When a mysterious rider arrives in the frontier town of Bastion, Wyoming bearing a church bell and the promise of divine blessings to come, the townspeople see providence where they should see warning. The stranger insists that God has chosen Bastion to be his chosen land, a message happily received by the community’s desire for meaning and the ambition of its mayor.
But does something more insidious than prophecy lurk behind the visitor’s words? The question lingers for some, including the town’s bartender, sheriff, and young deputy as storms both literal and allegorical fall upon them. Can they overcome a rising tide of illusion, misdirection, and mass-hysteria before the flames of conviction burn Bastion to ash?
Told in evocative yet focused prose, American Petrichor pulls inspiration from Germany’s 1534 Munster Rebellion to remind us just how easily man’s institutions—and the people that build them—can mistake malevolence for providence. It will appeal to readers of The Fisherman, Blood Meridian, and The Devil All the Time.
American Petrichor arrives 06/01/26
In the 1890's, a homesteading family stakes their claim to a plot of land in the forest outside of Flagstaff, their hubris disregarding warnings of the soil being sour. Before long, that which watches between the trees makes itself known to the family's young daughter, Mae Barrett, bestowing upon her soul a curse of undeath, a curse that isn't understood until years later, when death would have otherwise taken her...
But before she can understand the depths of her circumstance, Mae attends university where her aptitude toward the arcane is fostered by an enigmatic teacher of magic that sees promise in the girl. Soon, Mae develops practical skills in the occult, skills that risk inflating the hubris of her genetics.
But immortality isn't the blessing one might assume it to be. When Mae comes to finally contemplate its implications, she goes to dark lengths to grasp at any straws that might undo that which makes her unable to rest.
Unfortunately, such pursuits collect collateral damage and innocent lives. Lives like Sam Yellowstone's, a modern Marine Corps Veteran only trying to find himself after achieving his freedom from the military. In grasping for quiet, he finds himself taking a job as the caretaker of an estate located in the forest outside of Flagstaff.
With lush prose, haunting atmosphere, and a deep existential undercurrent, A Vantage of Darkness is a cosmic horror tale that blends the psychological, supernatural, and philosophical into a singular, unforgettable experience.