Dark Surge

by Gina Ranalli, M. Wayne Miller (Illustrator)

Recently divorced Tess Waters is an attractive young professional woman and mother of Emily, her precocious six-year-old daughter. Tess cannot understand why her ex-husband, Josh, who obviously still cares for his ex and madly loves his little daughter, had to spoil their marriage by having a torrid affair with another woman.


There’s certainly no love lost between Tess Waters and the “other woman”—Josh’s now live-in girlfriend, the mysterious and highly sexual Gillian. Indeed, Tess assumes that her divorce has been caused by Josh following the compulsions of his…“lower” brain, rather than his primary one. Indeed, Josh does seem mesmerized by the beautiful Gillian, who seems to be able to anticipate and fulfill his every desire.


But, as the relationship between Josh and Gillian starts to become more serious, simmering tensions between Tess and Gillian, and resentments concerning raising Emily boil over. Suddenly, Tess’ home begins to be subjected to a bizarre infestation of flies. The infestation quickly spreads and soon Tess and her daughter are fighting for their very lives and souls against a powerful supernatural force that seeks to destroy them. Someone’s hiding a dark, deadly and ancient secret, and Tess’ chance meeting with a small band of runaway teens living on the streets, one of who’s a practicing Wiccan witch, seems to offer their only hope of survival. Can this strange alliance between street-teens and soccer mom be sufficient to defeat a relentless and implacable unearthly enemy and the nightmarish dark surge of ravening deadly insects under its control that threaten to engulf them all?

Genres: Horror

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Gina Ranalli is the author of several novels, including Mothman Emerged, Rumors of My Death, Praise the Dead, House of Fallen Trees, Suicide Girls in the Afterlife, Chemical Gardens, Wall of Kiss, and Mother Puncher. Her collection, 13 Thorns (with Gus Fink) won the Wonderland Book Award for Best Story Collection of 2007. Her short stories have appeared in numerous publications including Bits of the Dead, The Beast Within, Horror Library Volume 3, and Dead Science, among others.

Gina lives in Washington state where she is working on her next novel. You can communicate with her online at www.ginaranalli.com and on twitter at http://twitter.com/GinaRanalli

Reviews

[Clayton Bye · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://horror.thedeepening.com/2012/0...

[Brennon Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, with some fun interesting characters. At the end I was still thinking. Great stuff!!!