A STORM IS COMING…
In 1993 New Mexico, Black Magic and High Tech find common ground in Medusa Engineering’s Project Dragonfire―and for one endless October night, a fissure opens between here and Elsewhere…
Live Wire, a horror thriller for science fiction fans, begins with four people sequestered in a desert filling station during a freak thunderstorm. Outside, one-hundred-foot electrical towers―miles and miles of them―uproot and stalk the desert. In tandem arrives The Signal, a dissonant machine language that subverts the human mind…harvesting old guilt, shame, and trauma.
Fifty miles down the road at the Very Large Array, the Medusa Engineering Corporation unleashes Project Dragonfire, a bold technological effort that has summoned a ravenous entity from the very fabric of creation—perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not.
Our ensemble includes Pale Brody and his son Caleb, en route to Austin to start a new life; Ken Lightfeather, an Apache trucker with a .44 on his hip; Kwik Gas proprietor Otis Thompson, who assumes the freak electrical storm has spawned the wandering giants; and fast-thinking Nikki Barlowe, who suspects a parallel, sinister operation―led by shadowy Medusa Engineering executive Armand Jenks―is in play.
High stakes and high octane fuel the incendiary action―mass murder and suicide, AC-130 Spectre gunships engaging the VLA in a brutal firefight, electrical towers pulverizing anything in their path, a massive gridwork of steel and feral energy blocking the only route of escape. Old ghosts and unresolved conflicts plague our characters as the signal interferes with their only task: surviving the onslaught.
The night wears on everyone as the electrical towers converge on the Kwik Gas, and only the end of the circuit reveals the nexus of their power. At dawn on Route 60, a final showdown pits human resolve against brute force and inner horror. Will an ancient, shadowless terror find dominion on Earth?
Live Wire is a tight, electrifying novel filled with action at a massive scale, terrors at the intimate level, and revelations of the Universal. If you like your fire hot, your blood red, and your metal mean, then this horror/science fiction hybrid is for you.
“this also felt like a homage to the classic truck stop movie MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, based on a Stephen King story.”
“LIVE WIRE hits the gas hard from the first page and doesn’t let off until its thunderous and unsettling conclusion.”
“The novel Live Wire by Kyle Toucher is the literary equivalent of a lurid B-movie. Which is not a bad thing in the least. This is a very entertaining, action-filled book that kept me entertained and thoroughly engaged the entire time I spent reading it.”
“This book is nuts. Flat out crazy. It is also fun and creative and exciting and horrific. I love the storm atmosphere and sheer panic that ensues when things go sideways.”
“Take the premise of Stephen King’s The Mist, fuse it with his short story “Trucks“, and add a dash of his novel Dreamcatcher, and you get Kyle Toucher’s Live Wire. Where Toucher excels and distinguishes himself is how he effortlessly creates characters that jump off the page, writes prose reminiscent of Ray Bradbury, and subverts our expectations with his sneaky infusion of cosmic horror. This is one unique, genre-bending tale that’s not to be missed.”—Nick Roberts, award-winning author of The Exorcist’s House and Anathema
“Live Wire was a total surprise, at every turn. Elements of sci-fi horror, ancient evil and familial relationships.”—Noelle Kelly
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After reading that fantastic novel make sure to check out…
Life Returns. An essential step into Toucher’s world of Walpurgis County, where an insane mountain broods over its minions, and superstition intervenes…
Its title taken from the classic Dr. Know song of the same name, Kyle Toucher’s short novella Life Returns offers a look into domestic strife complicated by occult interference.
After the sudden death of their parents, Ian Emerson and his young sister Annie begin a new life with their Aunt Mary and Uncle John in mysterious Walpurgis County. It soon becomes evident that Aunt Mary―who had shunned the children for years―harbors a valid reason for such prolonged detachment. Uncle John, a man dedicated to his obsessions, has laid a nefarious plan for their future, one of servitude and agony.
On the windblown threshold of winter, a final confrontation takes place in the benighted, freezing basement of the house on Gethsemane Lane. With Annie in one hand and the power of The Shadowless Ones in the other, Uncle John revels as a tear in reality―the Shimmer―opens, and an ancient, throbbing mechanism, The Machine, asserts its will…
But aunt Mary has had enough.
“Toucher masterfully crafts a dark and gothic horror story with Life Returns. It has all the elements a horror fan craves: a cavernous old house, an ominous and mysterious mountain, fantastical Lovecraftian monsters and a woman who knows how to swing. This is a fast-paced page turner that left me wanting more from Toucher. I can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeve!”
“As a Dr Know fan, horror fan, sci-fi fan and reading fanatic, I was super excited to read this! It did not disappoint. It gave a great back story to the song of the same name from 30+ years ago, filling in the gaps in my imagination. I got really involved in the characters and what was happening to them, as well as excited to find out what might become of them in the future. I really hope there will be a follow up. This is a must read!”
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About Author Kyle Toucher
Kyle Toucher (rhymes with voucher) was raised on a diet of Frankenstein and Godzilla, Black Sabbath and Black Flag, Lovecraft, Blatty, Barker and King. Through his twenties, he fronted the influential Nardcore crossover band Dr. Know, made records and hit the road. Later, he moved into the Visual Effects field, which led to eight Emmy nominations and two awards for Firefly and Battlestar: Galactica. Recent credits include Top Gun: Maverick and Devotion.
He lives with a lovely woman, five cats, two dogs, and several guitars in a secure, undisclosed location.
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