan that a similar —  but much larger — event will threaten all life on Earth soon. The people from his world are executing a plan to save thousands of humans, and Jordan is among those being offered refuge on their planet. However, he may bring only two other people with him.

Meanwhile, the coming catastrophe is discovered by Dr. DeJulio Penn, an LSU astrophysicist who publishes an informal letter, hoping his alarming conclusions can be proven wrong by his peers. News outlets pick up the email, and panic spreads. The ensuing chaos and lawlessness quickly encroach on Jordan and the others whom Robert has selected. While humans agonize over which of their friends and family deserve a chance to live, Robert’s fellow travelers begin to doubt the wisdom of saving any humans at all.

THE EVENT is character-driven science fiction in the vein of Jurassic Park or The Stand, complete at 91,000 words.

(sample chapters)


Beneath the Sand

This Middle Grade work was co-authored with FAPA Silver Award-Winner Marci Giebels ("Legacy").

Eleven-year-old Petunia "Squeak" Scoville and her best friend, Duke Weathers, have just uncovered a mysterious treasure chest on North Captiva Island, Florida.

The two have spent summer vacations with their families on “North Cap” for as long as they can remember. They know every inch of the island – its plants, animals, residents, and rhythms. So, making a discovery of this magnitude is all the sweeter to them. Was it left by pirates? Did it wash ashore after a shipwreck? What’s inside?

Unfortunately, the wrong tools, suspicious strangers, a tropical storm, and a chain of other unusual events conspire to keep them from finding the answers. While Squeak's frustration drives her to do impulsive things to get to the treasure, Duke's nature – more subdued since the death of his father – serves to keep her in check.

This summer, they learn how teamwork, family, and trust could be the tools (and the treasure) they've needed all along.

BENEATH THE SAND is complete at 21,000 words.

(sample chapters)