I had three loves in my life: my daddy, him what my mama killed in cold blood; my son Henry, God rest him; and tall as an oak Riley Treadwell. I lost all of 'em, one way or t'other, 'til Riley showed up on my stoop with a monster problem and tried to wiggle his way back into my life. Only, weren't no monster bothering him; was the one bothering his ex-girlfriend what'd stirred up a hornet's nest out on Lake Burton amongst the muckity mucks. Weren't no never mind to me, see? I was fine letting well enough alone, 'cept curiosity got the best of me, and Riley, well. He weren't above using that silver tongue of his to persuade me 'round to his way of thinking. If I'da listened to my gut, maybe I woulda avoided stepping knee deep into somebody else's trouble. Then again, I ain't never been one to heed a warning when monsters come a-calling. Author's Note: Greenwood Cove was written in the native dialect of the narrator, found in the rural areas of the Southern Appalachians. The grammar, spelling, and syntax are not standardized American English.

When my boy Henry was killed, I tracked a pooka through the deep wood for three days with no food in my gut and only my daddy's hunting knife for comfort. Was what got me into the monster killing business, that pooka, and I ain't regretted a single day of it since. The day I stumbled on a four-legged critter with human eyes, the rightness of my revenge begun to unravel, leading me to a clan of two-natured shifters what'd been living under my nose the whole time. And when the two-natured started showing up in odd places, stalking humans in a very unnatural way, weren't nothing I could do but dig to the bottom of it. And what I found turned my world and ever thing I knowed upside down. Author's Note: The Deep Wood was written in the native dialect of the narrator, found in the rural areas of the Southern Appalachians. The grammar, spelling, and syntax are not standardized American English.

After my uncle Fame run his wife off for messing around with his brother, we thought for sure we seen the last of 'em. Good riddance to bad blood, right? Only, weren't no Happy Ever After in store for any of us. When my errant aunt and uncle turned up dead on Cemetery Hill, was Fame what was arrested for the crime, and me he turned to for help, on account of the long-standing blood feud between him and the sheriff. I weren't one for keeping my nose outta trouble nohow, but once I started poking around, trouble weren't the only problem I found.

The day Terry Whitehead showed up on my door, I shoulda knowed trouble was hot on his heels, Terry being the feller what planted my boy Henry in my belly, then left me so fast, my head spun. Seems his daughter, Henry's half-sister, went missing and the police done give up on finding her. Much as I hated having anything to do with Terry, I couldn't hardly abandon a young'un, especially one what was close kin to my boy, God rest him. Only, little Sophie weren't the only kid missing, and whatever took her left a trail of dark magic in its wake. Time was running short and the trail was cold. For the first time since Henry died, I floundered. Could I track down the monster what'd took Sophie while she could still be saved, or would my pride cost that little girl her life and all them other young'uns', too?

The thing about monsters is, they show up when you least expect it. I come home from a romantic weekend with my feller and found one sitting on my couch. This'un wanted me to hunt down Athena's Gorgoneion, an ancient Greek amulet, and was willing to pay dearly for the work. Meanwhile, my friend Miss Jenny went missing; her feller Proteus, a primordial Greek god, was trapped in his house by cyclops; and a hellhole opened up out on Devil's Branch. Trouble was brewing and brewing big. Between the monsters and Greek gods popping up ever where I turned, I had my hands full, and I only knowed one way to deal with Head on and full of fight.

My itchy feet drug me to the ATL one night for a light flirt, but I didn’t get me no r-and-r. Instead, I found a hobo, a ghost, and a trio of vampires, and me with my best weapons locked in the trunk of my daddy’s car. That’d learn me to drive down to the city, if I made it off the Gold Line alive. A Magic, Monsters & Mayhem Short Story

On the seventh day of Christmas, me and my buddy David Eckstrom finally got around to holding that shindig we been talking about for so long. Only, we wasn't the only bodies looking for a good time on New Year's Eve. They was monsters afoot on the lake, and the remedy for 'em was something I didn't expect a'tall. Note: Previously published as "On the 7th Day of Christmas" in Dreaming of a Dark Christmas.