Yes, this is my final offering from the upcoming ‘Devil’s Wood.’ It will be out by this summer, and if you’re hooked listening to these chapter samples, you’ll want to buy the book! Fasten your headphones for one last teaser.  – Mark

Devil’s Wood begins when two boys wander into the woods outside Lambertville, New Jersey, and uncover a strange walking stick buried in the soil. One boy feels an immediate, nameless dread and keeps his distance; the other is drawn to it, pulling it free and revealing a grim truth beneath the earth—a human skull buried alongside the object. The discovery hints at an old, unfinished wrong, and a wood that has long remembered what was done there, waiting patiently for someone to find it.

The stick first surfaces in the life of Peter Brightly, a forty-two-year-old antique dealer struggling to hold together the fragments of his life after a painful divorce. As Peter becomes increasingly attached to the object, his health, judgment, and moral center begin to erode. The wood exerts a quiet pull, the past presses closer, and Peter is forced to confront how far he is willing to go to protect his own sanity.

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By Mark McNease

This is a travelogue, so I’ll skip the history lesson. I lived in Ojai, California, in 1979 after fleeing Indiana three days after my high school graduation. It’s always been a special place for me, an early refuge. My sister Cathy has lived in the same house here for 50 years this month. That’s it for the memoir.

Ojai is a magical town in the mountains about 90 minutes from Los Angeles and 40 minutes from Santa Barbara. It’s not far from Ventura, where I also lived once upon a time. Frank and I have been here a half dozen times over our 20 years together (next December) and we love spending several days and nights here. From this visit’s must-list: the Blue Iguana Inn, where we’re staying. It’s just 50 yards or so from my sister’s house, and it’s a lovely and slightly sprawling boutique hotel; dinner at Rumfish y Vino in Ventura; lunch at The Duchess in Ojai; and coffee-with-a-laptop at Ojai Coffee Roasters, where I’m writing this now. Keep reading for more about Ojai and the area, and if you ever get the chance, come stay a spell. It’s the kind of place where saying ‘stay a spell’ is a good way of putting it.

Devil’s Wood begins when two boys wander into the woods outside Lambertville, New Jersey, and uncover a strange walking stick buried in the soil. One boy feels an immediate, nameless dread and keeps his distance; the other is drawn to it, pulling it free and revealing a grim truth beneath the earth—a human skull buried alongside the object. The discovery hints at an old, unfinished wrong, and a wood that has long remembered what was done there, waiting patiently for someone to find it.

The stick first surfaces in the life of Peter Brightly, a forty-two-year-old antique dealer struggling to hold together the fragments of his life after a painful divorce. As Peter becomes increasingly attached to the object, his health, judgment, and moral center begin to erode. The wood exerts a quiet pull, the past presses closer, and Peter is forced to confront how far he is willing to go to protect his own sanity.