Stained: 10th Anniversary Edition by Bram Stoker & Lambda Literary Award-winner Lee Thomas (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia) with an afterword by Steve Berman (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia) is his supernatural horror psychological thriller-ish with strong murder mystery elements centred around the aftermath of one man's encounter with a serial killer who may not be as safely locked away as the residents of a Louisiana small town think as something strange seemingly begins to surface in the depths of his darkest impulses, free courtesy of LGBT specialty publisher Lethe Press (
Wikipedia), who are e-printing it from its 2004 Wildside Press edition.
This won the 2004 Bram Stoker for Superior Achievement in the First Novel Category, and comes with a nifty retrospective how-and-why-I-wrote-this-and-managed-to-get-it-published introduction by the author himself. The customer reviews seem to think that this is roughly equal parts murder mystery and supernatural chiller, with whodunnit-style red herrings and culprit motivations, though YMMV.
Currently free for anywhere up to the next 4 days @
Amazon (available to Canadians & in the
UK and pretty much everywhere worldwide that Amazon sells, since this is being done via their KDP Select exclusive-or-else program).
And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.
Because even though I don't read horror, it's still a nice treat to get a reissue of an award-winning book, and with some new notes about the making-of from the author as well.
Enjoy!
Description
A madman. A secret, generations old. Another missing boy. They called the sadistic killer The River Rat, and he'd struck again. In a desperate search for his neighbor's son, Ted Lewis came face to face with the killer and survived, but his life was irrevocably altered. The residents of Marchand, Louisiana believed they were safe. The murderer had been captured and was behind bars.
But the nightmare wasn't over yet. Because on that summer night, something passed between the two men. Memories of brutality and phantoms of countless victims torment Ted. His normal life is shattered, and he struggles to fight a growing presence that threatens to leave his soul stained forever.
Author Lee Thomas's debut novel won the Bram Stoker Award and returns to print in a fine anniversary edition complete with new introduction by the author and an afterword by Steve Berman.