|
DOGMAN LINKS: Submit
an encounter or a Special
Rates for Schools! MythMichigan |
|
The
Haunting of Sigma by Frank Holes Jr.
ADVANCED
PREVIEW |
|
Sign
up for our You could win a FREE Dogman gift! Updated: August 15, 2008 |
|
Click here for the website of the first Dogman novel: Year of the Dogman |
The
Haunting of Sigma by Frank Holes Jr. - Release Date: July 4, 2008 Order a copy of The Haunting of Sigma or Year of the Dogman or 'The Legend' Legacy Edition CD set by clicking here! |
Click here for the website of the first Dogman novel: Year of the Dogman |
||
|
Official Year of the Dogman merchandise,
including hats, shirts, sweatshirts, prints, mugs, mousepads, and other
items can be purchased in our online store, by clicking the link below:
Michigan's Dogman:
|
ADVANCED PREVIEW
OF Copyright 2008, Frank Holes, Jr. All Rights Reserved From Chapter 1: *** Slowly the creature approached the accident from the driver’s side. It walked fearlessly on its hind legs, claws clicking on the hard packed road surface. The truck’s headlights shown on either side of the great oak, and in the left beam the driver could be seen lying lifeless in the tangle of shrubs and ferns. The cloud of dust had more than caught up with the truck and the particles wafted their way through the headlights. The creature looked on at the driver for a few more seconds before baring its large canine teeth. A low growl emanated from the depths of its throat. It wasn’t really loud, but then again, it didn’t have to be. Then, as unexpectedly as it had appeared, it dropped to all fours, bounded across the road, and disappeared into the dense forest on the other side. *** All across From Chapter 2: ... Everyone in the little community was up and going very early Monday morning. Most, like Joe and Bev had their own chores and work to start up anyway. Some, like Jack and Mitchell, had businesses to run. But for the rest, the sun peeking its powerfully bright face over the top edge of the Au Sable Forest brought a final sense of relief from the night’s torment. The skies were clear and blue. This glorious morning could almost make them forget the terror they’d felt only hours before. They could almost forget the hours they’d laid awake, hearts racing, eyes darting at every shadow in their rooms. They could almost forget how tired they were from the lack of sleep. They could almost forget the haunting images their imaginations created for them, terrifying specters in their minds. Almost. The people went about their business trying to forget. No one mentioned it to anybody else. Not that they thought they wouldn’t be believed. Not at all. There was no doubt everyone for miles around had heard that awful howling. They didn’t talk about it because if they did, it became real. It would escape from their imagination. They’d have to give it a name. And that made the specters real. If it were real, they might have to do something about it. If it was real, it might not just fade away like early morning mist out in the Dredge. *** “But you know, I found the strangest thing as I looked over the scene.” Todd gazed over his glass at his friend. “What’s that?” “Footprints,” Eric said slowly and deliberately. “Footprints in the dust of the road. No cars were through there, so there was nothing to disturb the scene. I saw footprints. Well, not actually human footprints. These were a canine’s prints, they seemed like those from a wolf, but they were odd too.” “How’s that,” Todd asked, intrigued. “There weren’t enough of them,” Eric stated flatly. “They were spaced a few feet apart, but you’ve seen wolf tracks, they always bunch up when the four legs are moving. They’re always close. These were wide, almost like, I don’t know, almost like…” He trailed off. “Almost like what?” Todd pushed. “Almost like there weren’t enough feet to make enough tracks.” He’d neglected to tell his friend about the story the old timers told him at the store early in the morning. His mind couldn’t stop connecting that hideous noise in the dark with those unidentifiable tracks. But that was a mental connection he’d keep to himself just yet. He wasn’t about to tell his fellow co-workers and have them think he’d lost it himself. But he also couldn’t keep it all in; he’d feel better if he could confine just a little with Todd, who was probably the closest friend he had on the DNR staff. Besides, the ambulance and the sheriff’s car wiped out the evidence when they arrived. There was nothing to back up Eric’s story or his musings. “One other thing,” Eric said, looking around for a moment to be sure no one else was listening in on them. That wasn’t hard because they were the only two left in this section of the bar. “They weren’t the nice, finished off prints of a wolf. Usually you can see the back of their paw, the footpad, you know, really well. In these prints, the print is elongated, almost as if it was dragged. Or as if the paw was long in some way, longer than a normal wolf’s track should be.” “That’s absurd,” Todd said, leaning back in his chair. “I know, it should be,” Eric said, locking eyes with Todd. “I know it sounds crazy, but the tracks almost looked human in a way, you know, the way human prints will trail off toward the heel, especially if the weight is on the balls of the feet. “I know, it sounds crazy. Maybe it is. But I know what I saw. Something ain’t right out there. I’m not sure I want to go and find it out, but some part of me does want to go looking for whatever made those tracks. To see what it really is.” *** The bright headlights created
a cinema-like show featuring a star unlike any ever created in a From Chapter 3: ... Stevie knew exactly what was out in the forest darkness. He’d heard the song, and he believed it. His grandfather took out his hearing aids each night before retiring to bed. He didn’t have to worry about hearing any crazy sounds in the depths of the night beyond their house. Though Stevie had only heard the howling in the distance last night, it was something else that had spooked him so badly he’d wet the bed for the first time in fifteen years. Outside the thin panes of window glass, scratching sounds could be heard. Stevie recognized two distinct noises – one was the sound of scratching on the dry, hard packed ground of their backyard. He was pretty sure it was toe claws grating on the multitude of pebbles and rocks. The second was the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. Only this, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, was claws scraping on the little barn-shaped utility shed behind their trailer. The song had first played on April Fool’s Day, Stevie knew that for a fact. He almost didn’t make it to work, as he was certain the Dogman was going to jump out of the woods and knock him right off his bike. The forest seemed a bit creepier to him since that song started playing, a bit more dark, dank, and foreboding. He hadn’t set foot in the woods all spring or summer.
From Chapter 4: ... At one point Lloyd was worried a fight might actually break out. But the men managed to keep their strong opinions in check. The bar tender, the only one sober in the room, managed to carefully steer the conversation from one patron to another just when things started getting steamy. “Fellas, fellas, let’s just relax a bit here. Maybe it’s that Dogman they’re always talkin about on the radio,” Lloyd offered, calming the conversation down a bit. That brought a mixture of laughing, sputtering, and various cursing from the assembly. Various stories of the Dogman started flying around the bar, mostly in the form of jokes to be played on the tourists. A few minutes later, the bar once again lapsed into quietude. “I tell you what,” Wade said slowly and carefully, “if this continues another night, we might need to have a gatherin’. Maybe it’s time we take the bull by the horns. Maybe we need to go out there in force and make it shut up. Then we all could get some real sleep.” Again heads nodded up and down the bar. Even Jeff was in agreement, though his was silent. His gaze was focused out past the cigar smoke and on through the dusty windows of the bar to where the street met the darkness and the Dredge beyond. Time for a bit of action, he thought to himself. *** Folks had laughed and joked all spring about the Dogman. A crazy song, fit for April Fool’s Day. The more it played, the more they found it amusing. Imagine that, a monster in their backyards. It was laughable. But nobody laughed, nobody joked now. Nightmares in Sigma had become far too real. Some loaded bags, and some loaded guns. And everybody stayed awake. From Chapter 5: ... And what he saw chilled him to the bone in a way he’d never been frightened in his life. There at the edge of the dim, fading light from Allen Wallace’s house trailer across the street was a shadowy figurine lurking He could see it, walking on two legs in a hunched over way, its arms dangling out in front of its chest. No trick of the light, it appeared fuzzy at the edges, indicating it was covered in fur. The head above the thick shoulders and back was topped by two pointed ears. And very distinctly, a long muzzle like that of a dog or wolf poked out from the figure’s face. Lloyd stared unblinking at the creatures as it stole its way along the edge of the street toward the ball field. Very slowly, Lloyd’s hand reached up to the room’s light switch. The creature’s head seemed to be swiveling slowly from right to left. As soon as its attention turned to the ball field and the Dredge, Lloyd flicked the switch off, entombing the bar in darkness. He could still see out the dirty windows, and was still rooted to the very spot. The creature’s head snapped to focus directly at the bar, and in the blackness of that face he could see the glowing yellow eyes, piercing the night, penetrating the double paned windows and stabbing right into the heart of Lloyd Horner. I hope you have enjoyed this sneak preview of The Haunting of Sigma. Look for it in bookstores and online. You can also find special bundles featuring our novel with Steve Cook’s The Legend: Legacy Edition CD set. It is the perfect gift for those who enjoy a good, scary campfire story that has just the littlest bit of truth to it. You can also find more information, as well as updates on the Dogman legend and novels, on our website. There are reports of sightings and encounters, as well as a place for the kids to submit their own fictional Dogman stories. And we offer educational discounts for teachers and schools. Check us out at:
|
Latest
News: July 14, 2008
It's here! Get
your official copy of Contact
the author at:
|
||
|
From the back cover of the novel: "The
creature would suffer the best mankind could throw at it and still
survive. It could live
through crashes and impacts of every sort.
It wasn’t a werewolf, and couldn’t be taken down by silver
bullets, nor by any bullets of any sort.
It had survived the ravages of fire and ice, of great storms and
time eternal. It had seen
the rise and fall of many native civilizations, and it had even aided
the destruction of cultures. Its
roots traced back to the blackest of supernatural magic.
It wasn’t any sort of animal native to our world.
And it was a far cry from its once human origins.
|
In The Haunting of Sigma,
Frank Holes, Jr. returns fans of the legendary Dogman to the wild world
of cryptozoology in
In the seventh year of the '80s decade, the Dogman arrived in the little northern Michigan community of Sigma...and it was never the same again... The
Haunting of Sigma Terrorizing the North, July 4, 2008!
|
|||
|
Email us at [email protected]
|
||||
