A story can be told many ways.

Beware the Spider, the latest entry in my Black Orchid Chronicles, is a full-length novel.

I’ve written a sci-fi story called PSNGR as a short story, graphic novel and novella. My next attempt will be a full-scale novel like Beware the Spider.

We can also condense a story down to almost nothing, like this one line blurb for Beware the Spider:

Demon-possessed photographer fights Chinese crime lords to save his woman.

Yet another way is to let the story’s characters speak a line or two.

Here is Beware the Spider in the words of its characters:

“We can’t let someone like you fall into hostile hands. … You have the power to kill with your thoughts; distance doesn’t matter; and your body count in the last year is—What? A dozen or more. And most of them were my men!”

— Marine General Mike Owens to nature photographer Sebastian Arnett

“Second, we want to make sure he does not fall under the influence of our adversaries, particularly the Chinese, but not just them.”

— Australian intelligence operative Jimmy Beam re: Sebastian

“You are aware that I’m not a football and my life isn’t a game, right?”

— Sebastian

“You make a habit, Sebastian. When you need it, you use it. After a while, you don’t know how to live without it. You don’t question. You don’t fight it. Then, you and spirit are one. Then you are the demon, too.”

— Joe (Pony That Sees Far), Ute medicine man, to Sebastian

“Yes, I dream. A black spider stands over Sebastian. It’s so big its legs make a cage that Sebastian can’t escape. It has pincers on its face. I never see the eyes, but I imagine the pincers and an open red mouth. The pincers open and close. I don’t know if the pincers are to grab me or keep me away or tear Sebastian apart. I just don’t know. Not knowing, that’s my nightmare.”

— Sebastian’s girlfriend, Amanda Cox Campion, to Joe

“Mr. Arnett, would you still find Mrs. Campion entertaining if she lived, but lived in a deep sleep? Would your demon—could your demon—waken her? I think he knows only how to suck the life out of his meals before he eats them. What do you think? You’ve had experience with him.”

— Chinese crime lady Wan Xiu Lan

“Sebastian, you died.”

— T, son of Amanda’s ex-husband

“Enough of this touchy-feely.”

–– Chip, a street-smart friend of T’s

“You faint, I think I die. You don’t faint.”

— Joe (Pony That Sees Far) to Sebastian

“I am Empaya Iba, spirit of the Black Orchid People,
Guardian of the Mother Soil, giver of the Long Sleep,
Seer of the Many Eyes, mage of the Many Legs.”

— Spider demon Empaya Iba

Get Beware the Spider and enjoy the adventure.

Coming June 17 to all the major book platforms.