The Preacher's Marsh

by David Niall Wilson

Gideon Swayne is a man of God. He's spent his life in a peaceful town in southern Illinois tendng a very quiet, happy congregation. With the war in the South ending, and the slaves freed, Gideon is called to a new mission. He goes south - the cotton fields of North Carolina - to take the word of God to the newly free.What he didn't count on was the hatred of the citizens of Old Mill, North Carolina...the love of a swamp witch named Desdemona ... the friendship of a young boy...and a life that would challenge his faith and his sanity, show him darkness and magic such as he'd never witnessed, and lead him down the darkest paths through men's hearts.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Novella

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 5, 2010

About the author

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David Niall Wilson has been writing and publishing horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction since the mid-eighties. An ordained minister, once President of the Horror Writer 's Association and multiple recipient of the Bram Stoker Award. He lives outside Hertford, NC with the love of his life, Patricia Lee Macomber, His children Zane and Katie, occasionally their older siblings, Stephanie, who is in college, and Bill and Zach who are in the Navy, and an ever-changing assortment of pets.

David is CEO and founder of Crossroad Press, a cutting edge digital publishing company specializing in electronic novels, collections, and nonfiction, as well as unabridged audiobooks and print titles.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, facinating read. It is the tale of an Illinois preacher that wanders to North Carolina in the years immediately following the Civil War. After a run-in with local civic "leaders", he begins working with and preaching to the black freedmen. I enjoyed it until the end. As the story gained momentum, much of the descriptive structure and grammar began to fail. It was if the author got too excited by his story to pay attention to such details. Then the story just ends--BAM! This book is in desperate need of an epilogue.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short story that takes place on a plantation in post civil war America. It tells of a preacher that came down from the North to spread the good word to the newly freed men in the South. This is not a religious story per se but one that tells the tail of hatred and prejudice that was all too common at that time in history.