David Viergutz is a disabled Army Veteran, Law Enforcement Veteran, husband and proud father. He is an author of stories from every flavor of horror.

Take the plunge into David's imagination as he delivers chill-bringing adventures where the good guy doesn't always win. David remembers dragging a backpack full of books to class beginning in middle school and leaving his textbooks behind.

David takes his inspiration from the greats and fell in love with complex universes from the desks of Nix, Tolkien, King, Stroud and Lovecraft to name a few. David's imagination, combined with his experience in uniform give his books an edge when it comes to the spooky and unnerving.

One day, David's wife sat him down and gave him the confidence to start putting his imagination on paper. From then on out David's creativity has no longer been stifled by self-doubt and he continues to write with a smile on his face in a dark, candle-lit room.

"Things can always get worse." - David Viergutz

Cracked Altar: St. Andrew's by David Viergutz

When darkness falls, evil rises…

John's life is a living nightmare. Any chance of digging himself out of the abyss disintegrated long ago.

Fired, discredited, buried under crippling debt, and isolated in a west-Texas ghost-town, he's both a pariah and a wanted man.

Under an investigation for a crime he didn't commit, he's quickly running out of allies, and even more rapidly, losing his grip on reality.

Late at night, long after the lights have gone out, it's there. He doesn't know where it is and what it wants with him. It lurks in the shadows, biding its time before it strikes. It beckons him. If he heeds its demands, he has no way of knowing what awaits him.

If he ignores it, the outcome may be worse – far worse…

 

REVIEWS

  • "... is probably one of the best ghost stories I have read in a long time."

    – Reader review

  • "...totally captivated by this awesome work of mysterious horror."

    – Reader review

  • "I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to see what was going to happen next."

    – Reader review

  • "This was a great scary story. A haunting good time."

    – Reader review

  • "...graphic description of the terror experienced by John Nova which gave me the chills."

    – Reader review
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

He hadn't felt this kind of fear before. An all-encompassing fear with its hooks in his skin, tugging at his every thought. It made him reckless, but he couldn't control it. Too much was at stake, too much was unknown. John felt afraid and alone, all the while a melting pot of disbelief brewed in his mind. Driven forward by his mania, he floored the accelerator towards the church, cutting across the open field. The trailer, cumbersome and heavy, swayed violently in the uneven grass, threatening to rip off the ball hitch, diving into natural divots in the ground.

With the sun now completely hidden by angry clouds, John flicked on the truck's headlights. They cast an eerie yellow glow on the wall of the church. A little closer and he'd apply the brakes, jump out, and head inside the front doors. As he shifted a foot to the brakes, something came into view. A dark spot in the field, just up ahead, directly in his path.

A body. He swerved.

The trailer ripped to the other side. He overcorrected. Then the truck began to roll. The hideous sound of twisting metal and the collective crash of the upended trailer led John to crunch down on his teeth. His head, despite his attempts to brace himself, slammed into the steering wheel. Eyes watering, he held for as long as he could before his vision faded to the sound of hoofbeats on dirt.