Synopsis
When a child goes missing, the spirit of the marsh takes on a corporeal form and teams up with the village witch to find the source of the evil haunting the nearby village. A dark fantasy of love, story, and the deep powers of place.
Review
Grabbed this one to support a FanFiFam member and to get in another short read before the month ends! A short review for a short read.
This is a weird little tale about a village near the marsh that has a string of children disappearing. Although often left alone, these disappearances have drawn attention to the old witch in the marsh. Through a growing need, an obsession, a love, the spirit of the marsh takes its first steps to be near the old witch. Together they seek to uncover the horrors haunting these young children.
This novelette is like a visual smorgasbord, with rich descriptions and heavily described characters and set pieces. One that stuck out to me the most was the witches favorite mug, something so simple, yet so effective. The marsh spirit, through drawing in beings of the marsh, alive, dead, even rotten, has become something both monstrous and horrifying, but regardless how you feel, it’s so easy to picture.
I will gladly read more from this author and even this one again! Currently I have The Woodcutters on my want to read list. Check that one out on GoodReads here.
About the Author
Josh Hanson is the author of King’s Hill (October 2023), The Woodcutters (November 2023), Fortress (forthcoming from Off Limits Press), Caliope Street (forthcoming from Moonstruck Books), as well as numerous stories and poems in a wide variety of publications and anthologies.
He is a graduate of the University of Montana MFA program and currently teaches high school English in northern Wyoming.
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