Books with author Steven M. Cross

Dean knows being different isn’t always a good thing.Trapped by the voices and visits from the dead, Dean is drowning. His father, allegedly drowned, and the friend who took his own life taunt like the school bullies he can’t seem to get away from. A sliver of hope breaks through when his mother announces they are moving. A chance for a fresh start for all of them. So why does she move them to the cottage near the river his father drowned in? The water begins to envelop him, threatening to pull him under, when Dean discovers nothing changes and the bullies find not only him, but his twin sister, Dee, as favorite targets. Dean’s personal struggles worsen as his tentative grasp on reality weakens.An unexpected hand plunges through the water toward him, bringing with it questions and a family secret that haunts them all.

Dean knows being different isn’t always a good thing.Trapped by the voices and visits from the dead, Dean is drowning. His father, allegedly drowned, and the friend who took his own life taunt like the school bullies he can’t seem to get away from. A sliver of hope breaks through when his mother announces they are moving. A chance for a fresh start for all of them. So why does she move them to the cottage near the river his father drowned in? The water begins to envelop him, threatening to pull him under, when Dean discovers nothing changes and the bullies find not only him, but his twin sister, Dee, as favorite targets. Dean’s personal struggles worsen as his tentative grasp on reality weakens.An unexpected hand plunges through the water toward him, bringing with it questions and a family secret that haunts them all.

In the second book of the Knight series, Dean Knight tries to cope with his serious injury and mental illness which leaves him confused and with most of his memory gone. The dark secrets of his and his family's past torment him as much as the voices that he hears and the visions of his dead father and sister which pop up during the times when he is least likely able to deal with them effectively. He finds himself torn among three girls that seem to like him. One of them wants to use his talents for her own gain, another one represents a past he would just as soon forget, and the final one has her own mental problems to deal with. Even with his mental illness, Dean manages to resume a somewhat normal existence, but it doesn't last long when the jock who caused his twin sister's death enters back into Dean's life. Can a team of mental professionals, including a psychiatrist with his own unorthodox methods, save Dean once again before the stress in his life and the bullying he faces destroy him forever?

The woods near Bryan Stewart’s house have a long history of evil. When he was 14, he became a victim of it. Police found him semiconscious, a large amount of LSD in his system, lying on a path close to the heart of the woods. When he recovered, he could remember nothing about his ordeal except that something had changed him forever.Not long afterward, Bryan tried to kill himself. What makes a 14-year-old boy so depressed he doesn’t want to live? His parents think he has a mental illness; the townspeople just think he’s an evil, drug-crazed thug, and Bryan has no idea what happened. He only knows it all began the night of his ordeal, the night he has blocked out of his mind. After he meets two girls his own age: a beautiful, almost pagan-like, dark-haired girl, and a devoted Christian who constantly challenges him on his own faith, Bryan begins to remember what happened to him when he was 14. Even more frightening than the memories, is the realization that the evil is returning and wants Bryan again. He must choose the correct path, the one that will lead him safely through the dark woods. If he chooses the wrong path, innocent people will die in ways that are unimaginable.

In this hilarious middle grade novel, Walt Michaels who is out in left field more often than not both literally and physically, must survive the last few months of sixth grade, a job that becomes even more difficult when he unexpectedly falls in love. This romance begins oddly enough when he hits a line drive off Rhonda Regen's forehead. Next, thing you know, he's committed to going to the spring formal with her, but this is the least of his worries because the biggest bully in school has challenged Walt and his fellow Weenies to a grudge softball match. Walt's friends came together after a disastrous in-class presentation that attempted to explore the story of westward expansion, but which, instead gave Walt the most embarrassing moment of his life. The dragon lady, his teacher, and Dr. Death, the principal, will be the end of Walt yet, but if he can just hang on, then maybe things can work out. This book is dedicated to everybody who dreams and everyone who has survived middle school.

Jesse faces bullies almost every day of his life but when the evil Huskus kidnaps a beautiful Elven girl, Jess takes on the responsibility of saving her. He finds himself in an alternative world of magic and sorcery where three proud races, the dragerts, the zyglots, and humans hate each other. Jess helps them to understand each other and to realize that Huskus has used trickery to drive them apart. Now, it is up to Jess to unite the three races so that they can work together to defeat Huskus' evil kingdom.

In the second book of the Knight series, Dean Knight tries to cope with his serious injury and mental illness which leaves him confused and with most of his memory gone. The dark secrets of his and his family's past torment him as much as the voices that he hears and the visions of his dead father and sister which pop up during the times when he is least likely able to deal with them effectively. He finds himself torn among three girls that seem to like him. One of them wants to use his talents for her own gain, another one represents a past he would just as soon forget, and the final one has her own mental problems to deal with. Even with his mental illness, Dean manages to resume a somewhat normal existence, but it doesn't last long when the jock who caused his twin sister's death enters back into Dean's life. Can a team of mental professionals, including a psychiatrist with his own unorthodox methods, save Dean once again before the stress in his life and the bullying he faces destroy him forever?

When Lancelot’s family is destroyed and a strange wizard kidnaps him, Lancelot doesn’t know if he wants to go on living. But in her dying breath, his mother reveals to him that he is destined to be somebody special. However, when he loses his first true love to death and his second to politics, he feels as if nothing good will ever come to him. Add to that when he is possessed by three separate spirits at the same time -- all with a grudge against him things really take on a dark shading for poor Lancelot! When the two spirits who hate him team up with the one whose death he caused he finds himself thrust into the middle of a huge conflict. One that can not only destroy the Lady of the Lake, but also Camelot and another kingdom of which he has no part. When the wizard reveals to him that he is part of this kingdom that exists hundreds of years int he future Lancelot must act! With past, present, and future resting in his hands, Lancelot has to fight for his life and for the world.