Part of Series
Two ancient relics. Two feral, supernatural species. One fight for control. Some families are born in blood. For almost a century, the Clutch has been confined by a small boundary. All attempts to cross it have failed miserably, with no survivors to tell their tales. Chloe and the other vampires long for the life they had before. Back when they could roam and hunt freely. Back when they had control over the wolves. Back before the wolves found that damnable Book and locked them within a few miserable square miles of rock and brush at the edge of Lake Kwanashishing. The wolves have a standing proposal: they would consider a compromise if a vampire escaped the inescapable boundary and met on the pack’s land. Typical wolves. Chloe believes she may have found a way, though the very thought makes her uneasy. Vampires should never try to cross running water, after all. Then there’s the fact that the wolves' pack leader and the Clutch’s First hate each other. And as the second, Chloe is bound to protect her leader. But when the moment comes, Chloe is shocked to find she is more concerned for the safety of a sad little boy than she is for that of her First. Can she save him from her First, or from the pack? Can she do it without invoking the ire of her Clutch and jeopardizing their one chance at freedom? "So many of the most brutal aspects of this story are so beautifully told!" – Jennifer Dinsmore, editor of The Aphotic series
Author
Tobin was destined for horror. This became obvious when, in the span of two weeks, he built a working model of a guillotine out of popsicle sticks and a razor blade—which his Grade Five teacher didn't seem to appreciate as much as he did—and he also learned to tie a noose and proudly hung one from their apartment balcony—which his mother and the superintendent didn't seem to appreciate as much as he did. Eventually, he learned to focus the horror into stories. His friends and neighbours likely appreciated the lesser PDH (Public Displays of Horror). Besides writing ugly stories about bad people doing horrible things, Tobin also
- taught Creative Writing at both Durham College and Trent University (Oshawa Campus) for two decades
- was a founding board member of the Writers' Community of Simcoe County (WCSC)
- was a member of the Writers' Community of Durham Region (WCDR)
- for five crazy years, took part in the annual Muskoka Novel Marathon, a three-day writing marathon to raise money for adult literacy programs in the Simcoe/Muskoka region. Tobin has been lucky enough to see quite a few works published in the past decade or so...
- his first published work, a horror novella called Vanishing Hope, was through Burning Effigy Press - Stealing Corey was a semi-finalist in the Whispered Words contest and was published in the subsequent Whispered Words anthology, published by Piquant Press
- the third novella-length installment of the Sam Truman Mysteries, Soft Kiss Hard Death, was published by Abattoir Press
- this, along with the first two novellas, were later collected into the The Sam Truman Mysteries Omnibus Volume 1
- his novella, The Wrong was the final book published by Burning Effigy before they went into extended hibernation (Tobin tends to have that effect on people and publishers) - Prison Break was published in the Nancy Kilpatrick-edited anthology, Expiration Date, published by Edge SF & Fantasy Publishing, and was singled out by Ellen Datlow in The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eight as one of the standout stories - Fight or Flight was published in Purgatorium: The Element of Horror anthology, by ID Press - Nightingale was published in Allucinor: The Element of Romance anthology, by ID Press - The Riff was published in Nefariam: The Element of Crime anthology, by ID Press - Horse Guts Horse Guts was published in Released: A Horror Anthology, by No Bad Books Press
- possibly his weirdest bit of writing, "EGR 181: Cyclopean Architecture" was published in Nafallen University 2022-2023 Course Catalog, by Madness Heart Press Since COVID-19 pressed the great pause button, Tobin managed to complete his six-book APHOTIC horror series (which he's delighted to be able to call a "hexalogy") and are being released at two-month intervals. The Six Books of the Aphotic
- Bad Blood
- Out For Blood
- Blood Loss
- Blood Pact
- Blood Relations
- Flesh and Blood Tobin has been married for 32 years, and has one son and one daughter, and one relatively brainless dog. He's retired from a large Canadian telecom company where he was a Communications Specialist. Tobin counts embarrassing his wife and kids, pointing out the stupidities of others, being dumb to kind animals and killing plants among his hobbies. Finally, Tobin loves feedback, either positive or negative, on his writing. You can find him reviewing on Goodreads/LibraryThing/The StoryGraph or saying stupid things on Instagram
