Keyhole

In the 1800s, a family of ex-slaves and their children settle on the banks of Cane Creek in Arkansas. The family follows the Yoodoo religion, a Christian group that is guided by the Holy Bible but views women, not men, as natural rulers. Yoodoo is an art of light, unlike voodoo, which is one of darkness.

Louise, a descendent of that family, is born to be a Yoodoo queen, like her mother and aunts before her. She knows that in order to protect her people, she must exterminate the Hags, a minor cult in the South that has cultivated the dark demonic arts.

What Louise doesn’t know is that she is a pawn in a much larger struggle. And the satanic voodoo priest she thinks is her worst enemy—the Hag leader named Pepper—is another pawn. Before long, they and their people will be forced to play a dangerous game that Cane Creek now controls.

The eerie truth is that Cane Creek isn’t just a creek…it’s possessed by the restless, dead souls of slaves and their masters—and they have only just begun to play.

”This Creek lies in the southeastern most desolate corner in Arkansas near the Mississippi line. Within the confines of this Creek comes a haunting of many unsettled souls seeking refuge and strength.” “The floor became unleveled and a stench of burning, dirty wood smothered the room. Stranger still was the fact that it was the middle of the day, and darkness enveloped everyone. No longer did Louise see the cold escape from her mouth. Without notice, a burst of heat clothed the room with the intensity similar to what she knew of brimstone.”

JoAn Gilmore Jackson is a native of Dumas, Arkansas. She graduated cum laude from Colorado State University Pueblo with a major in English and a minor in creative writing. Prior to pursuing her love of writing, she had a nursing career.

Strong of faith, Jackson is descended from a line of Missionary Baptists. Like Queen Louise in The Keyhole, she grew up with a creek named Cane Creek running behind her childhood home.

She is married to George Jackson and has two children and one grandchild. In her spare time, she plays the piano and sings. This is her first book.

She says The Keyhole is dedicated to the memory of her mother, Alcurtis Dantzler Gilmore, whom she states "told me many stories in my youth, which nearly scared me to death."