Publication Date: June 2003 | Series: Novella Series (Book 12)
In Random, Illinois, not much has changed in the last century. Things there move more slowly than they do in the city. At times, history seems to be moving in reverse. That’s how it seems; some folks would say that’s how it is.
For Jason, Frank, Ronnie and Lizzy, there are bits and pieces of the past that won’t go away. Not in the daylight world, and not in their dreams. They shared a secret, a bond of silence and guilt. They shared the memory of an old woman’s dry, crackling voice, the heat and sizzling terror of flames beyond their control, and the mesmerizing image of a handful of bones.
Roll Them Bones is a story of closure. It is a twisting, twining mystery that refuses to make sense, bringing four children who’d grown apart in adulthood back for one last chapter. Halloween Past – Halloween present – and who’s to say which is more real?
Her eyes Haunt them.
Her voice follows them through their nightmares.
The flames lick up from below with the slow promise of destruction.
"For an evil heart, no deed atones, to know the future? Roll them bones..."
I was born in a very small town in Illinois. Clay County has less people in it than your average large city, and Flora , Illinois , is so tiny it barely hits the map. That's where it happened, though. My grandparents lived there, and I spent a lot of happy times with them in my youth -- particularly my grandfather, Merle Cornelius Smith, who was likely the most amazing man I'll ever claim association with. But that's another story, and this one is about me.
My first really clear memories start around my third year of life, when my father left. He took me out for a drive, let me sit on his lap, then went back out for milkshakes and never came back. Things blur quite a lot during that period, but after a period of living with my grandparents, my brother and I were whisked away to Charleston Illinois , where our mom had a job working in one of the cafeterias at Eastern Illinois University , and had married a barber named Robert Leland "Bob" Smith. I could write volumes about good ol' Bob, but I won't. If you really want to meet him, look between the lines of the bits and pieces of Deep Blue where Brandt talks about his father. Think Seagram's 7, Ballantine beer, cheap cigars, Hank Williams, Sr., and Archie Bunker and sort of squash it all together into a 6'4" 270 or so pound frame -- that was Bob. Formative? Yes. Important here? Nope.
I escaped Charleston , family, Bob, and a number of other things in 1977 when I left in June and joined the United States Navy. I headed for San Diego , where I went to boot camp, headed next to Groton CT for submarine school (which I dropped out of because my ears wouldn't equalize) and ended up in North Chicago attending Electronics Technician "A" school. I learned guitar, got engaged, unengaged, taught Bible School , got excommunicated, and moved on to San Diego , California once again as part of the crew of the USS Paul F. Foster.
My time in the US Navy would fill a dozen books. In fact, parts of it can be found in almost everything I've written. Many of my novels were typed on US Navy computers (later on my own, but still on board) and the first two issues of my magazine, THE TOME, were printed and published on board the USS Guadalcanal (thank you Uncle Sam for supporting the arts). I was stationed on a lot of ships, went on a lot of cruises, lived in Rota , Spain for three years, and wound up retired in Norfolk , Virginia . I've worked as a contractor ever since, a variety of computer, networking and database related jobs, and all that time, I've been writing.
Now I live in the historic William R. White house in a tiny place called Hertford , NC , where you buy your hardware from a man named Eerie Haste, and you can still get an ice-cream cone for fifty cents. I have a woman who loves and supports me, Patricia Lee Macomber, two great boys by a previous marriage who live in Virginia, but visit us every couple of weeks, a beautiful, talented teenage daughter named Stephanie who sometimes seems to be the only adult in the family, a taller-by-the-day video game and sports loving son named Billy whose biggest failing is he likes the Oakland Raiders, and a beautiful, way-too-smart little girl named Kathryn Mary -- Katie Bug, for short -- all of whom I adore, and who appear to have looked past my faults to love me in return.
I've sold twelve novels to date (though hopefully by the time many of you read this that will be a larger number. I've published over 150 short stories, been in 32 or so anthologies, countless magazines, year's best collections, won awards -- notably The Bram Stoker Award for poetry, which I share with co-authors Mark McLaughlin and Rain Graves. I've been President of the Horror Writer's Association, and I'm an active member of both SFWA and the newer International Thriller Writer's Association.
This review is from: Roll Them Bones (Novella Series) (Hardcover)
Big Ronnie demands his three childhood associates, who became his friends after the incident bonded them, Jason, Frank, and Lizzy return home to Random, Illinois to complete what they started years ago. They thought that had destroyed the horror, but as Ronnie has informed them, they failed to finish the job. This Halloween they must achieve what they did not do when they were preadolescents.
Though years have passed, the incident when they were twelve years old still haunts each of them. Thus the trio race home to Ronnie's summoning. It has wrecked one's marriage and permeates every word of the horror novelist amongst them. Now the quartet knows they must confront it again, but each is wary as they know they ROLL THE BONES for the second time, but this time luck may not be with them and if not they will roll death.
Readers will wonder from the start what did the foursome confront as kids and will meet shortly as adults. The tension builds up until the altercation, but then picks up even more suspense until the final watery climax. David Niall Wilson cleverly keeps the audience off balance for a while wondering if this is a psychological thriller or supernatural chiller until the author brings the readers and the quartet into the beginnings of the confrontation. ROLL THEM BONES is a magnificent tale about for some you can't go home while others may have physically left but never mentally departed.
Harriet Klausner
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This review is from: Roll Them Bones (Novella Series) (Hardcover)
Roll Them Bones is a tight atmospheric story with likable characters and a very satisfying ending. I was immediately impressed with Mr. Wilson's description of body language between the individuals. This use of non-verbal communication was just as effective as dialogue, but gave a deeper chemistry to the characters, which helped with their back story. The author was careful to drop hints throughout the novella, that when the final moments are revealed, the puzzle was complete and never felt forced. I look forward to reading longer form work by David Niall Wilson in the horror genre.
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This review is from: Roll Them Bones (Novella Series) (Hardcover)
When I was a kid, every neighborhood had it's own "haunted house", and very often an old widow woman resided in the house who the local children imagined to be a witch. It was deliciously scary fun, and this marvelously evocative and lyrical novella by Tomb Fave David Niall Wilson brings back cherished memories of those wonderfully terrifying childhood moments. This a spooky, atmospheric tale of children bound together by terrifying Halloween night adventure that stretches into their adulthoods and brings them back together to face their haunted pasts. There are three of them: Ronnie, the grade school bully; Lizzie, who's divorced and brokenhearted; and Jason, who left the little town of Random, Illinois to find fame and fortune as a writer. None of them has been able to shake the lingering nightmare of that Halloween night of long ago, the night of the burning house and the old woman in the dark woods. Jason, in particular, has spent his life hearing an old woman's voice croaking, "For an evil past, no deed atones; to know the future? Roll them bones." And roll them bones he will. How lucky or unlucky will that roll of the bones be for Jason, Lizzie and Ronnie? There are only 129 fast moving pages before you'll find out! Stunning exterior artwork by Alan M. Clark and beautiful interior illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne. [...]
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