Horror · Crime · Thrillers

Stories born in the shadows of Tampa Bay.

Brandon Burnside writes dark, cinematic fiction about ordinary people facing extraordinary danger.

Author catalog · Seeking representation12 Nightgrave titles · 8 publishedExplore the agent previews →

Light fades.Blood remembers.Death waits.

Explore the books Nightgrave Publishing Agent & publisher portfolio Media kit

Professional portrait of author Brandon Burnside

Step insidethe world ofmy nightmares.

AuthorBrandon BurnsideHorror · Crime · Thriller · Suspense

Official author websiteAvailable on Amazon

The newest novel · Complete · Forthcoming from Nightgrave Publishing

BLOOD ON THE HONOR ROLL

Some schools make leaders. This one makes monsters.

Read the synopsis Find your first published book

Flagship completed series · Agent & publisher spotlight

Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi

10 complete novels. One open-ended supernatural universe.

Horror author and skeptic Bram Kestrel and documentary investigator Nozomi Kuroda take on a new self-contained supernatural case in every book while their downtown Tampa office, television show, relationships, and recurring cast continue to grow.

Book 1 · Complete unpublished manuscript

© 2026 Brandon Burnside · Complete unpublished manuscripts · Full text remains private and is available only for confidential professional review. No publication date or publishing arrangement is announced.

01 / About

Meet the mind behind the nightmares.

Brandon Burnside is a Tampa-based published author of horror, thrillers, crime fiction, and supernatural suspense.

Since publishing his first book in 2020, Brandon has built a catalog of twelve titles connected to Nightgrave Publishing—eight published and four in development or production—alongside twenty-seven completed manuscripts, including all ten novels in the Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi series. Haunted places, dangerous secrets, and characters forced to find courage when the world turns against them unite the collection.

His Italian heritage and connection to Canepina also influence his work—especially The Detailer, an Italian crime story shaped by family, loyalty, and the pull of one’s roots.

Brandon Burnside with his wife Maika and their English Bulldog Caesar — At home with the BurnsidesBrandon, Maika & CaesarTampa Bay · Caesar, their 10-year-old English Bulldog

02 / Author & family

The love behind the darkness.

Behind every nightmare is a life built on love, loyalty, and family.

Brandon is married to his wife, Maika, and together they share their Tampa Bay home with Caesar, their 10-year-old English Bulldog. Maika’s support and Caesar’s unmistakable personality are the steady heart behind Brandon’s writing life.

When Brandon steps away from haunted places and criminal underworlds, he values the time spent with the family that keeps him grounded. That devotion runs through his stories in themes of loyalty, sacrifice, and how far people will go to protect those they love.

Family. Loyalty. Stories that linger.

Recognition & milestones

A growing body of work.

Independent publishing, author features, and a creative journey shaped by Tampa Bay and Italian roots.

8Published booksHorror · crime · thrillers

2020First book publishedThe story began

23Complete manuscriptsAvailable for representation

35Full-length worksOne expanding author catalog

3Book historical sagaThe Bellandi trilogy is complete

Author catalog

Every public title. One shelf.

Twelve Nightgrave titles—eight published and four in development or production—plus twenty-seven complete manuscripts across the wider portfolio. Thirty-four works are identified publicly below, while one completed manuscript remains confidential. Together, the thirty-five full-length works are shaped by fear, love, loyalty, and survival.

01
American PurgePost-apocalyptic horror
PublishedExplore
02
“82” Year of the MonsterSlasher horror
PublishedExplore
03
When a Moon Comes Alive at MidnightSupernatural horror
PublishedExplore
04
Cursed Book of the Devil’s DummyOccult horror
PublishedExplore
05
The DetailerItalian crime thriller
PublishedExplore
06
The Dreams of Sharon MarsPsychological horror
PublishedExplore
07
Camp EvergreenSupernatural slasher horror
PublishedExplore
08
Tampa Italiano: Welcome Home, FamilyFolk horror · Dark suspense
PublishedExplore
09
Her Name, Written in Blood — Book OneHistorical crime saga
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
10
Her Name, Written in Blood II: Bound by BloodHistorical crime saga
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
11
Her Name, Written in Blood — Book Three: The Bellandi LegacyHistorical crime saga
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
12
BLOOD ON THE HONOR ROLLAdult dark academia · Crime thriller · Psychological suspense
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
13
I’LL SIGN YOUR NAME WHEN YOU’RE DEADAdult psychological horror · Literary suspense
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
14
WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS DIEAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
15
I Loved You Before You Knew MeAdult psychological horror · Thriller
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
16
REVENGE ’85: THE NEW KIDAdult 1980s crime · Action · Horror-revenge thriller
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
17
REVENGE ’86: NO ONE GETS OUTAdult 1980s crime · Action · Revenge thriller
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
18
WHEN THE ROOMS LEARN YOUR NAMEAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
19
THE LIGHT THAT CALLS THEM HOMEAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
20
THE HOTEL THAT NEVER CHECKS OUTAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
21
THE DEAD STILL LIVE UPSTAIRSAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
22
THE CHURCH BENEATH THE WATERAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
23
THE MOUNTAIN DOORAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
24
THE HOUSE BEHIND HER CLOSETAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
25
THE CEMETERY WITH NO NAMESAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
26
THE THIRTEENTH DESKAdult supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
27
THE FOURTEENTH NAMEAdult supernatural mystery · Paranormal horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
28
The Version They AcceptedAdult psychological horror · Supernatural thriller
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
29
What Death Is OwedAdult supernatural · Psychological horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
30
The Little Mouths BelowSupernatural folk horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
31
The Last ReadingPsychological supernatural horror
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
32
The Uncut Shelf: The Dreams of Sharon Mars IIAdult supernatural horror · Thriller
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
33
The Price of a BestsellerAdult supernatural horror · Thriller
Complete manuscriptSneak peek
34
A Dangerous Love Between UsAdult crime thriller · Romantic suspense
Complete manuscriptSneak peek

03 / Published works

Six journeys into darkness.

Explore every book Amazon author page

01Post-apocalyptic horror

American Purge

Synopsis

A devastating plague sweeps across the United States and tears civilization apart. Cities empty, law and order disappear, and the people left behind soon learn that infection is only one of the dangers waiting beyond their doors. A group of survivors must cross a violent new America where every stranger could be an enemy and every choice carries a cost. Their fight to stay alive becomes a test of loyalty, courage, and how much of their humanity they can preserve.

Explore the book Amazon

02Slasher horror

“82” Year of the Monster

Synopsis

Tampa Bay becomes the hunting ground for a merciless killer in a nightmare inspired by the raw terror of 1980s slasher films. What begins as an unthinkable act of violence grows into a trail of fear, secrets, and bloodshed. The people caught in the killer’s path must understand what they are facing before another victim falls. As the danger closes in, surviving the night means confronting a monster who refuses to stop hunting.

Explore the book Amazon

03Supernatural horror

When a Moon Comes Alive at Midnight

Synopsis

Ghost hunter Jonathon Burns enters the abandoned Ravenswood Tuberculosis Sanitarium expecting another night of evidence for his audience. Instead, beneath the full moon, he sees a mysterious woman in white who appears to have been waiting for him. Her name is Laura, and the truth behind her haunting reaches far beyond the sanitarium’s ruined walls. Jonathon’s investigation becomes a journey through hidden history, love, loss, and a promise powerful enough to reach beyond death.

Explore the book Amazon

04Occult horror

Cursed Book of the Devil’s Dummy

Synopsis

Eddie Fiorentini discovers an old book connected to a sinister ventriloquist dummy and a darkness that has been waiting since 1959. Strange events quickly turn deadly, and the dummy seems to know things it should not. Every secret Eddie uncovers pulls him deeper into a murderous bargain built on fear and sacrifice. To survive, he must learn who created the curse, why it chose him, and whether the evil inside the book can be destroyed before it claims another victim.

Explore the book Amazon

05Italian crime thriller

The Detailer

Synopsis

A man known as the Detailer is drawn into a dangerous world shaped by Italian blood, criminal loyalty, and deadly obligations. Armed with two gold pistols and guided by a personal code he refuses to abandon, he must decide how far he will go to protect the people who matter most. Every alliance carries a risk, and every betrayal demands a price. From Tampa’s rain-soaked waterfront to the old-world ties of Italy, this crime thriller explores family, survival, and the deadly cost of misplaced trust.

Explore the book Amazon

06Psychological horror

The Dreams of Sharon Mars

Synopsis

Sharon Mars is haunted by nightmares so vivid they refuse to end when she wakes. Familiar places—including University Mall and the glowing sign of Lionel Playworld—become stages for terrifying visions that follow her into reality. As the boundary between memory, nightmare, and waking life begins to collapse, Sharon must discover what is calling to her and why. The closer she comes to the truth, the more dangerous it becomes to wake up—and even more dangerous to keep dreaming.

Explore the book Amazon

07Supernatural slasher horror

Camp Evergreen

Synopsis

In the summer of 1987, eight young adults arrive early to prepare Camp Evergreen before the campers return. A handmade spirit board tied to the camp’s 1967 massacre awakens an evil that can move from person to person, turning every friendship into a question and every survivor into a possible killer.

Explore the book Amazon

08Folk horror · Dark suspense

Tampa Italiano: Welcome Home, Family

Synopsis

Natalie Harrow has spent forty-eight years wondering who gave her their eyes, their hands, and the blank place on her birth certificate. When a free ancestry test from the Tampa Italiano Language & Heritage Center leads her to family in Canepina, Italy, the answer seems almost too beautiful: open arms, old photographs, and a village ready to welcome her home. But the reunion has been staged for an audience Natalie cannot see. Behind the heritage trips and HOME AT LAST success stories is a network that turns bloodlines, loneliness, and the promise of belonging into a trap. In Canepina, family is forever—and leaving may be impossible.

Explore the book Amazon

The Brandon Burnside collection

Eight worlds. Eight nightmares.

Explore Brandon’s complete published collection, then follow the life behind the stories—family, Tampa Bay, Italy, and the writing journey—on Instagram.

Explore the complete collection Follow Brandon on Instagram

04 / Agent & publisher preview

Twenty-seven complete manuscripts. Four Nightgrave projects.

The complete three-book Her Name, Written in Blood trilogy leads the showcase, followed by twenty-four additional complete manuscripts. Twenty-three are previewed publicly below—including all ten novels in Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi—while one remains confidential. Twenty-three manuscripts and tailored submission materials remain available privately to verified publishing professionals. Blood on the Honor Roll, I’ll Sign Your Name When You’re Dead, REVENGE ’85: THE NEW KID, and REVENGE ’86: NO ONE GETS OUT are Nightgrave Publishing projects and are no longer available for representation.

Lead queryHer Name, Written in BloodBook One · 105,000 words

Completed seriesThree-book Bellandi sagaBooks Two and Three available on request

Additional portfolioTwenty-three available · four with NightgraveHorror · thriller · romantic suspense

Completed historical crime trilogy

The Bellandi story begins here.

01 · Sneak peek

Her Name, Written in Blood — Book One

She crossed an ocean to make her name. New York answered in blood.

In 1923, twenty-three-year-old Lucia Bellandi leaves Canepina, Italy, for New York with her father’s savings sewn into her coat and a private dream of Broadway. The city offers possibility, but it also judges her accent, her surname, and her empty pockets. As Lucia earns her first real role, she falls for Mario, an Italian American ironworker and war veteran who must learn that loving her is not the same as deciding for her.

Lucia’s rising profile draws the attention of polished racketeer Carlo Vitale and his violent rival, Emilio Mancuso. Extortion, nightclub gunfire, police corruption, and a theater fire turn her success into leverage—and when Lucia’s name is written in another young actress’s blood, she refuses to let fear define what the Bellandi name will mean. Her fight for love, independence, and a future of her own opens a completed three-book family crime saga.

Canepina & New York · 1923–1926Complete · Seeking representation

Immigrant ambitionBroadwayFamily legacyProhibition crime

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

Her Name, Written in Blood Book Two Bound by Blood cover by Brandon Burnside — **Completed trilogy · Book Two**Historical crime saga110,000 wordsComplete · Unpublished

02 · Sneak peek

Her Name, Written in Blood II: Bound by Blood

The Bellandi name survived New York. Now it has become a target.

Lucia returns to New York in September 1926 and finds a Canadian-stamped warning beneath her contracts: WE REMEMBER NAMES. Emilio Mancuso is still alive, the criminal network behind him is rebuilding, and Lucia refuses to abandon either the stage or Bellandi Productions. Mario remains beside her, even as work, danger, and Lucia’s fear of giving fate one more promise repeatedly delay their wedding.

When Lucia’s gifted younger sister Rosa crosses the Atlantic to build a career in costume design, the Bellandi family’s American dream grows larger—and more exposed. Through the final years of the Roaring Twenties, black cars, automatic gunfire, corrupt policemen, and a gathering financial collapse close around the family. Lucia must decide whether a famous name is a weakness criminals can exploit or a legacy strong enough to survive them.

New York · 1926–1930Complete · Seeking representation

SisterhoodLegacyOrganized crimeThe Roaring Twenties

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

03 · Sneak peek

Her Name, Written in Blood — Book Three: The Bellandi Legacy

The past demanded blood. The future demands a name.

With the Great Depression closing around New York, Lucia Bellandi fights to keep Bellandi Theatre alive while enemies trade bullets for forged invoices, manipulated debt, and pressure aimed at every business connected to her family. A man calling himself James Ward infiltrates the building and warns her not to open a new production, proving the threat against the Bellandis has learned how to hide behind respectable faces.

Paolo returns from Italy carrying Rosa’s green coat and joins the theatre’s business operations as Lucia, Mario, investigators, witnesses, and prosecutors turn survival into a coordinated fight for justice. To finish the war over her family’s name, Lucia must choose whether the Bellandi legacy will be defined by grief and vengeance—or by the work, art, love, and future her family builds after the violence ends.

New York & Canepina · 1930–1935Complete · Seeking representation

The Great DepressionJusticeFamily legacyA name reclaimed

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

Twenty-three public previews · Twenty-four additional manuscripts

Fresh nightmares. New crimes. No safe endings.

04 · Nightgrave title

BLOOD ON THE HONOR ROLL

Some schools make leaders. This one makes monsters.

Tampa, 1996. Sixteen-year-old Benedetto ‘Benny’ Corsico has spent most of his life fighting—for respect, for survival, and against the future everyone says he deserves. One final arrest leaves him with a choice: juvenile detention or Blackthorne Preparatory Academy, an elite boarding school where wealth buys silence and cruelty hides behind tradition.

At Blackthorne, Benny collides with the Crown Eight, a ruthless circle of privileged students who rule through humiliation and violence. With brilliant outsider Milo Bellini, compassionate teacher Mr. Weather, and Veronica DeLuca beside him, Benny uncovers a buried legacy of blood beneath the school’s polished halls. As secrets surface and revenge turns deadly, he must decide whether surviving Blackthorne is worth becoming the monster it tried to create.

Tampa, Florida · 1996Complete · Forthcoming from Nightgrave Publishing

1996 TampaElite boarding schoolPrivilege and violenceRevenge and survival

Forthcoming from Nightgrave Publishing · No longer available for representation

Official manuscript page View official Nightgrave book page

05 · Nightgrave title

I’LL SIGN YOUR NAME WHEN YOU’RE DEAD

Every name on the page carries a price.

In 1976 Tampa, novelist Alexander Taylor works late at his typewriter while the watchful Robert remains close. What begins as a struggle to write becomes something far more dangerous when the names entering Alexander’s manuscript begin carrying consequences beyond fiction.

As authorship turns into obsession and every new page tightens the trap, Alexander must discover who is truly controlling the story—and whose name will be signed when it ends.

Tampa, Florida · 1976Complete · Forthcoming from Nightgrave Publishing

1976 TampaA writer under surveillanceAuthorship and controlObsession

Forthcoming from Nightgrave Publishing · No longer available for representation

Official manuscript page View official Nightgrave book page

06 · Sneak peek

WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS DIE

Every door locks at 6:47. When the streetlights fail, the Hollow Men come up.

Tampa, 1983. Every evening, the people of Forest Hills bolt their windows before the siren. When nine-year-old Evan Pike vanishes and returns speaking in stolen voices, seventeen-year-old Daniel Mercer learns the Hollow Men do not simply kill: they keep victims alive beneath the city, draining fear, memories, voices, and vitality until the captives become monsters.

To save Evan and find the mother taken eleven years earlier, Daniel must unite a terrified neighborhood, descend into the tunnels beneath Sulphur Springs, and keep Tampa's last streetlights burning long enough to close what is waking in the dark.

Tampa, Florida · 1983Complete · Seeking representation

1983 TampaThe Hollow MenMissing childrenNeighborhood resistance

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

07 · Sneak peek

I Loved You Before You Knew Me

He loved her before she knew him. Surviving him means teaching him what love is not.

In 1984 Tampa, Nina Caruso begins noticing small violations around the Royal Palms Motor Lodge: an object moved, a window opened, a man breathing behind an ordinary old-man mask. Her watcher is Milo Hollis, an escaped institutional patient who mistakes surveillance for devotion and believes a person’s final gaze can preserve the soul.

As detectives Rafael Martinez and Joan Rourke uncover the women Milo has stalked, recorded, and killed, Nina discovers that his obsession began with the sister he strangled as a teenager. Milo has spent years learning Nina’s routines and building hidden rooms beneath the city for the ending he believes she owes him. To survive, Nina must remain frightened without becoming passive—and fight the man who has confused being seen with being loved.

Tampa, Florida · 1984Complete · Seeking representation

1984 TampaObsessive stalkingWomen who fight backThe horror of being watched

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

08 · Sold project

REVENGE ’85: THE NEW KID

Fear is theirs. Revenge is yours.

Seventeen-year-old Danny Marino expects his move to Tampa to mean a new school and a clean break from the father he left behind. Instead, he finds Chamberlain High ruled by Robby Kane and the Chiefs, a pack of violent rich-kid predators protected by something far more dangerous than teenage cruelty.

When students begin disappearing, Danny uncovers a criminal empire built by Robby’s father, Victor Kane. With Rebecca Vale and battle-scarred karate instructor Calvin ‘Fearless’ Mercer beside him, Danny is pulled into a war stretching from school hallways to the Tampa waterfront. To save the missing kids and protect the people he loves, the new kid must become the one who fights back.

Tampa, Florida · 1985Acquired by Nightgrave Publishing · No longer available

1985 TampaMartial artsCriminal familyRevenge and redemption

Acquired by Nightgrave Publishing · No longer available for representation

Official manuscript page View publisher announcement

09 · Sold project

REVENGE ’86: NO ONE GETS OUT

They survived 1985. In 1986, the men behind Victor Kane come to finish the story.

Tampa, summer 1986. A late-night payphone summons Danny Moreno into the unfinished war left by Victor Kane. Raymond Voss, a name buried in Calvin ‘Fearless’ Mercer’s past, has spent decades turning boxers, police officers, businesses, and missing young people into a system called Crown. When a hunted boy arrives with a warning and a black ledger points back to Danny, Calvin, Becca, and Robby, the survivors of 1985 learn that Victor was only one piece of a much larger machine.

The trail runs from a shuttered arcade and Tall Pines to Miami boxing gyms, Bay St. Louis, school halls, and hidden Crown archives. White roses mark the watched, old family secrets fracture loyalties, and a new director uses kidnapped children and fight tapes to turn Danny Moreno into a symbol. To rescue them and break the inheritance of violence, Danny must decide whether courage means landing the final blow—or refusing to become the men he is fighting.

Tampa, Florida · 1986Acquired by Nightgrave Publishing · No longer available

1986 TampaCrime conspiracyInherited violenceChoosing restraint

Acquired by Nightgrave Publishing · No longer available for representation

Official manuscript page View publisher announcement

10 · Sneak peek

WHEN THE ROOMS LEARN YOUR NAME

He spent his life proving ghosts were fake. Then one house learned his name.

In 1995 Tampa, skeptical horror author Bram Kestrel enters the Carroway with documentary researcher Nozomi Kuroda, expecting to expose another manufactured haunting. Instead, the impossible rooms learn their names, change around them, and force them to confront a house that does not merely contain its victims—it records, rearranges, and keeps them.

Bram and Nozomi must read the Carroway’s rules before the house rewrites them into its history. Their escape changes both investigators and becomes the first complete supernatural case in Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi, a continuing series built around a new self-contained haunting in every novel.

Tampa, Florida · 1995Complete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

1995 TampaHaunted roomsA skeptic confrontedEvidence through the camera

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11 · Sneak peek

THE LIGHT THAT CALLS THEM HOME

The light speaks in the voices of the dead—and asks the living to choose.

After surviving the Carroway, Bram Kestrel and Nozomi Kuroda open a paranormal office in downtown Tampa. The publicity brings a television opportunity, a flood of new cases, and Malik St. James to the front desk. One call leads to the Vale family and a lantern tied to St. Aurelia, where fourteen children died in a fire and the dead have learned how to call the grieving home.

The light does not simply imitate lost loved ones. It tempts people to choose the dead over the living, while Sister Agnes wears Bram’s face and pieces of St. Aurelia surface across Tampa. With rival ghost hunter Gideon Voss sabotaging their work and a nervous television crew demanding evidence, Bram and Nozomi must close the doorway without letting public attention turn the haunting into something larger.

Tampa, Florida · St. AureliaComplete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

Supernatural griefThe St. Aurelia lanternTampa paranormal televisionA dangerous rival

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

12 · Sneak peek

THE HOTEL THAT NEVER CHECKS OUT

The hotel does not keep its guests. It turns them into rooms.

A hotel built with two floors develops three more overnight. Its new doors bear the names of Bram Kestrel, Nozomi Kuroda, and everyone closest to them, while Room 301 offers lives they might have lived and a wet-haired woman waits in the impossible corridors. At Marrow House, checking in is not a reservation—it is an identity the building intends to make permanent.

As Arthur Marrow fights to keep ownership of the people his hotel has reduced to rooms, public fascination with Bram and Nozomi’s television work feeds the impossible floors. A return bell may let the trapped residents check out, but the phenomenon has already reached Nozomi’s family in Japan. To free the hotel’s forgotten guests, Bram and Nozomi must refuse every role the building assigns them—including its version of their future together—and choose what their newly declared love will mean for themselves.

Tampa Bay · Marrow House · 1995Complete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

Impossible hotel floorsIdentity and alternate livesBram and Nozomi become a coupleRoom 301

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13 · Sneak peek

THE DEAD STILL LIVE UPSTAIRS

There is no third floor. But the dead still live upstairs.

A North Tampa family hears footsteps, running water, and furniture moving above the ceiling of a two-story house. Their daughter’s phone photographs a staircase that is invisible to the naked eye, and nine-year-old Caleb disappears after warning them about a wet-haired woman upstairs. Bram Kestrel and Nozomi Kuroda arrive to investigate a floor that should not exist—and discover that cameras, reflections, and stories can reveal different versions of an expanding upper architecture.

As impossible floors spread across homes, the team’s office, and eventually the Tampa skyline, public attention gives the phenomenon more rooms and more victims. With Malik, Kenji, Barbara, and even rival investigator Gideon drawn into the case, Bram and Nozomi must find Caleb, understand the buried history of the Aurelia, and deny a haunting that turns people into roles, memories into architecture, and certainty into an open door.

Tampa, Florida · 1995Complete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

Impossible upper floorsA missing childHaunted architectureThe Aurelia

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

14 · Sneak peek

THE CHURCH BENEATH THE WATER

The fifth complete case in Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi.

The Church Beneath the Water is the fifth complete, unpublished novel in Brandon Burnside’s Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi series. Its verified public record confirms the title, series placement, complete status, and forty-chapter-plus-epilogue structure.

Bram Kestrel and Nozomi Kuroda return as the continuing investigators in another self-contained supernatural case. Detailed story material and the full manuscript remain private and are available only for confidential professional review.

Setting withheld from this public previewComplete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

Supernatural horrorBram KestrelNozomi KurodaComplete unpublished manuscript

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

15 · Sneak peek

THE MOUNTAIN DOOR

The sixth complete case in Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi.

The Mountain Door is the sixth complete, unpublished novel in Brandon Burnside’s Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi series. The verified saved record confirms its title, series placement, and status as a complete novel.

Bram Kestrel and Nozomi Kuroda return as the continuing investigators in another self-contained supernatural case. Detailed story material, exact length, chapter structure, and the full manuscript remain private pending verified professional review.

Setting withheld from this public previewComplete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

Supernatural horrorBram KestrelNozomi KurodaComplete unpublished manuscript

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

16 · Sneak peek

THE HOUSE BEHIND HER CLOSET

The seventh complete case in Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi.

The House Behind Her Closet is the seventh complete, unpublished novel in Brandon Burnside’s Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi series. The verified saved record identifies it as the complete edited agent master for Book Seven.

Setting withheld from this public previewComplete · Edited agent master · Unpublished

Supernatural horrorBram KestrelNozomi KurodaEdited agent master

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

17 · Sneak peek

THE CEMETERY WITH NO NAMES

At Saint Mercy, the dead are not the only ones who can lose their names.

In their eighth complete case, Bram Kestrel and Nozomi Kuroda investigate Saint Mercy, a cemetery whose nameless graves lead to the Name House. When Nozomi’s name is taken, she remains physically present—but even her brother Kenji can no longer remember what she is called.

To restore what was stolen, Bram, Nozomi, and their team must confront the false Watch, the Keeper, a supernatural bell mechanism, an unknown child, Bram’s own grave, and seven role traps. The mystery resolves as a complete standalone case while its epilogue opens the door to Book Nine and Room 13.

Saint Mercy cemeteryComplete · Edited agent master · Unpublished

Stolen namesSaint MercyThe Name HouseIdentity and memory

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18 · Sneak peek

THE THIRTEENTH DESK

At West Haven, attendance never ends—and Room Thirteen is calling one more name.

In 1971, a teacher at West Haven Middle School takes attendance in a classroom with twelve students and thirteen desks. When Peter Valez answers a dead intercom's call with one word—present—the room seals its own history behind the walls.

Decades later, Bram Kestrel and Nozomi Kuroda investigate the abandoned Room Thirteen, where attendance is announced every morning and one living person is always marked absent. To break the roll call, they must uncover the student who was never enrolled before the last bell makes the class permanent.

West Haven Middle School, Tampa · 1971 and the presentComplete · Unpublished

Haunted classroomThe thirteenth name1971 TampaMemory and erasure

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19 · Sneak peek

THE FOURTEENTH NAME

The last name on the roll may be yours.

At Mercy Falls High School, a sealed observation corridor conceals the legacy of researcher Marian Weller and an experiment built around thirteen subjects and the watcher who believed she stood outside the count. When the dark glass begins shaping the behavior of everyone who enters, Bram and Nozomi discover a haunting that does more than observe: it pressures its victims to become the identities assigned to them.

With their team caught inside the performance, they must uncover who carries the fourteenth name—and force the watcher to become part of the story she created. The case stands as the tenth complete, unpublished novel in Ghost Hunting with Bram & Nozomi and remains available for confidential professional review.

Mercy Falls High SchoolComplete · Unpublished · Seeking representation

The watcher in the glassAssigned identitiesMercy Falls High SchoolThe fourteenth name

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20 · Sneak peek

The Version They Accepted

A rejected novelist discovers the book that got accepted is rewriting reality to erase him from his own story.

At 2:13 a.m., Miles Harlan receives the rejection he has spent six years dreading. Minutes later, he learns that debut writer Adrian Vale has sold a novel containing Miles’s invented road, characters, scenes—and even the private revisions his estranged wife suggested. Then the evidence begins changing. Emails vanish, screenshots go blank, old drafts rewrite themselves, and the byline on Miles’s manuscript becomes Adrian’s name.

Miles discovers the accepted book is not merely stealing his work. It is replacing his authorship, identity, relationships, and eventually his body. With the people closest to him starting to forget he ever wrote the novel, Miles must challenge a publishing system that can make one version of a story real—and erase everyone the chosen version no longer needs.

Florida & New York · ContemporaryComplete · Seeking representation

Publishing nightmareIdentity erasureMetafictionDark humor

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

21 · Sneak peek

What Death Is Owed

Love can postpone death. It cannot erase the debt.

In 1994 Tampa, thirty-six-year-old Nora Vale refuses to accept that her father, Elias, is dying from a degenerative illness. When medicine has nothing left to offer, Nora turns to Mara Vey, an elderly folk healer known as the Remedy Woman. Mara can restore Elias—but life cannot be created, only moved, and every dose must be purchased from someone else.

Nora begins choosing victims she believes the world will not miss. Elias grows healthier and younger, while the voices and memories of the dead begin surfacing inside him. A box of 1958 clippings reveals that Nora’s family has paid this price before, and the final remedy demands the one death Elias could never survive. To end the cycle, Nora must face the difference between saving someone and making another life into currency.

Tampa · 1994Complete · Seeking representation

GriefFolk horrorMoral corruptionInherited debt

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

22 · Sneak peek

The Little Mouths Below

The house does not creak. It chews.

In August 1996, newlyweds Claire and Evan move into Vane House, a decaying Georgia farmhouse where they hope to build a quiet life and start a family. Behind a barred section of the basement, they discover a sealed opening, children’s voices, and evidence that the house once belonged to Eleanor Vane, a nineteenth-century witch who abducted children.

The children never left. Their souls are trapped inside foot-tall, sharp-toothed creatures that crawl through the walls, feed on the living, and steal memories from the people they mark. As Claire’s pregnancy raises the stakes, the couple must break Eleanor’s hold over the house before its hungry little mouths erase their family before it can begin.

Briar County, Georgia · 1996Complete · Seeking representation

Haunted houseA witch’s curseCreature horrorLost children

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

23 · Sneak peek

The Last Reading

Vivian can stop the death she sees. Someone else always pays.

After a final reading for Elena Dragomir, fraudulent psychic Vivian begins seeing deaths before they happen—first her own, then the deaths of the people she loves. She can intervene and save the person in her vision, but death does not disappear. It redirects to someone else, often at the exact moment Vivian believes she has won.

Sleep-deprived and desperate, Vivian turns her home into a fortress and uncovers the betrayal that brought Elena’s curse to her door. The only possible exit leads through Carrie, the best friend who helped build Vivian’s business and hid the worst of their fraud. Breaking the curse may require Vivian to commit the one act that would prove she deserves it.

Tampa Bay · ContemporaryComplete · Seeking representation

Death visionsRedirectionBetrayalMoral horror

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

The Uncut Shelf VHS horror cover by Brandon Burnside — **New manuscript · Sharon Mars II**Adult supernatural horror · Thriller90,000 wordsComplete · Unpublished

24 · Sneak peek

The Uncut Shelf: The Dreams of Sharon Mars II

The rarest tapes at Unique Video were never movies.

In 1987 Tampa Bay, a new detective investigating a trail of brutal VHS recordings finds Unique Video, a strange independent rental shop run by Benson Ray. The rarest tapes do more than document murder: copied from one machine to another, they reproduce violent commands and pull viewers into crimes that should exist only on magnetic tape.

The case reaches back to a 1978 House of Horrors investigation and a killer officially declared dead. With Detective Maria Fucci drawn back into the darkness that killed her former partner, Sharon Mars must enter a world of neon aisles, unmarked cassettes, and buried footage before the curse reaches her nine-year-old son.

Tampa Bay · 1987Complete · Seeking representation

VHS horror1980s TampaA killer on tapeSharon Mars

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

25 · Sneak peek

The Price of a Bestseller

Every masterpiece demands a sacrifice. Daniel Vale’s demands a body.

In 1986 Tampa, forty-one-year-old Daniel Vale is a struggling novelist watching his last chance disappear. Then a murder he writes happens exactly as described. The pages gain a power they never had before, and success arrives with a terrifying rule: the story only becomes real after someone dies according to the scene.

As Daniel’s fame grows, the people who loved him begin forgetting him—first small memories, then whole pieces of their lives together. Guided by a mysterious former writer who understands the bargain, Daniel must choose between the career he has spent years chasing and the human connections being erased to pay for it.

Tampa · 1986Complete · Seeking representation

1986 TampaDark ambitionMemory erasureA deadly bargain

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

26 · Sneak peek

A Dangerous Love Between Us

Power gave Misty Rose Vanderbilt everything—except a way out.

At eighteen, Misty Rose Vanderbilt has spent her life surviving under the control of Christian Vanderbilt, the feared head of a Tampa Bay crime dynasty. Then Lee, a tattooed valet, saves her from a speeding car—and treats her like a person instead of an inheritance.

Their growing connection gives Misty the courage to choose a life beyond her father’s gates. But when she makes her move, family secrets, hired killers, and a mother long believed dead turn her escape into a fight for survival. To protect the people who risk everything for her, Misty must stop running, expose Christian’s empire, and confront the man who considers her freedom a betrayal.

Tampa Bay, FloridaComplete · Seeking representation

Forbidden loveFamily secretsCrime dynastySurvival

Official manuscript page Request professional materials

Representation inquiriesFinished manuscripts, synopses, and sample pages are ready.

brandonlee2282@gmail.com

© 2026 Brandon Burnside. All Rights Reserved. Promotional synopses and concept covers only. Manuscripts remain unpublished and are not offered for public sale. No reproduction, distribution, adaptation, or public posting is authorized. Complete authorship and rights notice.

05 / Favorite reads

My Favorite Five Books.

Five unforgettable books that have stayed with Brandon as both a reader and a writer.

Brandon’s favorite

Swan Song

Robert R. McCammon

In a nuclear-ravaged America, scattered survivors are drawn into an epic struggle between good and evil. A gifted child named Swan may be humanity’s greatest hope for a living future.

Brandon’s favorite

Thinner

Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman

After escaping responsibility for a fatal accident, lawyer Billy Halleck is cursed to lose weight without stopping. His desperate search for a cure becomes a nightmare about guilt, revenge, and consequences.

Brandon’s favorite

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

Esther Greenwood appears talented and successful, yet she is slowly pulled into a devastating mental-health crisis. Sylvia Plath’s classic explores identity, isolation, and the pressure of other people’s expectations.

Brandon’s favorite

Relentless

Dean Koontz

A successful novelist and devoted family man crosses paths with a vicious critic. What begins with a bad review becomes an escalating fight against an enemy whose cruelty threatens everything he loves.

Brandon’s favorite

Almost Transparent Blue

Ryū Murakami

A raw, dreamlike portrait of lost youth near an American military base in 1970s Japan. Its characters drift through music, drugs, violence, and alienation while searching for something that still feels real.

06 / Italian heritage

From Florida to Canepina.

Brandon’s author story crosses the Atlantic and reaches back through generations.

His maternal great-grandfather left Canepina, a small town near Viterbo, for America. After reconnecting online with relatives he had never met, Brandon made his first journey to Canepina in 2021. The town became a second home, deepening his connection to family, language, culture, and the stories that came before him.

Read Brandon’s Italian story

Le radici · The roots

Canepina

2021First journey home

50+Extended relatives

2Countries, one identity

07 / Verified recognition

Features, readers & press.

Press profile

Discover Places · Italy

When the love for your Italian roots runs coast to coast

Brandon’s journey from Florida to his family’s town of Canepina.

Voyage Tampa · Interview

Daily Inspiration: Meet Brandon Burnside

A conversation about creativity, work, and building a life in Tampa.

Author · Entrepreneur

Brandon Detail Doctor

The Tampa business Brandon built alongside his writing career.

Goodreads · Reader community

Reader catalog on Goodreads

Explore Brandon’s catalog, ratings, and reader activity on Goodreads.

For media, bookstores & event organizersOfficial biographies, photographs, book information, and contact details.

Open the professional media kit

08 / News

From the writing desk.

All updates

September 25, 2026New release · Nightgrave Publishing

Tampa Italiano: Welcome Home, Family is available on Amazon

Brandon Burnside’s folk-horror novel about ancestry, a staged family reunion, and the cost of belonging joins his published catalog as its eighth book.

September 21, 2026Forthcoming · Nightgrave Publishing

Blood on the Honor Roll joins the Nightgrave slate

Brandon Burnside’s complete 91,677-word dark-academia crime thriller, set at an elite Tampa boarding school in 1996, enters production at Nightgrave Originals.

August 30, 2026Acquisition · Nightgrave Publishing

Nightgrave Publishing acquires both REVENGE novels

REVENGE ’85: THE NEW KID and REVENGE ’86: NO ONE GETS OUT have been acquired by Nightgrave Publishing and are no longer available for representation.

10 / Connect

Step inside Brandon’s world.

Follow the writing journey, discover the books, or reach out for author inquiries.

Author inquiries · GmailEmail Brandonbrandonlee2282@gmail.com

Stories born in the shadows of Tampa Bay.

BLOOD ON THE HONOR ROLL

When the Rooms Learn Your Name

The Light That Calls Them Home

The Hotel That Never Checks Out

The Dead Still Live Upstairs

The Church Beneath the Water

The Mountain Door

The House Behind Her Closet

The Cemetery With No Names

The Thirteenth Desk

The Fourteenth Name

Meet the mind behind the nightmares.

The love behind the darkness.

A growing body of work.

Every public title. One shelf.

Six journeys into darkness.

American Purge

“82” Year of the Monster

When a Moon Comes Alive at Midnight

Cursed Book of the Devil’s Dummy

The Detailer

The Dreams of Sharon Mars

Camp Evergreen

Tampa Italiano: Welcome Home, Family

Eight worlds. Eight nightmares.

The Bellandi story begins here.

Her Name, Written in Blood — Book One

Her Name, Written in Blood II: Bound by Blood

Her Name, Written in Blood — Book Three: The Bellandi Legacy

Fresh nightmares. New crimes. No safe endings.

BLOOD ON THE HONOR ROLL

I’LL SIGN YOUR NAME WHEN YOU’RE DEAD

WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS DIE

I Loved You Before You Knew Me

REVENGE ’85: THE NEW KID

REVENGE ’86: NO ONE GETS OUT

WHEN THE ROOMS LEARN YOUR NAME

THE LIGHT THAT CALLS THEM HOME

THE HOTEL THAT NEVER CHECKS OUT

THE DEAD STILL LIVE UPSTAIRS

THE CHURCH BENEATH THE WATER

THE MOUNTAIN DOOR

THE HOUSE BEHIND HER CLOSET

THE CEMETERY WITH NO NAMES

THE THIRTEENTH DESK

THE FOURTEENTH NAME

The Version They Accepted

What Death Is Owed

The Little Mouths Below

The Last Reading

The Uncut Shelf: The Dreams of Sharon Mars II

The Price of a Bestseller

A Dangerous Love Between Us

My Favorite Five Books.

Swan Song

Thinner

The Bell Jar

Relentless

Almost Transparent Blue

From Florida to Canepina.

Features, readers & press.

When the love for your Italian roots runs coast to coast

Daily Inspiration: Meet Brandon Burnside

Brandon Detail Doctor

Reader catalog on Goodreads

From the writing desk.

Tampa Italiano: Welcome Home, Family is available on Amazon

Blood on the Honor Roll joins the Nightgrave slate

Nightgrave Publishing acquires both REVENGE novels

Enter Brandon’s Midnight List.

Step inside Brandon’s world.