JOHN OPALENIK
The official website of John Opalenik
AMONG THE WILLOWS & OTHER STRANGE TALES
August 2022
Six tales of the strange and supernatural, all set in the American Old West. Characters stumble upon things better left undiscovered, find new beginnings, tragic ends, and in some cases redemption.
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Among the Willows on Goodreads
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Among the Willows at River Bend Bookshop
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Among the Willows on Story Graph
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THE BLUE BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN
September 2021
Riley and her best friend Matt are going their separate ways. Before they do, they intend to travel together. Not to anywhere special. To them, it’s not where you’re traveling, but who you’re traveling with that makes it special. Soon they arrive in the small town of Altum, an oasis in the desert hiding a terrible secret. A secret that has been living inside the mountain far longer than even the citizens of Altum know. What dwells within the mountain will change their lives and their friendship forever.
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The Blue Beneath the Mountain on Goodreads
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The Blue Beneath the Mountain at River Bend Bookshop
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The Blue Beneath the Mountain on Story Graph
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The Blue Beneath the Mountain on Amazon
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THE PRIMEVAL PART II
October 2020
Ever since he saw a frightening vision in the forest when his father took him hunting as a boy, Fran Rivera has felt uneasy around the forest on the edge of Hopeville, Massachusetts. He only returned to it after taking a job at his childhood friend’s construction company. Fran and the others, including Brad and PJ quickly found out that Fran had every reason to be afraid of what he’d seen in the forest.
After barely surviving the night confronting the ancient evil in the forest, PJ, Fran, and the other survivors try to come to grips with what happened to them while at the same time trying to find a way to avenge the friends they lost that night.
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Meanwhile, a man who is eerily familiar with the creature in the forest hovers in the orbit of their investigation, a man who can shed light on the ancient evil they barely survived a glimpse of or who can plunge them deeper into the abyss. PJ, Fran, and Brad will have to reconcile with one another and risk everything in order to face the darkness that they could barely escape before.
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The Primeval Part II on Goodreads
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The Primeval Part II at River Bend Bookshop
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The Primeval Part II on Story Graph
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The Primeval Part II on Amazon
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THE PRIMEVAL
October 2019
After losing his grandmother and his job on the same day, Fran Rivera reconnects with his childhood friend Jack Catcher and begins working for him at his family’s construction company. As they begin work on a housing development in the forest they grew up playing in, unusual things begin happening. Pieces of equipment go missing, strange markings are burned into the trees, and Jack’s troubled brother is found sleepwalking in the middle of the woods.
These and other events bring back memories from Fran’s childhood that he thought were the imaginings of a child. Behind schedule on the project, and desperate to find out who is behind the vandalism, Jack and a few others spend the night at the work site and come face to face with an evil that has been waiting for them in the forest. Fran will have to confront his troubled past in order to survive the night.
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The Primeval on Goodreads
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The Primeval at River Bend Bookshop
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The Primeval on Story Graph
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The Primeval on Amazon
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"You unlock this door with the key of imagination."