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  • The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo book cover
  • The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo book cover
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The Woods All Black

by Lee Mandelo

A frontier nursing assignment turns toward Appalachian folk horror

$20.80 USD
$34.67 USD $20.80 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A frontier nursing assignment turns toward Appalachian folk horror

Set in Spar Creek, a backwoods Appalachian community, the novel places Leslie Bruin’s nursing work—vaccination and childbirth care—alongside the town’s religious pressure and growing violence. Leslie, hardened by the Western Front, encounters hostility toward his identity as a trans man and a younger queer person facing demands from the church. The surrounding woods are also described as possessing a will of their own, bringing supernatural menace into a story concerned with prejudice, bodily autonomy, and power. Its historical-fantasy setting connects the intimate conflicts within the congregation to a darker presence in the landscape.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in historical fantasy and horror rooted in an Appalachian setting.
  • Readers seeking fiction about queer identity, prejudice, and bodily autonomy.
  • Readers drawn to stories that combine community conflict with supernatural menace.

Themes

Queer identity and bodily autonomyReligious pressure and prejudiceViolence and powerAppalachian folk horror

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

When they call you a monster, show your teeth.

The Frontier Nursing Service is sending Leslie Bruin to Spar Creek to vaccinate the flock, birth babies, and weather the judgement of those who see him as a failed woman. Hardened by the atrocities of the Western Front, Leslie thinks he can handle anything a backwoods Appalachian town throws at him. But Spar Creek holds a darkness he isn't prepared for.

Something ugly is festering in the congregation. Violence bubbles around a younger queer person who won't comply with the church's demands on his body -- and the wooded hills enfolding Spar Creek have a mind of their own.

The Woods All Black is a blood-soaked horror story about prejudice and power that reminds us to fight tooth and claw to live as who we are.

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