Burial Grounds

by Mark A. Daniel, Virtual Voice (Narrator)

A crazed oil man becomes obsessed with a specific drilling site. As he drills deeper, bizarre things begin to happen in the nearby town of Comstock, Texas. People begin seeing things which are not real, and strange dreams begin to assault the citizens of the small town. The deeper Buzz goes, the more bizarre and frequent these occurrences become. An archaeology student from Austin begins to uncover a connection between the ancient pictographs she recently discovered and the occurrences in Comstock. She partners with of one of the men from the drilling crew to continue her investigation. Helene and Cal encounter resistance from both physical and the spiritual world as they seek to solve the mystery of the pictographs and their connection to the drill site.

Audible Audio

Published June 20, 2025

About the author

Mark A. Daniel is a writer of the supernatural thriller genre including the recent release "Convergence".

Taking the advice of his third-grade teacher to “pursue writing of some kind as a career,” he promptly wrote his first book From Six Feet to Two Inches. It was about 10 pages long. He never looked back.

He has since completed eight novels and two short story collections. Black Mass, Resurrection, The Gifted, Burial Grounds and The Threshold are available today, as are the short stories in Razor’s Edge 1 and Razor’s Edge 2.

Mark lives and writes on a small ranch in rural West Texas, accompanied by his wife of 30 years, a few dogs, several cats, and a varying number of chickens.

Reviews

[Carol Nauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Central to the story is a mysterious cave which was protected from unwanted visitors during the 1970's by Merle Walker. After his death, his sister allows the cave to be explored by members of the University of Texas Archeology Department. What they find is pictographs and something frightening and deadly. Not all will survive. Nearby, an oil company is drilling for oil. One of the supervisors becomes crazily obsessed with the hole that is being drilled. Not only is he having bizarre and disturbing nightmares, but soon the entire town shares the same nightmares. The surviving archeological student and one of the drilling team members come together to further investigate the drilling site and cave. What is unleashed upon the town is terrifying and destructive. What will remain of the town and who will survive? Burial Grounds is an exciting blend of mystery, supernatural and spiritual elements that will draw you in until the exciting conclusion.

[Joan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love discovering new authors with great stories to tell.

Comstock, Texas, is a small town, and the townsfolk are a bit unusual. There is a darkness that hangs heavy over the town. Read to find out what connects the mystery of the town and the oil drilling site together. The story is action-packed with a lot of really bizarre situations happening all around town.

I rate this story as a 4.5, which I rounded up to a 5 star.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Another awesome read by Mark A Daniel. If you haven't read his books.... you really should. His imagine and ability to write is phenomenal.
An archeology team come to a small town in Texas to explore some caves and pictographs at the same time an oil company in mining for oil. Weird and crazy things start to happen to the people from this town, few are unaffected. People are dying.  Helen and Cal fight time to try and save themselves and others.
This book is full of great descriptions of places and things, the characters are great and believable, and sometimes creepy. I loved the setting and what transpires as I devoured the book. It's cool how the author takes us back in time to explain the more recent events we've already read about, I really liked that aspect of the book.
I loved the erieness of this story, the unknown, the mystery and suspense. I liked the how the story explored ancient caves and peoples. There are certain aspects of the plot that are left to the readers imagination And I liked that also.
And such a great ending! I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it.

[Megan Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Mark obviously understands the oil field. The detailed view that the reader gets from the rig is helpful to build the picture of this hole being dug.
An ancient native curse has risen to the surface of the once calm and unsuspecting town of Comstock. This curse is bleeding into the minds of the citizen and driving them to do things against their nature. But the White Hawk has overstayed its welcome, and it is long past time for nature to return.
When fires from below and above threaten to swallow this town whole what will happen to the people within its borders? Find out in Burial Grounds.

[Jolene Gelderblom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished the book wanted to DNF a few times but I always finish something I started. For me the terribly long chapters put me off they were to long felt never ending. I liked the ending it was the most suspenseful part of the book. If you like supernatural ancient type books you will love it.

[Momma T's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read. A cave, an oil rig, a small town, and an ancient aspect that brings it all together.

The author brings you into the story with a quick, gripping prologue with what to expect. Once you read it, there is no going back. You have to know. You want to understand. Throughout, the author’s knowledge and research on what is happening keeps you on the edge of your seat. Comstock is not a town you want to be left behind in.

The ending leaves you dumbfounded. As I sat there, staring into space, it was so easy to imagine what the author had put to the page.