Water of Life

by Kathy L. Brown

1923. The Illinois backwoods. Sean Joye, a young veteran of the Irish Civil War, aims to escape faerie attention, atone for his assassin past, and make a clean new life in America. But his bootlegger friend, Caleb, is in danger. At least that’s the way Caleb’s girlfriend tells the story. As Sean treks through a November ice storm on a rescue mission, he braves greater threats than revenuers. The forest itself bristles with fae ill intent, and a strange old mountain woman would just as soon shoot Sean as feed him squirrel stew. People will die—or not die—unless Sean cracks the secret of Otter Springs and its water of life.

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2019

About the author

Kathy lives and writes in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Her hometown and its history inspire much of her fiction. When she’s not thinking about how haunted everything is, she enjoys hiking, crafts, and cooking for her family. Her latest novella, Wolfhearted is a departure from paranormal crime investigations into epic steampunk fantasy. Her novel, The Big Cinch, was published in 2021 by Montag Press. It went on to win a 2022 Imajinn Award for best urban fantasy novel. Two earlier stories in the same series, The Sean Joye Investigations, are the novella, The Resurrectionist, and the novelette, Water of Life. These are available in ebook and paperback from Amazon.com. Kathy’s short fiction has appeared in the Bards and Sages Anthology, Great Tome of Forgotten Relics and Artifacts (The Great Tomes Series, Volume One), with earlier works in Bards and Sages Quarterly, Golden Visions Magazine, and Mused Literary Journal. Follow her on Instagram at kathylbrownwrites, Facebook at kbKathylbrown, and Twitter at KL_Brown Kathy’s blog lives kathylbrown.com.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful new take on the Selkie

Really enjoyed this.

Found myself reading it in character, with a Deep South drawl of the moonshine period, or Irish accent. A clever bringing together of folklore from different cultures. Wonderful voice.

[Iseult Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atmospheric and intriguing story

A very interesting short story that follows a man looking for a missing moonshiner. I liked the language used to tell the story, the lyrical flow of the speech. The descriptions of the cold weather and the little cabin in the snow were excellent. I liked the fairy tale feel and the meeting of cultures.
Unfortunately, an action by one of the characters ruined my enjoyment of this story. The consequences of this action seemed to contradict the severity of the deed, and I believe it was supposed to be considered a good thing when I found it horrendous and shocking.
Perhaps the repercussions of this action are explored in subsequent stories.
Otherwise, lots of interesting ideas and it’s very well written.

[Daniel Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

I really liked this story. It was well written and fun to read. The ending was unexpected. Everyone should read this.

[Kathy Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her best yet.