HIDE'N GO SEEK
by Dale Mayer

Book 2 of Psychic Visions
Valley Publishing

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A twisted game of Hide’n Go Seek forces an unlikely alliance between a no-nonsense FBI agent and a search-and-rescue worker.

Celebrated search-and-rescue worker Kali Jordon has hidden her psychic abilities by crediting her canine partner Shiloh with the recoveries. But Kali knows the grim truth—The Sight that she inherited from her grandmother allows her to trace violent energy unerringly to victims of murder. No one knows her secret until a twisted killer challenges her to a deadly game of Hide'n Go Seek that threatens those closest to her.

Now she must rely on FBI Special Agent Grant Summers, a man who has sworn to protect her, even as he suspects there's more to Kali and Shiloh than meets the eye. As the killer draws a tighter and tighter circle around Kali, she and Grant find there's no place to hide.

Are her visions the key to finding the latest victim alive or will this cruel game of Hide’n Go Seek cost her…everything.

Dear Readers and Friends, 

My journey to publication wasn't the straight sure dream of so many other writers.  I hadn't written short stories as a child or focused on being an English major in college with that goal in mind.  No, I was too busy trying to get an education that would get me a real job, like my parents wanted for me.

Only I'd had in independent streak back then too! I married as soon as I graduated, moved the middle of nowhere – literally – and set about having my family. As most young married women, I dreamt of sitting in a rocking chair with my beloved husband of fifty years at my side.

Alas, it wasn't to be. There'd be no rosy married twilight years in my world.  After 14 years, I found myself divorced and a single parent, back living in civilization again trying to start all over, only this time with 4 children to support on my own.

Writing couldn't have been further away.  Still, I knew in the back of my mind that there had to be more for me.  I desperately needed an outlet from the double jobs and 24 hour parenting.  I started writing my first novel. I'd always been a fanatical reader and had gone from Romance to Westerns to Mysteries to any and everything else as I came across them.  I didn't know where to start, so I started with the latest genre I'd been inhaling – romantic suspense.

I knew I wouldn't sell right off the mark, but nothing prepared me for the multitude rejections I received over the years. I kept trying, kept telling myself that it would just take time.  Time I spent improving my craft even as I raised my children.  Over the years, I went back to school (several times) started new jobs, was laid off and started new ones all over again.  I ended up starting my own business as a freelance writer.  I wrote several nonfiction books and found a sense of pride in getting those out to market.  That the subjects were so varied as to make my name hard to brand, I didn't really worry about.  It was helping me to make a living.  A living that became harder and harder as the economy collapsed. I lost my clients as they lost their businesses.

Tough times had hit.  I figured at that point, I had nothing to lose. I might as well write and self-publish books of my own.  I had a successful traditionally published book on writing resumes, but thought the economy needed books that would help people to get the jobs they needed – at an affordable price.  To that end, the Career Essential Series was born. I wrote Career Essentials: The Resume, Career Essentials: The Cover Letter, Career Essentials: The Interview and Career Essentials: 3 in 1.

Then I took a look at my novels. In the last couple of years, as my daughter hit her preteen years I had branched out into writing young adult stories for her.  Now I had many books to publish.  

My flagship novel is my adult romantic suspense, Tuesday's Child being as it is book 1 in the Psychic Vision series.  Book 2, Hide'n Go Seek is due to be released in October.  I have also published several young adult novels as well.  Dangerous Designs, an urban fantasy, and Vampire in Denial, a vampire fantasy, are the first in their respective series.

Three of my kids are in university now, and my youngest is in high school. I've written 9 adult and six young adult novels, five screenplays and several short stories. Now, I'm enjoying the life I worked so hard to reach.  It took a lot of hard work and perseverance to get here – but I'm so glad to have made it!

Dreams to come true.

I am excited about TUESDAY'S CHILD and the fabulous response it has received from the public.  I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

Dale

Dale Mayer writes nonfiction and fiction in many different genres for people of all ages. Novels coming soon include Hide'n Go Seek, Vampire in Distress, Deadly Designs, Gem Stone Mystery, and In Cassies's Corner.

Read an excerpt!

Twenty minutes later, Kali made her way to the kitchen. She fed Shiloh on the deck in the morning sunlight. Running her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, she remembered last night's painting. She headed to her studio to take a look. She'd almost reached it when apprehension washed over her.

The door was closed.

She never closed the door after painting. It wasn't good for the wet canvases, besides, the room only had a small window so the paint fumes built up fast. A frown wrinkled her forehead. Had she simply forgotten? She had been deadly tired last night.

Bolstering her courage, she pushed the door wide and flinched as the fumes rushed out almost stinging her nose. "Oh gross."

Holding her breath, Kali crossed to the window, shoving it as far open as it would go. Fresh air surged into the small space. She'd love a huge studio, except painting wasn't exactly a full time career for her – no matter how much she'd like it to be. It was a release for when depression and madness overcame her soul. Maybe later, when she no longer did rescue work, she could indulge her art as a creative hobby instead of as an outlet of pain and turmoil.

Walking around the easel, Kali stopped midstride.

The painting stood where she'd left it. With surreal and strangely enticing clarity, blacks and purples and browns popped off the canvas. Heavy paint splotched at places, then thinned and stretched across the top.

She stepped back and frowned. Up close, besides the heavy amount of paint, the picture resembled a distorted nightmare. Not surprising. Still, she caught a glimmer of an intentional design. She tilted her head and looked at it from a different angle. Nothing changed.

Sniffing the air, Shiloh ambled into the doorway.

Kali smiled down at the dog. "Not very sweet smelling, is it?"

She glanced back at the jumble of colors and stilled. There. She studied the abstract mess, letting the colors move and form to reveal the image hidden within.

Shivers slid over her spine.

Oh my God.

No way.

Kali blinked. It was.

There was no mistaking the image of a person buried under small bushes, civilization of some kind crouched on the horizon with a series of rough rock formations soaring behind the bushes.

"What the hell?" she whispered.

Kali was not a great artist, by any means. Blind escapism kept bringing her back to the process because it worked. She painted with wild abandon. The paint slapped on canvas with no thought discharged her emotions. For some reason it always worked.

And it always looked like shit.

This, on the other hand, was ingenious. Sure the subject matter was gruesome; however, given her volunteer work, not unexpected. Especially after finding the letter.

The artistic abandon was still there. The paint was so thick in spots the picture was almost three-dimensional. The terrain had depth and movement. The light was dark and terse, yet still shone with gruesome clarity—and way beyond her artistic abilities.

"It's fucking brilliant."

It was also scary as hell.