Harlan County Horrors

In the black heart of coal country, malevolent spirits and unearthly creatures slip from the shadows into the minds and hearts of men. Young women, twisted by pain, call for love and revenge by the light of the moon. A dead dog by the side of the road is more than it seems. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the supernatural and the mundane mingle in the depths of the earth, filling the mines with powerful forces that draw people down and corrupt from within. Harlan County Horrors is a regional based horror anthology by Apex Magazine submissions editor Mari Adkins. It features stories by Alethea Kontis, Debbie Kuhn, Earl Dean, Geoffrey Girard, Jason Sizemore, Jeremy Shipp, Maurice Broaddus, Robby Sparks, Ronald Kelly, Stephanie Lenz, Steven Shrewsbury, and TL Trevaskis. Table of Contents: “The Witch of Black Mountain” – Alethea Kontis “The Power of Moonlight” – Debbie Kuhn “Hiding Mountain: Our Future in Apples” – Earl Dean “Psychomachia” – Geoffrey Girard “Yellow Warbler” – Jason Sizemore “Kingdom Come” – Jeremy C. Shipp “Trouble Among the Yearlings” – Maurice Broaddus “Spirit Fire” – Robby Sparks “The Thing at the Side of the Road” – Ronald Kelly “Inheritance” – Stephanie Lenz “Greater of Two Evils” – Steven Shrewsbury “Harlan Moon” – TL Trevaskis Reviews: “Harlan County Horrors” is an eclectic collection of chilling tales set deep in the hills and coal mines of Kentucky. Edited by Mari Adkins, it features fresh voices and some very unique stories. --Shroud Magazine Although not batting a thousand, HARLAN COUNTY HORRORS hits enough — and some of it hard — to make it memorable. It’s a unique idea for a fiction collection to set all its contents in a locale so precise; yes, Akashic targets places with its city-based NOIR series, but those whereabouts tend toward the iconic and capitals — by contrast, Harlan County is a small, blue-collar town with a population around 33,000. In other words, one of the least likely places around which to center a book of site-specific stories. --Bookgasm Blurbs: “Harlan County Horrors is a jaunty return ride to the land of scary rednecks.” —Weston Ochse, author of Scarecrow Gods and Blaze of Glory “It’s been a while since I’ve read an anthology as good as Harlan County Horrors. Throughout the project, Harlan County maintains her individuality while the authors offer varying plots and characters that define her people, mountains, and valleys. All the while, Mari Adkins does a great job as tour guide, ensuring a bushel of great old-fashioned storytelling, Appalachian folklore, and well-developed characters. I had a hankerin’ for a chaw of tobacco the whole time I read it.” —Michael Knost, editor of Writers Workshop of Horror and Legends of the Mountain State “Harlan County Horrors is a breathtaking thrill ride into the nightmarish backwoods of America’s Heartland. Visceral and imaginative, Mari Adkins invites you into the darkest recesses of the Appalachian landscape, navigating through the malefic folklore of a timeless place where the roots of horror run deep.” —Bob Freeman, author of Descendant “A delightful romp through the backwoods of hillbilly horror.” —Scott Nicholson, author of Scattered Ashes “The authors of Harlan County Horrors take us not only through the cold, black depths of coal mines, but into an equally dark, mystical core and its effects on humanity. Mari Adkins sends us on a runaway cart through the past, present, and future of a land not meant to be trespassed, let alone punctured miles deep. If you thought the best thing about Kentucky was its fried chicken, I dare you to cross the county line with this book as your guide.” —Jerrod Blazer, author of Fear the Woods and Zombie Bastard