Additional information
by Dust Kunkel (Author)
"If Faulkner wrote fantasy, he'd have written something like this... unique, lyrical, and steeped in Americana folklife." --Sunyi Dean, Author of The Book Eaters and The Girl With A Thousand Faces.
A BOY, HIS DOG, AND A MONSTROUS FRIEND CHASE DOWN HIS FATHER'S MURDERER IN THE IDAHO WILDS.
WINNER, Best Horror Novel, Fall 2025 - FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS
WINNER, Best Dark Fantasy, Winter 2025-2026 - BREW BOOK EXCELLENCE AWARD
WINNER, Best Fantasy, Spring 2026 - PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW AWARDS
Long List for Debut Fiction, 2026 - READING THE WEST AWARDS, MPIBA, 2026
(SEE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE FOR FULL LIST OF AWARDS AND REVIEWS)
16-year old Clayton Stonefly (retelling the story to his dog, Dammit) has no idea who he is -- his parents hid him in the Idaho wilderness and spoke in riddles about his past. When he is thrust on a journey to revenge his father's murder and name the monster that shadows his every move, he finds out much more than he ever wanted.
Clay just wants to be brave like Dammit, his dog, and face the town bully, Big Jim. That, or read Shakespeare on the porch alone in the Idaho wilderness. But Clay has an unfortunate gift: he's haunted by monstrous dreams of his family's dead nemesis, Das Ungeheuer, and every time he tells a story, someone dies.
For fans of Jones's Indian Lake Trilogy, Ellison's A Boy and His Dog and Shakespeare's Hamlet -- this literary Western Gothic builds a new mythos for the 21st Century.
