If you’re still a little poor from the holidays but desperately want a copy of Michael Koryta’s new book, The Cypress House (Little, Brown, Jan. 24), you’re in luck. Thanks to Hachette Book Group, I get to give away three copies. Here’s the description:
A journey to Florida’s coast becomes an inescapable nightmare in the newest supernatural thriller from international bestseller Michael Koryta.
Arlen Wagner has seen it in men before–a trace of smoke in their eyes that promises imminent death. He is never wrong.
When Arlen awakens on a train one hot Florida night and sees death’s telltale sign in the eyes of his fellow passengers, he tries to warn them. Only 19-year-old Paul Brickhill believes him, and the two abandon the train, hoping to escape certain death. They continue south, but soon are stranded at the Cypress House–an isolated Gulf Coast boarding house run by the beautiful Rebecca Cady–directly in the path of an approaching hurricane.
The storm isn’t the only approaching danger, though. A much deadlier force controls the county and everyone living in it, and Arlen wants out–fast. But Paul refuses to abandon Rebecca to face the threats alone, even though Arlen’s eerie gift warns that if they stay too long they may never leave. From its chilling beginning to terrifying end, The Cypress House is a story of relentless suspense from “one of the best of the best” (Michael Connelly).
Sound good? To enter:
- be a subscriber or Twitter follower (tell me which if you’ve never entered a giveaway)
- leave a comment telling me about a spooky experience you’ve had
- have a U.S. or Canada address
Giveaway ends next Wednesday, January 19 at 5 p.m. PST. Winners will be randomly selected then announced here and on Twitter. I won’t be notifying you personally so please check back to see if you’ve won. Any prize(s) not claimed within 48 hours will be given to alternate winner(s).
Let’s hear some creepy tales!
11 Comments
Kathy P
January 11, 2011 at 7:43 amI follow on GFC.
Spooky Experience…I was once thinking about my deceased grandmother on her birthday when all of a sudden a music box that had been hers started to play.
Lauren
January 11, 2011 at 8:21 amI used to live in a ‘haunted’ house in KS. Others in my husband’s family had lived in the house and had ‘spooky’ experiences. Our experience was all good. In fact, she (the ghost was alleged to be a young girl who had died in the house) was nice to me and put the toilet seat down after my stepson had left it up. Girl power!
Jann
January 11, 2011 at 10:49 amJust before my mom died, she made my 5 year old son a patchwork quilt. She was legally blind at the time and had to use hat pins instead of regular little straight pins. When she finished it, she expressed concern that she hadn’t gotten all of the pins out. About month after she passed, my husband and I were downstairs in our kitchen when we both had a funny feeling and rushed upstairs to our son’s room. The blinds were open a slant, and a ray of sunlight was shining right on a large pin sticking out of the quilt, like a spot light. No doubt, we both felt her presence was there showing us the danger. Never underestimate funny feelings…
karenk
January 11, 2011 at 1:03 pmas a child, i remember ‘trick or treating’ in haunted houses…i remember being very ‘spooked.’
karenk
January 11, 2011 at 1:04 pmemail subsriber 🙂
EIREGO
January 11, 2011 at 1:05 pmI thought I was the only one with financial issues this holiday, isn’t that odd?
Yes, free books are wonderful!!
I used to play in the barn on the farm I grew up on. Most of the time I was alone in there for hours while my brothers were off to school, my father to work and my mother doing all the things she had to do in order to keep the house functioning. On many occasions I would end up playing with a friend of mine. I figured he was a neighbor’s kid who had wandered onto our property. I must have been around 3 or 4 because I was too young to attend school. Anyway, I didn’t think much about it. I was just glad to have a playmate. Unbeknownst to me, my mother would stick her head into the barn every now and then to make sure I was okay and to call me in to the house for lunch. As she set the pb&j with a side of milk in front of me one afternoon, she asked me who I had been talking to out there amongst the cows. I told her it was my friend Jimmy. My mother blanched a bit, but then asked me to describe my friend. I did and my mother stepped over to the sink to stare off at the barn and I heard sniffles while she had her back to me. Turns out, I had described my brother Jimmy who had been run over and killed before I was born.
Pop Culture Nerd
January 11, 2011 at 3:35 pmWow. Your comments make my hair stand up but they’re heartwarming, too, in a way. From Kathy, Jann and EIREGO’s stories, it seems family members stay with you even after they physically depart.
Thanks for sharing.
Aldo
January 11, 2011 at 4:40 pmYes, a subscriber to both….email and Twitter.
My experience is related back to Long Island. When my parents moved into our first house I was 7 years old. I remember going into the basement of this 40 year old house on the first day of moving in and feeling a cool wind on the back of my neck. I turned around to look for the source of the wind thinking there must be a window open or something only to find the windows sealed shut. I think too much of it until a few weeks later. I was in the basement playing with my toys and the light shut off and the cool wind came again. I yelled upstairs to my sister to cut it out and turn the light back on. No answer. I raced up the stairs only to find that everyone was upstairs on the third floor. This happened on and off over the years. When I asked my parents about it they told me it was my imagination. I’m not sure.
Ybnorml
January 12, 2011 at 4:56 pmSo far I’ve been really lucky not to have anything too spooky happen. This is probably a very good thing since I’m such a chicken they’d find me on the couch with a blanket over my head. Not too sure that’s the image I want my 3 kids to find me in.
bina edwards
January 14, 2011 at 7:42 pmI subscribe
my spooky experience was an apt in the city that I lived in and would have nightmares in the one bedroom all the time, but not in the 2nd one…always figured it was haunted
Judy
January 15, 2011 at 5:56 pmI’m subscribing at twitter via ‘headlessfowl’.
Once around 2am, I saw something white floating between the alleyway of two houses in the countryside. I was young so it really freaked me out.