books
Highwater (2011)
Highwater is a 130,000 word thriller and considered by my stable of loyal readers to be the most commercial and accessible of my books. The story embodies both supernatural and romantic bents, yet is rooted in the gritty realism of a detective’s life, and the bittersweet truths of love.
A man from her past shows up at Liz Goldfine’s hideaway Adirondack home. Christopher is different, somehow. He seems to know things now, things that are about to happen. The lakes are rising. Formed by ancient glaciers, the water harbors a dark intelligence in the deep. Something is beginning to take hold of people, conspiring to stop the healing of a baby boy, and all those who are trying to help him.
Until These Voices Quiet (2010)
Until These Voices Quiet is a supernatural crime thriller. The story contains elements of horror and involves religion, territorial dispute, ethnic friction, and psychiatric issues. It is approximately 130,000 words.
After her partner is killed, a rookie Sheriff’s Deputy finds herself drawn into a series of events which destabilize a small mountain town and leave her isolated as an officer. Amid the chaos, murder suspect Tom Blackburn, a young Native American, escapes custody. The two collide at a country farm house where a group of survivors are realizing that the incredible power behind the collapse of the region is affecting them all.
Rehabilitation (2009)
Rehabilitation is an offbeat detective story in the vein of The Manchurian Candidate and Catcher in the Rye, with a Raymond Chandler flourish. The book deals with addiction, genetic manipulation, and redemption. It is approximately 140,000 words.
A recovering alcoholic from Brooklyn takes a missing persons job in Burlington, Vermont, and uncovers a commune where scientists are performing cutting edge experiments. The biochemical technology they wield is a sought-after commodity people are paying for with their lives, and our hero soon finds himself not only the next target, but a key player in the smuggling of this new genetic technology he is only beginning to understand.
To purchase purchase a copy of rehabilitation direct from the author, at reduced price: rehabilitation-direct
Chimera (2007)
Chimera is a layered, passionate first novel one reader has compared to Thomas Pynchon’s V. At 145,000 words, it is dense, lurid, and hypnotic.
A young man named Jackson Martin starts over after a terrible family tragedy has left a deep scar. There is a price on this new lease, a Faustian bargain. Jackson is charged with couriering a mysterious package. When he realizes the contents of the package and its destructive force, he escapes the only way he can – too fearful to take his own life, Jackson uses his medical knowledge to induce a coma, where, undevised, he continues to be pursued by his otherwordly employers.
Furious Angels (2011)
The 85,000 word collection features 16 psychologically thrilling tales ranging from the supernatural to the terrene. A hitman losing his mind on the job. A deal hatched with a mysterious stranger. A remote village full of menacing animals. A man trapped in the prison of his mind, determined to escape. A ferry ride over Lake Champlain that becomes a nightmare. A couple on the edge of marital destruction in their childless home. Within these tales are the corruptions of the soul, the manifestations of human addiction and greed, and the hard-won redemptions which occur in quiet moments of grace.
For a handful of short stories, click here.
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books coming soon
A mountain community is ravage by a mysterious flu which leaves a band of survivors who discover that it may have been created by a corporation seeking to profit from its cure.
Vaccine is the first in a series of books about the elaborate scheme of a madman to reshape the Earth as he sees fit, first by purging, then by repopulating with with machinations of his globally powerful company.
This project is undergoing a fourth draft and is not going to be self-published, but will be submitted to Independent and University Presses.
Good Melvin (2013)
Good Melvin picks up on the lives of Melvin and Molly Cooper, father and daughter, 4 years after the events of “The Millionaire Rig Veda.” In Good Melvin, a girl has gone missing in the Lake Placid region of Upstate, NY, and Melvin’s daughter Molly may be the key to finding her.
This book is currently in rough draft form and will be taken to completion by sometime next summer.
Untitled Social Science Fiction Project (2014 +)
This is my answer to The Stand, more or less. Only here, 48 years in the future, is a story that deals with India, the Singularity, and surviving after coastal erosion, mass migration, and food shortages have decimated the population and created powerful paramilitary groups which police their territories using brutal tactics.
The Portal (2014?)
The Portal, undergoing a third draft, is an 82,000 word novel about the doorways which can be opened by protracting the period between wakefulness and sleep.
Dr. Alex Castro finds his protégé in young Dennis Fuhrer, a drifter of a kid willing to undergo the doctor’s experiments. When a man from the Adirondacks goes missing, and foul play is suspected, Fuhrer is taken into custody and Castro disappears. Did Dennis Fuhrer, having bi-located during one of the experiments, have something to do with the disappearance, or is he innocent? Could it have something to do with the organized crime outfit from the city who has taken an interest in the power of the portal?
short novels
The Hunters (2013)
Consumption (2012?)
The Millionaire Rig Veda (2011)
Bill Prime: The Zero Ring Men (2011)
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screenplays
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feature film
Untitled Mountain Sci-fi Movie (2013) (with Geoff Pierce)
Manna City (2011) (with Geoff Pierce)
Trucker (2009)
A dramatic feature, with collaborator David Press, Truckerscored in the top 5% out of 6,800 entries in the Nicholl’s Fellowship competition. Encouraged by what we feel was an exceptional showing, we are shopping the script as we develop new projects.
Shadow of Mind (2008) (with David Press)
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short film
The Deal (2012)
In post-production. Starring Michael Fisher and John Kiedaisch.
Tear Up The Earth (2011)
In development with actor Kevin Craig West potentially starring.
Produced as the short actioner from director / writer Ted Magee.
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final word
Many of the works are set in the Adirondack Mountains, usually in fictionalized versions of its villages. They are contemporary stories, for the most part. One critic described the body of work like this:
Brearton’s characters are often confronting their darker sides. His style could be described as somewhere between Stephen King and William S. Burroughs, with parity noted to new authors like Jonathan Lethem. Law officers, law-breakers and everyday people are often imperiled by supernatural events which catalyze their inner journeys. There are no vampires or zombies here, but the real monsters of addiction, mental dysfunction, and the struggle between man’s better and worse natures. At the same time, unearthly monsters may manifest, an incantation may become a very real and active curse, and the darker possibilities of science are revealed. While the plot mechanics may make use of the paranormal, there is always a grounding in scientific theory, rich characters, and compelling drama.
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