"The place was nothing remarkable, but Lena Hagen wasn't looking for anything extraordinary. What she was looking for was a cheap and easy way out, and based on everything that she had learned in the days leading up to today, this was what she needed. Not a place to call home, but a place to stay until she could find one. For herself, and for Logan." Thus opens this wonderful collection of Gothic and supernatural novellas by Jayson Robert Ducharme. Atmospheric, character driven, psychological, and emotional, this collection contains five stories. This unique blend of horror and drama is guaranteed to appeal to those with a flair for the macabre and the mysterious. Included tales: AFTER ME, THE GREAT FLOOD Wishing to leave the past behind, struggling young mother Lena Hagen and her child move into a house belonging to the enigmatic, yet affable senior Ellis Delapore. As she begins to settle into her new home, she finds that there is something nefarious living beneath the foundations of the house, and that Ellis may not want to admit that it's there. To uncover the truth, Lena may have to put her relationship with Ellis at hazard. ALESSA'S MELODY Having been responsible for the death of his sister fifty years before, the lonesome and grief-stricken Louis Delacroix works as the butler of a mountain estate belonging to a dying steel tycoon. His fragile world falls to pieces upon the arrival of a little girl, who possesses a special and familiar talent. COME FORTH IN THAW Terrified young mother Eleanor Jackson ventures to the mountains in search of her depressed son, who may have gone to a notorious suicide hotspot in the area to end his life. Upon her arrival, she discovers much more. UNDER THE EVENING SUN Nineteen year old Sarah Palmer dies under mysterious circumstances and is buried in the local cemetery. However, rumors spread around town, and the cemetery caretaker, Kurt Graveline, begins to suspect that perhaps Sarah never died at all. When Sarah's father gives him an ultimatum, Kurt is forced to participate in a dismal task that will leave him haunted for the rest of his life. THE BANSHEE A young boy and his mother live in near-complete isolation in their mountain cabin, far from civilized society. Their seclusion brings about a destructive nature to their relationship that could lead to their demise.

The Adrienne Forest State Park is one of many beautiful state parks in the White Mountains. It is a popular destination for tourists, painters, hikers, and even weddings. Yet the forest is also a place of great pain and torment, and is an equally popular destination to end your own life. The only thing young mother Eleanor Jackson has left in her life is her son Alan -- a troubled teenager who has gone to the forest to commit the unthinkable. As Eleanor goes to find him in the forest, she witnesses bizarre and fantastical happenings that try to manipulate and distract her from resuing her child. When the sun goes down, the specters of the tormented emerge. She will come to discover so much more than just her son.

A renowned artist, author, and naturalist, David M. Carroll is exceptionally skilled at capturing nature on the page. In Self-Portrait with Turtles, he reflects on his own life, recounting the crucial moments that shaped his passions and abilities. Beginning with his first sighting of a wild turtle at age eight, Carroll describes his lifelong fascination with swamps and the creatures that inhabit them. He also traces his evolution as an artist, from the words of encouragement he received in high school to his college days in Boston to his life with his wife and family. Self-Portrait with Turtles is a remarkable memoir, a marvelous and exhilarating account of a life well lived.