David Sakmyster

David Sakmyster is an award-winning author and screenwriter, with over two dozen short stories and three novels in print, including from Variance Publishing THE PHAROS OBJECTIVE, book one in a series about remote-viewers and psychic archaeologists searching for ancient mystical artifacts. In 2009 Dragon Moon Press published his epic historical fantasy tale, SILVER AND GOLD. His stories have appeared in ChiZine, Horrorworld, the Writers of the Future Anthology, Black Static, Talebones, Abyss & Apex, and others.
Novels
*The Pharos Objective - Variance Publishing, July 2010. A legendary treasure chamber hidden beneath the ruins of the ancient Pharos Lighthouse has defied discovery for over two thousand years... Until today. Until the Morpheus Initiative - a team of psychic investigators - use their abilities to solve the mysteries of the Pharos and bypass its deadly defenses. But as they close in on the chamber, they are suddenly thrust into an ancient conflict between the keepers of the Pharos's astonishing secret and evil forces bent on its destruction.
*Silver and Gold - Dragon Moon Press, 2009. A legendary prospector finds his fame and nobility amidst the gold rushes of the 19th century, striving against arctic monsters, evil industrialists, and the relentless forces of nature.
*Twilight of the Fifth Sun - Dragon Moon Press, 1998. A headstrong journalist returns from near-death with her sight enhanced, able to see restless souls around her, and she is soon thrust into the ultimate terror, facing the menacing spirit of the most bloodthirsty Aztec ruler in history, a soul determined to achieve his apocalyptic destiny.
*Second Coming - ebook, 2010. In a distant solar system beset by civil war, an archaeologist and a band of scientists, thieves and psychics decode ancient myths and discover hidden artifacts that reveal the suppressed history of their embattled planets - and the truth of an impending cosmic catastrophe that will destroy both worlds unless they can find a way to unite against the common threat.
Non-Fiction
*The Belhurst Story - On a cliff overlooking Seneca Lake in upstate New York, the Belhurst Castle proudly stands at the site of previous mansions and Indian fortresses, a place riddled with history and fantastic legends. Rumors abound of hauntings, hidden treasure, underground tunnels, and a curse on those who disturb old burial grounds. Eccentric and passionate individuals lived and died here over the centuries. Some, perhaps, have never left.
Short stories
2010
* Roadside Assistance - published in Horrrorworld. After a gruesome car accident, a diabolical GPS device torments a man trapped in the wreckage.
* The Wrong Basement - published in Abyss & Apex #32. A couple discover their basement has changed overnight, and what they find down there changes their lives...
2009
* Casualty Notification Officer - published in Dark Recesses. An officer brings dire news to a soldier's wife, but at the house he discovers the deceased isn't quite as described.
* Blackout Man - appearing in Talebones #38. At the NSA a very special man works at protecting the nation's darkest secrets. (Honorable Mention - Best Horror of the Year, 2009)
* Bait - published in Black Static #7. Two scuba divers assisting the police with a dead body make a horrifying discovery under the sea. (Honorable Mention - Best Horror of the Year, 2009)
Pre-2009
* Plastromancer - published in issue #12 of Paradox. In ancient China, a diviner uses tortoise shells to foretell the doom of an empire.
* Turning Time - published in issue #23 of Abyss & Apex. The dead are cold, and during a ceremonial event in Madagascar, they are brought out to meet their descendents... and to find warmth once again.
* Ladders - published in issue #33 of ChiZine. An allegorical tale of an inescapable city and a population so desperate to escape they turn to the only direction left... Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 2008.
* Internal Affairs - published in issue #1.3 of Withersin (www.withersin.com). A GI in Iraq is a modern-day entrailist who uses his prophetic talents to keep himself and his team alive - at a terrible cost.
*The Red Envelope - 2nd Place Winner in L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest Vol. XXII, and also appearing in the Year's Best Romantic Fantasy 2. Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. A naive American in Taiwan finds himself bound by their customs to be the groom in a 'ghost marriage' to a deceased girl. He remains faithful until one day he falls in love with another woman... and his wife does not approve.
* Chain Letter - An electronic crimes detective must hunt down a vicious serial killer bent on murdering every recipient of an email chain letter. Published in Futures Mystery, Sep-Oct 2005.
*Restoration - - a grim exploration of immortality told through the eyes of two characters in a ten-thousand year existence, illustrating the impact of such a possibility on the future of our race. Imagine if reincarnation is the true and necessary state of our souls' progression... Published in Issue #5 of Paradox, Summer 2004.
*Past Tense - a radical view of alternate history, told from the standpoint of a desperate man who is alone in his ability to perceive quantum reality shifts occurring constantly and always re-writing history. Published in Would That It Were, Jan. 2003.
*Guardians - 3rd Place Winner in the 2002 Distant Worlds Short Story Contest - about a team of galactic rescue workers, called upon to aid planets undergoing cataclysmic upheavals. What happens when those they're helping refuse to leave?
*Rescue Shelter - Published in Frightnet and The Reaper. An old woman is forced to leave her home in Louisiana in advance of Hurricane Hugo. She has never left it in 40 years, ever since magically protecting her house against the intrusion of a patient and vengeful spirit...
*Double or Nothing - published in Plot Magazine, 1996. An updated Deal-with-the-Devil tale, played out in the casinos of Las Vegas for the highest stakes.
*Tour Guide - published in the 1st (and only) issue of Manifest Destiny (in 1993). The last days of the Earth are chronicled by an ageless robot, nostalgically trying to recall his early days and the history of the race that had long since departed.
*Checkmate - Two brothers wage an enchanted game of Chess for the highest stakes while the Gods patiently await the outcome. Gothic Light, 1993.
*Hotline - A social worker takes a frightening call. Crimson, Jan. 1999.
*The One Below - A helicopter pilot disrupts a human sacrifice, unwittingly allowing a monstrous deity back from the depths in this H.P. Lovecraft inspired tale. Mythos Collector, 2002.
*Seeker - a tortured scientist's noble creation, the ultimate criminal deterrent, goes horribly wrong. Black Moon, 1997.
*Under Hypnosis - The veiled woman came to him seeking relief from her unusual phobia; what he uncovered in her mind was beyond anything in this world. Spellbound, 1995.
Screenplays
*Roadside Assistance - A psychiatrist trying to balance his life is bought a new GPS device for his car, but it starts to take on a life of its own and he is drawn into a world of psychosis and murder. (Finalist - Slamdance Horror; Genre Award Winner - Expo Screenplay Competition; Finalist - The Movie Script Contest; Honoroable Mention - The Horror Screenplay Contest)
*The Lazarus Group - Transformed by a Near Death Experience, a formerly crooked cop discovers that members of his new support group are being murdered - by one of their own.
*The Red Envelope - Tricked into marrying the spirit of a Chinese family's deceased daughter, an American diplomat gets more than he bargained for when his jealous ghost wife begins killing any woman who gets too close to him. (Adapted from my award-winning short story, and based on an actual Chinese tradition. Finalist - The Horror Screenplay Contest; Finalist - International Night of Horror; Finalist - Terror Film Festival)
*Isolation - Marooned on the International Space Station, an astronaut with a traumatic past suffers hallucinations and mind-bending flashbacks, leading to a shocking revelation that unravels the fantasy of her entire life. (Quarterfinalist - Nicholls Fellowship 2008; Silver Remi Award - Worldfest 2007; Finalist - The Screenplay Festival 2008)
*N.D.E. - (TV Series Pilot): After a Near Death Experience (an NDE) radically transforms the life of an eccentric billionaire, he recruits others with similar experiences to study the global phenomenon. Together they will discover amazing similarities, common visions and dramatic abilities among people who have come back from the dead, leading to an earth-shattering revelation about the phenomena, and themselves.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu