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Taking Root
Some seeds can never be uprooted
On a remote stretch of highway, two college students make a deadly mistake. They thought no one would ever know. They thought no one could find the body.
Instead, they summoned something that has made the town of Hampton's Edge its hunting ground.
Thirteen tales spanning decades reveal how a rural Georgia town's dark horrors come to the fore. From a Depression-era dog's heroic last stand to a modern family's nightmare move, from a dentist's horrifying secret to a punk band's final tour, each story reveals another layer of the ancient evil that feeds on Hampton's Edge.
As the years build and the terrors multiply, residents vanish, visitors never leave, and the town itself becomes a living nightmare. But every curse has its origin, and the one who began it all must eventually face what they've unleashed.
All Stories Must Reach Their Bitter End
Featuring cover art by Rich Tommaso (Black Phoenix, Spy Seal), TAKING ROOT is Kyle Pinion's chilling debut that proves some small towns harbor secrets darker than their residents could ever imagine.
On a remote stretch of highway, two college students make a deadly mistake. They thought no one would ever know. They thought no one could find the body.
Instead, they summoned something that has made the town of Hampton's Edge its hunting ground.
Thirteen tales spanning decades reveal how a rural Georgia town's dark horrors come to the fore. From a Depression-era dog's heroic last stand to a modern family's nightmare move, from a dentist's horrifying secret to a punk band's final tour, each story reveals another layer of the ancient evil that feeds on Hampton's Edge.
As the years build and the terrors multiply, residents vanish, visitors never leave, and the town itself becomes a living nightmare. But every curse has its origin, and the one who began it all must eventually face what they've unleashed.
All Stories Must Reach Their Bitter End
Featuring cover art by Rich Tommaso (Black Phoenix, Spy Seal), TAKING ROOT is Kyle Pinion's chilling debut that proves some small towns harbor secrets darker than their residents could ever imagine.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 11, 2025
4 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Kyle Pinion
1 book7 followersKyle Pinion is a writer and film critic from Decatur, GA. His work focuses on horror, the fantastical, and the bad things people do to one another. Before entering the world of fiction, he was a federal and state lobbyist for good causes. He lives in a cute house with his partner and their two dogs, surrounded by work that inspires him
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 11, 2025
I'm friends with the author, so I'm biased, but I think even if I didn't know Kyle, I'd be incredibly impressed with this debut. For a lesser talent, moving between genres, perspectives, and even kinds of media would feel like a way of covering up deficiencies, but he has the goods. Look no further than the chapters "Elizabeth" or "A Boy Falls into a Hole." Even though it's playful with perspective and time, they both serve an emotional wallop, and you can see that across the whole book.
July 3, 2025
Fantastic read. Each story/chapter different enough from the last to keep you wondering what’s coming next. The short stories capture the setting of rural GA perfectly while hopping horror-tinged genres. Every time I thought “that was my favorite so far”, the next chapter would surprise and delight. I’ll be anticipating Kyle’s next work.
July 16, 2025
A fantastic debut novel! I love a good horror story, and this book contains 13 of them. I think what I appreciate most is the variety of style: from the more straightforward horror of bad decisions and their consequences (the three sort of wraparound stories) to the more absurdist and surreal horror of "The Scourge in the Yard" and "Good Will Toward Bog-Men," to the unique psuedo-epistolary approach of "Elizabeth," to the sword and sorcery meets coming of age story in "A Boy Falls Into a Hole," there's something for everyone here. Despite it's multitude of style, the aesthetics and interests stay largely consistent: punk rock and metal, comic books, shadowy figures and a mysterious alternate plane with a crimson ocean.
What I like best is how the stories interconnect in literal ways (characters and settings spreading across multiple stories) but also thematically. There's an empathy with downtrodden, tragic characters that might otherwise be reduced to stereotypes--especially given that this takes place in the American South. Pinion gives them all an essentially humanity and rich interior life whether they're young men making a difficult moral decision after accidentally hitting someone with their car, a woman married to a notorious serial killer, or a child grappling with bullying in the face of their burgeoning sexuality.
I'm thrilled to have found a new author that nails the sort of subjects and styles that I'm into, and this book is one I'm looking forward to re-reading and discovering new connections between the stories and hints at the overarching weird mythology he's creating. Can't wait for whatever he writes next!
What I like best is how the stories interconnect in literal ways (characters and settings spreading across multiple stories) but also thematically. There's an empathy with downtrodden, tragic characters that might otherwise be reduced to stereotypes--especially given that this takes place in the American South. Pinion gives them all an essentially humanity and rich interior life whether they're young men making a difficult moral decision after accidentally hitting someone with their car, a woman married to a notorious serial killer, or a child grappling with bullying in the face of their burgeoning sexuality.
I'm thrilled to have found a new author that nails the sort of subjects and styles that I'm into, and this book is one I'm looking forward to re-reading and discovering new connections between the stories and hints at the overarching weird mythology he's creating. Can't wait for whatever he writes next!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews