In the 1930s, Ella Louise and her daughter Jessica are dragged from their home at the outskirts of Pilot's Creek, Virginia. Ella Louise is accused of witchcraft, and both are burned at the stake. Ella Louise's burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.
But if the mother was the witch, why was the little girl's grave so tightly sealed?
This question fuels a legend told around a campfire in the 1950s by a man forever marked by his encounters with Jessica. Twenty years later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a '70s horror movie inspired by the ghost story. Amber's experiences on the set and its '90s remake will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt.
Now, Amber's best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a popular true-crime investigator tracks her down for an interview. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her--or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again?
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For #FridayReads this week, I just started 'Ghost Eaters' by Clay McLeod Chapman as probably my final spooky read for 2022. I really enjoyed the metanarrative nature of 'The Remaking', so I'm excited to see what's in store here.
Clay McLeod Chapman is an author.
• @books_nooks_spooks 📚Book Review📚The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman @claymcleod 4.5 hollow eye sockets out of 5 Are you looking for an atmospheric, creepy ghost story? Read The Remaking. Witches, urban legends, ghost children, forests, graveyards & 70s low budget horror. https://t.co/g3phAVDNgN
"An ambitious mosaic novel exploring the power of urban myth and superstition."--The Guardian
"One of the most original and chilling novels this writer has read in recent memory."--Buzzfeed
"Something like Stephen King's imperfect masterpiece The Shining."--Kirkus Reviews
"This disorienting and immersive story anchors itself in history but stretches its terrifying tentacles into the present, producing intense chills."--Library Journal
"The perfect horror novel for fans of filmmaking and true crime."--Book Riot
"The Remaking is a fast-paced and haunting examination of how misogyny poisons our culture, generation after generation. It's absolutely chilling. You won't be able to put it down or stop thinking about it after the lights go out."--Mallory O'Meara, author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon
"Jumps out the gate and takes the reader on [a] wild and unnerving ride."--Horror DNA, 4 out of 5 star review
"A streamlined page turner of clearly cut supernatural encounters that moonlights as a frighteningly lucid story of injustice. Be it a specter or a painful recollection, Chapman teaches an absolutely chilling lesson on just how long the past will wait to bite you."--Fangoria
"A ripping good yarn. The Remaking first takes you into its confidence and then makes you wonder if you are also cursed with and by this story. Because, incidentally, you are."--Richmond Magazine
"Chapman tells a well-paced, spare story with original twists and some definite shocks."--Star News
"As both a novel of psychological terror and a traditional ghost story, this short, chilling read is recommended for all collections."--Booklist
"An obvious valentine to the horror genre."--The Big Thrill
Praise for Clay McLeod Chapman
"Chapman is the storyteller supreme."--Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind
"One of horror's modern masters."--Rachel Harrison, national best-selling author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth
"A not-to-miss horror novelist."--Library Journal
"Chapman is a maestro at building grim suspense to the point of unimaginable consequences, proving genuine horror dwells in the world we live in today."--Mystery and Suspense Magazine
"Chapman is the 21st century's Richard Matheson. He's that good."--Richard Chizmar, New York Times best-selling author of Chasing the Boogeyman