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The Woods
Award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Stephen Leigh offers us a dark urban fantasy novel where the borders between reality and fantasy are blurred and difficult to see. Here, the wild and romanticized dreamscape of youth intersects the gray, adult world beyond.
Rob Mullins and Mark Dyson are fast friends, growing up in a neighborhood surrounded by a forest. The boys have spent their childhood among the green pathways of the woods playing as pirates, knights, and adventurers. They believe nothing can ever alter the bond between them. But adolescence wields a compulsive snare, and fantasy can no longer hold back reality. Rob’s parents are preparing to move, threatening to tear Rob away from everything he has known, while Mark’s father JD has become increasingly abusive and harsh. Rob’s familiar world and his friendship with Mark are both unraveling.
But the pretense of magic remains. Mark, through a startling sacrifice, appears to call into existence a young girl of the same age: Sheila. Her fey, magical, and erotic presence shatters the last remnants of Mark and Rob’s childhood.
THE WOODS is a strong, riveting, and frank exploration of young adulthood that reminds us that every wish and desire bears its own price.
Rob Mullins and Mark Dyson are fast friends, growing up in a neighborhood surrounded by a forest. The boys have spent their childhood among the green pathways of the woods playing as pirates, knights, and adventurers. They believe nothing can ever alter the bond between them. But adolescence wields a compulsive snare, and fantasy can no longer hold back reality. Rob’s parents are preparing to move, threatening to tear Rob away from everything he has known, while Mark’s father JD has become increasingly abusive and harsh. Rob’s familiar world and his friendship with Mark are both unraveling.
But the pretense of magic remains. Mark, through a startling sacrifice, appears to call into existence a young girl of the same age: Sheila. Her fey, magical, and erotic presence shatters the last remnants of Mark and Rob’s childhood.
THE WOODS is a strong, riveting, and frank exploration of young adulthood that reminds us that every wish and desire bears its own price.
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First published March 28, 2011
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About the author
Stephen Leigh
86 books59 followersStephen Leigh has been writing science fiction since he was in grade school. He sold his first story in 1975 and has been publishing regularly ever since then.
He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.
Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.
Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.
He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.
Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.
Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2021
The Woods
by Stephen Leigh
Stephen Leigh is the master at bringing part of the American culture of the past to the present. This story is reminiscing about many childhood memories of kids playing outside and seeing a world of adventure in small abandoned lots. The book shows the summer of change for its young protagonist, he has seen the world as magical, beautiful and natural in the small woodlot behind his neighborhood. Rob's world comes to a dramatic change when his parents are required to move to another city for his fathers job. It is his last summer with his best friend Mark. As this part of his life comes to an end he is tested greatly, and to save his best friend he has to pay a price. The story has so much magical influence, so much the glory of childhood view that adults will long for their peaceful childhood ignorance. I found the book remarkable and heart warming despite its gloomy and dark ending.
by Stephen Leigh
Stephen Leigh is the master at bringing part of the American culture of the past to the present. This story is reminiscing about many childhood memories of kids playing outside and seeing a world of adventure in small abandoned lots. The book shows the summer of change for its young protagonist, he has seen the world as magical, beautiful and natural in the small woodlot behind his neighborhood. Rob's world comes to a dramatic change when his parents are required to move to another city for his fathers job. It is his last summer with his best friend Mark. As this part of his life comes to an end he is tested greatly, and to save his best friend he has to pay a price. The story has so much magical influence, so much the glory of childhood view that adults will long for their peaceful childhood ignorance. I found the book remarkable and heart warming despite its gloomy and dark ending.
October 1, 2012
Someone suggested this on FaceBook and I downloaded and read it on my Kindle app. It's quite well written, and it did not start out as the kind of book that it ended, so it pulled me in to a reading experience that I usually avoid. I wouldn't exactly call it horror, but certainly it's a dark fantasy, an evily-shadowed fairy tale taking place in the woods behind a 20th century housing development. I suppose the thing that drew me in was the opening idea of children playing in the woods and mixed with that the idea of having to leave your childhood friends and haunts to move somewhere else - both things I did as a child. The book is very short, and within a couple chapters, it moves from sunlight to shadows to darkness. That interweaving from dark to light fuels the story, but I found the climax more than unsettling, the denoument all too realistic, and the ending a return to fairy tale that had deeply primitive overtones. I can't say that I'm glad I read it because the story keeps playing itself out in my subconscious, and I don't care for that at all, but if you like dark fantasy with a YA twist, then this is a good choice for you.
April 18, 2011
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fascinating tale of youth and friendship and how our choices can critically affect our entire lives. It had a deeply mysterious thread running through it and gave the reader plenty of space to use their own imagination.
The tone reminded me of Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry" but without the very dark depressing ending.
The tone reminded me of Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry" but without the very dark depressing ending.
August 29, 2021
I have to admit this was my first dark fantasy novel. My suspicion is that it is not as "dark" as many dark fantasies are but I think that's what makes this novel even better because it teases you into thinking it could go into darker directions but it doesn't. Don't get me wrong it has its dark moments but the author could have made it much more darker.
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March 2, 2014Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews