Book One of The Witness Trilogy · Historical horror

The Man From Outside Light: The Fire

In 1959 a Black family leaves Augusta, Georgia for Pittsburgh. On a Kentucky highway, grief finds them first. Then something older does: Ayama'tu, whose obsidian face shows what was meant to stay buried.

A novel by Anthony D. Martinez · Urban Sixties Media

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Cover of The Man From Outside Light, Part I: The Fire by Anthony D. Martinez, showing a burning triple-ring sigil inside a cracked obsidian disc

The road north, 1959

A migration story with something riding in the back seat.

Thousands of Black Southern families made the trip north in these years. The Fire follows one of them, the Lanes, and asks what a family carries with it when it leaves, and what it is forced to leave behind.

01 · Departure
Augusta, Georgia
Sarah and David Lane pack the car with their young son. It is 1959, and Pittsburgh is the promise.
02 · The fracture
A Kentucky highway
Somewhere on the road north, a tragedy splits the family along lines they cannot repair by driving faster.
03 · Destination
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Arrival was supposed to be the end of the story. In The Fire, it is closer to a question.

From Chapter Three

“They buried Jacob in borrowed ground three miles outside of Harlan County, in a plot that belonged to a man named Ezekiel Tate who had never met the Lanes but who had buried enough Black children to know not to ask questions.”
From The Man From Outside Light: The Fire by Anthony D. Martinez

Keep reading the excerpt

Ayama’tu draped in chains, with three interlocking ember-lit circles across its cracked black mirror face

The supernatural

A face of obsidian. A mirror that will not lie.

Ayama'tu is the novel's supernatural presence, and its obsidian face reflects buried truths back at the people who look into it.

That is the engine of the horror here. Not a monster that hunts, but a surface that shows. In a family already broken by loss, being seen clearly may be the most frightening thing of all.

Official artwork

Every secret has a witness.

Four posters from the world of The Fire. Open any one at full size.

Promotional poster for The Man From Outside Light: The Fire showing a woman seated in a car at night, with the slogan The Past Rides Closer — 01The Past Rides CloserFull The Past Rides Closer poster in a new tab

02Tell the TruthFull

Promotional poster for The Man From Outside Light: The Fire showing an older woman inside a church, with the slogan Secrets Kept Waiting — 03Secrets Kept WaitingFull Secrets Kept Waiting poster in a new tab

Promotional poster for The Man From Outside Light: The Fire showing a tall cloaked supernatural figure, the witness, with the slogan The Witness — 04The WitnessFull The Witness poster in a new tab

Is this your next book?

Pick up The Fire if you read horror for what it says about the living.

Historical horror

Fear rooted in a real year and a real route, where the history is never just set dressing.

Grief as a haunting

A family coming apart after a loss, and the terrible honesty that grief can surface.

Buried family truths

Secrets kept for protection, and a supernatural force that will not let them stay kept.

The start of a trilogy

Book One of three, with The Blood and The Scales planned to follow.

Books

The Witness Trilogy, and more.

Reading order

Book I
The Fire
Out now
Sarah and David Lane leave Augusta for Pittsburgh in 1959. On a Kentucky highway, tragedy and the obsidian face of Ayama'tu find them.
Book II
The Blood
Planned 2027
The Witness Trilogy continues. Details to be announced by the author; planned dates may change.
Book III
The Scales
Planned 2028
The final book of the trilogy. Details to be announced by the author; planned dates may change.

The Book of Badge 8835 (Revised): The Life of a Narc by Anthony D. Martinez, book cover

Also by Anthony D. Martinez

Available now · Revised edition

The Book of Badge 8835

The Life of a Narc

Pittsburgh narcotics officer Harold Drummond knows the streets he patrols. He grew up on them. His grit and street smarts help him infiltrate notorious drug gangs, until an undercover buy changes his life and his family's future.

A story of addiction, family, faith, and recovery, The Book of Badge 8835 follows Harold's struggle to overcome his demons and rebuild his life.

View on Amazon More about The Book of Badge 8835

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The author

Anthony D. Martinez

A Las Vegas-based author, Anthony D. Martinez opens The Witness Trilogy with The Fire, published by Urban Sixties Media.

About the author @Talahumni

For readers and book clubs

Go deeper after the last page.

All journal essays

Reading guide

Spoiler-light questions for your book club

Grief, the road, history, and what the obsidian face reveals.

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Essay

What is historical horror?

Read the editorial essay

Essay

Grief and family secrets in horror fiction

Read the editorial essay

Free from the author

A complimentary read, while you wait for The Blood.

Anthony D. Martinez on ancient wisdom, spiritual tradition, and modern science.

The Puppet Masters

The Unclean Within: Demons, Diet and the Ancient Fear of Invasion

What if some of your thoughts aren't entirely your own? Long before microscopes, ancient cultures described invisible entities that entered the body and altered human behavior. Modern science is catching up.

Download the free PDFPDF

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Press kit

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Short bio

Anthony D. Martinez is the author of The Man From Outside Light: The Fire, Book One of The Witness Trilogy. His debut novel explores themes of race, grief, truth, and the supernatural, set against the backdrop of 1959 America. Published by Urban Sixties Media.

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