Echoes From the Hocker House

"Entrancing, edgy, and melodramatic tales with a palpable bite...Watts writes with a profound, confident voice."
KIRKUS REVIEWS

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR ECHOES FROM THE HOCKER HOUSE...

• CATEGORY FINALIST, 2024 ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARDS
• 2024 DA VINCI EYE FINALIST
• 2024 FEATHERED QUILL BOOK AWARD WINNER (BRONZE)
• 2023 KIRKUS BEST INDIE BOOK SELECTION
• 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE

Virgina Watts' multi-award-winning debut collection delivers the goods from cover to cover with 15 compelling short tales. Here's a taste of what's in store...

In “Dollhouse,” young Deirdre survives a day sure to haunt her while serving as a source of strength, for when she visits a sickly, bed-ridden great uncle whose glass eye rests within a jar under his bed... watching Deirdre's every move.

An old woman dressed in black mysteriously appears one morning in a rural coal mining town, shortly after a mine shaft collapse claims the lives of several local miners. Known as "Queenie," she lives in an Airstream silver bullet trailer perched on the edge of Black Hawk Mountain. The locals believe she is the soul of their mountain, but why has she come?

A group of neighborhood friends sets out to discover what 13-year-old Jeff actually witnessed after he swears to have seen "weird" Mr. Hocker pushing a dead body in a black garbage bag to the top of their street. Was Jeff's imagination playing tricks on him, or is something sinister afoot? The title story, "The Hocker House," holds the answers.

These and other unsettling stories—fifteen in all—await you.

Table of Contents:

• Aerial View

• The Bitterest Winter

• The Echoes in Gleeva

• Elias Wolf

• Queenie

• Homecoming

• Dollhouse

• Due North

• Starscraper

• The Shadows Outside

• Mystery Box

• August

• The Hocker House

• Scar

• Just About There

ECHOES FROM THE HOCKER HOUSE, a National Book Award nominee, will keep you on the edge of your seat until you fall off. Don't miss this fantastic, one-of-a-kind collection, destined to become a classic!