Planet Zevakk

The Alien Discovery That Unlocks Our Hidden Past.

by Jeff Murnane

Story

Alex Halloran is a middle-aged father and husband on the verge of a mid-life crisis. His memory issues have been building for months, adding stress, worry and leading to constant forgetfulness. He was fired from his job as a writer at the local paper, he stopped looking for work, he slept in, stopped exercising and had grown distant from his family, until one day, without warning, his reclusive next-door neighbor, and close friend, Ben, vanished without a trace.

Alex found himself with renewed purpose putting his investigative journalism skills to work to solve the neighborhood mystery. What began as ordinary research changed into something far more sinister when a strange new neighbor, with a shared obsession with finding Ben, moved into the neighborhood. As Alex digs deeper, he begins having intense nightmares warning him of dangers unfolding all around him and urging him to find a hidden object of other worldly origin. His investigation uncovers secrets that challenge everything he knows about Ben, the universe, and reality itself. Now Alex must separate reality from delusion before it's too late.

PLANET ZEVAKK follows Alex and his thirteen-year-old daughter Annie as they navigate the chaos this stranger has brought to their family. Approaching the mystery from two different perspectives, Annie balances middle school challenges while quietly holding her fracturing family together. Her father battles his unreliable memory and an investigation that spirals into something he never could have imagined—with stakes higher than he ever dreamed possible.

Currently seeking literary representation.

Excerpt

Annie slid slowly closer to the chimney, but when the flash of headlights illuminated the front of the house, she froze. A car door slammed shut. Annie leaned forward and slid four feet down the roof incline and slammed into the chimney, she quickly pulled the book into her lap when a light from Kyle’s house lit up the roof.

She peeked around the chimney and saw the blinds in Kyle’s bathroom rising. Annie jerked her head back behind the chimney, her muscles tightened as she straightened her back against the brick chimney, and she tried not to make a sound.

The sound of Kyle’s window opening sent chills down her spine. She knew that he was thirty feet away and in a different house, but it felt as if he were breathing down her neck. She froze behind the chimney, not wanting to shift her weight or do anything that would alert her pursuer. Annie was always good at reading people and situations, but Kyle had perplexed her, she couldn’t get a read on him, and it bothered her, confused her, even frightened her.

Her muscles continued to tighten, her leg started to cramp, but she didn’t move. It felt to Annie as if an eternity had passed. Then the sound of the window closing filled the air which was soon followed by the light going out. Annie relaxed and let out a heavy sigh. She waited a few moments until she was sure the coast was clear, then stood up slightly while still hunched over and started the long four foot walk up the incline, back to the open bathroom window, when she realized that Kyle would’ve seen the open window.

Gripped with fear, panic set in but before she could turn around, that creepy, familiar voice appeared from Kyle’s window behind her. “There you are.”

Without even turning to see Kyle watching her, Annie ran up the roof and dove into the bathroom through the open window and slammed the window shut behind her. She quickly glanced back towards Kyle’s house and saw the cracked open window in his bathroom. His bathroom light was off, and there was no sign of Kyle.

About the Author

Jeff Murnane never set out to write a novel. It started with bedtime stories for his young sons; tales that kept changing with each telling until they demanded he write them down. What began as scribbled adventures to satisfy two sleepy, yet persistent boys evolved into a lifelong love of storytelling. Years later, those same sons (now in their twenties) became the reason he finally finished his debut novel, Planet Zevakk. A science fiction fan since childhood, Jeff brings his creativity, curiosity and optimism to everything he creates. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife Kim, where he's always dreaming up his next story.

Stay Updated

Connect

Twitter/X | Email: jeff.murnane@gmail.com

Coming soon to bookshelves near you.