Author’s Comments: So far, Intrepid Force is my only fiction series, but I have written and published some other stand-alone work too, and this page is dedicated to those projects. Though science fiction is probably my favorite genre, I enjoy fantasy and horror almost as much. All of my novels really have elements to science fiction, horror, romance, and comedy in them, but I vary the mix depending on the project and the intended audience.
HAUNTED SUMMER
Author: Timothy D. Wise
Anxious about her approaching wedding and desperate to clear her mind, Lindsey Holland decides to leave her native Texas and spend the summer working for friends who manage a Christian coffee house in Oregon. Staying at the seaside mansion of Mrs. Katherine Cutler, a reclusive widow, Lindsey faces recurring nightmares of a woman imprisoned in a lighthouse and disturbing encounters with spectral beings that haunt the mansion’s dark chambers and twisting corridors. At first, she dismisses the experiences as pre-wedding jitters, but, as the intensity grows, she fears that she may be in the grip of supernatural forces beyond her understanding or, perhaps even more terrifying, descending into madness. A young married couple, a jealous fiancé, an aspiring filmmaker, and a troubled teen who claims to have psychic powers all join her on a harrowing journey through the twisting mazes of the heart to confront the dark secret that has held Mrs. Cutler prisoner for over sixty years.
Author’s Comments: The inspiration for this project came from a number of sources. When I had trouble selling my young adult science fiction projects, I considered switching to horror. Dean Koontz, one of my favorite authors, made the switch from science fiction to suspense/horror early in his career, and it has worked very well for him. I got the inspiration for this novel when I visited the area around Portland, Oregon, and Astoria, Washington, for my brother’s wedding. The rocky coasts with their rainforests, caves, and lighthouses and the tourist towns (and UFO and Bigfoot legends) made the Pacific Northwest the perfect place for the kind of novel I’d wanted to write. I knew the Christian fiction market was mainly female, so I wanted to write this one with a female main character. As college students, I and many of the friends I’d met at the Baptist Student Union had served as summer missionaries. I had spent ten weeks living with strangers in Washington D.C. and Hawaii, and those experiences had stayed with me. I added other elements of the character’s personal drama as I went along.
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THE SIGN OF THE SWORD
Author: Timothy D. Wise
Losing Stacy was only the beginning. Still reeling from the loss of their friend, Arthur, Lance, Chris, and Angie joined their teacher on a carriage ride through the forest, passed through a fog bank, and found themselves in another world entirely. Within an hour of their arrival, they were chased by silver-eyed, cybernetic giants, attacked by a werewolf, and rescued by a ragged stranger who claimed to be the heir of King Arthur’s throne. Their only chance of ever returning to their own world lay in joining Ambrose Pendragon on his quest to defeat the armies of Samhain the daemon-lord and restore the fabled kingdom of Camelot. Could they and this vagabond king succeed against seemingly impossible odds or were they doomed to die in the forests of an alien land?
Author’s Comments: I wrote the first draft of this novel when I was nineteen. It will be pretty obvious to most readers that I drew inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books. There were personal sources of inspiration too. In rural North Louisiana, I’d explored lonely trails through dark forests on many occasions, and sometimes I’d unexpectedly encounter ponds, creeks, and the ruins of old homes. During the time I was writing the novel, one of my brother’s classmates died in a car accident, and I felt the hope that the Christian belief in a Savior and an afterlife could bring to a sad, hopeless situation. All of that became part of the fabric of the story. I can’t really say which of the books I’ve written is my favorite, but this one has a magical quality to it, and sometimes I’m amazed at the parts of it I wrote when I was in my teens, and I’m glad the older me has the youthful inspiration of the younger me to draw upon.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
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SEASON OUT OF TIME
Author: Timothy D. Wise
On the night of June 4, 1977, 12-year-old Jim Koslow lost his friend Jaime Mitchell in a strange accident following an alleged UFO crash. He found something near the scene of the accident–a gleaming plastic disk. Twenty years later, the adult Dr. James Koslow finds the disk, a CD-ROM, in the bottom of his old toybox while visiting his parents. What was computer age technology doing back in the 1970s? James Koslow’s search for answers ultimately hurls him back through time to the week of the accident in which Jaime died. Will he be able to stop the accident or will he be forced to relive it? Does he have the right to stop it and, if he does, what effect will it have on his own future?
Author’s Comments: I wrote this short novella when I was in graduate school. I was in my late twenties and even though I had great friends, it was a lonely time too. I had a sense of being out of control of the direction of my life. I’d really enjoyed my time in college, but wondered what “adult” life would be like. I don’t know if I was completely conscious of it when I was writing, but I felt much the same way when I was twelve years old, and I knew I was reaching the end of childhood. I’d really enjoyed being a kid, and I wondered what was coming next. Anyway, as a 27-year-old, I felt this strong sense of nostalgia for the time when I was twelve. I wanted to watch The Land of the Lost, launch a model rocket, and visit my cousins in North Carolina. I wanted life to be magic again like it was then–in my memory, at least. I’ve revised the opening sequence to this book a couple of times and am in the process of doing it again, but the middle of it still feels like pure magic to me. Middle readers like it because they relate to the younger characters, and adults like it because they relate to the nostalgia.
Genre: Mainstream young adult fiction
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Coming soon to Kindle.
CHINCHUBA
Author: K. Michael Casey
Less than 500 years ago, the Biloxi tribe vanished from the shores of coastal Mississippi. The mystery of their disappearance has never been completely explained. Now the scared grounds of the Biloxi have been disturbed by unwary treasure hunters and a brooding presence has returned to the dark waters of coastal Mississippi. Who or what is the Chinchuba? Scientist Nathan Young and his estranged wife Kat are drawn into the mystery by Kat’s Native American heritage and a dark secret from her past. Doctor John, a terrifying voodoo priest, covets the Chinchuba’s power and seeks a way to control it. Kevin Croix, an unorthodox street evangelist, is drawn by prophecy to confront the dark kingdom it represents. Who or what is the Chinchuba? Can it be stopped or are all of those who venture into its path destined to share the fate of the Biloxi tribe?
Editor’s Comments: This is the first book I (Tim Wise) have published for another author. I say that because Mike Casey’s subject matter is so similar to mine that I’ve wondered if some people might think he’s one of my aliases. Like the first part of Intrepid Force, this story is set in the area in and around New Orleans, Louisiana. It has dark magic, alligators, above-ground cemeteries, and ancient legends returning to life. The novel has some strong Christian undercurrents but is probably a bit too gritty for LifeWay. (After writing Haunted Summer, I discovered that horror/paranormal is even harder to sell in the typical Christian bookstore than science fiction.) It would make a great movie though. Kevin Croix, the street evangelist, is a fascinating character, and I’d like to see Mike do more with him.
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
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