Tag Archives: skinwalker

eSPEC EXCERPTS – BREAKING THE CODE — eSpec Books

My novella, Breaking the Code, will be released in ten days. I thought this would be a good time to share another post from my publisher, NeoParadoxa, which is an imprint of eSpec Books. In this post, you can read Chapter One in it’s entirety absolutely free. I hope it hooks you enough to want to read the whole thing!

As it turns out, I pitched this novella while taking my youngest child to college. In a normal year, I would have been exploring places around the beautiful city of Flagstaff, Arizona and may even have paid a visit to Lowell Observatory, which is one of my favorite places in the area. Lowell had been closed due to the pandemic and when I wasn’t moving boxes into a dorm room, I was largely sitting in a motel room maintaining a careful social distance from others. I found myself thinking back to my own early college days when I first moved to New Mexico and friends from those days. I thought about stories they told me about one of New Mexico’s very own mysterious creatures, the skinwalker. As I looked through the history of the part of the state where most skinwalker sightings occur, I realized there was a very interesting story to tell. My story is fiction, but it takes inspiration from real events.

You can find all the places to order the book at my website: http://davidleesummers.com/Breaking-the-Code.html

With that, I invite you to step over to eSpec’s blog so you can read the first chapter of my novella.

We have another Systema Paradoxa title for you, Breaking the Code by David Lee Summers, a part of the Systema Paradoxa series created in conjunction with Cryptid Crate. It releases May 21, but you can pre-order it now via the link. Chapter One Friday, February 20, 1942 Cheryl Davis parked her Ford Coup in the […]

eSPEC EXCERPTS – BREAKING THE CODE — eSpec Books

COVER REVEAL – BREAKING THE CODE — eSpec Books

Happy Star Wars day! May the Fourth be with you! One of the things I’ve always loved about the Star Wars Universe were all the creatures George Lucas and his team dreamed up. Whether it be the Bith who played mean jazz in the first movie’s cantina scene, the Mon Calamari fish people who fought for the Rebel Alliance, or the Wookies, like Chewbacca who was Han Solo’s best friend, there was something about these creatures that made me want to believe they were real.

Around the same time as Star Wars, there was a television series hosted by Leonard Nimoy called In Search Of…. That show introduced me to strange creatures purported to exist in the shadows of our own planet. Among these creatures were the Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster and the Yeti. I’ll admit, now that I’m older, I’m skeptical of many of these stories. And yet, I have heard stories from friends and people I’ve met that make me wonder if there could be some truth to these tales of cryptids. Friends who have lived in Gallup, New Mexico have told me stories about the Skinwalker and that helped to inspire my tale, Breaking the Code, which comes out later this month from NeoParadoxa Press, an imprint of eSpec Books.

Breaking the Code is volume 3 of the Systema Paradoxa series. Just because it’s volume 3 doesn’t mean you need to read volumes 1 and 2 to understand my story. Each volume tells its own story of a cryptid. That said, I know many of the contributing authors and you’ll definitely want to read every volume in the series.

I have updated my website to include a page for Breaking the Code. Just visit http://www.davidleesummers.com/Breaking-the-Code.html to be updated with all the places where the book is currently available. Or better yet, subscribe to https://www.cryptidcrate.com where you’ll not only receive the book later this year, you’ll also get all kinds of goodies and many of the other books in the series. With that, I’ll let you take a look at the eSpec Books post.

A part of the Systema Paradoxa series under eSpec’s new NeoParadoxa imprint, this is Breaking the Code by David Lee Summers. A cryptid novella based on the skinwalker. There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been […]

COVER REVEAL – BREAKING THE CODE — eSpec Books

Sneak Peek at Breaking the Code

Last autumn, my friends at eSpec Books asked me to submit a novella for their NeoParadoxa imprint, which features books about cryptids. Many of these titles will be featured in Box Mountain’s monthly Cryptid Crate subscription boxes which include cryptid themed art and decor for your home in addition to the books.

What are cryptids? They are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others that have always been with us—watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and the Systema Paradoxa books tell their tales.

Because the book will be featured in the Cryptid Crates, the folks at eSpec Books have asked me not to give away too much of the surprise of what’s inside. So I’m limiting myself to sharing the cover and a short book book description.

1942. Gallup, New Mexico. Marine recruiters have come to town looking to fill their ranks with a secret weapon against the Axis powers-what would become Navajo Code Talkers—but not everyone supports the prospect of young native men going off to war.

When one new recruit is found dead, and a rancher’s cattle are mutilated, whispers of witchcraft and skinwalker filter through the town, and interest in enlisting wanes. Is there evil afoot, or is that just what opponents to the cause want everyone to think?

Whether guided by magic, mischief, or malevolence, without a doubt, nothing is as it seems…

If you’re excited for the release of the novella, the very best way to get a copy is by subscribing to Cryptid Crate at: https://www.cryptidcrate.com. Not only will you get my novella and the goodies that come with it, you’ll get the other novellas in the series as they’re released.

If you would rather just get the book by itself, it is available for pre-order at fine bookstores including: