Apparition

Two hundred years ago on a Maryland plantation, eight-year-old Winston, the son of slaves was killed by his master as punishment for his mothers escape. Unknown to the plantation owner, Winston had befriended an ancient entity; a powerful force of nature that avenged his death by flaying the master and his overseers and hanging the skinless bodies in the trees for the crows to eat.Two hundred years later, Adam Gilmore and long time friend and co-worker Jessica Szabo, journey to the Maryland plantation turned meeting facility for a corporate function. After returning from the conference to Chicago, Adam and Jessica discover the restless spirit has followed them home.Meanwhile, Adams wife Zenia, a beautiful Russian born woman ten years his junior is the first to discover the existence of Winstons ancient friend, a powerful elemental spirit, when it saves her from a serial rapist. When she realizes what it is that Winston and the entity desire, she must choose between revealing the secret that would destroy her life and set the tortured spirit free, or allowing a dangerous force of nature to remain Earthbound.

Risteen L. Gates majored in aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois. After college, he drifted from dreams of sending men into space to a management position in corporate America. From there, a conference in a haunted mansion told him it was time to follow his dream of becoming a writer.