Ronald Damien Malfi

"To Travis and Jodie Glasgow, the house in the idyllic small town seems perfect, the surrounding woods and lake like a postcard. But soon after they move in, things begin to change. Strange noises wake Travis at night. His dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways--shapes bearing a frightening resemblance to a little boy. Footprints appear. Strangest of all are the wooden stairs rising cryptically from the lake. The more Travis investigates, the more he uncovers the house's violent and tragic past and the more he learns that some secrets can't be buried forever."--P. of cover.

Discusses the characteristics, benefits, and disadvantages of snow.

"A new mother is pursued by mysterious men in black. A misguided youth learns the dark secrets of the world from an elderly neighbor on Halloween night. A housewarming party where the guests never leave. A caretaker tends to his rusted relic of a god deep in the desert... In his debut short story collection, Bram Stoker Award finalist Ronald Malfi mines the depths and depravities of the human condition, exploring the dark underside of religion, marriage, love, fear, regret, and hunger in a world that spins just slightly askew on its axis.."--

When Alan Hammerstun inherits a quaint ranch house nestled in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains, he seizes the opportunity to take his wife, Heather, away from New York. The couple has been haunted by the aftermath of two miscarriages, and the rural North Carolina town is just what they need to start over. For a while, everything seems perfect. Too perfect, in fact. The neighbors are young, handsome, and healthy and everyone is very friendly. But the town harbors a secret - one that seems like a gift, yet comes at a steep price...

"A landscape of frozen darkness punctuated by grim, gray days. The feeling like a buzz in your teeth. The scrape of bone on bone...Paul Gallo saw the report on the news: a mass murderer leading police to his victims' graves, in remote Dread's Hand, Alaska. It's not even a town; more like the bad memory of a town. The same bit of wilderness where his twin brother went missing a year ago. As the bodies are exhumed, Paul travels to Alaska to get closure and put his grief to rest. But the mystery is only beginning. What Paul finds are superstitious locals who talk of the devil stealing souls, and a line of wooden crosses to keep what's in the woods from coming out. He finds no closure because no one can explain exactly what happened to Danny. And the more he searches for answers, the more he finds himself becoming part of the mystery..." --Back cover.

"In the quiet suburb of Harting Farms, the weedkly crime blotter usually consists of graffiti or the occasional bout of mailbox baseball. But in the fall of 1993, children begin vanishing and one is found dead. Newspapers call him the Piper because he has come to take the children away. But there are darker names for him, too... Vowing to stop the Piper's reign of terror, five boys take up the search. Their teenage pledge turns into a journey of self-discovery...and a journey into the darkness of their own hometown. On the twilit streets of Harting Farms, everyone is a suspect. And any one of the boys might be the Piper's next victim."--