JAMES H. SUMMERS / DARK FICTION / OPEN CASES
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Everybody’s got a story. Some of them leave evidence.
Monsters look like us.
That makes the lineup a little crowded.
INITIAL STATEMENT
The Trouble Looked Familiar.
It usually does. Same front porch. Same pleasant voice. Same fellow who remembers your name and holds the door while you walk through it. Then something slips. A word lands crooked. A smile hangs around after the joke is dead. You start counting the exits, and the room seems to have fewer than it did when you came in.
James H. Summers. I write the kind of trouble that knows its way around the house. Control. Identity. Consequence. People with something to hide and somebody close enough to pay for it. By the time the danger introduces itself, it may already know where you sleep.
Pull up a chair, gumshoe. There are five doors ahead. We might as well find out who’s behind them.
CLICK THE IMAGE. START AT THE FRONT DOOR.
FOLLOW THE LEADS
Five Doors. Nobody Promised Easy Answers.
LEAD 01 / OFF THE CLOCK
Far From Ordinary
A man can spend only so long staring at a manuscript before the rest of his life starts knocking. Writing, web design, games, friends, yard work, late drives—the usual suspects are all here. Take a look at what occupies my hours. Even a quiet evening can turn up something worth putting in the file.
LEAD 02 / THE PAST HAS YOUR ADDRESS
Down The Road
Somebody offers you another chance. Sounds swell—until you notice the old trouble sitting in the back seat. Bloody Seconds follows return, memory, forgiveness, and the bill that comes due after a choice. There are roads into Second Chances and Hemoglobin Insecure here. Keep an eye on the rearview mirror.
LEAD 03 / QUESTION THE AUTHOR
About Me
You’ve seen the name on the cover. Maybe you’d like to hear the fellow talk. The DarkFictionAuth channel has introductions, interviews, book videos, and conversations about how the stories take shape. There’s screen-development material in the files, too. Pull up a chair. I’ll give you my side of it.
LEAD 04 / CHECK THE SIDE STREETS
Well Rounded
The main street never tells you everything about a town. Extras takes you down the side streets: Peggy Landers, reflections, reader participation, odd fragments, and a little fun between the darker business. Wander around. Sometimes the detail you nearly walked past is the one you remember on the way home.
LEAD 05 / PUT YOUR CARDS ON THE TABLE
Further Clarification
Got an interview in mind? Representation? A picture deal? Fine. Let’s hear something solid. This page explains what I’m looking for and what belongs in an inquiry. Read the work, know what you’re asking about, and tell me what you bring to the table. A handsome promise still needs something in its pockets.
The smile checked out.
It was the eyes that needed an alibi.
KEEP LOOKING.
THE SEALED FILE
You Sure You Want to Know?
CLICK THE IMAGE TO OPEN THE FILE. STORY SPOILERS INSIDE.
THE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT
Why Read James H. Summers?
Because you like a story that gives you somebody to worry about before it gives you reason to worry. I write people with appetites, secrets, loyalties, and excuses. Put them under enough pressure and something starts to show. A kindness gets expensive. A relationship becomes a trap. Somebody discovers that being right about the danger won’t keep it out of the room. If you enjoy watching the pieces come together while the characters run out of room to move, give me a few pages.
Bereft Reality. Picking Murphys. First Responder. Site 123. They Heinous. Five titles on the desk, and you get to choose which file opens first. Come for the premise that catches your eye. Stay for the people, the atmosphere, and the choices they’ll have to live with—if they get that far. I’d like to leave you thinking about someone in those pages long after you’ve put the book down. Perhaps while you’re locking the door.
A WORD IN THE RIGHT EAR
Good Leads Deserve Company.
If one of my books gets under your skin, pass the name along. Tell a friend what hooked you. Bring it to your book club. Ask your library about it. Leave an honest review, or share the books page with somebody who likes their fiction a little uneasy. A reader’s recommendation can put a book in hands I’d never reach on my own. That’s a good turn worth doing—and somewhere out there is a reader who’ll be glad you tipped them off.
I followed the road out of town.
The shadows came along for the ride.
