FEAR STALKS THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE . . .
The time passed slowly. After a while he pressed fingers to bleary eyes. He had enjoyed little sleep of late. Shifting uneasily in his chair, he became suddenly conscious of a vague feeling as of an alien presence there in the room. Moments later a slight sound brought him to dreadful attention.
There was a shaving-mirror stood next to the table. Something in the corner of his eye, something he saw reflected in the glass, had given him rather a shock. It was the wardrobe that stood against the wall behind him. The door of the wardrobe, which had been closed, was seen to be opening, its hinges a-creak, mouse-like. This had been the slight sound.
He recoiled in alarm. Framed in the doorway was a blackened, shriveled mass -- a grisly, horrid, wasted thing, more like a diseased mannequin than a man. Two gleaming orbs like points of burning coal, twin lamps of lurid crimson deep-sunk in withered sockets, regarded him from the stealthy dark of the wardrobe.
Waves of horror washed over him. The thing was beyond all comprehension -- hellish, foul, abominable.
With panic urging him to flight, he lurched up out of his chair. The next he knew a bony, claw-like hand of steel had slammed down on his shoulder. He gave an involuntary cry. Then his face dimmed like a snuffed candle, his eyes rolled glassily in his head, he took two or three steps, sagged and, melting down like lard on a hot griddle, knew no more . . .
THE THING IN THE CLOSE
T H E N E W W E S T E R N L I G H T S B O O K
by Jeffrey E. Barlough
A Gresham & Doyle Trade Paperback
ISBN 978-0-9787634-6-6
272 pages / $14.95 U.S.
Published December 4, 2018
Available online from Amazon.com
For a special tribute to the dedicatee of the new work, the author's late father, and his role in the Western Lights series, click here.
ACCLAIM FOR JEFFREY E. BARLOUGH AND THE WESTERN LIGHTS SERIES
"Impressively well written by a gifted original novelist...an absolute master of the fantasy/mystery genre." -- Midwest Book Review
"A mesmerizing delight." -- Orlando Sentinel
Featured image: Detail from Hereford Cathedral (oil on canvas), by John William Buxton Knight (1843-1908). (Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, West Yorkshire, UK/Bridgeman Images)
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