On snowbound Mackinac, do the walls of the empty house whisper—or is his sanity starting to slip?
Looking to shake up his listless life, Clay thinks he’s struck gold when he accepts a winter dog-sitting job on the remote vacation haven of Mackinac Island. In a single season, he’ll live rent-free while chipping away at mounting debt, finally complete his perpetually unfinished novel, and maybe rekindle a summer spark with Olivia, one of the island’s locals. Instead, the ferries stop running, the tourists vanish, and none of the locals—least of all Olivia—seem to want him there.
Clay retreats to the isolated bluff-top manor, where his presence seems to wake something in a house long used to silent winter slumber. Unsettling sights, sounds, and even smells torment him daily—until a mysterious woman in red slips into his bed at night, offering comfort, demanding obedience, and promising protection from the dark spirit locals call the Black Missionary.
Strange books filled with rites and the names of things best left alone find their way to Clay as he struggles to decide whether the forces around him are real or all in his head. Fear of the malignant entity—and frustration with his uneven relationship with Olivia - pull Clay deeper into the lustful embrace of his protective female presence, and he slowly becomes wholly dependent, even obsessed, with her.
As snow buries the island, Clay must survive the winter. But is he saving himself from something supernatural—or from his own mind?
Dead Season: A Winter on Mackinac Island is a debut haunted-house novel blending fantasy horror, erotic horror, psychological horror, folk horror, and occult fiction. This is for readers who like their snowed-in stories intimate, atmospheric, and merciless.
