December 15, 2016

Excerpt: Midnight’s Edge

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Author: David Chappius & Michael Klingerv
Genres: Horror, Supernatural, Suspense
Series: Midnight’s Edge

Book 1: The Secrets of Sleepy Meadows
 The title, Midnight’s Edge, comes from the time of night where the veil between the living and the dead disappears and, for a brief moment in time, the dead can return to the mortal world and live again. It is a story of a vile, evil man named Jeremy Wickcliff, whose wife, Lucy, arranged his death years ago to save the town from his wrath of destruction. In present time, he has been plotting from the spirit realm, a place of purgatory, to return to the mortal realm to seek revenge on those who wronged him and reclaim the life ripped away from him.

  Book 2: The Possession
Successful in his plan to return to the mortal realm, Jeremy Wickcliff believes he’s found his son, whose body will allow him to continue to live, and he has brought back his sister, Rachel, as part of his resurgence plan for the Wickcliff family. However, the son that he thinks is his isn’t, and Rachel isn’t exactly his ally. Trapped in the Wickcliff mausoleum in the spirit realm, the Wickcliff ancestors have their own plan to return to life in the mortal realm, with or without Jeremy’s help.
As the witches begin to piece together Jeremy’s plan after a visit from his wife, Lucy, in spirit form, they realize that they must band together in an attempt to stop him from bringing his family back and to banish him back to the ghost realm. With a battle between good and evil takes place on the grounds of the Wickcliff cemetery, the outcome will change the lives of the residents of Sleepy Meadows forever.

Book 3: Sleepy Meadows
In the third book of the Midnight’s Edge series, Kasey Menze has found himself misplaced from his life in the mortal realm. His body has been possessed by the vile spirit of Jeremy Wickcliff; His life has been stolen. He awakes in the spirit realm, a place of purgatory for those who have died, and encounters the spirit of Shelly Wickcliff, whose suicide was the result of Jeremy’s machinations to use her body as a vessel to return his sister Rachel from the grave. Together, with the help of Damon Shields, a mortal man with the shamanic ability to transcend his life force between the two realms and Shelly’s husband Rory, also a spirit, they must formulate a plan to exorcise Jeremy from the mortal realm so that Kasey may reclaim his life, and so that Jeremy can be stopped from fulfilling his prophecy that he’ll return his ancestors from the dead.

Book 1: The Secrets of Sleepy Meadows
Chapter One:
At first, Kasey Menze saw nothing but darkness. Slowly his eyes adjusted to his surroundings in

the Wickcliff mausoleum. A shiver coursed through him from the dampness of the cold, stone floor

on which he found himself.

He rubbed the top of his head, feeling dizzy, and confused. He tried to get up, but his legs didn’t

hold him. At first, he thought he was dead, yet as his mind cleared, he quickly pushed those

thoughts aside and was convinced that Jeremy hadn’t inhabited his body.

He tried to stand up again, this time, more carefully. He felt weak and wasn’t sure he could

depend on his legs to support his weight. He stumbled forward a few feet and reached out in front

of him, hoping to find something in the darkness to hold on to as he attempted to steady himself.

“Graham, are you there?”

His voice echoed within the room. He expected Graham to answer him, remembering that he’d

been in the mausoleum with him and Jeremy before he lost consciousness.

“Careful,” a man’s voice said, coming out of the darkness. “You don’t want to hurt yourself.”

The voice startled Kasey, and he scanned the room. “Who’s there?”

“Guess,” the man said, with a sarcastic laugh.

“I don’t have time for games. Just answer me. Graham, is it you?”

“I’m not Graham, but close.”

He stood in silence for a moment and then gasped. “Reed, is that you?”

“That’s right. Give the man a prize.”

Reed opened the inside shutters of a cracked window and stepped to the side. The face Kasey

saw in the moonlight that shone through stunned him. Reed appeared beyond his years. At 30,

Kasey was five years his senior. That wasn’t evident now. The usually slender and attractive

young man breathed heavily and appeared bloated. His once shiny reddish-brown hair was dull

and straw-like; dark circles appeared under his once sparkling eyes, now cloudy, dull and lifeless,

like those of an old teddy bear dumped to the bottom of a child’s toy box.

Book 2: The Possession
Chapter One
The concept of time is different in the spirit realm than it is in the mortal one. It’s not measured by hours or even minutes. Although time has gone on, it feels like I’ve been trapped in one long, endless nightmare since my suicide and transition to the spirit realm. I can’t gauge how long it’s been now, but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is I’ve found myself trapped in the attic of the Wickcliff mansion, where I ended my life, with no apparent way out.
In an instant, I, Shelly Hawkins-Wickcliff, the younger sister of Ethan Hawkins and daughter to Carol and Jeffrey Hawkins, ceased to exist. I can still connect with my family and friends in my mind. I can see the events of the mortal realm unfolding like a movie. I’ve seen my father murdered by Jeremy Wickcliff, the same evil, vile spirit who’d gotten inside my mind and coerced me into taking my life. He’d returned to the mortal realm using Midnight’s Edge, a time of night where the veil between the living and the dead ceases to exist and inhabited the body of Reed Withers, who soon became trapped in the spirit realm with me after his mind and body were possessed. At the age of twenty-five, the same age as me, it appeared that his life was over just as mine was.
Reed’s a fighter who refuses to accept that his life as he knew it is over. Having him in the spirit realm with me has helped me realize that like him, I can’t sit back and let Jeremy get away with what he’s taken from me. Reed’s determination to reclaim his life has reignited the fighter in me, the person who no longer wishes to be a victim. I’ve become determined to make Jeremy pay for the suffering he’s inflicted on me, my late husband Rory, and the rest of my family, although I’m still figuring out how.
The one connection I still have to the mortal realm is through Kasey Menze, one of my closest friends and my brother’s lover. While no one in the mortal realm knows of my presence there when I go there in my mind, Kasey’s the exception. He has special abilities, psychic abilities. He can hear me when I speak to him. I’ve also been able to give him visions, visions of my death and turmoil that I now face. While he’s doing his best to shut me out, afraid of what I’ve shown him and desperate for a normal life with my brother, I know I’ve got to keep trying to connect with him. He’s the only hope I have of warning my loved ones of the impending danger they face as a result of Jeremy’s presence in their world.
I turned to look out the window, peering out at the town below, before shutting my eyes and attempting to make contact with the mortal realm. I saw Kasey outside his mother Gracey’s house, who’d just encountered Jeremy, who he thought was Reed. He thought the encounter odd, as he couldn’t figure out why Reed was there or why he’d left as suddenly as he’d appeared. He hadn’t known that Jeremy had shown up to coerce Gracey into telling him who his son was, the son he’d blamed her for helping his wife, Lucy, keep from him his son’s entire life. He wouldn’t even have known about his son’s existence if it hadn’t been for his paying off an old gypsy woman that Lucy once knew to tell him the truth.
Kasey hadn't realized the extent of the danger his mother was in as he went up to her kitchen door and entered the house without knocking. She’d told him to come over in a hurry, and while Kasey was only five years older than me, the worry I saw as I studied his face made him appear much older than he was.
 “Mom, I got here as quickly as I could. You sounded so strange on the phone. I could tell by the tone in your voice that something’s wrong. What is it?”
Gracey stood up slowly and pointed to Hilda. “Kasey, this is an old friend of mine, Hilda. You remember her.”

Book 3: Sleepy Meadows
Chapter One
At first, Kasey Menze saw nothing but darkness. Slowly his eyes adjusted to his surroundings in

the Wickcliff mausoleum. A shiver coursed through him from the dampness of the cold, stone floor

on which he found himself.

He rubbed the top of his head, feeling dizzy, and confused. He tried to get up, but his legs didn’t

hold him. At first, he thought he was dead, yet as his mind cleared, he quickly pushed those

thoughts aside and was convinced that Jeremy hadn’t inhabited his body.

He tried to stand up again, this time, more carefully. He felt weak and wasn’t sure he could

depend on his legs to support his weight. He stumbled forward a few feet and reached out in front

of him, hoping to find something in the darkness to hold on to as he attempted to steady himself.

“Graham, are you there?”

His voice echoed within the room. He expected Graham to answer him, remembering that he’d

been in the mausoleum with him and Jeremy before he lost consciousness.

“Careful,” a man’s voice said, coming out of the darkness. “You don’t want to hurt yourself.”

The voice startled Kasey, and he scanned the room. “Who’s there?”

“Guess,” the man said, with a sarcastic laugh.

“I don’t have time for games. Just answer me. Graham, is it you?”

“I’m not Graham, but close.”

He stood in silence for a moment and then gasped. “Reed, is that you?”

“That’s right. Give the man a prize.”

Reed opened the inside shutters of a cracked window and stepped to the side. The face Kasey

saw in the moonlight that shone through stunned him. Reed appeared beyond his years. At 30,

Kasey was five years his senior. That wasn’t evident now. The usually slender and attractive

young man breathed heavily and appeared bloated. His once shiny reddish-brown hair was dull

and straw-like; dark circles appeared under his once sparkling eyes, now cloudy, dull and lifeless,

like those of an old teddy bear dumped to the bottom of a child’s toy box.

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Michael Klinger - Co-Author of Midnight's Edge, Jenny's Not Dead
Michael Klinger was born in Niagara Falls, New York. He received an associate’s degree in human services from Niagara County Community College and a bachelor’s degree in human services management from the University of Phoenix. He has made a living as a professional benefits specialist.
He co-writes fan fiction blogs for the defunct daytime serials, Another World and Dark Shadows, and runs Facebook groups for readers to actively participate in the stories.
He is the co-author of “Midnight’s Edge: The Secrets of Sleepy Meadows”, a supernatural book series, that will be published by Melange Books, LLC in September 2015. He also pens his self-published mystery series called “Jenny’s Not Dead” which is currently available in all popular ebook formats.
He currently resides in southern Virginia.
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David Chappuis was born in Waterloo, Iowa, the fifth child of six, and grew up on a farm outside of Madrid, New York. He received a bachelor’s degree in English/Writing and Art/Studio from Potsdam College and later took professional development courses in Interactive Multimedia at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
He has made a living as a professional web designer, designing Radio Station websites across the U.S. He designs, develops, and hosts his own websites and blogs for his writing endeavors.
As well as web design, he co-writes fan fiction blogs for the defunct daytime serials, Another World and Dark Shadows, and runs Facebook groups for readers to actively participate in the stories. He also interviews the real-life actors from the shows as well as other talented people.
He is the co-author of “Midnight’s Edge: The Secrets of Sleepy Meadows”, a supernatural book series, that will be published by Melange Books, LLC in September 2015. He also pens his self-published mystery series called “Jenny’s Not Dead” which is currently available in all popular ebook formats.
He works from home as a full-time writer and graphic artist in southern Virginia.


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