Silent Moon

by William Relling Jr.

Commencing life as an Irish political prisoner the main character of this true story continues his battles with authority across three continents and through three important phases of history. The story based on new research, brings together major events from; convict life in Australia, the gold rush period of Victoria and the Californian gold rush. The story includes Australia’s first ever Gold Escort Robbery, one of the greatest mysteries of the sea, corporal punishment and execution, convict poetry, police corruption and criminal enterprise. The characters involved in the story are truly international and include an infamous pirate and a supposed American Civil War hero. This unique and amazing story will challenge the reader to contemplate mankind’s treatment of his fellow man and what is an appropriate way to respond to abusive authority.

Genres: Horror

Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

About the author

William Edward Relling Jr. (March 15, 1954 – January 22, 2004) was a St. Louis-born horror/mystery writer. He graduated from Lutheran High School North in 1971. He was a member of the Colin Sphinctor Band and in 1978 moved to Los Angeles with the band. When the band broke up, Relling chose to stay in Los Angeles, where he continued writing. Fellow writer Gary A. Braunbeck wrote of Relling's death by suicide in his 2010 book To Each Their Darkness.

Reviews

[Supratim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a few months back I had this urge to read some horror novels of the pulp fiction kind. So I went to a second hand book store and bought some - I used the blurbs and cover art for my buying decision.

The blurb mentioned about "black magic cult", "demonic ritual" etc. so I thought it be some really scary novel. The novel had a charismatic minister, a senator with well-hidden past running for the president's office, nosy newspaper reporter and his TV reporter girlfriend, ancient cult offering human sacrifices to the "Dark Gods" etc. in short enough ingredients to make a pot boiler horror novel. But the book fell flat in creating suspense, parts of the books were redundant and boring.

The author did try to create a good twist at the end but overall it is not a book worth recommending to even those who like gory horror stories.