Four friends take weekend fishing trip on Lake Michigan where they catch more than their limit in fish. Take a ride thru the paranormal with them as they race the devil for their souls.
If you like a good, old fashioned ghost story, The Fishing Trip is an e-book that you will truly enjoy. It is filled with frightful specters that must be overcome in this classic good vs. evil theme. What starts out to be a beautiful day of salmon fishing, turns into a night of fear and tragedy, as our heroes, two brothers, Bill and Ryan, fight for their lives and the lives of their friends, against the great evil that lies beneath Lake Michigan. The Fishing Trip is a truly chilling tale that will satisfy the ghost lover in all of us. Key’s colorful characters and gruesome ghouls are likeable and entertaining; his storyline, enthralling and filled with suspense. You won’t want to stop reading until the last word has been read.
Excerpt
After what seemed to be a good deal of time, he checked his watch, it had been about twenty minutes since he’d taken over the helm, so Ryan began to look for shore lights, but couldn’t find any. He saw only the single light, swinging back and forth across the horizon. It occurred to him then, that it wasn’t right. Light houses rotate. They don’t swing back and forth. They travel across the same path from one side to the other and then start over again. He then checked the compass, which he should have done when he first took the helm, only to discover it said they were heading NW, not East, as they should have been. He tapped it lightly to see if maybe it was stuck, which set it off spinning wildly.
“Guys!” Ryan yelled loudly, with panic in his voice. “Guys!” he shouted again, as he shut down the engine to idle and turned to wake his brother and his drunken friends. “Guys!” Ryan yelled again, as he shook each one into consciousness.
“What? What is it?” Bill asked, fighting off the drunken sleep.
“Bro, it’s happening again. The compass is spinning, and that light just keeps getting further away.” Ryan blurted barely keeping his panic at bay.
“Great, I can’t let you drive for what? Ten minutes, without you getting all freaked out. Get out of my way, I’ll drive us in.” Bill shoved passed Ryan only to come to a stop several feet from the steering consol. The compass was spinning rapidly, first one way and then the other; the GPS was registering complete gibberish; the fish finder was completely off line; and the depth finder said they had run aground, which he knew was wrong because the boat was bobbing in the light chop. He looked towards the light, and it suddenly winked out.
“Whoa!” Bill yelled loudly and the guys, whom Ryan had been shaking, finally opened their eyes. That was all Charlie did. Then he quickly nodded off again.
“What’s up?” Danny inquired as he sat up and looked at Bill’s back.
“The light’s gone!” Bill proclaimed loudly.
“You lost the light again?” Danny inquired sarcastically.
“No moron, I didn’t lose the light! It just winked out! I was looking right at it and now it’s gone!” Bill was shouting loudly, which wasn’t normal behavior for him. Danny quickly stood up and stumbled over next to him, so he could see where Bill was looking. There was no light off the bow of the boat in any direction.
“What’s with the compass?” Danny asked, watching it spin rapidly back and forth.
“Ryan, did you change your heading from dead ahead while you were driving?” Bill asked.
“Not that I’m aware of, why?” Ryan asked, as he looked off into the darkness for any signs of life, or shore.
“Okay then, if you didn’t change your heading, I should be able to turn around and head for shore, like I was, in the first place. How long did you drive, while we were sleeping?” Bill inquired, as he did the math in his head, trying to figure out how far they were from shore.
“My watch said it was twenty minutes.”
“Dang! At full speed we’re another six to eight miles out onto the lake,” Bill said, shaking his head in disbelief, then muttering under his breath, “It’s gonna be a close call on fuel…”, so only Danny heard him.
Danny sidled up beside Bill so as the other two wouldn’t see how worried he was. He took a strange comfort from the look on Bill’s face, which said he was worried too. “We better get started back in, huh?” Danny said.
Bill spun the boat around at quarter throttle and hoped he was headed straight east, but with no reference point there was no way to tell for sure. There were still no lights in any direction and the compass was still spinning.
Ryan picked up the binoculars and began trying to see into the darkness to no avail. The binoculars aren’t of any value unless they had light to focus on. Bill kept his head up and strained his eyes looking for shore, his hands gripping the wheel with all his might as he and his boat, carrying his dearest friends and his brother, raced head long into the darkness.
Charlie, who finally stirred some minutes later, sat up and asked what was happening. Ryan stated they were lost and he could go back to sleep. Bill was driving again, so he slouched over and went back to sleep. Charlie had always trusted Bill, so he had no qualms with him driving them back to shore.
Charlie, stirred again after a few minutes, sat up, opened his eyes and immediately blurted out, “Hey, maybe they can give us directions?” as he sat pointing towards a light off the starboard stern.
“What?” Bill, Ryan and Danny all asked in unison, as they turned in Charlie’s direction. Charlie sat pointing towards what appeared to be a brightly lit ship.
He kept pointing and stated again, “Maybe they can give us directions?”
Ryan quickly found and flipped the binoculars up to his face and exclaimed, “It’s that old ship again!” Bill slowed the boat, bringing it to an idle. Then he turned towards Ryan.
“What? No way! Let me see those!” Bill demanded, as he yanked the binoculars right out of Ryan’s hands. Bill swung the binoculars up to his face, and he was shocked by the sight of the old ship before him. It wasn’t more than three miles off and dead in the water.
Professional Reviews
“The Fishing Trip: A Ghost Story”, by Chris Keys
I recently had the pleasure of editing The Fishing Trip: A Ghost Story, by Chris Key’s. It was a pleasure for two reasons: first, it is a thrill to work with Chris, who has chosen to develop his writing talents, after proving his abilities in several other career areas, including the political arena, advertising and marketing – experience that he brings to the writing desk with him; second, I consider Chris to be a friend, as well as a colleague; and third, I love a good ghost story. For these reasons also, it is a pleasure to write a review for the e-book story. So even though my opinion might be slightly biased, I will admit that freely, and then present to you my review without further adieu.
If you like a good, old fashioned ghost story, The Fishing Trip is an e-book that you will truly enjoy. It is filled with frightful specters that must be overcome in this classic good vs. evil theme. What starts out to be a beautiful day of salmon fishing, turns into a night of fear and tragedy, as our heroes, two brothers, Bill and Ryan, fight for their lives and the lives of their friends, against the great evil that lies beneath Lake Michigan. The Fishing Trip is a truly chilling tale that will satisfy the ghost lover in all of us. Key’s colorful characters and gruesome ghouls are likeable and entertaining; his storyline, enthralling and filled with suspense. You won’t want to stop reading until the last word has been read.
Praise for The Fishing Trip—A Ghost Story!
“I had the pleasure of editing The Fish¬ing Trip—A Ghost Story. Even though my opinion might be slightly biased, I found Key’s colorful characters and gruesome ghouls to be likeable and entertaining; his storyline, enthralling and filled with sus¬pense. A truly chilling (fish) tale that will satisfy the ghost lover in all.”
Kaye Lynn Booth, Writing To Be Read
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