Stephen Mark Rainey – författare

On a hike along the shores of Lake Superior, thirteen-year-old Anna Hendrix sees a huge creature rise from the waters and—to her horror—sink a tour boat. Soon afterward, Jeff Griggs, also thirteen, encounters a similar but smaller creature in the woods around his parents' vacation house.Unable to resist investigating, both Anna and Jeff venture into the nearby forests. They meet each other at a huge waterfall, where they discover a partially hidden cave. Inside it, to their surprise, they find a cave painting of a creature that resembles the ones they have seen. Suddenly, in a bizarre twist of time and space, the youngsters are transported to a strange, unknown land, vastly different from the Michigan they know. Here, they meet a strange but friendly young man who calls himself Skyhawk. He claims to be a member of a civilization that can only be reached by way of the cave.In this strange land, huge monsters roam freely. Skyhawk and his people worship the beasts as gods. But while the people of this land appear friendly, Anna and Jeff discover they hide a deadly secret. And the two youngsters must somehow find their way back home before the passage between the two worlds closes forever.

Late one night, a brilliant, blood-colored light wakes thirteen-year-old Heath Sutton from a comfortable sleep. Outside his window, he sees a huge, brightly lit object hovering over the nearby woods. The saucer-shaped craft lowers something into the trees and then, in an instant, vanishes without a trace. To his shock, Heath realizes that he has seen a UFO — a genuine flying saucer!The next day, Heath and his friend Patrick venture into the woods, hoping to discover whether the UFO left behind any evidence of its existence. What they find is a shining metal rod jutting from a tree stump, as if it has somehow grown there. Suddenly, the rod emits an unearthly musical sound, which causes the boys to feel dizzy and disoriented. In terror, they rush out of the woods. Heath recovers quickly, but Patrick seems different — more like a cold, menacing stranger than Heath's best friend.Now fearful, Heath visits his grandfather, who claims to have once seen a flying saucer himself — a saucer that carried his younger brother away into the skies. As his grandfather relates his disturbing story, Heath believes he sees a shadowy figure lurking outside his grandfather's house. And when he returns home, he receives the greatest shock of all: something weird — something not human — waiting for him inside!

In the 1950s, Lake Sidney Lanier was built in northern Georgia. Since then, hundreds of deaths on and around the lake have given rise to legends that spirits of the dead haunt the area. Teenager Aaron Tate, who lives near the lake with his parents, doesn't believe in ghosts. But after he witnesses a jet ski accident on the water, he begins to experience many strange things. At night, weird lights float through the woods near the lake's edge. An eerie voice in the darkness calls to him. He begins having nightmares that involve a strange woman from the past.Aaron meets a girl named Suzette Sellers, who has moved into his neighborhood. They become friends and, together, resolve to learn the truth behind the frightening events. Aaron learns that his family home was built on the site of an old mill that belonged to his ancestors. Suzette's house stands on land once owned by a woman named Lula Cheshire—a woman who was rumored to be a witch. And Aaron discovers that his great-great-grandfather, Charles Tate, might have had a strange and secret relationship with Lula Cheshire.When events in Aaron's life begin to mirror those of his great-great-grandfather, he wonders: do ghosts truly exist? What if Lula Cheshire really was a witch? And has the long-dead woman's spirit returned from the grave to wreak vengeance for some crime his great-great-grandfather, Charles Tate, committed against her? He and Suzette must learn the truth—and send Lula Cheshire's spirit back to the grave—before death comes to claim both of them!

After her husband murders their daughter and then commits suicide, Courtney Edmiston, devastated and homeless, accepts an invitation to move in with her old college friend, Jan Blackburn. Jan lives with her brother, David, and eccentric Aunt Martha in the town of Fearing, North Carolina, at the edge of the Dismal Swamp. The Blackburn family has suffered its own recent tragedies — and Courtney learns that Jan and David have more than their share of enemies in the town. Because of her association with them, Courtney soon finds Fearing a very dangerous place to live. Certain members of the Surber family, who once worked for the Blackburns, hold a deep grudge against Jan and David and, on several occasions, attempt brutal acts of violence against them. Courtney, determined to help her friend in her own time of crisis, sets out to broker a peace but instead becomes more and more mired in the bitter feud.For reasons Courtney cannot comprehend, many of the townspeople fear old Martha Blackburn. However, she begins to understand why when Martha threatens the Surbers with swift retribution — by way of a ghostly entity known as the Monarch — and gruesome death does indeed visit the Surbers. And to her horror, Courtney, caught between the two feuding families, at last becomes the focus of Aunt Martha's fury.In desperation, two of the Surber brothers abduct Courtney and Jan and threaten to kill them unless the Blackburns meet their demands. Instead, Martha unleashes the horrific Monarch against her family's rivals. And Courtney, whom Martha now considers an enemy, becomes as much a target for its inhuman wrath as the remaining members of the treacherous Surber family...

Two years ago, Claire Challis's four-year-old son disappeared without a trace. Now, on a cold winter morning, a neighbor's child vanishes outside her apartment. The subsequent police investigation turns up no clues.Claire encounters a strange priest. An ancient church that seems to be the site of unspeakable rituals. A shadowy figure that seems to appear and disappear at will. And now, Claire finds herself at the center of a web of intrigue—and in fear for her life. Still, she is determined to learn the truth behind the abductions and learn once and for all the fate of her missing son.As she delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, Claire realizes that her quest may lead her not to the truth she seeks, but to a place of madness, horror, and agony beyond her wildest imaginings.This revised edition of Stephen Mark Rainey's first novel, Balak (originally written in 1992), offers a cleaner version of the text and includes some alterations to unify it with numerous other works that define the author's unique, four-decade-old mythos.