Charley Moore is a competent but depressed paramedic in Sault Ste. Marie whose wife disappeared without a trace over two years ago. Although cleared from any involvement due to lack of any evidence, suspicions remain over Charley's involvement because with crimes of this nature in the Soo, the husband is frequently the culprit. His parents deceased, a sister missing and former friends ostracizing him, he navigates a lone, directionless life suffering severe headaches. Although he longs to return to an ordinary life with his lost wife, he has a chance encounter with Shani Wicramansuriya, a recently blinded young doctor from Sri Lanka, at his ambulance partner's afterwork party. Charley becomes quickly embroiled in mysterious happenstances involving his co-worker and fellow paramedic, D'Shalla Johnson. Charley and Shani quickly become friends and his headaches devolve into pain filled episodes and coincidences. The paramedic hears voices that remind him of his lost loved ones while waking dreams and hallucinations become bizarre journeys into the unknown and he believes he might be losing his sanity. Charley hopes a short life change might help with his headaches and volunteers for a month-long typhoon disaster relief mission with Shani and D'Shalla near his new friend 's birthplace in Sri Lanka. During long hours treating and sometimes even rescuing the injured, Charley and his friends slowly discover they have acquired the enmity of unfathomable and powerful foes in a province still wracked with memories of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Charley may possess a key to unlock an unbelievable ability to physically cross into a bizarre place where spirits congregate. His adversaries, creatures unknown in Western culture, resort to violent means to understand and obtain the paramedic's seemingly random propensity to cross into the mysterious realm of existence. D'Shalla, Shani's sister Ama, a hardened veteran of the civil war, and Shani's talented capuchin service monkey track down and rescue Charley, then free multiple others used as unwitting tools by a powerful Rakshasa. D'Shalla, Shani and her relatives remain skeptical but stand with the young paramedic as together they try to untangle the mystery of Charley's ability to Crossover, outwit an invulnerable creature and still treat the many typhoon victims. Charley's antagonists and tormentors become more destructive towards them all but Charley is willing to sacrifice everything, not just his life but his everlasting soul to protect his friends.
Randy R Pitt was born in Centralia, Illinois in 1953. His family moved to Indianapolis in 1956 where he received his education. A graduate from IUPUI in Electrical Engineering, he has always had a penchant for the work of two authors in particular - the imagination of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the rich, historical fiction novelist Dorothy Dunnett. He currently lives in Bloomington Indiana in a log home with Jane Marie Lark and a home full of her colorful quilts. The couple married in 1977, have four children and three grandchildren. The author writes listening to music such as Blue Oyster cult, Renaissance, Led Zeppelin and post rock music from dozens of ethereal groups such as Astralia, Red Shift and Sigur Ros. For entertainment, he fly fishes, rides a BMW R-18B with a sidecar, attempts to woodwork and plays video games with deep plots such as Baldur's Gate 3.
