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"I became enveloped in experiences that no one on earth has an actual first-hand account of, but now feel as though they are part of my personal history." ~ Molly Ensminger
"A very vivid, intriguing story that despite its mammoth length remains pacey and thoroughly intriguing throughout." ~ Sara Garland
"A fascinating book with a unique take on the Atlantis myth." ~ Rob Enderle
"I became enveloped in experiences that no one on earth has an actual first-hand account of, but now feel as though they are part of my personal history." ~ Molly Ensminger
What Readers Are Saying
About The Darkest Eyes
Steve P.
"A tale with an excellent balance of emotion, wit and character, and with a walloping climax that had this reader swiping the iBook pages late into the night(s)."
Rita McDonough Jenkins
"Who wouldn't be drawn to Will? She's got it all -- brains, beauty, and the body of an Olympic athlete."
Jane Taylor Jarvis
"Almost mythological in nature, it begs readers to consider their own humanity, good vs. evil, intellectual and personal creativity, environmental issues, politics, and more."
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The Darkest Eyes
The Story
Will Roan is at the top of her game career-wise. She's a deep-sea submersible pilot who's brainy, daring and cool. Her personal life couldn't be more different. For as long as she can remember, she's seen little gray aliens lurking in the shadows, watching her, stalking her. Will has managed to keep them a secret, but that has meant sacrificing a lot.
Presenting a sane exterior to the world has meant that she could never get too close to anyone, and she could never settle in anywhere. Physically and emotionally, she's always been on the run. Lately, though, the grays have been threatening to tear down the wall Will has erected between her inner life and the real world. They've been relentless in their pursuit of her, infringing on the semblance of normalcy she's constructed.
When a particularly frightening encounter costs Will her job, she makes her way home. She's just in time for her dying mother -- her dying, crazy mother -- to give her an object that could explain away Will's madness or draw her inextricably into its clutches. A beautifully carved crystal skull holds the answers to the mystery of Will's life, her mother says. She can use it to cross a portal to Atlantis -- her real home.
Will's first instinct is to run, but her flight is interrupted when her beloved young niece disappears, the apparent victim of the aliens who have been tormenting Will. When Will decides to take the plunge into the unknown to find young Becky, she faces a multitude of challenges. Can she rescue the child? Can she trust the man who suddenly shows up to help her on her quest? Is she sane? Is anything she's experiencing real? Is it possible that the fate of three worlds could depend on her?
A Taste of The Darkest Eyes
Following are a few select passages from the book.
Escape
(Will Roan has just been sprung from the local jail, in a wildly inexplicable fashion, by a man she's never seen before -- someone enlisted by her desperate sister, whose daughter has disappeared. Will's mind is roiling with possible explanations for the stranger's presence as they speed out of town, and her behavior reflects her high anxiety.)
***
They drove in silence.
"You're confused," Danzer finally said. It was less a response to her than a general observation. To Will, it felt condescending.
Polly glanced back toward her sister. "He's not --"
"Watch the road!" Danzer warned. The car was drifting toward the oncoming lane, which currently was occupied by a semi.
Polly regained control. "It's not what you think," she said to Will. "You've got to trust us."
"Right," Will muttered. "I suppose I should just settle back and enjoy my jailbreak while another nut case spins tales of the lost civilization of Atlantis conveniently located at the bottom of the neighborhood mud hole."
"It's all the same to me," Danzer said. "Back home I'm considered a nut case for spinning tales of the lost civilization of Earth. I don't really care what anyone believes."
"Polly, you really have to start doing a better job picking your men."
***
Awakening
(Her desperate flight has taken Will, in the company of her sister and a man she barely knows, to the deep water hole in the woods known as the "Bottomless Pool." With authorities hot on their heels, the three dive in.)
***
"Will awakened under a canopy of stars. Judging from the positions of the constellations, she was somewhere in Africa. She wasn't sure in what sense she was waking up, though. Perhaps she was experiencing an extremely lucid dream. Or perhaps time had passed -- months, years even -- and she was stirring from the depths of a coma, the galaxies above her no more than remembrances of patterns behind the lids of long-shuttered eyes. Maybe centuries had passed, and ape scientists were hovering over her, thrilled at having cloned a more-or-less intact representative of the extinct human race."
***
The Myth
(Newly arrived in Atlantis, Will hears an ancient tale that explains the origin of the parallel worlds.)
***
"The boy tried pointing his tilleen many times -- many ways, at many trees. His efforts were in vain. Then he wondered if he had to find the exact tree, and he became certain that he must, and that caused him great despair because he had been wandering for days and had no idea how to retrace his steps. Night was falling, and the boy was cold and hungry and wanted his mother. He fought back tears, squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them, he saw a curious light in the distance.
"He walked toward the light as it approached him, growing larger and more distinct. It was a lovely glowing ball, spinning and dancing among the trees, swirling with every color of the rainbow. The boy followed the light as it wound through the forest, sure that it meant salvation. After many hours of pursuit, the boy was rewarded. The light stopped moving. It ascended into the branches of one particular tree, causing it to glow brilliantly in the dark forest. Without hesitation, the boy pointed his tilleen at the tree, thought of home, and tumbled back into Atlantis."
***