This was the promise from the builders. This was the dream that Kyle and Alejandro bought into. This was where they and their daughter were going to have a fresh start.
If it was only that simple…
For the setting of my newest novel, Golden Hills Haunting, I wanted to focus my ghost story on a location that people don’t always associate with hauntings. A new neighborhood in the Silicon Valley. Most haunted house tales take place in abandoned buildings; hospitals, jails, schools, asylums, or old mansions down a dark and deserted road (a great trope but one I wanted to avoid, plus I love setting my novels in my neck-of-the-woods). When figuring out where I wanted to locate my story, I reflected on one of my favorite movies, the 1982 version of Poltergeist. With the seed planted I decided to have my novel set in a brand-new infill community (if you don’t know what an infill community is, it’s when a builder finds a small piece of land and subdivides the property into smaller plots so they can build homes on the land). This happens a lot in San Jose, CA and the San Francisco Bay Area. The overall location of the story is real. All the places mentioned in the novel are actual locations, with their names changed, however the exact whereabouts of this neighborhood is completely fictional, so it’s not a spot you can go and visit.
For the homes in the novel I dug around all the new homes being built in northern California and pulled three different styles of homes I liked (two two-story homes and one single-story home) I wanted the homes in my novel to be something that reflected all the current design esthetics that people can find in any of the new builds going on, not only here in California, but all over the US and Canada. My thought was, even though I have the story set here in Silicon Valley, the novel could be happening in any state or any location in the US or even Canada.
Picking out the house for my main characters was actually a lot of fun. In college I studied architectural design, so pulling up floor-plans and going through them (as well as visiting new construction sites) is something I enjoy. For Kyle, Alejandro, and Chloe, I gave them a two-story home. The first floor has a den off the main entry with a powder room. As you move deeper into the home, you’ll find a staircase going up to the second floor with storage underneath. Upon leaving the entry area, you arrive in the main open living space with Family Room, Dining Room, and chef’s kitchen with large island. The home also boasts a two-car garage. As you move to the second floor, you’ll find three bedrooms, a main bathroom, and a laundry room. The primary bedroom has a private bathroom (including a separate shower and tub) with a huge walk-in-closet.
My goal with the home was to create a dwelling that most people would want to buy and move into (I know this is a house I wouldn’t mind having) but without the paranormal activity. Also, I wanted to create a hint of a claustrophobic feeling with the location. As we don’t really go outside the neighborhood much.
Some of the prominent features of the community that I added were the neighborhood’s proximity to both walking trails, schools, and providing the neighborhood with a brand-new park that all the families in the community could enjoy. Again, these are all features that, even though not completely common in modern suburban developments, are not totally uncommon.
Even though most of the action for the novel, as I mentioned, is located within the boundaries of Golden Hills Court, to build that since of isolation, we do go to other locations in San Jose, but not many, which was something I really wanted to limit to continue the sense of claustrophobia. Even though I wanted to provide a fresh take on a haunted house tale, I still wanted there to be an oppressive feeling, like the neighbors are isolated and on their own, which they are.
That’s a bit about the setting of Golden Hills Haunting. So, come home to modern living. Come home to Golden Hills Court. I know you’re going to love visiting.
After their daughter was bullied at school, Kyle and Alejandro decided to make a fresh start and move into a beautiful new cul-de-sac development. As they take up residence, the family enjoys seeing the community come to life. But when lights flicker, shadows lurk, and small objects disappear, they begin to doubt their sanity.
When Alejandro and many of their neighbors are struck down by a strange sickness that defies explanation, the family starts to question their recent life change. Feeling trapped they speak with their new neighbors, learning they aren’t alone in the haunted neighborhood.
Who do you turn to when the authorities can’t offer any assistance or protection? How do you fight against a sinister force that is older than time? Can Kyle, Alejandro and the rest of the occupants of Golden Hills Court survive or will this nightmarish ordeal destroy them?
Universal Buy Link
Amazon Buy Link
(from Chapter One)
When I decided to sit down and write our story, I wasn’t sure where to open, and I’m still not. Since things didn’t begin all bad, they kicked off slowly. Which makes finding the starting point difficult. I guess when we questioned what was happening in our neighborhood was the day Alejandro came home not feeling well. We’d been in our house for about four months, everything had been unpacked, and our new place felt like a home. Even Chloe, our daughter, had managed to make friends in the neighborhood. We’d had family and friends over and even managed to pull off a big party: our housewarming, which thinking back now should have been our first warning given what happened that day. I digress. Alejandro rarely came home from the office sick, but on that day, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so ill.
We were lucky, of course. He was unwell, but he wasn’t as bad as some of our neighbors. By the time we got Alejandro settled in bed to rest, three different ambulances had shown up on our cul-de-sac dealing with numerous medical emergencies at various houses. By that evening, almost every home in our circle had been visited by emergency services. The media didn’t catch wind of the story for a few more days, not until the EPA showed up. Hell, everyone arrived, PG&E, San Jose Water, representatives from the housing development, the County, basically every government organization you might throw a rock at. The weeks that followed were only the beginning of our nightmare.
This new house had been our dream, one we had been working toward for years and we needed the change desperately. Our home was the second finished on our street and we were the second family to move in. Yes, we were going to be living around construction for a couple more weeks, but for this house, the daily construction would be worth it, especially at the price we paid. In this valley, these homes were an outright steal. Chloe, in theory, would be at school during the day or off with friends or at therapy. Alejandro and I both worked so we wouldn’t be around during the day when a majority of the construction commenced. Well, except for me. I still worked from home three days a week, but I could manage the noise; I had my music. The only real problem: the traffic as people were moving in and construction teams came and went. We imagined we’d be able to deal with the building and the neighborhood, but we were wrong.
The cause of the mystery illnesses. What a joke. It wasn’t a gas leak or anything in the water or the dirt. We were all looking for the wrong things. At the time, no one ever contemplated we were under attack from the supernatural or paranormal or whatever you want to call a bunch of pissed off spirits and a horde of Demons thrown in for good measure.
But is that when everything commenced?
I don’t think so.
We should have known something was off when we went to the sales center, about three months prior to our moving in. Let me start from before we moved in and go from there. Knowing how things began will help paint a full picture.
Our new neighborhood, our new home, was an infill neighborhood, one of those small groupings of houses that are built on a subdivided parcel of land. They do that a lot in San Jose, with housing being an issue. It’s funny, there wasn’t even a model home to look at. There was a portable sales office with floor plans and finishes to pick from. How we got the house didn’t matter to us; getting the house was what mattered. Chloe needed the change, especially with all she had been dealing with. So, when I found out they were building this infill community, I told Alejandro and we understood we would have to move promptly. After seeing the information, the next day we called out from work and drove to Evergreen to check the location.
The area had everything we were looking for. Chloe could walk to the school, Chaboya Middle School, and she would have to make new friends, but we understood she’d manage. Chloe was social despite the trouble she had when we first got her. There were parks and a creek, plus several trails for hiking and biking. Down Fowler Road at Ruby Avenue a quaint Evergreen Village had been established with shops, restaurants, and larger stores. We couldn’t have asked for a better neighborhood.
If we only knew.
Growing up in an accepting family as a gay man he always wondered why there were never stories reflecting who he was. Constantly surrounded by characters that only reflected heterosexual society, M.D. Neu decided he wanted to change that. So, he took to writing, wanting to tell good stories that reflected our diverse world.
When M.D. Neu isn’t writing, he works for a non-profit and travels with his biggest supporter and his harshest critic, Eric his husband of twenty plus years.
Website: http://www.mdneu.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Writer_MDNeu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdneuauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormdneu/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-d-neu
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/66488958-md
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorMDNeu
QueerRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-neu/
Liminal Fiction: https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-neu/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/M-D-Neu/e/B076FK1S14
