Something happened to MICHAEL EASTON when he was a child.
Something so terrifying it became a recurring nightmare. A nightmare that holds within it the seeds of his own destruction. A nightmare he thought he’d left far behind him. But it was waiting. Buried deep in his subconscious. Waiting to emerge when the time was right, and compel him to destroy everything he cares about.
For me, this story is part Stephen King and part Nicholas Sparks - - if I may be so bold as to put myself in the same category as authors of that caliber. The nightmare aspect of it was partly inspired by my own experience as a child when, for a brief time, I suffered from a recurring nightmare. It disappeared for quite a while but then, for no apparent reason, came back to haunt me when I was in my mid-twenties. Eventually it disappeared again, but the lingering after-effects would revisit me every so often.
Like the central character, Michael Easton, I am a musician and, like him, I have experienced both the ups and downs of a musician's life. I turned to writing a few years ago (although I still play music) and when it came time to write a follow up to my first novel, "Pretty Flamingo" I was unexpectedly reminded of my childhood nightmare. The idea of writing about a character who is subconsciously haunted by a terrifying incident from his childhood - - an incident he's completely blocked from conscious memory - - was too hard to resist.
Here, perhaps, was a chance to put my own recurring nightmare to rest.
For good.