COFFEE WITH A WRITER! Frostburg Center for Literary Arts, Saturday, October 3

Hosted by the Frostburg Center for Literary Arts

22 East Main St, Frostbugh

THE PRESTON BLACK MIX TAPE IS HERE!

See it at Amazon!

The PRESTON BLACK MIX TAPE bundle is a literary box set! (Almost 220,000 words of Preston Black goodness.) You get both Preston Black novels—THE DEVIL & PRESTON BLACK and THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK, plus two short stories that were only available in other anthologies. ALMOST A NEW YEAR is a vignette that shows how family and friends deal with the loss of a deployed soldier, in this case Stu Croe. RHYTHM OF WAR is Ben Collins’ first person account of his role in the Battle of Fallujah.

In addition to the stories above, you get the following essays, articles, and non-fiction bits I’ve published in various places over the course of writing the first two Preston Black novels:

• THE DEVIL & PRESTON BLACK Reading & Resource Guide
• THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK Reading & Resource Guide
• THE MUSIC OF THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK
• JASON JACK MILLER’S SOUNDCHECK: DON’T BE THAT GUY! THE FINAL SAY IN THE CONCERT T-SHIRT DEBATE
• JASON JACK MILLER’S SOUNDCHECK: THE MUSIC AND THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK
• Because You CAN’T, You WON’T, You DON’T Stop: ADAM YAUCH
• Murder Ballads and Old Magic
• A LOOK BACK, A LOOK AHEAD
• AMERICANA MUSIC: THE ROOT(s) of (SOME, NOT ALL) EVIL
• PATHS TO PUBLICATION: Preston Black
• PUTTING THE BOOK TO BED
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRESTON BLACK!

BOOTLEG: Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Oakdale Theater, Wallingford, CT, February 5, 1999

The days are getting longer, but not warmer. Back in the day Dave would take a break from the band and hit a bunch of small colleges with Tim Reynolds for a series of acoustic shows. This is one of them. Perfect listening for this time of year.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.


Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Oakdale Theater, Wallingford, CT, February 5, 1999

------------------------------------------------------
Disc 1 - set I
------------------------------------------------------
1. Dave talking
2. Granny
3. Say Goodbye
4. Lie In Our Graves
5. Best Of What's Around
6. Jimi Thing >
7. What Will Become Of Me>Pantala Naga Pampa
8. Too Much
9. Reconcile Our Differences
10. Don’t Drink The Water (This Land Is Our Land)
------------------------------------------------------
Disc 2 (set I cont.)
------------------------------------------------------
1. The Stone>Cant Help Falling In Love
2. Tim Solo
3. Crush
4. Two Step
5. Satellite
6. #41
------------------------------------------------------
Disc 3: (set I cont.)
------------------------------------------------------
1. Lover Lay Down
2. So Much To Say
3. Tim Reynolds solo
4. Crash
5. Dancing Nancies
-encore-
6. Typical Situation
7. I'll Back You Up
8. Watchtower
------------------------------------------------------

ACTION NEEDED! Just takes a minute. (Seriously.)

You just need to click the link and provide some info. You can add additional comments if you'd like. Please take a minute to comment-- http://www.saveblackwater.org/action_easternlongearedbat.html

 

Hard to find 'cute' bat pics. Sorry.

 

White-Nose Syndrome Pushing Bats to Extinction!

Of the six species of bats known to be impacted by this disease, the northern long-eared bat is among the hardest hit, dropping by a staggering 99 percent since symptoms of white-nose syndrome were first observed in 2006.  The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is now considering protecting the northern long-eared bat under the Endangered Species Act, a needed action to begin to respond to this dramatic decline.

WNS has caused "the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America," according to biologists and has killed more than 5.7 million bats to date.  Thanks to all of you who have commented!  The FWS is accepting public comments on this proposal until December 3rd, please take action today.

Additional info:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/northern_long-eared_bat/index.html

http://www.saveblackwater.org/

HELLBENDER Nominated for Book of the Year by Appalachian Writers Association!

Just saw that HELLBENDER is an official nominee for the Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year!

In case you've been living under a rock (like a real hellbender) here's the info from the back cover: Although the Collins clan is steeped in Appalachian magic, Henry has never paid it much attention. But when his younger sister dies mysteriously Henry can't shake the feeling that the decades-old feud between his family and another is to blame.

Strange things are happening at the edge of reality, deep in the forests and mountains of West-Virginia. Let Jason Jack Miller take you to a place where love is forever even when death isn't, where magic doesn't have to be seen to be believed, where a song might be the only thing that saves your soul.

Jason Jack Miller's Murder Ballads and Whiskey series is a unique blend of dark fiction, urban fantasy and horror. It's Appalachian Gothic, Alt.Magical.Realism, Hillbilly Horror. It's American Gods meets Justified. True Blood with witches. It's Johnny Cash with a fistful of copperheads singing the devil right back to hell.

And here's a little write-up that appeared on Popmatters: In 'Hellbender', Is He Speeding Away from Trouble? Or Toward It?

And one more from FEARNET: Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains.

Check out the Appalachian Writers Association.

Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains - See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/jason-jack-millers-hellbender-finds-magic-and-murder-mountains#sthash.OyhFpFp3.dpuf

Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains - See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/jason-jack-millers-hellbender-finds-magic-and-murder-mountains#sthash.OyhFpFp3.dpuf

Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains - See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/jason-jack-millers-hellbender-finds-magic-and-murder-mountains#sthash.OyhFpFp3.dpuf

Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains - See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/jason-jack-millers-hellbender-finds-magic-and-murder-mountains#sthash.OyhFpFp3.dpuf

HELLBENDER Print Edition!

You're a traditionalist? You LOVE the feel of paper? Well, here's your chance to get a little HELLBENDER into you system.

Order HELLBENDER now!

HELLBENDER is on Amazon.com!

Mountaintop Removal!

When Jimi Hendrix sang, Well, I stand up next to a mountain, and I chop it down with the edge of my hand... I'm pretty sure he was being metaphorical. 

Well, it ain't.

Classic valley fill. Explosives are used to pulverize the mountaintop down to the coal seams. The overburden is pushed into adjacent stream valleys. Fish species already adversely affected or threatened include the mottled sculpin, fantail darter, roseyside dace, longnose dace, brook trout, and the blacknose dace.

Threatened and endangered reptiles and amphibians include the green salamander, the Santeetlah dusky salamander, the Junaluska salamander, the Tennessee cave salamander, the Bog turtle, and the hellbender, North America's largest amphibian.

The EPA says the mine operators are legally responsible for restoring MTR sites after operations cease. Here's one example of a 'restored' mountain.

Also: Mountaintop Removal Linked to 60,000 Additional Cancer Cases

So I'm not asking for a lot here. Two things, really. Please check these guys out, look at the images and give the 'likes.' Please.

Appalachia Rising

Ramps Campaign

And maybe add this to your Netflix cue: THE LAST MOUNTAIN

These folks are fighting the fight peacefully. This is last year's march on Blair Mountain:

Between now and August 1, 2012, remember the Appalachians when you're Tweeting. Get the word out. Make people aware. That's all.

Raw Dog Screaming Press Book Release Party May 25 at MAC

 

Many, many thanks to Scott Emerson for making this happen!

 

Raw Dog Screaming Press Book Release Party May 25 at MAC

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Raw Dog Screaming Press, in association with Morgantown Poets, will be hosting a book release party Friday May 25 from 7-9pm at Monongalia Arts Center (MAC). The event is free and open to the public.

 

Based in Bowie, Maryland, Raw Dog Screaming Press is dedicated to putting into print the highest quality literature from the fringe, featuring the best in bizarre, surreal, and experimental writing. USA Today.com listed them among the Top 10 indie releases of 2011.  

 

Michael A. Arnzen (author of the offbeat poetry collection The Gorelets Omnibus) and Jason Jack Miller (author of the West Virginia-based novel Hellbender) will be joining the publisher to read their work. A limited number of Raw Dog Screaming Press books will be available for purchase. 

 

Public parking is available near the MAC in the parking garage at the corner of Pleasant and Chestnut Streets and at the city lot behind 142 High Street (enter off Spruce). The MAC is accessible to individuals with special mobility requirements; schedule ahead at least two days prior to the event by calling 304-292-3325, or write to info@monartscenter.com.

 

Morgantown Poets is an informal not-for-profit, all-volunteer community group that meets 7-9 p.m. the third Thursday each month at the MAC, providing literary enthusiasts in north-central West Virginia the opportunity to express themselves, share their work, network and to connect up-and-coming writers with more established authors. New writers are welcome. Join on Facebook by entering “Morgantown Poets” in the search or join the mailing list at morgantownpoets@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (@MorgantownPoets) or watch videos of past events on our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/MorgantownPoets).

Wild and Wonderful HELLBENDER: Jenkinsburg Bridge

    When the road turned into gravel, I gunned it. The rafting outfitters maintained it because it led to the Cheat Canyon take-out. After a half-mile, most of this spring’s gravel got washed out, replaced again by pocked bedrock and mud.
    Alex didn’t say anything until I pulled up to the old Jenkinsburg Bridge. This was much higher than the bridge over the Big Sandy. The old steel trestle spanned the V-shaped Cheat Canyon quite dramatically. Big pines buttressed each end and a rocky rapid flowed below. Occasional rock outcroppings punctuated the steep, green slopes.
    "Are we crossing?"
    "That was the plan," I said. "You said you wanted a plan, right?"
    "This one doesn’t look as sturdy." She sank toward the center of the Jeep and got real low in the seat.
    She was right. The planks hadn’t seen anything other than foot traffic in years.
    I said, "You never heard that you shouldn't look down if you're afraid of heights?"
    She just stared silently at the river, some eighty feet below.
    "Alex," I said. "There’s no other way." I let the Jeep creep forward instead of waiting for her approval.
After a pause she tried to negotiate. "Just go slowly, okay?"
    I pushed the clutch in and said, "I was thinking faster is better. That way our momentum is forward instead of... You know." I pointed down to the river.
    "Can I walk?" She asked.
    "Alex..." I said, drifting toward the bridge. The sound of trucks coming down the take-out road made my decision for me.
    "No time." I put the Jeep in gear and let out the clutch. "When I get to the other side I want you to drive up the hill a ways. Then that’ll be it. I promise."

On This Day in JASON JACK MILLER History: March, 24, 1995

Jason Jack Miller paddles a raft with one hand, saves a kid from a bear AND shows off a new haircut!

This has been ON THIS DAY IN JASON JACK MILLER HISTORY!

CHEAT SEASON

"Some rivers just scare you," Johnny said. “There's one in West Virginia, the Cheat. I've run more difficult water, but there's something about the Cheat that I'm really afraid of. I can't explain it." (Kane 130)

It must be the water in my blood.

After a long winter, it warms and flows a little faster, remembering its ancient course over jagged sandstone ledges through wild mountain canyons. It manifests itself in my dreams first. A rush. A sensation of falling. Suffocating panic. And I haven't been on the Cheat River in fifteen years.

A wave at Decision Rapid flipping a fifteen foot raft end over end.

Upper Coliseum Rapid being altered by high water during the winter of 1993-1994.

A terrible swim at that very same rapid that I'll only tell you about if you buy me a drink.


A dozen waterfalls plunging down the canyon walls at High Falls Rapid after a heavy rain.

The undercut at Teardrop Rapid.

Big Nasty.

That the water in my blood remembers is no surprise. That I still dream of walking down the sandy path to the put-in... That I still dream of paddling like my life depended on it... That I dream of fighting to surface for air that's always too far away and wake up still holding my breath... That's how I know the river will be in my blood forever.

Kane, Joe. "ROARING THROUGH Earth's Deepest Canyon." National Geographic. Jan 1993: 130. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. .

Snippet from HELLBENDER

My third snippet for Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday is taken from my Appalachian dark fantasy novel, HELLBENDER (Raw Dog Screaming Press).

Description: Alex must've been desperate if she came to me for help.

I could protect her from bullets and knives and the wild mountains themselves, but not the dark Appalachian magic I barely believed in.

The only way to save the woman I loved was to head home and end the hundred-year blood feud between her family and mine. I'd kill every last Lewis and bury every last witch in the coal-dusted soil of West Virginia, even if that meant facing them all again in hell.

This is a tale of star-crossed lovers and civil revenge by uncivil hands, written in blood that is barely thicker than water.

Let Raw Dog Screaming Press author Jason Jack Miller take you to a place where love is forever even when death isn't, where magic doesn't have to be seen to be believed, where a song might be the only thing that saves your soul.

MURDER BALLADS AND WHISKEY is a unique blend of dark fiction, urban fantasy and horror. It's Appalachian Gothic, Alt.Magical.Realism, Hillbilly Horror. It's AMERICAN GODS meets JUSTIFIED. TRUE BLOOD with witches. It's Johnny Cash with a fistful of copperheads singing the devil right back to hell.

     Ben laid on the gas, pushing the truck until it began to rattle. The windshield, the doors, they all shook with the ferocity of a steam train. This path, not built for trucks, shook the rubber off the tires and the paint off the body. Now grinning, Ben turned his hat, a crazy engineer bound for the siding with fire in his belly and steam in his head. He laughed at cautions and kicked the brake pedal clean off.
     This train was rolling; momentum and a cargo of rage barreled along behind us. Ben kept his hand off the brake and I just kept shoveling coal in. Thunder shouted our arrival through the canyon, lightning guided us through crossings. The torrent of rain hit the hood, now radiating with the heat of a thousand horses. The dime-sized drops turned into a trail of steam that followed us down the track like a specter of all those who’d plied this canyon before us.

Check out other author snippets at the official site: Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday

A Snippet from THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK

My second snippet for Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday is taken from my Appalachian dark fantasy novel, THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK (Raw Dog Screaming Press).

Description:Preston Black has a nasty habit of falling in love with the wrong type of woman. But girls who don't play nice are the least of his problems. This handsome bar band guitarist isn't washed-up, but he's about to be. He's broke, he's tired of playing covers and he's obsessed with the Curse of 27.

He's about to add 'deal with the devil' to his list.

Lucky for Preston, he has help. Like the angelic beauty who picks him up when he's down. And the university professor who helps him sort through old Appalachian hexes and curses to find the song that may be his only shot at redemption. And when things get real bad, he has the ghost of John Lennon to remind him that "nothing is real."

Let Raw Dog Screaming Press author Jason Jack Miller take you to a place where love is forever even when death isn't, where magic doesn't have to be seen to be believed, where a song might be the only thing that saves your soul.

MURDER BALLADS AND WHISKEY is a unique blend of dark fiction, urban fantasy and horror. It's Appalachian Gothic, Alt.Magical.Realism, Hillbilly Horror. It's AMERICAN GODS meets JUSTIFIED. TRUE BLOOD with witches. It's Johnny Cash with a fistful of copperheads singing the devil right back to hell.

     Most people didn't have to dig as deep as me to find something they recognized in an old record or song.

     And digging deeper was pretty much what I was doing the day I found my LP misplaced behind Blizzard of Oz. On my way to return it to the BLUEGRASS section the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen stepped out of the stacks. She smiled. I smiled back. She asked what I had in my hand. On the album cover a bunch of anonymous pickers sat in front of an old log cabin. The back of the record said Uncle Mason's Front Porch: Best of the Blackwater Sessions.

And on the track list, between "Pretty Polly" and "Hangman's Reel" was a song called "The Sad Ballad of Preston Black," written by E. Black.

     I knew right then and there that if I could ever find the man who'd written that song, I'd have found my dad. 

Check out other author snippets at the official site: Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday

THE DEVIL AND PEPPER JACK: Black Bear Burritos Edition!

Many thanks to Joe White and the gang at Black Bear Burritos for such an awesome week! (And special thanks to Amandarin Riviera for getting this ball rolling.) Yinz guys are awesome, and I hope my love for you and what you do came through in the book. If not, wait for the print version.

Bruce Springsteen and Friends, Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ, December 17, 2000

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK: There’s no place where loneliness feels worse than in bed. Waking up with her made me want to erase those last few lonely months, pretend like Dani and I’d been together forever. I wanted to forget about New Year’s Eve by myself. At midnight, when everybody was exchanging kisses, me and Paulie and Stu exchanged sympathies. And I wanted to forget about Christmas morning. Paulie and me in this apartment exchanging unwrapped boxes after eating leftover Kung Pao chicken and eggrolls. I got him a few bass pedals and a bottle of Jack and he got me a nice hand-tooled leather guitar strap. I outspent him, but that was beside the point.

A nice Friday download for yinz. OR, a really cheap Christmas gift for that special someone.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Bruce Springsteen and Friends 2000-12-17 - CONVENTION HALL, ASBURY PARK, NJ

Disc One:
01 Jingle Bells Intro (Max Weinberg 7)
02 For You
03 Blue Christmas
04 Powerhouse (Max Weinberg 7)
05 Run Run Rudolph
06 Luckytown
07 E-Street Shuffle
08 Kitty's Back
09 Rose (Patti Scialfa)
10 As Long As I Can Be With You (Patti Scialfa)
11 This Time It's For Real (SSJ, Little Steven & Bruce)
12 Good Is Gone (Little Steven)
13 All I Needed Was You (SSJ, Little Steven, Bruce)

Disc Two
01 Shine Silently (Nils Lofgren)
02 Merry Christmas Baby
03 So Young and In Love
04 Roll of the Dice
05 Bobby Jean
06 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
07 My City Of Ruins
08 I Don't Want To Go Home (SSJ, Little Steven & Bruce)
09 Rosalita
10 Santa Claus is Coming to Town


TheBoots.net synopsis:
The material from the second album all sounded great with the addition of the horns from the Max Weinberg 7. "Blue Christmas" was done in a basically bluegrass arrangement. "Lucky Town" featured Bruce and Jimmy Vivino trading off guitar solos and the horns added some great punch to it. The Southside songs also benefitted from the horns, as did "So Young and in Love." Patti's new song, "Rose," was about her experiences working in a New York City diner, where she said she was the world's worst waitress.
Bruce's new song, "My City of Ruins," is very powerful and very gospel-esque, sounding very similar to Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." Bruce dedicated the song to the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce and mentioned all the charities that each night was benefitting.

More West Virginia Pictures!

From HELLBENDER: The gray came from a full moon. The silver light, so bright it cast shadows, fell upon trees as massive as Acropolis columns. It reflected off empty glass bottles, off the metal barrels of shotguns and rifles. In the forest all around me a chorus of crickets and cicadas kept me company. Time stopped moving forward in a straight line. It felt like a web, where one strand left diagonally, and always returned to the center via another strand, so I experienced the same patterns of pain and dreaming over and over again with only slight variations.

From HELLBENDER: We fled the Shavers Fork watershed and returned to the Blackwater via Otter Creek. When the old green path hit the ridge top, pine gave way to spruce that blocked out nearly all of the morning sunlight. The faint glow of headlights did little to pierce the darkness.

From HELLBENDER: My eyes strained to pierce the fog that prevented me from seeing this wilderness as a whole. Waterfalls streamed down the steep walls in stony chutes that acted more like downspouts than streambeds. White threads intertwined to make strands of lace that plunged a thousand feet from the rocky ledges near the rim. I got drunk on the cool breezes that drifted up from the river below. The speed had a narcotic effect, which when combined with the rhythm of the rails made me want to pull out my fiddle and play along to the song it was singing.

From HELLBENDER: Katy whooshed in with her boyfriend in a scream of car stereo and everybody dropped what they were doing to run over and see them. They pulled the new silver VW onto the grass in-between the fire and Jamie's house. Katy looked more polished than I'd ever seen her. Like, she went from a fern to a Pink Lady's Slipper in just a season. Her hair was colored and styled and she wasn't dressed like a thirteen-year-old girl. Her little floral patterned dress, unbuttoned way too low, made her look like some kind of revivalist rebel. She walked proud and smiled like she was posing for Vogue. Alex stood next to me, holding a kitten, and asked, "Who's that?"

More Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

      Even though sun fell at my back, the sky ahead was still thick with rain. Through the scent of wet concrete and stinky neoprene I could smell my mountains.
      My Appalachians.
      For better or worse, like how a dog belonged to its fleas.

      All this happened as the sun slid across the sky and dipped toward Canaan Mountain on the other side of the valley, four or five miles away. It was a circus of pink and gold that lingered the way that only a summer-bound sunset can.

     "That’s why I’m here." He took an old pistol and a box of rounds out of a shoebox and threw them into the pack.
     I had to look away. "Ben...."
     "For snakes. Let’s go." He tossed the old pack over his shoulder.

     By the time we hit Seneca Rocks the sun was halfway into its trip to noon. Shadows stretched out from the mountains, hiding coolness in their breeches. At the climbing school guides sipped coffee and stretched their ropes. Ben pulled right up to the porch. Tourists lingered by their cars, as far from the guides as was proper. The stoners were slack-lining, their gear littered picnic tables. One had dreadlocks and a shaggy beard. I could smell weed as soon as I got out of the Jeep. Say what you will about raft guides, but at least they got wet once a day.

     We strode over the gashed earth where skidders and bulldozers had torn through the soil. Past smoldering piles of ash that used to be tsuga canadensis, kalmia latifolia. Indian pipes, whorled loosestrife, and flowering raspberry were little more than smoke signals now. A first-hand account of the destruction.

Download Hellbender for you Kindle at Amazon.com or for other devices at Smashwords.com.

HELLBENDER is here!

Here it is in the Kindle store http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006AHKFRU

For other eFormats try Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106486

I've also made Hellbender part of a bundle with The Devil and Preston Black for a special price on Amazon and Smashwords.

My Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

     The hair on my neck and arms stood when she kissed me. Her breath was cool, like the wind that twisted the spruce on the huckleberry plains above. When she said my name I couldn’t tell if I was hearing words or the arrival of summer.

     Alex didn’t say anything until I pulled up to the old Jenkinsburg Bridge. This was much higher than the bridge over the Big Sandy. The old steel trestle spanned the V-shaped Cheat Canyon quite dramatically. Big pines buttressed each end and a rocky rapid flowed below. Occasional rock outcroppings punctuated the steep, green slopes.

     I slowed as we came through the village of Thomas. Old company stores hemmed us in on one side, the Blackwater River on the other. The Miners and Merchants Bank was the only non-tourism related business left on the whole street. Exiting town took us up still higher, through white pines and past the ball field where I played Little League. Canaan Mountain loomed high in the background; the spruce along the top was visible even from here. We passed the entrance to Blackwater Falls State Park and a chill fell upon us. It was so cold Alex dug for my fleece in the back of the Jeep.

Girls loved raft guides like rabbits love clover...

The ground twisted and slithered. A sea of snakes pulled themselves from chilly crevasses to seek the warmth of the heavy, dark ties. Timber rattlers, too sleepy to be excitable, kept their distance from the heavy wheels. Feisty copperheads coiled and feigned aggression.

The power of the ancient forest was apparent from the moment the sun passed overhead.

The quiet meadows along the road were about to erupt with the greens of wild bleeding hearts and tiger lilies. Some dark pocket on the backside of the ridge probably hid the last painted trillium of the year.

All around the green walls of Mozark Mountain, Otter Creek, and Blackwater Canyon muffled any shouts of assistance to the outside world.

     "Hungry?" I asked. But her reply didn't matter. I was starving, and drifted to a stop in front of Sirianni's. Almost like I'd followed the smell of garlic right to the front door.

     North Fork Mountain kept people out of this part of the world; it was the first ridge in a series that ended at the Shenandoah in Virginia. Where Spruce Knob was capped with its namesake vegetation, North Fork Mountain had rocky fins of Tuscarora Sandstone crenellating its long, narrow expanse. Wanderers and outcasts gave in to the pull of West Virginia's secret border, a place the rest of the country ignored. But the exposed rock nestled in a bed of white pine finally broke my silence. It made me smile.

HELLBENDER Less than 24 hours until the brood hatches!

Get your Kindles ready, because they ain't going to be the same after this. Are your Nooks waterproofed?

The eVersion and a bundle are ready to go live first thing tomorrow morning, so you'll be able to jump right into HELLBENDER, or start at the very beginning with my man Preston Black in a specially priced bundle. All I can say is you're going to get dirty.