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RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2026
James was a painter, but the last time he saw color was in a nightmare, as his sister’s blood seeped through the floorboards and into his hiding place.
Every night, the same nightmare. And every morning, the same thought: I know how my family will die.
James never sees the killer. He also never sees his best friend David anymore, after attacking him while half in the nightmare and half awake during a sleepover. Color-blindness, anger, and fear shape James’s world for five years, derailing his painting career and plans on following his twin sister to college.
After an accidental and uneasy reunion with David, the two follow clues from his nightmare to an abandoned house and, behind it, a river, where James sees streams of red, blue and yellow paint — colors he can actually see — coming from an old leather bag on the bank, with brushes inside that must be over a hundred years old.
Flush with hope from his newfound palette, James begins to paint again, but the more he does, the more the nightmare seeps into his waking life. It feels like the killer’s hand is controlling each stroke. And one thing becomes clear: His family has only days to live. Their lives and his sanity depend on unraveling the mystery of the brushes and the nightmare before it’s too late.
THE SCATTERING is an upper YA horror, complete at 72,000 words. It is about fear, loss, and trying to find your way back.
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2026
James was a painter, but the last time he saw color was in a nightmare, as his sister’s blood seeped through the floorboards and into his hiding place.
Every night, the same nightmare. And every morning, the same thought: I know how my family will die.
James never sees the killer. He also never sees his best friend David anymore, after attacking him while half in the nightmare and half awake during a sleepover. Color-blindness, anger, and fear shape James’s world for five years, derailing his painting career and plans on following his twin sister to college.
After an accidental and uneasy reunion with David, the two follow clues from his nightmare to an abandoned house and, behind it, a river, where James sees streams of red, blue and yellow paint — colors he can actually see — coming from an old leather bag on the bank, with brushes inside that must be over a hundred years old.
Flush with hope from his newfound palette, James begins to paint again, but the more he does, the more the nightmare seeps into his waking life. It feels like the killer’s hand is controlling each stroke. And one thing becomes clear: His family has only days to live. Their lives and his sanity depend on unraveling the mystery of the brushes and the nightmare before it’s too late.
THE SCATTERING is an upper YA horror, complete at 72,000 words. It is about fear, loss, and trying to find your way back.