What do you think?
Rate this book
One-Shot
In One-Shot, Jacy Morris crafts a haunting tapestry of Native American heritage and cosmic horror.
One-Shot, an Indigenous naturopathic insemination expert, is teetering on the brink of sanity. His life takes a sudden turn when he's tasked with transporting his grandfather's ashes from Pittsburgh, PA, to their ancestral reservation.
As he embarks on this cross-country odyssey, the scars of past traumas reawaken. The highways become a surreal landscape, where spectral figures from Native folklore and twisted horrors of a Lovecraftian nature emerge. These apparitions are not just hauntings but reflections of a fracturing mind, struggling to discern reality from nightmare.
With his grandfather's ashes as his solemn companion, One-Shot confronts these terrors, each mile bringing him closer to a harrowing truth. This journey is more than a physical traverse—it's a pilgrimage through the fragmented realms of memory, heritage, and fear.
What lies at the reservation is more than the end of a journey—it's the precipice of insanity.
One-Shot is a gripping narrative that delves deep into the psyche, unraveling a story where the final destination might just be the complete unraveling of one's mind.
Proudly represented by Torrid Waters, a division of Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!
One-Shot, an Indigenous naturopathic insemination expert, is teetering on the brink of sanity. His life takes a sudden turn when he's tasked with transporting his grandfather's ashes from Pittsburgh, PA, to their ancestral reservation.
As he embarks on this cross-country odyssey, the scars of past traumas reawaken. The highways become a surreal landscape, where spectral figures from Native folklore and twisted horrors of a Lovecraftian nature emerge. These apparitions are not just hauntings but reflections of a fracturing mind, struggling to discern reality from nightmare.
With his grandfather's ashes as his solemn companion, One-Shot confronts these terrors, each mile bringing him closer to a harrowing truth. This journey is more than a physical traverse—it's a pilgrimage through the fragmented realms of memory, heritage, and fear.
What lies at the reservation is more than the end of a journey—it's the precipice of insanity.
One-Shot is a gripping narrative that delves deep into the psyche, unraveling a story where the final destination might just be the complete unraveling of one's mind.
Proudly represented by Torrid Waters, a division of Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!
185 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 7, 2025
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 16, 2025
Wow, this was an incredible, one-sitting read for me! An extraordinary take on Native American horror, capped with a good dose of cosmic horror - simultaneously brimming with psychological insight and urban grit, all told with a strong sense of heart-piercing authenticity.
The premise alone is brilliant: Arnold Yeager, better known as One-Shot for his multiple times confirmed ability to impregnate women on the first try, is selling his talent on the bizarre idea that this will help his Native American heritage to spread around. When his much loved grandfather dies, he finds himself tasked with bringing his ashes back to his tribe's reservation - from which his grandpa mysteriously left a long time ago. He's advised not to be seen by anybody there, unless the Whistle Man becomes aware of him. And thus begins the meat of the book, as One-Shot leaves Pittsburgh and goes on a massive trip across states, to reach the tribal reservation in Oregon. Little does he know what is waiting there for him. And no sooner is he travelling on the highways than terrifying visions and long-buried secrets about his own lineage turn his trip into a nightmare.
One-Shot is a deeply flawed character. His chances at redemption are few, and most of them are usually dashed almost immediately in one way or another. But his weak spot seems to be parenthood; hence the book goes quite heavy on that front, broaching the relevant issues unapologetically, all the way from fertility and conceiving to abortion. The same issues play crucial parts driving the story, which makes for some harrowing moments bound to trigger people who care about (fictional) babies.
The story's horror elements are revealed piecemeal, even sporadically - sometimes, not even explicitly. It takes great storytelling skills to pull this off without trying the reader's patience, and Morris proves once again to exceed all expectations. In fact, the writing, the pacing, and the dialogue are so good in this book, I would have enjoyed reading it even if it were twice longer. Yes, the story is bleak and the attitudes towards life rather cynical and distrustful, but One-Shot is an amazing character to follow.
The ending was appropriately weird for such a strange tale. Not ambiguous or vague, just unexpected in a rather upsetting, and chilling, way. But it makes sense of all that's gone before.
I eagerly recommend the book! It's one hell of a messed up story, brilliantly executed!
The premise alone is brilliant: Arnold Yeager, better known as One-Shot for his multiple times confirmed ability to impregnate women on the first try, is selling his talent on the bizarre idea that this will help his Native American heritage to spread around. When his much loved grandfather dies, he finds himself tasked with bringing his ashes back to his tribe's reservation - from which his grandpa mysteriously left a long time ago. He's advised not to be seen by anybody there, unless the Whistle Man becomes aware of him. And thus begins the meat of the book, as One-Shot leaves Pittsburgh and goes on a massive trip across states, to reach the tribal reservation in Oregon. Little does he know what is waiting there for him. And no sooner is he travelling on the highways than terrifying visions and long-buried secrets about his own lineage turn his trip into a nightmare.
One-Shot is a deeply flawed character. His chances at redemption are few, and most of them are usually dashed almost immediately in one way or another. But his weak spot seems to be parenthood; hence the book goes quite heavy on that front, broaching the relevant issues unapologetically, all the way from fertility and conceiving to abortion. The same issues play crucial parts driving the story, which makes for some harrowing moments bound to trigger people who care about (fictional) babies.
The story's horror elements are revealed piecemeal, even sporadically - sometimes, not even explicitly. It takes great storytelling skills to pull this off without trying the reader's patience, and Morris proves once again to exceed all expectations. In fact, the writing, the pacing, and the dialogue are so good in this book, I would have enjoyed reading it even if it were twice longer. Yes, the story is bleak and the attitudes towards life rather cynical and distrustful, but One-Shot is an amazing character to follow.
The ending was appropriately weird for such a strange tale. Not ambiguous or vague, just unexpected in a rather upsetting, and chilling, way. But it makes sense of all that's gone before.
I eagerly recommend the book! It's one hell of a messed up story, brilliantly executed!
November 14, 2025
A truly scary trek from Pennsylvania to the lands of an Indian tribe. A journey accompanied by the ashes of his late grandfather to be returned to the region of his birth. A nerve wracking and suspenseful trip.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews