Ok, I took a chance and have self-published through Amazon’s affiliated publishing hub, BookBaby, a novella of mine entitled The Blooding. The story draws on Russian/Slavic folklore, particularly the characters of Koschei the Deathless, the Baba Yaga, and the princess, Vasilisa. I have, however, taken great liberties with their characterizations. I hope anyone who chooses to purchase and read the story is not offended by those liberties.
The story begins as flashback, the narrator and ultimate protagonist relating the events preceding and informing the time when his story must unfold. Ultimately, I think it is a story about family and those moments that act as thresholds through which we must pass in order to grow both in spirit and in character.
Though loosely being passed off as a tale of horror, The Blooding is really more a tale of whimsy, a modern attempt at folklore. There are some tips of the hat to Lovecraft, who is a chief inspiration of mine, and the story makes use of a setting that features very much as its own character in my other novels-in-progress, Godfall, 199, and Spirit Black. That setting is the town of Millers Gap, located in a narrow valley in the Rockies of Colorado, at the terminus of a state road known as Resurrection Highway—but that is another story.
The Blooding is available at most e-book retailers and by clicking the button below:
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