Early ReviewersJason Whitley

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us—watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

Theodore Syn has already led an interesting life full of events best left... unexplained. All he wants now is to put in his time as a detective with the Harbor City Police with nothing much of note going on.

More the fool, he.

When shredded bodies start popping up with bits of them eaten away by something noticeably larger than your average rat, Syn races to solve the case before more bodies hit the morgue.

Only Detective Syn uncovers more than he's prepared for, and no matter which way he turns, the finger of guilt points at someone he knows...

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us. These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

In an ongoing effort to thwart the villainous Order of the Sanguine Hand, Agents Lydia Wainwright and Keilah Holliday of Her Majesty's Bureau of Preternatural Affairs journey to the remote Congo to investigate a potential threat of unknown origin, identified only as Crimson Whisper.

Embarking upon the airship, the Grand Enterprise, they are soon beset by strange encounters, including a most unexpected attack resulting in more questions... and three corpses, fortunately not their own. Will they be in time to foil the Order's nefarious plans? Or even escape the jungle alive?

Brace yourself for another harrowing Wainwright and Holliday Adventure.

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us—watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

Despite a childhood plagued by death, Daniel Smith has built a good life for himself, though no one would believe it if he told them.

Working for the Wranglers—a covert organization tasked with keeping cryptids a secret from the common man—everything he has accomplished threatens to crumble when his charge goes rogue, leaving a trail of death and blood and monster sightings in his wake.

When the rogue invades another cryptid's turf, Daniel must confront his past to save his future, but will any of them survive the encounter

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us—watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

Prudence Ann Wells grew up believing the things that went bump in the night were just fairy tales. Until the night a slathering beast with all-to-intelligent eyes breaks down their door.

She freezes as the creature rushes her and her mother, convinced it can’t be real, as she and her sister, Justice, had always been told.

Only they had been raised on lies.

Prue survives the attack; her mother does not.

Driven by guilt and revenge, she and Justice set out to stop the beast, but can Prue end the nightmare without becoming a monster herself?

Astrophysicist Dr. Kate Gavin Weaver’s life was hard enough fighting for tenure at Caltech while raising a four-year-old daughter as a single mother. It was even harder living under the shadow of her estranged father, Mack Gavin, the host of the wildly popular television series, The Cryptid Hunter.

But when Mack disappears while researching the subject of his next episode in a secluded wilderness town in California, Kate decides to leave the relative safety of Pasadena to find her father.

What she uncovers there shakes the very foundation of her reality and forces her to grapple with an adversary she could’ve never imagined.

A chronicle of survival in a world of the living dead.

There is no Heaven or Hell; there is only blood and the dust of flesh.

The Corpse Fauna Chronicles...

A vast, malevolent darkness streams across the cosmos. A plague of the living dead sweeps over the Earth. Those left alive scramble for survival like insects feasting on a corpse. And from dead flesh stare a million unnatural eyes. Will the balance of the world tilt to life—or death? Only a handful of the living will decide. Manipulated by undead powers, they travel rough roads of deprivation and danger, finding themselves snared in a web spun by saints and sinners with control of the reanimated dead.

Cornell, one-time bank robber seeking only freedom.

Della, nurse escaping the prison of her past.

Burke, former military scientist clinging to the last of his sanity.

Vale, abandoned, finding her true strength in the world of the dead.

These four and a handful of others must discover the truth behind what brings the dead back to life and what they desire from the living.

Forget the meek. Will the living or the dead inherit the Earth?

Find out in The Corpse Fauna Chronicles. Collected here for the first time in one volume is the complete Corpse Fauna cycle of novellas, short stories, and illustrations, a saga of horror and survival more than twenty-five years in the making.

A chronicle of survival in a world of the living dead.

There is no Heaven or Hell; there is only blood and the dust of flesh.

The Dead Bear Witness

Sentenced to life after a bank robbery gone bad, Cornell thought his worst nightmare had come true—and that he deserved it. After a stint in solitary, though, he learned his nightmare had only started: While Cornell rotted in isolation, all around the world the dead had returned to life.

Inside the prison walls, Cornell should’ve been well protected.

He didn’t reckon on the stone-cold killer who demanded his help breaking out, nor the fanatic warden who forced him to help “save the souls” of other prisoners. He didn’t count on being snared in a web of lies, violence, and betrayal. He didn’t expect his survival to depend on fighting his way back to freedom before the eyes of the watchful dead. Now as nooses sway over the prison yard, Cornell can almost feel one tightening around his neck, and freedom seems so far away….

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

Same ol' Syn, all new mischief...

Just when Theodore Syn starts thinking about sinking roots, the military comes calling, needing a man with his... unique qualifications to deal with a need-to-know problem that's cropped up in the Chesapeake Bay.

Something is out there, frightening fish and fishermen alike.

But that's not the real problem. Someone is masquerading as a military official on American soil, and with war on the horizon, steps need to be taken to safeguard the East Coast, before the Axis Powers drive a U-boat--or something more unexpected--right up the mouth of the Bay.

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others that have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.
***

Life and Death and Family Secrets...

Sheridan Cascaden faces more than memories when she receives a call in the darkest hours summoning her home.

Sent away five years prior to safeguard her from the evil that claimed her mother, Sheridan hasn't been back since. She returns to find her home in a disturbing state and her father straddling the Veil, with no explanation of what happened. Not only must she deal with her own demons, but she will have to delve into his if she is to unlock the mystery and save Papa's life.

But where lies the line between truth and madness among the shifting shadows? And can Sheridan navigate it before it's too late... for both of them?

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

The camera doesn't lie... but it has been known to hold a secret or two.

High-school student Jenny Chen captures a glimpse of an unbelievable creature when filming a student movie in the woods near Princeton, New Jersey. Despite her proof, only her best friend believes her.

Determined to reveal the truth about the strange creature, Jenny returns to search the woods, only to end up in a terrifying game of hunt and chase. Someone wants her discovery silenced...but who?

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

When a sudden trail of death and desolation sweeps through south and central Texas, elements of the case trigger an alert with a division of the FBI that tracks possible supernatural influence.

Agent Chimalis Burton, a specialist in cryptids of the Americas, has a history of vanquishing such monstrous creatures. When she is assigned the case, she scrambles to find answers before the situation worsens.

Evidence begins to suggest an evil that has festered for centuries; an evil that now rises to reclaim its power.

An evil that rests in the soulful eyes of a wolf.

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

What is legend? What is truth?

A monster is said to lurk beneath the waters of Lake Erie. Jane and her twin brother Rob are haunted by just that. As children, they lost half their family to a terrible boating accident. They haven't left dry land since. Only, at the age of sixteen, they allow friends to lure them onto the lake.

But should they have held their ground?

When something nearly swamps their boat, years of secrecy are swept away and the children's father shares their family history with the supposed Monster of Lake Erie.

Will the tale bring closure or just more tragedy?