welcome to screaming woods
A chilling blend of supernatural suspense and coming-of-age mystery, The Skeleton Key kicks off the Screaming Woods series—pocket-sized stories perfect for young and adult readers drawn to atmospheric horror, forgotten legends, and the fragile line between myth and truth.
WRITTEN by
R.W. APSE
Screaming Woods I: The Skeleton Key
A forgotten town. A restless key. And something beyond, still breathing.
Fourteen-year-old Reed Rockwell isn’t brave. He’s not afraid, either—just curious enough to move with his family to Screaming Woods, a forgotten town on Maine’s fog-shrouded coast.
Anchored by tall pines, a groaning boardwalk, shuttered shops with peeling paint, and an old, iron-boned lighthouse, Screaming Woods is a place lost to time. Reed’s family comes to revive Pineclaw Cabins—a once-thriving summer retreat now buried in moss and silence.
But Reed soon feels something watching. Something waiting.
As he unravels the town’s buried past, he uncovers whispers of a key—said to unlock a secret long sealed away. Some doors weren’t meant to open, and something in Screaming Woods has been waiting a very long time.
About
R.W. Apse is a creative director, storyteller, and filmmaker based in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where foggy mornings and forest-lined shores fuel his imagination. He’s been chasing stories ever since he could hold a pencil—and capturing them ever since his grandfather handed him a camera. His work blends craft and curiosity, often shaped by a love for the handmade and the heartfelt. When he’s not writing or behind the lens, you’ll find him knee-deep in a carpentry project, casting lines into quiet waters, or off-grid with his wife and three kids, chasing whatever adventure the woods throw their way.
