Colonial Nightmare

by David Vining

When George Washington was 21 years old, he went on a dangerous mission into the wilds of the Ohio River Valley to deliver a message from the Virginia colonial governor to a French military base, Fort Le Boeuf, a message to prevent war between England and France. The journey was harrowing and dangerous as Washington, joined by frontiersman Christopher Gist and Iroquois leader Tanacharison, also called the Half-King, braved the bitter cold of an unforgiving winter.

Washington wrote of his journey as a report to the governor, but he gave an incomplete portrait of the goings on of his journey, for he was attacked. He was attacked by something he could not explain. Something not of the New World but of the Old. Something that had preyed upon innocent for centuries. Something that scared him so much that he refused to report it to anyone.

Here, for the first time, is the full account of the colonial major's journey. Far more than an act to prevent conflict between nations, it became a conflict that pitted evil against a man unlike any other, a man who had to potential within him to lead a nation.

Genres: Historical Fiction

Audible Audio

Published April 23, 2024

About the author

I am a fiction writer living in the Carolinas.

Writing is a passion of mine, and I'll never stop. I'm always striving to tell another story that speaks to me in new and interesting ways, and my milieu seems to have becomes historical fiction with a fantasy bent.

I love the feeling of being dropped into a lived-in world with its own rules and following a character who has to navigate them. That can be the far flung future like a Gene Wolfe novel or the distant, forgotten past like a Conan adventure from Robert E. Howard. That can even be a biography of a real man long since dead like James Madison. In fact, it was through the reading of Irving Brant's six-volume biography of Madison that I discovered The Battle of Lake Erie, the small corner of the War of 1812 that I used as the basis for my first published novel.

It was another biography of another president, one about George Washington, that led me to discover the real-life tale of America's first president where he almost died on a mission for the Virginia colonial governor at 21 years old before the French and Indian War. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to add a monster into the action to give it that extra oomph I needed to actually write about it, though.

I continue to write where I feel like going, from historical fiction to historical fantasy to horror to even a spy thriller. I like all kinds of stories, and I feel no real need to limit my own output into just one kind. Even reading Shusaku Endo gives me ideas of stories to tell in Shogunate Japan.

So, follow me on some adventures through time, bending the rules of reality, and always with a clear-eyed focus on the people we use as vessels into these worlds.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A very young George Washington is tasked with an important mission. He is to take a small party and forge north to the Ohio Valley to deliver a letter to the commander of the French forces. Along the way, he's supposed to gather intelligence and information.

However, there are strange deaths following them around. A hideous creature, known as a maniteu is killing the strongest men it finds, and George Washington is very strong.

Not bad. Could be a little scarier.

I think the stench of the Tony Curtis movie is finally fading from the concept of the Manitou.

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an intriguing premise largely undone by the writing. I have a soft spot for historical horror but all the small anachronisms pulled me out of the 1750s setting. The book was also in serious need of an editor with numerous auto-correct errors and clunky, difficult to parse sentences. There were attempts to breath life into the character of George Washington that ranged from relatable (his feelings towards his recently deceased brother) to ham-fisted (his relationship to a wad of tobacco that symbolizes home). Unfortunately the writing also gets in the way of the suspense. All in all I feel like I should rate this lower but I’m sure Washington completists may enjoys this somewhat.

[Jenny Coyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this as an ARC. This is my unbiased review.

I unfortunately had a hard time with this book. I'd give it a 2.5 if I could. I felt it was very slow moving and the "horror" aspects were quite disappointing and anticlimactic.

It takes place when George Washington was just getting started in his career. I had a hard time picturing him insecure and sometimes inept. I know that is part of his story, but I really didn't like his character. I just wanted to slap him and tell him to man up!

I had hoped that the horror element would make up for the rest of the writing, but without giving anything away, this particular "ghoul" just didn't do it for me.

[Mark Kramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, not my usual genre. Mostly historical fiction, lightly fantasy/horror elements.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely done alt-history that is not just a monster grafted onto real history.