A modest offering at the altar of Hookland:
“Hookland is that place you visited once, but cannot find on any map. Hookland is ghost soil.” – David Southwell
Barrowcross Moor is a barren, unforgiving place where trees twist in strange formations against ferocious winds. There is a new owner up at Briar Hall, some distant relative of Charles Evermore who died over forty years ago.
The new master has new ideas. He’s going to build a Living Museum, and he needs Jenna Ashley’s construction company to help him do it. They’re going to gather up all the old and unwanted buildings around Hookland and rehome them on the Evermore estate.
As the project progresses, Jenna and her best friend Adam start to realise that it isn’t only the buildings that are getting a new lease of life. There is something primal at work between the bricks and mortar of these forgotten spaces.
“A slow burn of Hookland weirdness, atmospheric and inventive. Fantastical, yet rooted in realism that is alive with mystery and rich with history.” – Ralph Pullins, author of Antiartists
“Chilling and darkly atmospheric.” – Laine Cunningham, author of Beloved: A Supernatural Thriller
You don't need to know anything about Hookland to enjoy this, but a little bit of background might help. The lovely David Southwell has created a mythical county in England where all the folklore you've ever heard of lives and breathes. His creation is creative commons and all artists of any walk - authors, photographers, painters, radio broadcasters - are welcome to come and play. He's in the process of completing the Phoenix Guide to Strange England, which will be a guidebook to the county. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a few rough cuts and the writer's guide, so a lot of those places have been incorporated into this novel.
This edition contains a very rough-and-ready first draft of the map by David. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, an updated version will have to wait for a future edition. I hope this humble introduction to Barrowcross Moor will inspire others to write stories in and around Hookland.
You can pick it up in paperback and Kindle formats internationally.
And thanks to José Bethencourt Suárez for the fabulous cover.
For more on Hookland, check out the Twitter feed or keep an eye on the website which is under construction.
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