M is for Moving Fear

Do you remember the last time you moved?

I’m willing to bet you’ve moved at least once in your adult life. Almost everybody has. According to the Employee Relocation Council, 1 in 6 Americans move each year. The average American moves 11.7 times in a lifetime and in the United States alone an estimated 36.5 million people moved in 2012. This is around 12 percent of its whole population, which is down from the 14 percent pre-recession numbers. Did you realize that moving is the third most stressful event in life, following only by death of a loved one and divorce.

Now, think back to the last time YOU moved. Remember dealing with all of those boxes, packing material, heavy furniture, and making everything fit into an undersized moving van? Do you recall what is was like when you dragged that last empty box to the curb and finally declared yourself officially moved in -- that feeling of relaxation and euphoria? Now I want you to imagine that after the dust has settled -- you find one more box? It’s somewhere off in an obscure corner that you could have sworn was vacant the last time you looked. And it’s a strange box at that. A bit smaller than your average moving box, solid black, with strange markings etched all around the outside. Tell me…what would you do? Would you try to find out who it belonged to…attempt to get it back to them...or would you just open it. Maybe you'd peak inside to find a clue about who the owner was.

What if I told you that if you did...you and your entire family would be slaughtered a few short days later? And the worst part is....the most unimaginable part…was that you would be the one who took their lives – and your own, continuing a murderous cycle that has been going on for centuries.

The novel that landed me an agent is a YA Paranormal/Mystery entitled MOVING FEAR. My main character, sixteen year-old Knox Gidden, is a military-brat with the emphasis on brat. He's lost count of how many times his family has relocated (not really) and it's left the fifteen-year-old withdrawn, bitter, making it his mission to let his parents know how unhappy he was by acting out during each move by playing disruptive tricks when the moving vans show up. But after his mother dies of cancer and a tragic prank-gone-wrong put his brother in a wheelchair, a guilt-ridden Knox is determined to clean up his act. The family's transfer to Ox-Bow, deemed their "final move", is supposed to be a fresh-start for everyone. Unbeknownst to them however, something else has moved in with them.

Finding an extra box after all the others have been dragged to the curb shouldn’t be cause for alarm, but this is no ordinary box. Not surprisingly fingers point to Knox. After all, his history of shenanigans is almost as long as the list of cities they’ve lived in. The situation only worsens when strange incidents start troubling the family, forcing Knox to realize his reputation is the least of his worries. He discovers that something unnatural, an ancient evil, has selected a member of his family to be its next vessel to toy with before annihilating them all. But who has it chosen? Things begin spiraling out of control soon after and the rest – well you’ll just have to read the book. I will tell you that Knox and his two new friends – Lewis, the boy who lives next door with a laundry list of his own problems, and Brodie, the beautiful girl who’s a self-appointed protector of Lewis -- uncover the truth behind the box and the three of them struggle to figure out a way to defeat the malevolent force.

All that and they have a math test in two weeks.

At its core I consider my a story one of a boy coming to grips with selfishness, the realities of life, and the true meaning of relationships, all within the backdrop of a supernatural element. Sarah (my agent) and I are working hard to get MOVING FEAR on a bookshelf near you soon.

Cross your fingers for me! :)