ALONE
THE GIRL IN THE BOX, BOOK 1
Robert J. Crane
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ALONE
THE GIRL IN THE BOX, BOOK 1
Robert J. Crane
Copyright © 2012
All Rights Reserved.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Contact Robert J. Crane via email at
[email protected] Layout provided by Everything Indie
https://www.everything-indie.com
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Acknowledgements
I’ve heard it said that writing is hard. I disagree; writing novels is easy thanks to the people I have to help me.
Once more, my greatest thanks to my editorial team:
First of all Heather Rodefer, a real trooper, who pores over each page with ruthless precision, purple pen in hand. Her tireless efforts, real-time feedback, and fearlessness in telling me when something is simply not working help keep my work from becoming self-indulgent codswallop.
Second, I must thank Debra Wesley, who in addition to being the speediest to deliver her feedback, is also a constant source of wry humor, insight into the larger world of fantasy and sci-fi, and affirmation for whatever project I’ve just completed.
Third, Shannon Garza read through this particular volume multiple times, trying to figure out what grammatical sin I had committed that caused her Texan sense (it’s like spider-sense, but for Texans) to tingle with displeasure. She ended up figuring out by pure instinct something that I thought I had fixed. Kudos to her for helping me smoothe out that particular problem and also for finding the cover art after a long search on shutterstock.com.
I shudder to think what any of these books would look like without the countless hours these three put in helping me fix the errors of perspective and thought, grammar and syntax. Keeping a story straight in my head is a lot of work and it’d be impossible if not for outside help like theirs.
Thanks again to Kari Layman for the affirming conversations that led me to go out on a limb and write this book. If she’d said it didn’t sound that interesting, I probably would have worked on something else and Sienna Nealon might never have left her house.
Thanks also to Calvin Sams, who read through and gave some very helpful notes.
A special shout-out and thanks to Nicholas J. Ambrose, author extraordinaire. You can find a sample of his new novel, Samantha’s Promise, in the back of this work – and I recommend reading it, then buying the book.
The cover of this book is a (slightly cropped) photo by Anna Omelchenko, who I believe is in Lebanon.
To the fans, the people who have been buying and reading my work and sharing your feedback, a hearty, hearty thank you. The best letters always seem to come on the days when I need them most.
And finally, thanks to my family – wife, kids and parents – for doing all that you do so that I can do what I do.
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CONTENTS
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
A Note to the Reader
About the Author
Other Books by Robert J. Crane
A sample of Samantha’s Promise, by Nicholas J. Ambrose