Title: The Dead of Praeter Road
Author: Ali Kaden
Date: 2022
Publisher: Ali Kaden
Quote: "The son of a wealthy family, the merchant...paid them no mind. They'd never understood him. Peasants. Fanatics."
The unnamed merchant in the Puritan settlement called Baneford shares the Puritans' worldview...and takes the Devil's side. He paints portraits that aren't indecent, but that bring out the worst in each of his models, some of whom have died, possibly as a result of being made to confront their shame and guilt by the merchant, whose evil intentions do not include encouraging them to seek forgiveness as Christians do. He's in the process of destroying another local girl's self-respect when...
Fast-forward to modern times, when a teacher, still in early middle age, has a sudden heart attack and is found dead in the street by his pre-teen daughter. In some mysterious way these unrelated deaths are going to connect.
This short story is the prequel to a series of novels about what's going to happen in present-time Baneford as the evil merchant's spirit begins to haunt the town.
People who like stories of "the paranormal" may like this one, in which an historical era of US superstition is considered from the perspective of a culture where superstitions still have power. It's not precisely my cup of tea. It may be yours.
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