Southern Fantasy

Six-year-old Madeline Galloway knows she's unlikeable. Unlovable. Uncanny. But when she encounters a strange man she believes to be a fallen angel, will her abilities save her life—or ruin it? Set in coastal North Carolina in the 1940s, this atmospheric novella is part Southern gothic, part supernatural suspense, with a bittersweet ending that will haunt you long after finishing.

Justene Bell always wanted to travel, to escape the valley she had existed in for many years. Her spiritual mother, Odesa Freewoman Bell expects the same sacrifices from this girl, the one she had stolen as her own daughter. Together they claim the Bell House, for in the backyard lies a horrible family secret.

Aurora Hayes is probably the most agreeable and least judgmental of the Roads Unlimited driving team, but even she has her limits. When something that sure looks like the scary bipedal "myth" called the chupacabra races in out of the darkness in North Texas and jumps aboard her rig, Aurora finds herself stuck with the edgy, bug-eyed little monster on a long haul across the South to Florida. But dealing with the freakish creature, which appears to have no language and seems determined to stay with the truck, is just the warm-up: The thing's master arrives.

Odesa Freewoman has haunted this valley in southwestern Virginia for the past 100 years. Burnt alive in her wedding bed for being an accused witch, killed on her wedding night by her jealous mother-in-law, who would never understand the special powers Odesa possesses are not of this world. Lodi Bell thusly puts a curse on all of her descendants that cannot be appeased, except for the offering of the first-born daughter.

Death and destruction follow the demon wherever he treads, and Gabriel is rarely far behind, waiting for his chance to extinguish the creature known as Temple once and for all. But in Singapore during the Second World War, a lone soldier in possession of a shattering secret gets caught up in...

Previously available on audio cassette from Darkscribe Press, this collection was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992. Dark Dixie collects the following works of southern horror by author Ronald Kelly. This audiobook includes all the stories from the original audio and several more: Introduction by Ronald Kelly (2010); "Yea, Though I Drive", previously published in Cold Blood (1991); "Miss Abigail's Delicate Condition", previously published in Noctulpa (1988); "The Cistern", previously published in Cemetery Dance; and five more.

Sunshine, massages, and drinks with little umbrellas in them. That's what cruises are all about, right? Maybe, unless you're a witch with a habit of finding trouble. When Noelle and crew go on a cruise to celebrate the death of the town's biggest bully, they find themselves in the middle of a robbery gone awry. Can they help a new friend get her grandma's pearls - and her life - back before the ship gets back to port?

Her family was to be her legacy, until an angry mob murdered her only son.