A Life Not Worth Living

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts.

My run of discovering fresh new up and coming authors continued this past week as I completed the most amazing novel by Phillip Tucker. As you can see it is entitled Crude Sunlight.

The Plot:

Thomas has come to Buffalo, New York in order to clean out his brother’s apartment. Henry went missing, and everyone has long-since given up hope of his returning. There are strange photographs left that reveal an odd thrill-seeking activity that Henry and others were engaging in: trespassing old abandoned buildings. Videotapes taken during these excursions reveal not only the odd activity, but something else. Something horrible.

Thomas soon meets the other principles: Julia and Eric; and one way or another, they have all been touched in a very negative way by whatever it was that happened during a visit to the old abandoned State Mental Hospital. Thomas discovers that Henry never came out alive, although, during his own visit below the hospital, something of Henry indeed remains. And it’s coming for Julia.

The original four trespassers: Julia, Henry, Eric, Jimmy, as well as Buck (a friend of Thomas), Michelle (the estranged wife) and even Thomas himself are all flawed and scarred characters that seemingly will gladly give up their worthless and meaningless lives as not worth living once they have been properly poked and prodded by the devouring darkness.

My thoughts:

Using gripping and oftentimes elegant prose, Tucker tells a most imaginative ghost story that spans several generations, claiming one victim after another, as each willingly hands over their lives to the ghoul before. No one is spared, and even Thomas finds himself perilously close to succumbing as well, as he attempts to make things right with a brother he hardly knew, at the expense of a wife that will not wait forever for him to decide just what it is that he wants out of life.

Although I currently write vampire fiction, it is the promise of a great haunted house story which calls out to me. Some of my greatest disappointments have come from the much-promised ghost story which kept me enthralled for 75% of the adventure, only to leave wanting as it failed to deliver the goods. Crude Sunlight did not fail to deliver the goods. It didn’t end the way I had hoped, and it may not end the way you would think it should, but man does it end.

Being a do-it-yourself debut author, Tucker informs me that he is going back in to clean up a few things in the novel. I noticed them, too, but they were not enough to distract me as I barnstormed my way through.

Taking his readers from the slums of early New York to modern day, and to the very pit of hell, Tucker weaves a tale that pulls no punches and lands each and every one. And when he is done, we are not left with a book that we can simply close and add to our bookshelf, but one which continues to haunt, asking the reader not only what just happened, but also how closely we might mirror the victims and survivors of the incredible debut novel from author Phil Tucker that is Crude Sunlight.


Author Phil Tucker can be found on Facebook and his fantastic debut can be found on Amazon.

Another Author Event:


Before I go, I would like to share with you a photo from my most recent author event which took place this past Thursday. Myself and authors Lorie Ham and Marilyn Meredith met at the Sanger, California Library. We shared a bit about ourselves and read excerpts from our novels. I sold a couple of copies which is always great and people showed which was a plus. *laughs* Sadly, I neglected to bring my camera, but I'm grateful that my wife's niece was there to snap this one. Thanks, Lee.

We'll talk soon.