Black Stump Ridge

by John Manning, Forrest Hedrick

For the past twelve years, Fred Kyle has wrapped whiskey-drenched clouds around him while hiding in a cheap motel in Austin, Texas. A knock on the door reveals a face from the past, and suddenly all of the horror and death of an ill-fated Thanksgiving hunting trip over a decade ago is swirling around him. Amanda Carlyle has been searching for Fred, her father's former best friend, for two years. Not sure of what she expects to find on the other side of the motel room door, Amanda knocks, knowing she must face Fred in order to uncover the truth about what killed her father nearly twelve years ago. Was it really a hunting accident as Fred had told the police? Or was it something so evil that Fred has been crippled by the horrific memories ever since? But Amanda needs to know-one way or the other-and demands to know the real story behind the fatal events. With Fred's reluctant retelling comes hints of a heritage he has tried to ignore, the pull of the fiddles, and the realization that he must finally send back the evil he and his friends accidentally released long ago.

Genres: Horror, Urban Fantasy

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 27, 2011

About the author

Born on Halloween, John has always been fascinated by the dark and scary world of horror fiction. His earliest favorites were Edgar Allen Poe, Dostoevsky, and Charles Addams. He discovered his passion for writing in the second grade. Through the years, however, publishers did not share his enthusiasm. As a staff member for many fan conventions, he was blessed to meet (and pick the brains of) authors such as Barry Longyear, Robert Asprin, Robert Adams, L. Sprague de Camp, C. Dean Andersson, John Steakley, Jr., Lynn Abbey, Andy Offett, Steven Barnes, and Larry Niven. Evidently osmosis works, for in 2011 his first novel, Black Stump Ridge, written with his long-time friend, Forrest Hedrick, was released on an unsuspecting public. It has gone on to place tenth in the Editors & Preditors Poll in the category Best New Horror Novel for 2011, as well as being placed on the 2011 Nebula Recommended Reading List. His short story,“Disclaimer,” appeared in Janet and Chris Morris’ Lawyers in Hell, released in July 2011. “Showdown at Brimstone Arsenal,” appears in the 2012 release, Rogues in Hell. He also has a short story, “Asylum,” in Michael H. Hanson’s Sha’Daa III – Pawns, published by Perseid Publishing in November 2012. His first anthology as Editor-in-Chief of Fantom Enterprises, What Scares the Boogeyman, was also published by Perseid Publishing and released in January 2013. His first book published by his own company, Terror by Gaslight was published in 2014. John lost a long hard fought battle with Leukimia in January, 2015.

Doris, RavenCon website
http://www.ravencon.com/manning-john/

Reviews

[Larry Atchley Jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Stump Ridge has the kind of characters that remind you of people you know and have grown up with. Their personality and depth makes you root for them to make it out of the nightmare that the authors have placed them in. And what a nightmare!
Four friends go on their annual hunting trip together in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee but only one comes home alive. Twelve years later, Amanda, the daughter of one of the men who died goes looking for answers about her father's death from the only man who can provide them. Fred has lived with the terror and sadness of the events during that fateful trip for over a decade and all he wants to do is forget about everything that happened. But Amanda wants closure so she takes Frank back to Black Stump Ridge to confront the evil that he and his friends accidently released.
The descriptions are excellent,the story flows along like a Tennessee river, and the research into the old myths, spirituality, and magic of Native Americans are spot on! You won't want to put it down.