12 Quotes from Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical" Being

 When we were getting ready to release Bryony back in 2011, my daughter Sarah (who did a lot of the marketing for me) suggested I pull thirty teaser quotes from the book that she could post on Facebook, one each day.

We did the same for the second book, Visage, which is also part of the BryonySeries.

But for some reason, I never did the same for another book.

So now I am catching up.

Here is the synopsis and twelve quotes for Cornell Dyer and the 'Mistical' Being, one from each chapter.

What's unusual about this book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer (a BryonySeries chapter book series) is that Rebekah is the story collaborator instead of Timothy.

She had written the draft many, many years ago (2008, I believe), making this the first book in the series ever written, even though we never published it until 2021 (she'd had a computer crash and thought it lost).

Enjoy!

When asked to banish ghosts in a backyard lake, supernatural super sleuth Cornell Dyer encounters one mystery after another: a ghostly mist with eyes, a ghost town, and a town that keeps changing its name. Delving into each one will change Cornell's life. Is he ready?

Prologue: 

The carriages stopped. This was it.

“Everybody out!” someone roared.

“Let’s go Kristoph.” Dagobert poked his friend. “Wake up! It is time!”

They opened door, and they stepped out.

Chapter 1: Lost at the Lake

Ty scowled and plodded across the field. So that’s why Cornell could not take the motor home. The field had no road. So Cornell had no place to drive the motor home.

Well, Cornell thought. One mystery solved.

Chapter 2: What Cornell Saw in the Fog

Something is controlling them, Cornell thought. Something was controlling them and not letting them go home. That was the only reason why a ghost banisher would not work, especially this ghost banisher. Cornell was using the latest model of a DuppyGone 367, the most powerful of ghost banishers.

Chapter 3: Stay Away from the Graves

Cornell trudged down the embankment, and then Cornell trudged over to the town. It was full of deserted buildings, a great place for ghosts to haunt, he thought.

He looked through several buildings, ready to vanquish them with a flick of his wand. But Cornell saw no trace of any ghosts, not even furniture covered in old bed sheets.

Chapter 4: Blank Slate

Cornell was not afraid of an itsy bitsy curse. And he wasn’t afraid of big curses either. Cornell was as curse-proof as anyone could be.

Chapter 5: Nightmare?

The shapes became a band of ghosts in blue coats, black boots, and tricorne hats gently swayed in the crackling light. They moaned; they sobbed; and they looked very, very lost.

Help us! Help us! Help us!

Chapter 6: Not So Empty After All

He’d packed the magical kind of peanut butter and jelly, the kind that spread itself on the bread and hopped into sandwich bags and then into the backpack so Cornell Dyer could concentrate on solving supernatural mysteries.

Chapter 7: A Grave Invitation

When Cornell woke up the next morning, he was leaning against a tree with a rolled-up note in his hand. Cornell unrolled the note and read: 

Dear Mr. Dyer,

I have a business proposition that I want to discuss with you.

Meet me by the graves this Friday at 11:30 p.m.

Chapter 8: Redhead – and Dead

The diner only had one other person inside right now. And he was dressed in black from head to toe. He was sitting in a booth in the way back, drinking a cup of coffee.

And this customer had coal black eyes, just like the eyes Cornell kept seeing in the mist.

Cornell felt like screaming.

But Cornell also felt like eating. So Cornell reminded himself that supernatural super sleuths don’t scream. They eat and solve supernatural mysteries. 

Chapter 9: He Doesn’t Act Like a Vampire

And Cornell reasoned: if this thing is a vampire, and if this thing wanted to kill me, it would have killed me already.

So Cornell decided the vampire must want something else. But what?

Chapter 10: I Have a Job for You

“You don’t need to understand. You just need to sign this.”

Epilogue

“What’s with all the medieval gold coins?” Cornell asked, somewhat irritably. “Everybody wants to pay me in medieval gold coins all of a sudden.”

“Got something against gold coins?” Ty retorted.

Now available: Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical" Being

Although "Cornell Dyer and the 'Mistical' Being sounds like a new book in the Adventures of Cornell dyer sries, it's really the first book.

Not the first book in the series.

But the first book written for the series.

Waaaay back in 2009 when I was writing the first draft for "Visage" (the second book in the "drop of blood" trilogy), I thought a spin-off series for kids on up with the Cornell Dyer character might be fun.

So Rebekah wrote one.

She was around fifteen and struggling with her dyslexia, so writing was difficult for her.

After she wrote the book, her computer crashed.

We had forgotten that she had emailed the book to me and that the book was saved on an old hard drive.

So during the pandemic, we went hunting for it.

And found it.

I read it aloud, and we laughed through a lot of it, in some very good ways.

So we talked about my expanding it. We changed a few pieces of it.

Yes, Timothy is my official collaborator for the series.

But Rebekah's story was too wonderful to pass up.

We release it today for your enjoyment, with fun artwork by Sue Midlock, our official illustrator for the series. 

When asked to banish ghosts in a backyard lake, supernatural super sleuth Cornell Dyer encounters one mystery after another: a ghostly mist with eyes, a ghost town, and a town that keeps changing its name. Delving into each one will change Cornell's life. Is he ready?

"Cornell Dyer and the 'Mistical' Being isn't available on the BryonySeries store yet.

Nor is it available on Kindle yet.

But you may purchase the paperback on Amazon.

Happy reading!

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Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical" Being

Good morning!

Here is a "sneak peek" at a new book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer chapter book series, which is part of the overall BryonySeries series.

Got that?

This "new" book is actually an "old" book that's been given an expanded and edited new life.

Back when I first had the idea to write a Cornell Dyer subseries for the BryonySeries, Rebekah, who was in high school at the time, actually wrote the first story for it.

Her computer later crashed, and she thought it was gone forever. What Rebekah did not remeber (and quite frankly, neither had I) was that she had sent me a copy of it.

I stumbled upon it one day, all 5,600 words of it, and read it aloud to her. We had a good laugh over some of her mistaken word choices (she is very dyslexic) and actually decided to incorporate one of them into the title because her mistake turned out to be genius and key to the story.

The title of the book is Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical" Being.

The best part is that ger writing, overall, stood up very well - and even Rebekah was surprised, since she is not a writer.

So I took her original story, expanded it, edited it, and tweaked it a bit for a seamless read, and then sent it back to her.

She approved it, and Sue Midlock, our Cornell Dyer artist, began working on the cover and chapter heading illustrations.

Sue ran into some health issues this summer, but she is feeling better and finished the artwork last week - and we love it! Sue is currently editing her second "Elspeth" book and then she will begin work on the art for Cornell Dyer and the Calcium Deficient Bones.

Here is the back cover copy and cover for the new book. We hope to release the book before 2022.

When asked to banish ghosts in a backyard lake, supernatural super sleuth Cornell Dyer encounters one mystery after another: a ghostly mist with eyes, a ghost town, and a town that keeps changing its name. Delving into each one will change Cornell’s life. Is he ready?

For more books in the Cornell Dyer series (and other BryonySeries books), visit bryonyseries.com/general-store.