A Long Paddle Home

Book excerpt: Fire dances within the confines of the stone lined pit. Shadows appear and begin moving to the flames' rhythm. Steven Stiles sits on the ground beside the fire and apprehensively scans the darkness enveloping the trees. He focuses his attention on the log book which rests on his thigh. As his pencil transcribes his thoughts, one shadow begins to move with purpose. My thoughts are my own, for now. I'm not sure if it's out there, but I feel it; somewhere just outside the reach of the light. Raw and elemental, it is absolutely formidable. What the hell did I sign up for? Steven Stiles prefers the company of trees to that of people. Patrolling the waterways of a wilderness park, he unwittingly engages forces which will alter the very essence of what he believed he was. Through a series of seemingly random encounters, Steven=s world suddenly expands to include friends he had not sought, the love he had always yearned for, and the companionship of a two-year-old dog named Rusty. He will have to learn to trust them if he's going to survive the energy which is determined to consume him. R.G.W.