Scott Nicholson
Here are the books by horror and thriller writer Scott Nicholson. Each book has an origin in real life — a haunted church, a haunted manor, a little boy’s death, Cherokee legends and so on. You can visit Scott’s website to read about the actual incidents behind each book and check out his blog to see what he’s up to now. Scott is currently the HWA vice president.
 They Hunger  |
They HungerAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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From the Author: A crack adventure team is testing two experimental rafts, sponsored by an outdoor gear corporation. Led by Bowie Whitlock, the group plans a three-day run down 13 miles of the most treacherous whitewater in the eastern United States. An FBI manhunt is underway in the gorge for Ace Goodall, a religious zealot wanted for a series of deadly abortion clinic bombings. Two agents, cut off from outside communication, stumble onto Ace’s camp, triggering an explosive trip wire. The blast opens an underground cavern, exposing a long-buried subterranean species to the surface world. A freak storm floods the river as the creatures swoop down from the cliffs. Cut off from the outside world, at the mercy of the harsh wilderness, the group’s only avenue of escape is almost as deadly as the creatures that attack them. The group must ride the deadly rapids, but not everyone is interested in mutual survival. Ace has one bomb left. God is talking to him. It’s raining again. The dead won’t stay dead. And the creatures…they hunger. |
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 The Farm  |
The FarmAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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From the Author: Maybe she just wanted to get her 12-year-old daughter Jett away from the drugs and bad influences. Maybe she wanted to escape from the memories of her first husband. Or perhaps she was enchanted by the promise of an idyllic life on the farm that has been in Gordon’s family for 150 years. But the move has been anything but stress-free, because the man she married seems more interested in the region’s rural Baptist sects than in his new wife. The Smith family secrets run deep: Gordon teases Katy and Jett with a story about a wicked scarecrow that comes in from the fields at night to slake an unnatural thirst. Gordon’s great-grandfather was a horseback preacher who mysteriously disappeared while on a mission one wintry night, and some say a rival preacher did him in. Gordon’s first wife Rebecca died under equally mysterious circumstances, and Katy’s starting to believe Rebecca’s spirit is still in the house. The scent of lilacs drifts across the kitchen, doors slam shut with no one else home, and the kitchen curtains flutter even when the windows are closed. Katy becomes obsessed with Rebecca’s recipes and clothes, and she finds herself driven to find out more about Rebecca to emulate her and therefore please Gordon. To make matters worse, Gordon’s herd of goats watches Katy every time she leaves the house, fixing their rectangular pupils on her as if waiting for some silent command. Jett is worried about Mom, but she has worries of her own. A Goth girl in a rural elementary school, she gets teased for being different. She misses her dad, and feels guilty because her drug abuse forced Mom to enter a hasty marriage with Gordon. The pressure leads her back to drugs despite her promise to Mom. Now she fears the drugs are blowing her mind. She’s starting to hallucinate, and the goats, scarecrows, and a strange man in a black hat are all part of her madness. But the residents of Solom know all about the man in the black hat. They whisper the legends around the pot-bellied stove at the general store, they pray for protection from him in their little white churches, they think about him as they gather hay, harvest corn, and work their gardens. The brave ones talk about him, believing him dead and buried, but nobody dares to utter his name. The Reverend Harmon Smith has come back more than century after his last missionary trip, and he has unfinished business. But first Katy and Jett must be brought into the family, and the farm must be prepared to welcome him home. Gordon has been denying his heritage, but now it’s time to choose sides. Does he protect the ones he loves, or surrender to the ancestral urge for revenge? |
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 The Home  |
The HomeAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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From the Author: Little does Freeman know that his transfer was made at the request of Dr. Richard Kracowski, whose research into the brain’s electrical properties is revealing new powers of the human mind. Kracowski is working for a secret society called the Trust, but also has his own agenda in exploring the nature of the soul. His experiments have an unexpected side effect, though. The electromagnetic fields used in his experiments are summoning the ghosts of the patients who died at Wendover back when it was a psychiatric ward. Freeman simply wants to survive, take his medicine for manic depression, and deceive his counselors into believing he is happy. When he meets the anorexic Vicky, who may also be telepathic, he’s afraid some of his darkest secrets will be uncovered. But when the other children develop their own clairvoyant abilities, and insane spirits begin haunting the halls of Wendover, he can’t safely hide inside his own head anymore. Meanwhile, the Trust is installing sophisticated equipment in the home’s basement, aggressively probing the threshold between life and death. And they’ve brought in another scientist who doesn’t share Dr. Kracowski’s reluctance to push the limits. This scientist is a pioneer in ESP induction, and he performed most of his work on a very special subject: his son, Freeman Mills. |
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 The Manor  |
The ManorAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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From the Author: Sculptor Mason Jackson has come to Korban Manor to make a final, all-or-nothing attempt at success before giving up his dreams. When he becomes obsessed with carving Ephram Korban’s form out of wood, he questions his motivation but is swept up in a creative frenzy unlike any he has ever known. Sylva Hartley is an old mountain witchwoman who is connected to Ephram Korban both before and after his death. Her knowledge of Appalachian folk spells and potions has bound her to the manor in a deeper and darker way. Sylva harbors a family secret that refuses to stay slumbering in its grave. The manor itself has secrets, with fires that blaze constantly in the hearths, portraits of Korban in every room, and deceptive mirrors on the walls. The house’s brooding atmosphere affects the creative visions of the visiting artists. A mysterious woman in white calls to Anna from the forest, while Mason is driven by the whispers of an unseen critic. With an October blue moon looming, both the living and the dead learn the true power of their dreams. It’s a power that Korban craves for himself, because he walks a shadowy land where passions burn cold and even the ghosts are haunted. |
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 The Harvest  |
The HarvestAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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From the Author: The alien roots creep into the forest, drawn by the intoxicating cellular activity of the humus and loam. The creature feeds on the surrounding organisms, exploring, assimilating, and altering the life forms it encounters. Plants wilt from the contact, trees wither, animals become deformed monstrosities, and people . . . . People become something both more and less than human. A contaminated moonshine still causes the first exposure when a bootlegger touches a tendril of mildew. Then a deer hunter crosses paths with an infected drunk and the alien influence spreads. More residents of the rural town of Windshake turn up missing as sinister creatures shamble through the dark alleys and woods. Tamara Leon is a psychology professor who sometimes sees the future, but no one acknowledges her clairvoyant gifts, especially her husband. When the strange phrase shu-shaaa enters her mind, she senses a telepathic force that threatens her family and the entire world. Her telepathy is a mental mirror: the more she allows the creature into her mind, the deeper her empathy, and the deeper its understanding of the human species. Chester Mull, a mountain dirt farmer, is suspicious of the green glow up on the ridge, and he doesn’t take kindly to trespassers. His neighbor Herbert DeWalt is a reclusive millionaire whose spiritual search has led him nowhere. Kyle Emerland is an ambitious developer who wants to turn the mountains into a playground of ski resorts and condominiums. The trio teams up with Tamara on a mission into the forest to face the alien in its secluded cave. Chester draws his courage from corn liquor and a twelve-gauge, DeWalt acts out of a desperate fear of failure, Emerland is driven by greed, and Tamara has no choice but to communicate with the powerful presence that has invaded their lives. The alien doesn’t want to destroy the world. It only wants to survive. But so do the people whose metabolism has become food for an otherworldly reaper. |
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 The Red Church  |
The Red ChurchAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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Nominated for the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. From the Author: Sheriff Frank Littlefield hates the red church for a different reason. His little brother died in a freak accident at the church twenty years ago, and now Frank is starting to see his brother’s ghost. And the ghost keeps demanding, “Free me.” Now people are dying in Whispering Pines, and the murders coincide with McFall’s return. The Days, the Littlefields, and the McFalls are descendants of the original families that settled the rural Appalachian community. Those old families share a secret of betrayal and guilt, and McFall wants his congregation to prove its faith. Because he believes he is the Second Son of God, and that the cleansing of sin must be done in blood. “Sacrifice is the currency of God,” McFall preaches, and unless Frank and Ronnie stop him, everybody pays. |
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 Thank You for the Flowers  |
Thank You for the Flowers: A Story CollectionAuthor: Nicholson, Scott |
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From the Author: Thank You For The Flowers covers a range of territory from a Civil War ghost story called “The Three-Dollar Corpse” to “Dead Air,” where a late-night deejay has an open line to a female serial killer. A high school girl has a crush on her best friend’s guy, but so does her best friend’s ghost in “In The Heart of November.” In “Thirst,” a girl’s tears are the key to ending a long drought. In the afterwords, the author gives some background on the development of each story. Table of Contents:
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Summary:
Title List:
1. Thank You for the Flowers: A Story Collection
2. The Red Church
3. The Harvest
4. The Manor
5. The Home
6. The Farm
7. They Hunger
Weblinks List:
The Haunted Computer: Home of Thriller Writer Scott Nicholson
