Dark Roots

Through the centuries, the Reese family fight incomprehensible evil and pass their knowledge to the next generation, to continue their secret work and defend the innocent against such terrors. Three heroic stories, three different eras, and three very different encounters, though all share roots near the very gates of Hell. AD 1611, Essex, England, and Scotsman James Reese investigates a hovel torn asunder by a nameless beast. Infuriated to find that a helpless child was taken, he meets a Moor who knows this creature of old. Twenty years he has given chase, and Penelton knows how nigh-on impossible it may be to end it's voracious killing spree. The story of The Hunters moves as fast as the chase and fighting to follow, tense with the knowledge that more than the life of a child and the soul of a man are at stake. Shamelessly I admit my favorite tale in this volume is The Fox and the Hound, set in 1777 during the American Revolution. The Fox, a blockade-running schooner, captained by Elias Kirby. He and his loyal crew smuggle powder to aid the Continental Army against the British. Gifted with Sight, Elias secretly uses his gifts and innate savvy to navigate the Carolina coastline and evade patrols. Now Elias faces the challenge of a dangerously powerful and skilled caster aboard the Raider. This heavily gunned British sloop is the Hound determined to catch the Fox before the final battles for Independence. Massachusetts 1925, and Eric Reese, veteran of the Great War and all too experienced with evil and death, is roused by a friend desperate for help, Andrew Firth, professor of antiquities, translator of ancient tablets and rites best left unspoken. A demon has escaped his summoner's control, committing lurid acts of violence, and suddenly The Snare of the Hunted catches us up in its bloody claws and races with wild abandon toward a crypt, and Reese's last hope to engage in supernatural battle and banish this creature to the abyss. Included in the Kindle edition I read are stark illustrations of the monstrosities featured by Mike Munson, and highly entertaining excerpts from tales also published by Four Fools Press. I'll continue to watch for more about the fierce, fighting Reese family.