Dark Appalachian Romantasy,
haunted woods,
and love that refuses to stay buried

“There is a threshold between the everyday world, and a world where laws of nature do not apply. They call Appalachia a valley of peace, but peace don’t always mean safe. Some say the mountains here still keep covenant with old things, not Gods, exactly, but older than that. Things with no names. If you walk the trails at dusk, keep your eyes low and your prayers quiet. The mountains don’t mind your visit, but they don’t forget your name ”

— Old Blood Black Earth

Cross the veil
Book updates, ARC opportunities and behind-the-scenes notes.

Old Blood Black Earth

In the mountains of East Tennessee, the land keeps score…

Environmental journalist Jessamine Calder comes to Hollowtree Gap chasing a story about poisoned water, vanishing wildlife, and the damage left behind by Helix Holdings. But the deeper she digs, the stranger the mountains become. Creeks run uphill. Kudzu recoils from her touch. And creatures that shouldn’t exist know her name.

The Blacklight, the Ashgrave Court’s most feared enforcer, carries out bargains no one survives cleanly, and has spent centuries making certain the mortal world never learns what waits beyond the Veil. Jessamine should be another complication to eliminate when he realizes she has witnessed a collection she shouldn’t have. Instead, he chooses to protect her.

Dragged beyond the mortal world, Jessamine finds herself trapped between a ruthless fae court, a corporation carving into ancient ley lines, and the Mawl, a buried power awakening beneath the mountains. And whatever the Mawl wants from her is bound to the Blacklight, to a prophecy surrounding his birth, and to the truth of what she has been all along.

Southern Gothic romantasy with environmental horror, cryptid folklore, vicious court politics, slow-burn tension, and a romance forged in the dark.

STAY TUNED FOR ARC APPLICATIONS

Old Blood Black Earth is currently in active drafting and revision, with plans for indie publication through Haunted Holler Press.

At Haunted Holler Press, we believe that the scariest monsters aren't the ones under the bed, they are the ones hidden in our own code.

Old Blood Black Earth has its own monsters. In the real world, mine is ALS.

This disease has taken four lives in my family. Now, it has its grip on my mother and my Aunt.

Every book I write, every page I publish, is fueled by the hope that one day no one else has to watch someone they love disappear piece by piece to this brutal illness.

Because of that, I have committed to donating at least 10% of all Haunted Holler Press profits to ALS research, fighting for a future where ALS is no longer a death sentence.

When you pick up Old Blood Black Earth or anything I create, you are not just supporting an author. You are standing with a family fighting back against something that has stalked our bloodline for generations.

Stories carry power. Research builds weapons. Together, they become the molecular swords scientists are forging to silence ALS once and for all.

Fear does not get the final word. Thank you for standing with me.