Splinters (The Darkwood Legacy)

The Tree is no longer just waiting. It is hunting.

Grace Pritchard thought she was the hunter, collecting the forty-three cursed objects carved from the Confession Tree to save her soul and the world. She was wrong. A new enemy has risen from the roots-a hooded figure made of cursed wood and pure malevolence, designed for one purpose: to stop the Keeper at any cost.

As Grace's own humanity begins to splinter under the weight of her transformation into the Oracle, she must face a terrifying truth: the war has changed. She isn't just burying the past anymore; she is fighting for the future against a weapon that knows her every move.

R.D. Parrish is an American author whose work blends atmospheric horror, Southern Gothic melancholy, and deeply human storytelling. A Marine Corps veteran and longtime resident of the American South, Parrish draws inspiration from the quiet places-flooded fields, forgotten towns, and the heavy, humid stillness where memory clings to the earth.

His debut novel, Hollow Ground, is an intimate rural-horror tale set in the fictional Mississippi Delta community of Gethsemane Parish, where relentless rain awakens an ancient, listening intelligence beneath the soil. Parrish is known for crafting horror that is slow-burning, emotional, and rooted in character-stories where fear emerges not from monsters, but from misunderstanding, grief, and the fragile ways humans try to connect.

Parrish writes with a focus on atmosphere, psychological depth, and the strange beauty of the natural world. When he isn't writing, he enjoys time with his family, exploring small-town history, and working on the next haunting story set in the world just beneath our feet.

He lives in the United States with his wife, De.