This Brilliant Darkness

Readers are saying:"By midnight, I had not put the book down, and had no intention of putting it down. At 12:15am, my fourteen-year-old son stumbled out to get a drink of water. "You're still up?" he asked. "Go to bed." I looked up from my Nook, smiled, and said, "Not on your life, dude. Not until this ends." ~A.M.**"The way the author weaves fantasy, humor, science fiction, and mystery is, for lack of a better word, brilliant. I read the entire thing with admiration/envy, taking notes and thinking 'THIS is how you write a novel.' Remember when Scream blew the horror world away by actually using technology in a realistic way? Well here's blogging and online forums and long distance cyber friendships, honestly depicting the way we live in the 21st century." ~C.G.**AN OFFICIAL JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB MUST READ "The atmosphere of this book, so hard to simply label horror or paranormal...how about simply...A GREAT READ, is the true star. Ms. Tash so finely weaves a path of intrigue, terror, humor and suspense, that the reader is taken with each character, so very finely drawn. THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS is that rare book that one truly does not want to end!! When it does...next question is 'What else by Red Tash can I get my hands on? QUICK!!!'"~ R.F.**"Richly poetic: This is labeled as a dark fantasy. As such you would expect it to be dripping with imagery and poetic devices - and it is. There is horrific cleverness in the plot and in the characterization. You will find no better use of language and symbolism throughout the prose. It is well done. In addition to the dark fantasy, there's a flip side to the coin which is that this could also be labeled Sci-fi. There are aliens, a new star, physicists, and "end-of-the-world" fanatics. All of this is done artfully well and is believable. Without question, read this book ready to be challenged in your thinking, questioned in your understanding, and dared not to buy the next installment whether you like it or not." ~P.C.**"I liked the complete absence of familiar tropes. I couldn't tell you what book this book compares to. It's startlingly original. It's also pretty well-written. There is mystery, romance, rising tension, complex and compelling characters, and an ever-present sense of dread." ~ B.N.**"Fast-paced fantasy, lots of mystery: The quick, snappy dialogue moves the story fabulously, and with the many change of POV's (each chapter), the story kept building in momentum into a tangled web of darkness, mystery, and paranormal terror. The fast pace was refreshing and I kept on reading, wondering what was going to happen to Christine and how all the characters twined into the bigger picture. There is a hint of more SF going on than seems apparent with the emergence of the flat sun, and the paranormal activities around its sudden appearance, not to mention the very strange and beguiling creature Greachin and its macabre habits--very cool SFF concept, especially when we get into the head of the 'thing'! The main character, Christine, is energetic and likeable. She fights . . . right to the bitter end." ~C.T.Synopsis:When an ancient, troubled entity identifies quirky Christine Grace as his latest threat, all hell breaks loose in the urban forest of Indiana University's Dunn Woods. Will Christine piece together his destructive plan in time to save herself? And what exactly is going on with this peculiar star, Stella Mirabilis?This fast-paced story moves quickly from character to character, through the headspace of not just Christine and the monster Greachin, but also to Tom, her devoted boyfriend, and Richard, an aging physicist interested in the time-traveling star overhead, and others. Along the way, singing street people, cosplaying environmental activists, and heaven-sent beings come to populate the unique cityscape of Bloomington, IN, where encountering the bizarre is an everyday experience.Book one of a series. Not intended for children.