A Look At David Bain's Short, Island Ghosts... Cool Intro to Will Castleton Series!

Aerial Shot of Florida Keys

He was risking it because Gamer's Key was only a few miles long. At every point but its center, you could see ocean on either side. It was a straight shot from the rental cabin to the 7-11, the closest of only two markets on the entire key.
But now someone was following him.
No psychic twinge here; it was just a fact.
Not that being followed was a particularly unusual thing on an island with such roadways, but this guy was purposely keeping a steady distance.
At least it wasn't a cop...
The driver suddenly gunned it as he passed. As if Will wouldn't see him if he drove faster...

~~~

Island Ghosts

By David Bain

My last article in this JMO Blog was about another short story by Jennifer Chase, to introduce her main character in a series. David Bain has done the same in Island Ghosts. He's even offering it free at Amazon at this time.

Get It!

In skimming some reviews about shorts, I noticed that a couple indicated it was too short, not substantive... In some cases, this could be true... So potential buyers should check the length, etc., in the statistics about the story. I noticed that this author even included more information, which I appreciated:

"Island Ghosts" is a 3,000-word short story originally published in the now out-of-print hard-boiled DIME detective anthology (Futures Mysterious Press). It serves as an introduction to David Bain's Will Castleton stories, which include the full-length novel DEATH SIGHT and THE CASTLETON FILES story collection. Watch for two new Will Castleton novels coming soon: PURGATORY BLUES and RETURN TO ANGEL HILL (w/ C. Dennis Moore). 
In "Island Ghosts", "slightly psychic" U.S. Marshal Will Castleton's tropical vacation is no escape from his past. The reporter who cashed in on the tragedy resulting in Will's psychic abilities is hot on his trail as Will races time through a hurricane to save a woman's life. 

Will turned his face up to the rain. Despite the
increasing intensity, the rain was a feminine
thing today, cold and stinging but also oddly
comforting, enveloping; something--someone
you could literally lose yourself in.
There she was not, in fact. The woman in the
clouds. Directly above. She had voluminous
cumulus hair, a small, ruddy, gray floating
fleck of a nose. The contours of her aquiline face
were etched in the darker curves of the cloud.
There was a pink edge to her cloudy, swaying
form that was slightly painful to look at. She
was fading, her essence bleeding away into the
sky, slipping from material reality,
dissolving into another state.
And then she was gone. Just clouds...
It had been one of the damnable visions.
There was no question about what it
meant.
Somewhere, probably nearby, a woman's
life was in danger of fading... of
bleeding away...
~~~

Note that this story was previously published in a detective anthology. To me, this was a good sign. It goes on to say that the main character is "slightly psychic" so that gave me a clue since I enjoy paranormal stories.

I felt comfortable that I would enjoy the story, and, hopefully, the main character. And I did! 

In fact, I went out to borrow Death Sight but was promptly told I had to return the last loan I had...oops! Well, ASAP I'll be reading a full novel of this author, based upon this short. Let me know, since you, too, can get it free at this time. I think it is well worth a small price, in my opinion...

There are two issues in the story...because Will "did not" save a friend who drowned in an accident, a journalist wrote a story that tarnished his reputation. Of course, Will was not happy. The story ran even though he had been completely exonerated!

If I understood it right, Will became psychic right after he had tried to save his friend. And he was not happy to have "found it!"
Nevertheless, he had it!

And he had just received a vision...a woman,
probably somewhere on this island, was in danger.

Would he find her in time?

Readers will discover more about his paranormal abilities as this story continues, and ends. I really enjoyed it! It's fast-paced. Will is short-tempered, especially when he's upset, but still acts to be responsive...

I look forward to getting to know him better!


Highly recommended! Get it free on Amazon!


GABixlerReviews

The author of GRAY LAKE: A NOVEL OF CRIME AND SUPERNATURAL HORROR, the Will Castleton series of supernatural detective stories and novels, and several short story collections, David Bain is a community college English professor with well over 100 shorter publications in venues as diverse as WEIRD TALES and POEMS & PLAYS.