Wells Without Water: A Novel

by Cebo Campbell

The author of Sky Full of Elephants returns with an evocative, harrowing novel about the bonds of community and the power of redemption, as the disillusioned son of a preacher returns home and uncovers a supernatural force taking hold.

When a sweet, unassuming fifteen-year-old walks into the local police station attempting to kill everyone inside, Carmichael Franklin, a social justice advocate and legal investigator whose hope for a better world is masked by a deep layer of cynicism, is called home to Loblolly Grove to find out what happened.

Carm returns and finds his community crumbling. While the underfunded “Lo” has always had its problems, its residents were once as close as family. A towering apartment block, Carm learns its caretaker Ma Esther has been murdered, and a rising tension, coupled with strange outbursts of violence, has seemingly infected everyone. Carm’s brother, Everett, who has followed in their father’s footsteps and is now the Bishop, brings Carm to see a young girl he believes is possessed, unleashing an action-packed series of events that transport Carm across time.

Wells Without Water is an incendiary, poetic, horrifying, and, above all, deeply felt adventure through the lives and loves of the Lo. Cebo Campbell has written a literary horror novel with the heat and rhythm of a Black sermon and the surreal, myth-soaked atmosphere of Southern gothic at its most hallucinatory. As the Lo teeters between rot or revolution, Carmichael is forced to confront a spiritual evil that has plagued humanity from its very beginnings. Wells Without Water brings to light the magical roots of Nat Turner’s rebellion, the power of religion when put in the wrong hands, and the cosmic horror of slavery itself.

Genres: Horror

320 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 9, 2027

About the author

CEBO CAMPBELL is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate creative based in New York and London. He is a winner of the Stories Award for Poetry, and his writings are featured in numerous publications. As co-founder and CCO of the renowned NYC creative agency Spherical, Cebo leads teams of creatives in shaping the best hotel brands in the world. His range of talents as a creative director have sent him all over the globe infusing creativity, from working with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in the UK, to concepting the Million Miracles humanitarian campaign throughout Africa and India, to writing and directing the VR short film Refuge: Triumph in Tulsa, based on the famed Black Wall Street in Oklahoma. Cebo’s expansive work as a writer, designer, and director are powered by a singular mindset: contribute meaningfully to the culture. And he does. With everything he touches.

At present, Cebo is likely somewhere in Europe enjoying good whiskey and better conversation.

Reviews

[Kharisma Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was almost tempted to hold off on writing this review just so I could sit a little longer with the sheer brilliance of this book. I thought Cebo Campbell’s debut was EXCELLENT… but Wells Without Water is on a completely different level. It is an absolute must-read for all generations. I literally had to open a blank document just to organize my thoughts because there is so much to digest. Cebo Campbell isn't just embodying genius he is the genius. To write a story that seamlessly touches every single dimension of human struggle, triumph, and consciousness requires a rare and extraordinary talent.

I am sitting here floored by the complexity, the striking parallels, and the profound nuggets of wisdom dripping from every page. This isn’t a story you can casually flip through. You have to annotate this book. It serves as an urgent, powerful wake-up call to all of us. While it’s hard to wait until next year for the official release, I cannot wait to hold a physical copy in my hands and re-read it. A haunting, masterclass work of art. 5/5 stars doesn't even feel like enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cebo Campbell has done something remarkable with Wells Without Water. This is Black speculative fiction at its most ambitious, using the supernatural not to distract from reality but to illuminate it. Campbell asks what it means to inherit history, to wrestle with faith, and to imagine freedom in a world shaped by oppression.

This novel thoughtfully engages with the relationship between spirituality, community, memory, and liberation. Campbell doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations about the ways Christianity has been used to uphold white supremacy, while also making space for faith as a source of resistance, healing, and collective strength. Those ideas are handled with so much strategy, care and complexity.

This is also a novel deeply invested in ancestral remembrance. By weaving Black history into the story, Campbell reminds us that remembering is an act of resistance. Our histories, our stories, and our ancestors are not relics of the past. They remain living guides for how we survive, organize, and care for one another today.

One book quote I know I won’t stop thinking about is: “Gather around who we are. And let nothing invade the space you create.”

To me, that captures the spirit of this novel. It is a meditation on identity, memory, family, and the ongoing practice of freedom. As Campbell writes, freedom is “a declaration and a discipline.”

I can’t wait for more readers to experience this one when it’s released.

[Josh Escandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for an eARC of Wells Without Water by Cebo Campbell. At the heart of the novel is Carmicheal, who is called home to make sense of the growing violence facing their community. Carmicheal is a beautifully rendered main character that we get to see a multitude of emotions and layers from as he fights to uncover the truth about the infestation happening to their community. I loved how the novel used possession of the community and characters themselves as a metaphor for trauma and racial violence. An absolute stunner of a horror novel that uses social and cultural critique in a perfect way.