"If Faulkner wrote fantasy, he'd have written something like this... unique, lyrical, and steeped in Americana folklife." --Sunyi Dean, Author of The Book Eaters and The Girl With A Thousand Faces.
A boy, his dog and a monstrous friend chase down his father's killer in the Idaho wilds.
First Place Winner for Horror in the Firebird Book Awards.
First Place Winner for Dark Fantasy in the Chrysalis BREW Book Excellence Awards.
First Runner-Up for General Fiction in the San Francisco Book Festival.
Silver Medal for Dark Fantasy, Global Book Awards.
Bronze Medal for Dark Fantasy, Bookfest Book Awards.
Finalist for Fiction-Fantasy, American Writing Awards.
16-year old Clayton Stonefly (retelling the story to his dog, Dammit) has no idea who he is -- his parents hid him in the Idaho wilderness and spoke in riddles about his past. When he is thrust on a journey to revenge his father's murder and name the monster that shadows his every move, he finds out much more than he ever wanted.
Clay just wants to be brave like Dammit, his dog, and face the town bully, Big Jim. That, or read Shakespeare on the porch alone in the Idaho wilderness. But Clay has an unfortunate gift: he's haunted by monstrous dreams of his family's dead nemesis, Das Ungeheuer, and every time he tells a story, someone dies.
Clay learns that his parents kept many secrets from him - not the least being there's a family calling that involves monster-wrangling, and a family axe with a mind of its own that may or may not be trying to talk to him.
For fans of Jones's Indian Lake Trilogy, Ellison's A Boy and His Dog and Shakespeare's Hamlet -- this literary Western Gothic builds a new mythos for the 21st Century on ancient folktales including Reynard the fox, Ysengrimus the wolf and Shakesbear. That's right, Shakesbear.
Industry Reviews
"If Faulkner wrote fantasy, he'd have written something like this... unique, lyrical, and steeped in Americana folklife." --Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters and The Girl With A Thousand Faces.
"It's a red-eye cup of coffee, a dark PNW brew... A Gothic Fantasy with a high-noon shot of 'Hamlet.'" --G.K. Undine, author of Plecoptera
"This is a fable, a folk tale, a coming-of-age, gothic Americana nightmare-scape about bullies and reckonings, heroes, villains, and very good dogs. This book is for folks who crave deliberate, flowing prose, careful overlays of imagery and intension, and some damn fine action. I hope with my whole heart that this book finds its readers and they are plentiful. It is a painstaking work of art, pain, and through it all, beauty." --Arlo Z. Graves, Author of The Ice Moves for No One and Black Rose.
"If 'Stranger Things' fell in a river in the Idaho wilderness and crawled out dripping with revenge. A tasty, mythic, bloody treat." --Kwesi Dansonne, author of The Legend of Das Ungeheur and Other Lost Tales
