Thirteen Views of the Suicide Woods

by Bracken MacLeod

Overview

“Bracken MacLeod writes dark, human stories of horror and modern noir. Absolutely one of the brightest stars of the next generation!”
—Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Snowblind and Ararat

From the author of Mountain Home and Stranded , comes Bracken MacLeod’s first collection of short stories.

These stories inhabit the dark places where pain and resignation intersect, and the fear of a quiet moment alone is as terrifying as the unseen thing watching from behind the treeline. In the titular story, a young woman waits for her father to come home from the place where no one goes intending to return. A single word is the push that may break a man and save a life. The members of a winemaking community celebrate the old time religion found flowing in the blood of the vine. A desperate man seeking a miracle cure gets more than a peek behind the curtain of Dr. Morningstar’s Psychic Surgery. A child who dreams of escaping on leather wings finds rescue in dark water instead. Looking back over a life, a homeless veteran must decide to live in the present if he wants to save his future. In a Halloween Hell house, a youth pastor must face the judgment of a man committed to doing the Lord’s work. Fiery death heralds the beginning of a new life. A man who has been carrying pain with him his entire life gives up his last piece of darkness. And a still day beneath the sun illuminates the quiet sorrow of the last feather to fall.

Bracken MacLeod is the author of Mountain Home, White Knight , and, most recently, Stranded , which has been optioned by Warner Horizon Television. He lives in New England with his wife and son.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771484114
Publisher:	ChiZine Publications
Publication date:	04/11/2017
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	1,319,373
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

BRACKEN MACLEOD is the author of MOUNTAIN HOME, WHITE KNIGHT, and most recently, STRANDED, which has been optioned by Warner Horizon Television. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and magazines including, Shock Totem, LampLight, ThugLit, and Splatterpunk. He has worked as a trial attorney, philosophy instructor, and as a martial arts teacher. He lives in New England with his wife and son, where he is at work on his next novel.

Editorial Reviews

…superb…There are pieces here that nod to distinguished ancestors like Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"…What those stories, and MacLeod's, have in common is a stifling sense of fatality, of people trapped in situations over which they have no control. And the power of inescapable fate is the essence of horror: the feeling for which every monster, large or small, is just a metaphor…MacLeod's characters, who are often working-class people with dangerously low expectations of life, remind me of the doomed protagonists of Cornell Woolrich's novels and stories, those hapless folks for whom everything, elaborately and implacably, sooner or later goes wrong.

The New York Times Book Review - Terrence Rafferty

01/30/2017
In his first short story collection, horror writer MacLeod brings together the macabre and the offbeat. Stories such as “The Texas Chainsaw Breakfast Club or I Don’t Like Mondays,” in which a group of teenagers are imprisoned in a dungeon by their guidance counselor, are quirky; others, such as “Ciudad de los Niños,” in which a desperate father bargains for his lost daughter, are undeniably creepy. MacLeod’s prose is rich in detail, adding depth and color to each tale, whether a vignette or a longer piece. However, his stories are peppered with scenes that are scary just for the sake of it, reminiscent of superfluous jump scares in horror flicks. “The Blood and the Body” pairs a house party with a freakish Satanic society, but the payoff is forced and jarring. The collection has many entertaining tidbits, but falls short of thought-provoking cerebral horror. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR 13 VIEWS OF THE SUICIDE WOODS:

"You won’t find any goblins or ghouls in this book. Bracken MacLeod’s brand of horror is far more insidious than any jump scare or gore-a-thon. In the stories of 13 Views of the Suicide Woods, MacLeod strips the genre down to its bare essentials. He cuts right to the heart of what humans fear most—loneliness, helplessness, desperation—with subtle and poetic prose that will raise goosebumps before you even realize you are afraid. 'MacLeod’s characters, who are often working-class people with dangerously low expectations of life, remind me of the doomed protagonists of Cornell Woolrich’s novels and stories, those hapless folks for whom everything, elaborately and implacably, sooner or later goes wrong,' a review in the New York Times Book Review quipped, adding, 'Sounds like horror to me.'"—Cassidy Faust, Literary Hub

“Bracken MacLeod writes dark, human stories of horror and modern noir. Absolutely one of the brightest stars of the next generation!” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Snowblind and Ararat

PRAISE FOR BRACKEN MACLEOD

“STRANDED is as brilliant as it is disturbing. Bracken MacLeod joins the ranks of today’s top horror writers. Highly recommended!” ~ Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author ofGHOSTWALKERSandBITS & PIECES

“STRANDED is an ice-cold Arctic thriller with a Twilight Zone twist and suspense to spare. The best debut novel I’ve read in ages. Pay attention, folks. Bracken MacLeod has arrived!” ~ Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of TIN MEN and DEAD RINGERS

"STRANDED is a smart, surprisingly-moving, first-rate thriller that chucks Martin Cruz Smith's POLAR STAR down a Twilight-Zone-esque rabbit role. Don't mind my mixing metaphors because me fumbling around for proper words of praise is what the talented Bracken MacLeod has wrought." ~ Paul Tremblay, author of A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS and DISAPPEARANCE AT DEVIL'S ROCK.

"STRANDEDis the work of a master storyteller at the top of his game. You'll smell the ocean air, hear the waves as they slap against the hull, and experience the white-knuckle terror of trying to survive in the face of the unknown. If Bracken MacLeod can't scare you, you're already dead!" ~ Nicholas Kaufmann, Thriller Award-nominated author of CHASING THE DRAGON and DIE AND STAY DEAD

"[MOUNATIN HOME is a] VERY accomplished debut novel. I cared about the main characters and they were vividly real. Riveting debut novel." ~ World Horror Convention Grand Master, Jack Ketchum, author of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR and OFF SEASON

"MOUNTAIN HOME is double barrel shotgun blast of violence and pathos. Clean, deft writing and more than enough narrative drive to keep you buzzing along, this debut marks the beginning of a very promising career for Bracken MacLeod." ~ John Mantooth, author of SHOEBOX TRAIN WRECK and THE YEAR OF THE STORM

"Bracken MacLeod's MOUNTAIN HOME hits like a Claymore mine and cuts with the emotional precision of a scalpel. Ferocious and tender, painful and real. A powerful and thoughtful first novel." ~ Chet Williamson, International Horror Guild Award winning author of SOULSTORM and PSYCHO: SANITARIUM

"I have been a fan of Bracken MacLeod's writing for some time now, but with MOUNTAIN HOME, I feel he has finally kicked the door right off the hinges. Thrilling, shocking, well-written, and with heart to spare (dark as it may be), this is nothing less than the announcement of a bold new talent, and an exciting one. Comparisons to early Lansdale might be apt, but MacLeod has a voice all his own.... Watch this guy, folks. It's only a matter of time before you see his name in lights." ~ Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of THE TURTLE BOY, and KIN.

"Bracken MacLeod s WHITE KNIGHT is a tense, high suspense action ride that carries the reader along like a hit and run Mack truck. It is dark and delicious and well worth the read. Very highly recommended!" ~ James A. Moore, author of THE WILD HUNT and ALIEN: SEA OF SHADOWS

"Bracken MacLeod has outdone himself withWHITE KNIGHT, a bristling beast of a thriller that does what I would have thought impossible: it tops even his own brilliant debut, MOUNTAIN HOME. I wouldn’t advise missing this or any of MacLeod s stellar work." ~ Ed Kurtz, author of A WIND OF KNIVES and THE RIB FROM WHICH I REMAKE THE WORLD

"Bracken MacLeod writes with the verve of someone who understands the genre in which he works well enough to know exactly when to turn tropes on their heads and twist them around one another. Like Vachss, his work in infused with a raging anger at the injustices which surround us but although the world he creates is etched in darkness it is the glints of light within that world which make it so appealing even if the glint is coming from the razor-edge of a butcher s knife." ~ Simon Logan, author of KATJA FROM THE PUNK BAND and GET KATJA

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