Mountain Magic

by Brian J. Hatcher, Lucy A. Snyder (Foreword), Wade German (Contributor)

The power of magic is the power of story. Both use illusion to illustrate the truth. Both create worlds with a few magical words. And both have the power to change us forever. The Appalachian Mountains are full of stories. And magic. In Mountain Spellbinding Tales of Appalachia, editor Brian J. Hatcher collects stories and poems from around the world. Thirteen authors share awe-inspiring, beautiful, frightening, and sometimes deadly, magical visions. Stories about disturbing sleight of hand, earthy fantasy, and ghostly illusion. The kind of magic found only in Appalachia. The curtain is drawn. The show begins. Time to experience Mountain Spellbinding Tales of Appalachia. Now, watch very closely.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories

144 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published October 22, 2010

About the author

Brian J. Hatcher is an author, poet, and editor from Charleston WV. His work has appeared in several publications, including the “Legends of the Mountain State” series, the poetry anthology “Leonard Cohen: You're Our Man”, the Stoker-award winning “Writers Workshop of Horror”, and both Shroud and Weird Tales magazines. He was a featured author in the third edition of “The Midnight Diner”. He has edited two anthologies: “Mountain Magic: Spellbinding Tales of Appalachia” and “Stories from the Hearth”.

Reviews

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories made for some nice, light reading, which is exactly what I needed this weekend, so yay! My favourite stories were "The Scotsman's Fiddle", "A Recipe for Rain and Rainbows" and "The Passing". I liked each of them from start to finish. "A Silent Supper" was also quite charming though, and I'm pretty sure the MG class I used to work in would have loved "Top Hat" which was a fun morality tale.

[Brittany Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect, that is my opinion in one word. I just love short stories about my home state. WV is a great place to live and often it doesn't get the credit it deserves. The writing in this book is done well and is highly entertaining I will be looking for more books by this publisher.

[Angie Lisle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical, in a bloody, grisly sort of way, with a wee dram of Appalachian history thrown into the mix - this is a collection that reads like an evolved version of an old mountain ballad or the fairy tales before Disney got a'hold of the them. While these stories and poems made me think of the old bloody ballads, they were also separate - these are new stories arising from the world that came after the age of the mountain ballads. I'm glad I added this to my Appalachian Literature collection.

I enjoyed all of the stories and poems collected here, but my favorite is Fiddlelegs by Steve Vernon - the story is deliciously creepy and I'm definitely looking up more of Vernon's work.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My poem, "Margaret Rose", which is an original retelling of several Appalachian folk songs, is included in this collection of 13 stories and poems of gentle horror set in Appalachia.