Here’s a sample of the hoodoo at work, illustrated in a fragment of my fiction.

©2012 Laszlo Xalieri, from an unpublished work. Used by permission.

 

At my uncle’s distillery, I adjust the coiled-copper tubing, being careful not to crimp it or crack it. The mash I have already boiled and allowed to cool, have already dumped in some of my uncle’s pet yeast–the eukaryatids that support his favorite vices–and have made sure that the community of little pillars have had plenty of grist to grind and plenty of time to work. The fire is banked but kept warm, and the early and eager spirits collect in waiting columns, ascension prevented. This is a family secret, these waiting columns. You need to catch the early risers.

The sabers I have lashed together, edge to edge, point to hilt. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of a hundred years ago an author named Manly Wade Wellman wrote for the pulp serials, churning out SF for the juvenile market. And then he turned his hand to things a bit more of a fantastic nature, geared toward a more mature market, and exploded. He invented a character to make central to his tales, set in Appalachian country, and wove a coherent tapestry of the supernatural that still stands to this day.

If you’re a modern consumer of pop culture horror, and have heard of DC/Vertigo Comics’ John Constantine of Hellblazer or Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden of the Dresden Files, then read a sample below to see the silver-cast prototype of the distinctly North American supernatural troubleshooter. Read the rest of this entry »