FUGUE & FABLE
Darin's paranormal mystery/thriller trilogy, Fugue & Fable is the story of young Anthony Faircloth, psychic Mira Tejedor, and the dreamscape the forms between their two minds, all based on the Russian classics written by Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky.
THE MUSSORGSKY RIDDLE
January 12, 2015
Psychic Mira Tejedor possesses unique talents that enable her to find anything and anyone, but now she seeks a comatose boy wandering lost inside the labyrinth of his own mind. 13-year-old Anthony Faircloth hasn’t spoken a word in weeks and with each passing day, his near catatonic state worsens.
Pulled into Anthony’s mind, Mira finds the boy’s psyche shattered into the various movements of Modest Mussorgsky’s classical music suite, Pictures at an Exhibition. As she navigates this magical dreamscape drawn from Anthony’s twin loves of Russian composers and classical mythology, Mira must contend with gnomes, troubadours, and witches in her search for the truth.
The real world, however, holds its own dangers. The onset of Anthony’s mysterious malady coincides with the disappearance of his older brother’s girlfriend, a missing persons case that threatens to tear the city apart. Mira discovers that in order to save Anthony, she will have to catch a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets contained in Anthony’s unique mind from ever seeing the light.
THE STRAVINSKY INTRIGUE
March 13, 2017
Nine months have passed since psychic Mira Tejedor last walked the halls of Anthony Faircloth’s adolescent mind. All but family now, Mira is relocating to Charlotte, NC, not only for a much-needed change of scenery, but to further her burgeoning relationship with Dr. Thomas Archer. On the eve of her move, however, a new threat emerges.
Young girls from every corner of Charlotte are falling catatonic, a condition eerily similar to the illness from which Mira rescued Anthony the previous fall. Mira reluctantly agrees to help Detective Calvin Sterling with the case and soon finds herself pulled into a new pair of fantasy worlds, both borne from the brilliant mind of Igor Stravinsky.
In the world of The Firebird, Mira becomes the warrior Ivanovna and battles an immortal evil threatening to steal the girls’ souls for all eternity. In the Russian fair from Petrushka, she assumes the role of Ballerina, one of three magical puppets who dance at the whim of a cruel Charlatan. Torn between Moor and Clown, bizarre doppelgangers of the two vastly different men in her life, and threatened at every turn by a sorcerer who craves her very essence, Mira must navigate the cruel deceptions of both worlds and win, or her life and the lives of a dozen innocents will be forfeit.
THE TCHAIKOVSKY FINALE
December 30, 2017
Psychic Mira Tejedor lies comatose in the wake of her second battle with the devious Madame Versailles, but her sacrifice was not in vain. Though at great cost, her nemesis is no more, her love has returned to the land of the living, and twelve innocent girls are back with their families. Still, young Anthony Faircloth can’t escape the notion there must have been another way.
Obsessed with freeing Mira as Mira once freed him, Anthony works to rekindle their special link and soon meets with more success than he knows what to do with. Two distinct worlds, both forged in the imagination of Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, threaten to consume his life. By the still waters of Swan Lake, Anthony assumes the guise of a man named Benno and must help Prince Siegfried defend the Swan Princess, Odette, from the machinations of a dark sorcerer. In the Stahlbaum house, he takes on the role of a boy named Fritz who, under the command of the Nutcracker Prince, must save his sister Clara from the onslaught of the Mouse King and his army of rodent soldiers. At the intersection of the two disparate settings lies yet another mystery: both Odette and Clara wear Mira’s face. And these intertwining perils are but shadows of the real danger.
Back in the real world, a menacing figure from Mira’s past has escaped from prison and now stalks her on both sides of the veil of dream. Anthony must bring Mira out of her catatonic state so that she can fight one last time, or her life and the lives of all she loves will be lost.
THE PAWN STRATAGEM
Darin's contemporary fantasy trilogy, The Pawn Stratagem, is the tale of Steven Bauer, an ordinary man who finds himself at the heart of a magical chess game that has gone on for centuries where he and others like him are the Pieces and at stake is the fate of the World.
PAWN'S GAMBIT
October 7, 2016
STEVEN BAUER THOUGHT CHESS WAS JUST A GAME…
Until the sultry brunette in the little black dressdid her best to incinerate him.
Yesterday was just another day at the office for Steven. Today, he is the White Pawn, a combatant in a nightmarish game of chess where people are the pieces and the world is at stake. To survive the deadly Black Queen, Steven must rush to gather the rest of his Pieces:
The Knight, a grieving teenage boy caught up in a web of gang violence.
The Queen, a young woman at death’s door, her body ravaged by leukemia.
The Bishop, a disgraced priest haunted by visions of the Game.
The Rook, a suicidal drunk reeling atop a storm-ridden skyscraper.
But Steven isn’t the only one looking for the remainder of the White, as the Black Queen already has her Pieces assembled, and they are on the hunt…
QUEEN'S PERIL
December 12, 2019
SURVIVING THE GAMBIT PROVED ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE…
Now the Black King has dispersed Steven Bauer and his friends through time.
The gathered White have spent weeks delivering innocents across North America from the destructive forces of the latest universal correction, all the while waiting for the inevitable moment when the Game summons them all to a checkered battlefield to fight for their lives.
Powerless and scattered across the centuries with no way to return to their own time, they wrestle with their fates:
Steven and Niklaus, banished to the Florida coast of 1945 as a deadly hurricane threatens to tear the state apart.
Archie and Emilio, struggling to survive the bitter winter and flying bullets of 1890 Wyoming.
Audrey and Lena, entangled in the mob violence of 1930s Chicago as a specter from the past makes an ominous return.
In every time and at every turn, a familiar face, some friendly, others not.
And where is Grey, the immortal wizard who wears the White crown?
KING'S CRISIS
May 4, 2022
THE ENDGAME HAS BEGUN…
Returned from their banishment across the centuries, Steven Bauer and the forces of the White must now rescue their abducted loved ones from the forces of darkness.
Across North America, the Black have come out of hiding, occupying one national landmark after another with hostages certain to attract their enemies’ attention.
Backed into a corner, Steven and his friends have no other choice but to fight for their lives and the lives of everyone they love.
Atop Hoover Dam, Niklaus and Steven face off against Magdalene, the merciless Black Queen.
At the apex of St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, Audrey and a trio of Pawns confront the cruel arrows of Wahnahtah, the Black Pawn.
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Emilio, Lena, Archie and the remainder of Steven’s phalanx encounter a new yet strikingly familiar Black Knight.
Lives hang in the balance as Steven and the others struggle with a strategy meant to divide and conquer.
And even if they succeed in saving their friends and families from the Black King and his ruthless minions, a checkered battlefield still awaits them all…
OTHER WORKS
Darin's standalone works and collections.
CAROL
October 26, 2020
MARNIE IS DEAD, TO BEGIN WITH.
There is no doubt whatever about that.
So who the hell sent Carol this text?
Born Christmas Day eighteen years ago, Carol Davis is known for anything but holiday spirit.
Sharp-tongued and self-centered, she’s made her way to the pinnacle of high school by walking over anyone who stands in her way, be they enemy, friend, or even family.
Visited by the ghost of her best friend on the anniversary of her December drowning, Carol learns that a horrible fate awaits her and only by facing the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come can she avoid the coming darkness.
With each spectral visitation, she’s taken down a familiar yet fresh path of discovery, uncovering the innocent girl she used to be, accepting the bitter young woman she has become, and yearning for a future where she can dare to love again.
As the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve, Carol has one last chance to turn her life around, but have the Spirits come too late to change the course of destiny?
NECROMANCER FOR HIRE
October 12, 2012
April Sullivan is a young woman with a special gift. She can raise the dead.
This collection of stories introduces you to the April's world, the world of a professional necromancer. Her days and nights populated with vampires, werewolves, and demons as well others of her stock in trade, April must use all the tools at her disposal, mystical and otherwise, not only to ply her trade, but to stay alive. This first collection gathers the initial seven April stories, from their homes in various anthologies, into one volume for the first time.
"Necrodance" - April teaches a serial killer a lesson on the difference between being the hunter and being the hunted.
"Bonds of Blood" - Sibling rivalry takes a new spin as April and her vampire brother meet to "discuss" the affairs of their ailing mother.
"Solstice" - April must combat the necromancer who taught her everything she knows before he can raise an army. And the army he intends to raise: Arlington National Cemetery.
"Class Reunion" - April attends the funeral of the first boy she ever loved, but dark events converge to ensure he doesn't rest in peace.
"Solomon" - April plays a dangerous game of chance with a demon with her immortal soul as collateral.
"Symphony of Wolves" - April's boyfriend takes her to the symphony on the night of the full moon. What could go wrong?
"The Fall and Rise of Julian LaMorte" - An origin story of sorts for April's once mentor now nemesis.