Join us for a spooky evening on October 28th as we welcome Gregory Ariail back to the shop to introduce his latest short story collection: Hermits Die on Thursday – Stories of Appalachia and the Dark Ages. In conversation with Kellie Wells, this event starts at 5:30 and registration is strongly encouraged!
In this collection of short stories, transgression is the rule, and the profane and the sacred share a bed. Follow hermits and solitary wanderers as they encounter the weird in the Appalachian Mountains and wild spaces of medieval England and Iceland. Prepare for an unsettling procession of entities and objects: a queen turned to fungus, a hermit with a waterfall-sized beard, a goat’s head growing from a cliff, a devilish Pied Piper, a god trapped inside a glacier, a gnome on the moon, bog bodies clinging obstinately to an Iron Age monument, and an ancient cloud worshipped deep underground, among many others. These tales will transport you to the frontiers of the imagination. Illustrations by James Hutton and Aleksandra Apocalisse enhance each story.
Gregory Ariail is an assistant professor at the University of West Alabama. He is the author of The Gospel of Rot and the forthcoming GNOMES: A STRANGE HISTORY (Reaktion Books). In 2019, he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail.
