Product Description

Pressley Barclay is a famous author and with that fame came his writer's block. As a way to escape from the noise and distraction of the city, he finds his dream home in the country estate -- and at a steal...or is it? His new home turns out to be more like a hell than a Heaven. Things get worse when he finds the mirror. The mirror was meant to stay hidden. The realtor told him a tale that the prior owner claimed her husband was "sucked" into a mirror and disappeared. Pressley's curiosity with the mirror finds him in an alternate world. Taking refuge in a spooky old house, Pressley finds "them"... Like daylight and dark, the men are enigmatic and sad. Who were they? With no way back home, Pressley Barclay is in for the survival lesson of his life, relying solely on his wits to survive and solve a mystery spanning four centuries, a decadent mystery involving the two young men and how they died. Will Pressley free the house of the torturous limbo it has endured for so long, or will his spirit be the newest addition to a house of solemn shadows and lost souls?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2175593 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 260 pages

About the Author
Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc is a critically acclaimed horror author, who has enjoyed varied and eclectic success throughout her long writing career. You can find Andrea's works on line, in anthologies and in e-books.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The house was dark, but the open front door allowed some light to trickle into the cavernous front foyer. Pressley let out a low whistle as his eyes rapidly moved all around the room. The gothic structure reminded him of his house, too much of his house. The windows were encrusted with dirt, grime and cobwebs, but light managed to filter in tiny ribbons, through the beautiful, ornate, stained glass panes. It seemed that each window had a different scene on it. Pressley could see a sunrise in one window, a full moon in another, an altar with someone kneeling and a dog and lady in another pane. The rest of the windows were much too caked over with filth to see anything on them clearly. He wished he could see what the rest of the windows held, but he had to try and find a way to get home, not worry about how much this house resembled his, although the thought troubled him. Pressley stood and looked at the colors dancing around the floor. They, like the swirling mirror had been, were hypnotic and it took a concerted effort on his part to tear his eyes away. He had gotten his fill of enough swirling of anything and wished to only see things as they were supposed to be, and not misting, churning in any way, or calling to him. He looked around again. He knew that this mansion must have been the pride of its owners, at one time. Even in such terrible disrepair, it was still magnificent.

This house was full of shadows, it seemed. He had grown somewhat accustomed to shadows, as the shadows in his house still made him feel unwelcome at times, but the shadows in this room leapt up and towered over him and then died away again, as if wishing to make their presence known to him. He shivered. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Pressley rubbed his legs. They still ached and standing around doing nothing wasn’t helping them any. A giant, sweeping, staircase loomed before him, flanked by candelabras. He had enough of stairs, but he needed to explore this place. He might as well get started, being as he was here and had no idea when or even if he would be leaving. The cracked, black marble floors disintegrated and broke even more than it already was, under his feet, as he walked to the stairway. He retrieved a candelabrum, and took the lighter from his pocket. It seemed to take a while to get the ancient and damp wick to light. He was suddenly reminded of his contrary wallpaper at home and how it had given him a difficult time as well. Why couldn’t things simply be simple for once? Pressley exhaled and screwed his mouth up. Probably because if things were simple then it wouldn’t be his life that the simple situations would be happening in. Pressley huffed and continued to click the lighter on the wicks and as if having mercy on him, they lit. However, there were two candles that, no matter how much Pressley coaxed, begged or threatened them, they wouldn’t light. The others sputtered as if teasing him and punishing him for bothering them, and then burned a bright orange flame that died down to a calm and soft glow. The candelabra threw light in all directions around him, but it barely cut through the gloom as he achingly ascended the staircase. Pressley looked at the railing carefully as he held onto it, more to pull his wobbly legs up the hateful stairs, than anything else. He knew that on their own his spaghetti legs would never have supported him. The staircase railing was carved from the same, hearty oak as the door was and was engraved with a winding pattern of what looked like some sort of vine. Some of the railing was worn smooth, but what was still visible of the pattern was beautiful. Pressley hadn’t noticed the inside of the railing, as his view from the floor was limited, but flowers, giant, open flowers, had been carved from the wood that made up the railing and seemed to "bloom" from the vines as they wrapped around the banisters. Pressley was so busy concentrating on the stairs and making it to the top of them without falling to his doom, and looking at the ornate banister and railing that he found so beautiful, that he nearly ran into the two men standing at the top of the stairs. He dropped his candelabra...

Customer Reviews

Sin and redemption
who is the real sinner and who should be redeemed? Socially acceptable sin without redemption...antisocial behavior and forgiveness.
I loved being pulled into the cold world of the mirror (you might need to be under the covers for this book)and taking a look at human nature.
There were a few things I wish were explored more, but overall it was a great story and once you got into it you had no choice but to follow the path laid out.
I cant wait to read A Man of Two Worlds

thirsty for more
THIS BOOK WAS GREAT! IT DID HAVE TWO SCENES THAT WILL LEAVE YOU OUT OF BREATH AND THINKING IF SUCH ACTS CAN BE HUMANLY POSSIBLE. THEY ARE HARSH BUT AS ANOTHER REVIEWER SAID THAT YOU NEED TO GET PAST THAT. THE WRITER IS SO GOOD AT HER WORK THAT YOU CAN VIVIDLY FEEL THE PAIN AND THE ANGUISH OF ALL THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS STORY. I WISH THIS BOOK HAD NEVER ENDED. I SURE WILL LIKE TO READ MORE OF HER WORK, I AM JUST NOT SURE IF I AM READY FOR THAT KIND OF SADISTIC STUFF. I DO LOVE THE ROMANCE AND THE WAY IN WHICH THE STORY IS SHAPED AND HOW YOU LEARN TO FORGIVE AND I GUESS IN A WAY TO UNDERSTAND. I WILL NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR A TEEN OR SOMEONE WHO IS NOT MATURE ENOUGH. IT IS TOO GRAPHIC... IT IS TOO GOOD!

Chilling, demented, captivating...
Van Scoyoc has crafted quite a masterpiece here. The scenes are incredibly realistic and the psychology sound. Her characters, and even sub-characters, carry a depth and description that makes them easy for the reader to imagine. One sweet trait of magic in this novel is the almost certain guarantee that you will feel cold at some point. It is a creepy story and contains some violent scenes that reach into the darkest depravations of a serial killer. Not for faint of heart and brutally realistic. You will cringe and you will worry...be warned...