You’ve heard me mention Cicada Books & Coffee in Huntington before. I’ve done a couple of events there and the owner is part of my writers’ group, so I was thrilled when she said they were going set up a small press and start doing anthologies. Brood XIV Books was born and, now, it’s published its first anthology!

It’s called Lesser Cryptids of Greater Appalachia and the idea is to tell some stories of local beasties beyond the big names like Mothman or the Flatwoods Monster.

It’s filled with cool stories – and one of mine! It’s called “A Pool of Tears” and it is about a little beast from the Western Pennsylvania woods called a squonk.

I first learned of him thanks to a Genesis song called “Squonk” that had this explanation in the liner notes:

The Squonk is of a very retiring disposition and due to its ugliness, weeps constantly. It is easy prey for hunters who simply follow a tear-stained trail. When cornered it will dissolve itself into tears. True or False?

I’d always wanted to write a story about the little guy and this was a great chance to do it. It’s a Ben Potter story and actually slots in after the next (as of yet unwritten) book in the series, at it involves a new character that will make her appearance in that book. I tried to take a different angle on beast encounters.

Grab Lesser Cryptids in ebook here (or here for Kindle folks) or print here – or, of course, head on down to Cicada and get a copy there!