Primal Fear (34 page)

About the Author

Brad J. Boucher lives on New Hampshire’s Seacoast with his two daughters in a house in which every day feels a bit like Halloween. His novels of horror and suspense—all coming soon in paperback editions—include
The Shoals
,
Diviner
,
Vessels
,
Curnow’s Crossing
and
Primal Fear
.  He is also the author of three collections of short horror stories:
The Dead Hours
,
Readings from the Book of Pain
and
In the House of Sin
.  He can be found on Facebook at
Brad J. Boucher – A Writer’s Madhouse
,
where he hosts daily genre trivia and posts—from time to time—free fiction.

Recent studies by high-ranking members of an elite team of fact and statistic gathering scientists at a famous university conclude that only 1 person out of 10 will take the time to read information written in a font smaller than the print on the rest of the page.  That translates, of course, to only ten percent of the readers who have purchase, borrowed or stolen this book.  Nine out of ten of them will close the book after the final page of the story, place it on their bookshelf, and never open it again.  If you, however, are one of that small percentage of people who read beyond the story itself, stand proud, and hold your head up high.  Because that means the words you are reading right now, at this very moment, are words that
ninety
percent of readers missed out on.  In a way, it’s sort of like winning a very small lottery, or being struck by a very cozy and polite bolt of lightning.  Think about that.  While those other readers are moving on to whatever it was that drew their attention away from this book, whatever thing they have going on that makes them too busy to read this final page, you, the dedicated reader, get these words almost completely to yourself.  It’s almost like they’re here just for you, as if I’ve written them exclusively for you to absorb and enjoy.  And so, as a reward for your tenacity and your loyalty, and your obvious love for the written word (as if all these bonus words aren’t enough), I will hereby—space permitting, of course—reveal the deepest secrets of the universe, and of life itself.  So here goes.  Are you ready?  Good.  I am too.  The truth of the secret of the universe, as I see it, is this: the reason you are here and I am here and everybody else is here on this beautiful blue planet of ours, spinning through the ever-expanding cosmos into the distant, unknown future, is quite simply that each one of us is meant to—oh, I’ve managed to run out of space.  Crap.  

He is currently at work on his next novel and a new collection of short fiction.

(The author would love to hear from you.  He will welcome your feedback, comments, questions, suggestions, reviews—negative or positive—and queries with open arms.  And yes, it’s true, he’ll actually respond to them. He urges you to visit his website at
www.bradjboucher.com
, and he is looking forward to reading e-mails sent to him at
[email protected]
.  Thank you.)