Part of Series
Sometimes, talking to the right person can show you a path out of darkness…but what if that person has been dead for thirty years? Monica should have known better than to remain in New Hope. How stupidly optimistic, how naïve, she’d been. Why did she think her life could be anything but pain and sorrow and regret? Why did she think she could just be okay with murdering her ex-husband, even if he was a blood-thirsty werewolf? Why does she think, now, that drowning her sorrows in booze is the answer? So much for Lex being the one who needs to her get shit together. Lex. Monica knows she’s pushing her away, but she can’t just forget her life before, can’t forget the man he once was, who they once were. Who she once was. Who she and Lex could have been. All that possibility…gone. Her only refuge is her bookstore, The Second-Last Word, which she built on the ashes of the one once owned by her father. More pain, sure, but at least it’s been dulled by the passage of time. Then in a fit of pain and anger and grief, she calls the number of the bookstore her father owned, destroyed three decades ago. Her father answers. And he knows who she is. In the span of seconds, everything—absolutely everything—Monica thought she knew is turned upside down. Can she find the strength to not only save herself but the lives of all those she’s ever loved? Can she save her father, three decades in the past? Can she end a cycle born of an aphotic darkness? “OMG, I have not been breathing! These pages have been terrible but also beautiful and strangely moving.” 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
