The Stepping Stone Cycle

Forensic psychologist Dr. Jack Carter lost a year of memory and with it, his wife Sarah. Though suspected of being behind her disappearance and possible murder, Jack maintains his innocence, vowing to find his wife alive or track down her killer. With the help of his sometimes partner in the FBI, Agent Bill West, Jack investigates the deadly work of psychologically damaged killers, finding clues to his wife’s disappearance in a series of weird killings with overtones of supernatural guidance. From the coal country of West Virginia to the rural isolation of Mississippi to the damaged mind of a ultra-religious suburban housewife, Jack finds himself enmeshed in a mystery with cosmic origins he cannot begin to comprehend. Who or what is the mysterious Sleeper that seems to motivate all these killings and why do the murders seem to share a connection that cannot exist?

Called "captivating, with characters very well developed and the plot develops with just the right pace," the Stepping Stone Cycle is a series of novellas by acclaimed self-published author Gary Ballard set in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft. Each novella is written as if it was an episode on a television series. I’ve just released a compilation, The Stepping Stone Cycle, Episodes 1-3, which contains the complete text of the first three episodes of season 1 - First StoneThe Metal Black and Drowned for only $2.99 (eBook) and $13.99 (paperback)!