Death Message:

by Edmund Hulton

While on a long-awaited vacation in Fiji, Maggie and Brad Montana, fledgling associate professors from a small college in America's heartland, find a mysterious pearl-black cone resting at the water's edge on a deserted atoll. The tiny vessel reluctantly discloses two strange instruments that lead them on a worldwide search of discovery. Located in the Northern Territory of Australia, the alien-looking landscape of stacked granite boulders, known as the Devil's Marbles, is the perfect backdrop for the culmination of the Montana's quest. Backpack Bill, a charismatic local tour guide from Tennant Creek, outfits the Montanas and situates them for their first and, as it turns out, their last evening in the desolate Outback region. The technologies of the twenty-first century, coupled with Maggie and Brad's relentless pursuit to uncover the secret of the cone, lure them into a baneful trap where they unwittingly fall prey to an ancient alien snare. Edmund Hulton is the former vice president of information technology for three very successful firms engaged in both national and regional over-the-road commerce. Ed's prior works include Anomaly, a sci-fi thriller, published in 2000, and Absolution, a psychological thriller published in December of 2004. www.edmundhulton.com

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2015