Win A Free Copy of The Unearthed Monday!

I'll be giving away some free copies of The Unearthed on Monday, so stop back for your chance to win. More details to follow.

Still haven't heard what my novel is about? Well, let me tell you. The Unearthed is a fast-paced paranormal thriller with a little something for everybody: mystery, drama, scares, twists, and violence.

But don't take my word for it. Here's what some others have said:

Ruth Schaller, in her glowing 5 skull review said, "This book was fast paced...I just couldn't put this book (okay, my ebook reader ... lol) down for long, because I just had to find out what was going to happen."

Famed Northern Irish writer, Adrian McKinty, had this to say: "Brian is a gifted writer and his book is excellent. Fast paced, exciting, twisty turny and scary."

And last but not least, my long-suffering wife said, "When are you going to be done on the computer? And don't say you have to write one more scene."


Here's an excerpt:

"Please state your name and address for us," Tim said.

"John Rosselli. Seventeen-thirteen Pembroke Lane."

"How long have you lived here?" Tim asked, already beginning to scribble notes on his yellow legal pad.

"Six months next week."

"You've called us here to investigate paranormal activity in your house, is that correct?"

"Yes. Not just in the house. It's outside, too."

"I understand," Tim said and made another note.

Jackie looked at Eddie, who seemed bored, while Tim steepled his hands and continued. "I need you to tell me about all the things you've--you, yourself--have experienced that you would call paranormal. You can refer to your list if you'd like. Then we'll walk through each one in detail. I can't stress enough that, for now, I only want to hear about what you have experienced. Not what others might have told you. Okay?"

Jackie pulled his list out of his pocket and unfolded it on the table, then took out his reading glasses and put them on. "Well, my wife has seen or heard most of the things, including the phone. And my son, he is talking to someone--" He felt his face get hot. "I'll let you talk to them about those things. I guess you'd say I've experienced the least. I was the first one to notice the carpet, though."

"Let's start with that, then," Tim said.

He tipped his head back once and said, "Right behind me. It had a stain. It's dark, like blood."

"I see." Tim craned his head to the side to see for himself.

"It's probably not there now... I'll start from the beginning," Jackie said. "The house was all hardwood when we moved in. I guess the Moriartys used areas rugs. Or maybe not, who knows. When we came for the open house, we noticed a dark spot in the wood behind where I'm sitting, just at the threshold to the kitchen. It was a dark brown, slightly darker than the floors.

"I thought nothing of it at the time. It just looked like a stain in the wood." Plus, the price we were getting was ridiculously low, Jackie thought bitterly. "We had the floors stripped and redone with a lighter finish. The guys doing the work told me they were able to get rid of it, that it was just some sort of stain from the previous job.

"Then, about a week later, I noticed there was a small stain around where the old stain had been. I called the floor guys and complained, asking them to come and take a look at it. They blew me off. Said there was no way to avoid tiny blemishes like the one I was describing.

"But the little blemish got bigger. Slowly. I know because it started out on one plank. Then it grew so that it was on two, then a few. It began forming a large circle. And it was a dark brown, so it really stood out against the lighter finish we'd had put on.

"I had another floor guy come and take a look. I thought it might be some type of fungus or rot. That maybe this part of the wood was exposed to something in the basement.

"The floor guy didn't know what it was. He told me he could replace that part of the floor. The wood replacement would be cheap, but of course he tried to convince me to have the whole floor redone--redoing one spot wouldn't look right, he said. We had to get some other work done on the house, so this seemed unimportant in comparison, so I told him we'd hold off.

"We put a throw rug over it, because it became an eye sore. It grew to about a foot and a half in diameter, then seemed to stop.

"We kept the throw rug down for a few weeks before running it through the washer. When I lifted it up, I saw the stain had started to get onto the bottom of the throw rug.

"I called the floor guy and told him I wanted that section of the floor replaced and to just put finish on that part--I told him not to worry about redoing the whole room. He came out and took care of it.

"But the stain came back."