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The Nightmare Frontier
The town of Silver Ridge, West Virginia, has disappeared from the face of the earth. To the outside world, a chasm of impenetrable mist is all that remains of the town. But inside Silver Ridge, the nightmare is just beginning.Confined by this unimaginable barrier, the townspeople find themselves confronted by the denizens of a distant horrifying creatures that intend to transform the valley town into their own outpost. To these extra-dimensional travelers, human beings are nothing more than pests to be exterminated.Russell Copeland and Debra Harrington are determined to resist the invaders… but as they face death to restore Silver Ridge to its rightful place on Earth, they find that their true enemy may not be the incomprehensible invaders, but an insidious evil whose origin is closer to home than they can imagine.
230 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Stephen Mark Rainey
115 books101 followersStephen Mark Rainey is the author of numerous novels, including BALAK, THE LEBO COVEN, DARK SHADOWS: DREAMS OF THE DARK (with Elizabeth Massie), BLUE DEVIL ISLAND, THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND, and others, including several in Elizabeth Massie's Ameri-Scares Series for Young Readers. In addition, Mark's work includes six short story collections; over 200 published works of short fiction; and the scripts for several DARK SHADOWS audio productions, which feature members of the original ABC-TV series cast. For ten years, he edited the multi-award-winning DEATHREALM magazine and, most recently, the best-selling anthology, DEATHREALM: SPIRITS (Shortwave Publishing). He has also edited anthologies for Delirium Press, Chaosium, and Arkham House. Mark lives in Martinsville, VA, with his wife, Kimberly, and a passel of precocious house cats. He is a regular panelist on the weekly Lovecraft eZine Podcast and an active member of the Horror Writers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 28, 2011
This book is a bit outside the genre I typically read, and I think I'll be back for more.
Summary: A guy from the city comes to a rural West Virginia town to help his sister bury her son, who was killed and torn apart by someone (something?) wild. Things start to get pretty creepy pretty fast. The family in town that seems to get away with every bad deed they do appear to be behind the creepy. Mostly because they seem to have a connection to some interdimensional aliens who are attempting to move into earth. Lots of people start getting killed. The heroes try to save the say.
I enjoyed the plot -- enough twists and turns, without becoming overly-complex. The characters are believable and worth caring for (or hating, in the case of the villains). The conflict feels real, with plenty of tension to keep the story moving. Especially as the story progresses, it becomes hard to put the book down. There's not much fluff in this story. The action starts right near the beginning and doesn't let up.
I'll be adding some more Stephen Mark Rainey books to my to-read list.
Summary: A guy from the city comes to a rural West Virginia town to help his sister bury her son, who was killed and torn apart by someone (something?) wild. Things start to get pretty creepy pretty fast. The family in town that seems to get away with every bad deed they do appear to be behind the creepy. Mostly because they seem to have a connection to some interdimensional aliens who are attempting to move into earth. Lots of people start getting killed. The heroes try to save the say.
I enjoyed the plot -- enough twists and turns, without becoming overly-complex. The characters are believable and worth caring for (or hating, in the case of the villains). The conflict feels real, with plenty of tension to keep the story moving. Especially as the story progresses, it becomes hard to put the book down. There's not much fluff in this story. The action starts right near the beginning and doesn't let up.
I'll be adding some more Stephen Mark Rainey books to my to-read list.
February 4, 2017
An awesome sci-fi/horror story, very fast paced.
Quite a different take on an alien invasion.
While the book had a good ending, but like some movies let you know that the trouble has not completely ended. Wouldn't mind reading a sequel to this story though.
Quite a different take on an alien invasion.
While the book had a good ending, but like some movies let you know that the trouble has not completely ended. Wouldn't mind reading a sequel to this story though.
June 12, 2025
In The Nightmare Frontier, Rainey’s most surreal, dreamlike book yet, we find ourselves in Silver Ridge, West Virginia, and by the time Russell Copeland arrives to attend the funeral of a young nephew he barely knows, things are beginning to turn strange…and it’s just getting started.
Something tore the boy to pieces, but nobody knows who did it, and the sheriff doesn’t seem too concerned about finding out. He also seems awfully friendly with the appalling family living at the edge of Silver Ridge…the family that everyone else avoids and fears.
Russell, getting no help from the sheriff, decides to find out what’s happening on his own, and the weirdness doubles down, with obscuring mists, huge fissures opening up unpredictably, and nobody able to leave town. And what are the things in the woods? Where do they come from, and why are they there? And what is that sound he keeps hearing, and why does it fill his heart with terror every time he does? It seems that they’re not, so to speak, in Kansas anymore—but if not, where are they?
Other townspeople disappear, including Russell’s sister and the mother of his dead nephew, so everything becomes a whole lot more personal at that point. He never knew that dimensions were permeable, but discovers that they are, and what’s sneaking through wouldn’t exactly blend into Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. In fact, it would probably eat Mr. Rogers. As with all of Mark Rainey’s books, I must remind myself to start reading before 9 PM or I’ll be up late, since, once begun, I cannot put his books down. This one reminded me a bit—but just a bit—of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines books, and if you liked them, you’re going to love this book. Oh, hell, you’re going to love this book anyway. The pacing was flawless, the characters are a realistic cross-section of Appalachian townspeople, and the story kept me emotionally invested the entire way through. You’ll like, love, or hate his characters, but you will always have strong feelings regarding each of them. And that, my friends, is true brilliance.
I urge you to pick up a copy. You won’t be sorry. Oh, and with Christmas coming up, what better way to check the horror lovers off your list? It’s an inexpensive gift that reads like gold. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever all fine books are sold.
Something tore the boy to pieces, but nobody knows who did it, and the sheriff doesn’t seem too concerned about finding out. He also seems awfully friendly with the appalling family living at the edge of Silver Ridge…the family that everyone else avoids and fears.
Russell, getting no help from the sheriff, decides to find out what’s happening on his own, and the weirdness doubles down, with obscuring mists, huge fissures opening up unpredictably, and nobody able to leave town. And what are the things in the woods? Where do they come from, and why are they there? And what is that sound he keeps hearing, and why does it fill his heart with terror every time he does? It seems that they’re not, so to speak, in Kansas anymore—but if not, where are they?
Other townspeople disappear, including Russell’s sister and the mother of his dead nephew, so everything becomes a whole lot more personal at that point. He never knew that dimensions were permeable, but discovers that they are, and what’s sneaking through wouldn’t exactly blend into Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. In fact, it would probably eat Mr. Rogers. As with all of Mark Rainey’s books, I must remind myself to start reading before 9 PM or I’ll be up late, since, once begun, I cannot put his books down. This one reminded me a bit—but just a bit—of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines books, and if you liked them, you’re going to love this book. Oh, hell, you’re going to love this book anyway. The pacing was flawless, the characters are a realistic cross-section of Appalachian townspeople, and the story kept me emotionally invested the entire way through. You’ll like, love, or hate his characters, but you will always have strong feelings regarding each of them. And that, my friends, is true brilliance.
I urge you to pick up a copy. You won’t be sorry. Oh, and with Christmas coming up, what better way to check the horror lovers off your list? It’s an inexpensive gift that reads like gold. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever all fine books are sold.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews