The Empty Lot Next Door

In a South Austin neighborhood, Ray (Arthur’s childhood name) and his family excitedly moves into a small house standing in the midst of a big, green lawn. Beside their house is a strange, vacant lot where a house apparently once stood and where a huge wide hole in the back lays mysteriously. As a young boy with a lot of new friends, Ray considers the empty lot as an exciting playground. But the tale behind the lot keeps the boy intrigued and frightened as he learns that the house that was once there was burned down years ago, leaving a girl dead amid the fire. The little girl, as the neighborhood kids say, comes out in the night to regain her life. Determined to validate the authenticity of this tale, Ray daringly and mistakenly challenges the ghost, a challenge that he would forever regret. Soon, he becomes haunted by the little girl, whom he named Candle Face, visiting his dreams and leaving handprints and other signs even when he is awake.

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Many years later, Ray, now a military man, commits another mistake by telling his wife about his dark past. Along with the tale of the empty lot, he discloses to her the truth about the circumstances of his brother’s suicide and the dreams of torment he and Candle Face bestowed upon him for many years. With the past once again revived, Ray faces another set of nightmares, this time with his loved ones’ lives at stake.

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Woven with a mind-boggling plot and hair-raising play of words, The Empty Lot Next Door follows Ray in confronting the past to move on to the future. This release, part-memoir, and part-fiction will never fail to hook readers with every turn of the page.