Tex, The Witch Boy

Tex, the Witch Boy TEACHER'S GUIDE included with purchase.
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Thriller
Editor: Tanja Cilia
Line Editor Penny Ehrenkranz
Cover Designer Charlotte Volnek
Words 89820
Pages 313
ISBN 978-1-77127-235-3
Price $5.95
Back Cover:
Being in high school sucks. Just ask Richard “Tex” McKenna, a Kansas sophomore. Dealing with bullying, burgeoning love, the loss of parents, and dodge ball is bad enough. To top it off, he's just found out he's a witch! Oh, and fellow students are being murdered. The suspicious eyes of local law enforcement are looking right at Tex and his loyal group of friends. And so is the killer. Will Tex's new-found skills prove helpful? Or cause even more problems?
Excerpt
The skies growled, rumbled, teased, and threatened a deluge but remained stubbornly dry. It was one of those eerie, purple-skied nights foreshadowing worse weather. But for now, the heavens were constipated, and all the angrier for it.
I walked over the hill and saw the school. It looked so different on a weekend night. No lights lit up the long building. The streetlamps lining the entry drive were off. It was a shadow of its daily, bustling self—a skeleton deprived of its inner organs and muscles.
I hurried down the drive toward the parking lot next to the far end of the building. Across the street sat the abandoned gas station, hunkering in the darkness. By day, it was a den of iniquity for the pot-smokers, but now it was deserted. I thought of Josh’s last week of life, when he’d taunted Bellman there. The ghosts were out in full force tonight. At least in my mind.
The fallen leaves crunched underneath my feet as I crossed over the descending islands between the lots. A low long, rumble roared above me, the accompanying lightning bolt firing up the sky for several long seconds. There sat the Battle Bucket, waiting for me like a loyal steed.
I unlocked the door and slid onto the cold seat. I slipped the car key into the ignition and turned it over. The Bucket wouldn’t catch. “Come on, come on,” I whispered under my breath. The engine kept trying to rev up but gave up and slowed to a down-winding death-groan. “Bucket, don’t fail me now.” But I knew it was no use.
I heard a light snap. The wind blowing the leaves? From the passenger side came a scratching sound. A dark figure in a ski jacket stood outside. A sudden flash of movement, and the window shattered inward, showering me with glass shards. I screamed. A black-gloved hand reached inside, grabbing the door handle. I snatched my skateboard from the floor, swung with all my might at the intruding arm. I made contact, and with a deep thud, the person fell backward, grunting.
MEET THE AUTHOR
After working as a graphic and production artist for the last 23 years, the company for which I labored shuttered its doors in July of 2010, finally allowing me the time and mental energy to tackle something that I'm passionate about. Thank God!
“Tex, The Witch Boy” is my first novel and the first in a trilogy which I’ve already completed. There is a lot of autobiographical detail in the book but since I KNOW the bullies on whom I’ve based my characters are incapable of reading, I can rest easy.
I'm married to a professor of pharmacy (who greatly appreciates that I now prepare dinner for her) and have a 20 year old daughter, who hasn’t yet decided what to do with her life. But that’s okay…it took me 25 years or longer.