Nightmare
Series
Book
One
Jeffrey
Stagg
Genre:
Urban Fantasy
Publisher:
Stagg Literature, LLC
Date
of Publication: March 1, 2016
ISBN:
978-1517744441
ASIN:
B01CRQKFZO
Number
of pages: 344
Word
Count: 117,824
Book
Description:
IN
AGES PAST, the Flathead Native Americans fought a war against a
monstrous force that stalks the woods surrounding Flathead Lake. So
says William Rox, legendary musician and director of the prestigious
Colman’s Amateur Music Program, known as CAMP.
Jimmy
Downs is thrilled to be attending CAMP—or he would be, if he
weren’t being bullied by campers who seem to think wealth can buy
talent. Jimmy doesn’t have money, but he can drum like no one else.
As for the bullies, at least his best friend, Michael Munday, is with
him. The two have had each other’s backs all of their lives.
But
bullies are about to become the least of Jimmy’s worries. Dark,
hulking figures begin surrounding the woods around camp…figures
that bear more than a passing resemblance to Rox’s campfire
stories.
Jimmy
and Michael are about to become players in a very old war—assuming
they survive.
PROLOGUE
The black-cloaked
figure knelt by the lake, examining the muddy soil. A great northern
storm had rolled through hours ago, but the air was still frigid.
Waves crashed against the stony shore, waterdrops splashing up
against his waterproof black covering.
His fingers traced
along the print clearly pressed into the mud. It was a large paw
print, something like the shape of a wolf’s but the size of a
bear’s. He examined the mark on the ground and then moved to where
he should have found the creature’s front paws, but not
surprisingly, he instead found what appeared to be humanlike
handprints, with long, triangular fingernails jutting out from the
tip of each finger. The cloaked man placed his own right hand within
the print, knowing that the muddy outline was easily twice the size
of his own pale hand.
His left hand
tightened around the shaft of his bow as he stood up.
Even though it was
nearing one in the morning, his eyes clearly made out the many prints
that had been made throughout this particular clearing.
He had warned the
other guardian that something was going on.
“Why so many?”
the man asked aloud as he pulled down the hood of his cloak. “There
shouldn’t be this many here anymore.”
“What’s that?”
a British man’s voice called from the darkness.
A flashlight’s
beam bobbed through the trees, weaving back and forth until it fell
upon the pale man’s form. The man lifted one of his hands to block
his sensitive eyes from the somewhat dim beam. He indicated the soil
in front of him that marked the passing of their quarries.
“A pack,” the
pale man told his companion, moving the tip of his weapon to indicate
how many individual creatures had passed through there. “You should
keep the camp closed this year.”
“No,” the huge
British man answered, snapping his response a little more testily
than he had wanted. “It needs to be open. You know just as well as
I do that we need to stay open.”
“Even at the risk
of the lives of hundreds of people?”
His companion
stepped forward and jammed a double-edged longsword into the ground
as he examined the pathway. The flashlight was a head lamp, mounted
with a pair of bands that wrapped around his head. As his head
shifted from one set of prints to another, a feeling of anger began
flooding into his soul.
“I need you to
thin out this pack. You can shoot the sods from afar, and with that
horse of yours, you’ll be able to stay ahead of them.”
“I can do that,”
the pale man agreed, pulling his hood back up, still watching the
back of the big man.
“There’s
something going on this year that we don’t understand quite yet,”
the British man told his friend, standing up and pulling the sword
from the moistened ground. “Something feels different. It feels
wrong…and right at the same time.”
“Maybe the legends
are true, and the natives’ stories are coming to pass,” the
archer suggested, beginning to stroll into a particularly dark
portion of the forest, his fingers tightening on the dark wood of his
bow as he disappeared into the night.
Finding himself
alone, the swordsman stood and peered up into the sky at the bright
round moon hanging in the air, twinkling stars engulfing the night.
This was Big Sky Country, and it was true to its name. His eyes
searched the heavens, hoping that an answer would reveal itself.
He let out a huff of
hot breath, and the air clouded before his flashlight dimming the
light slightly.
Shaking his head and
turning to stare at the spot where his companion had disappeared, he
whispered to himself, “I hope not. We’re not ready for them yet.”
As his words
disappeared into the night like his breath, a clear rumbling sound
thundered through the night on his left. Reaching down slowly, he
drew his sword once more, its silver blade sparkling with the light
of the moon.
“God above, keep
me safe that I might be able to open the camp.”
The rocky growl
turned into a mix of a scream and a roar as the furry eight-foot
monstrosity leaped at the man, humanlike hands reaching out with
razor claws. Swinging the sword out wide, the man pivoted to meet the
demon in the darkness.
About
the Author:
Jeffrey
was born in Ogden, Utah in 1989.
Born
to a podiatrist from Utah and a rancher's daughter from Montana.
Stagg was able travel throughout his childhood finding solace and
inspiration in the wild.
His
interest in nature has made Stagg realize that the melding of natural
world with magic was where he could excel. To keep ideas alive, Stagg
is an avid nature photographer, imagining book scenes wherever he
travels.
While
attending Weber State University, Stagg was able to work as an
artisan cheese maker for the award winning Beehive Cheese Co. in
Ogden, Utah. It was there that the details of A Campfire Nightmare
came together. During the 5 years he was employed at Beehive, Stagg
has created story lines for many series he is in the process of
writing.
Now,
Stagg works as an educator and works with students in reading and
writing. Encouraging those around him to spend more time in books.
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