With my latest book, Godfestation, out in the world, I have brought back stories set not in fantasy realms or outer space, but instead placed in the region where I was born and raised: Southern Appalachia. I grew up in East Tennessee and explored the surrounding region extensively, including western North Carolina and southwest Virginia, with occasional dips into the highlands of eastern Kentucky and northern Georgia. In this post, I’ll talk about my Southern Appalachian stories in both long and short forms.
These are listed in publication order from most recent to oldest: Godfestation, To Wonder and Starshine, Atacama, and The Shadow Galaxy. Notice that every cover has the Southern Appalachian mountains depicted by its respective artist.
Godfestation
My Appalachian weird horror and fantasy novella, Godfestation, is my latest book set in Southern Appalachia. The cold open begins in the mountains of western North Carolina, where Ivy “Fern” Fernberg encounters something monstrous in the chilly November highlands, setting off a pursuit and a journey both physical and metaphysical as she grapples with the death of her father. She is faced with strange beings, both mystical and horrifying, and she begins to question her reality. Much of the beginning action takes place in my hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, and then moves out to the open road and becomes a westward trip.
On the atmospheric, late autumn cover, you see dark, nighttime mountains, Fern’s car, and a strange, eerie presence in the sky. Cover art by Danika Corrall.
You can now buy Godfestation, published by Sley House Publishing:
To Wonder and Starshine
My second short story collection (the first is discussed further down this post), To Wonder and Starshine, was assembled as an homage to charming fairytales and lighter fare. This is a collection for all ages, with cozy fantasy and science fiction stories, and even a cozy horror tale or two! Some locations are in fairyland, some in space, some in California, some in the Far North, and some in Southern Appalachia.
The stories set in Southern Appalachia include “Starry Eyes and Fireflies”, “Watercolors at the Edge”, and “The Dewdrop Bot and the Honey Fae”.
Longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award.
Cover art by Mikio Murakami.
Learn more and find links to buy To Wonder and Starshine, published by Trepidatio Publishing:
Atacama
Below, I’ll talk about my first short story collection, The Shadow Galaxy. But it bears mentioning it here, because without its short story “The Scaffold”, I wouldn’t have the novel, Atacama. That story now serves as the prologue to this book. Alongside Doomflower (which actually does have an Appalachian connection, but it’s small; most of that book is in Malibu), Atacama was a horror debut and thriller debut. It is also the first time my own artwork was published inside one of my books. While Chris Panatier made the terrific cover (showing the Appalachians upside down, symbolizing Fiona’s life, with the Atacama Desert at the bottom), I illustrated the thirty-six interior chapter headers.
Atacama begins in East Tennessee, specifically Knoxville. A missing research team is found dead in the Atacama Desert under mysterious circumstances. Far away in East Tennessee, researcher Fiona Hawthorne reels from the death of her best friend, Alva, among the Atacama team. When Fiona’s university professor Dr. Bingham is visited by members of a shadowy corporation, she begins to suspect not everything is as it seems. Enlisting her intense coworker Lafe Lambert, the two dig deep looking for answers around Alva’s death…too deep. Fiona soon realizes that she not only faces sinister corporate agents, but also a monster hiding in plain sight.
Longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and Best Artwork (interior artwork by Jendia Gammon)
Published via Sley House Publishing, and you can buy it now:
The Shadow Galaxy
Written under my former pen name, J. Dianne Dotson, The Shadow Galaxy was my first short story collection. It is a mixture of horror, fantasy, and science fiction stories as well as poetry.
The poem “Appalachia” was actually praised by Ursula K. Le Guin, which I speak about in the book. That’s a tale for another time.
In The Shadow Galaxy, the following stories and poems are set in Southern Appalachia: “The Scaffold”, “Roder”, “The Tunnel at the End”, “Autumn’s Dusk”, “Valentines from the Pit”, “The Queen and the Mountain Laurel”, “Mister Gerald”, “Sourwood Honey Days” (non-fiction), “Tracks in Autumn” (non-fiction), and as mentioned before, the poem “Appalachia”.
The Shadow Galaxy was longlisted for both the BSFA Award and the British Fantasy Award.
Cover art by Mikio Murakami.
Published by Trepdiatio, an imprint of JournalStone. Find links and more info:
Future Southern Appalachian Stories and Poetry
Given that I’ve got several books featuring Southern Appalachian stories out in the world now, you might be curious if I plan to write more set in the region where I grew up. The answer is yes; in fact, I have several books and short stories and poems growing. This won’t be the only region I write about, since I have also lived in California and the Pacific Northwest. And, of course, I do like to write books set in fantasy realms, futuristic settings here on earth, and stories in deep space.
I always was an explorer, both in everyday life and on the page. And I’m just carrying on the storytelling tradition of Southern Appalachia, whose mountains are older than the rings of Saturn, and whose songs continue to be told.
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