Haint Lights

I have heard of these phenomena as such things fascinate me. Why is noone looking at this? It has a good pitch, a premise that drags you in and a great few first chapters. You set the scene well with nice imagery and details of the area. Yes, there has been mistakes but they seem to be corrected. Get behind your own work and promote it like hell. This is good.

This is a good story. The way the flickering lights are included is interesting. Your writing style adds a lot to the story. It's fresh and clear and makes this an enjoyable read. I'm adding this to my shelf. Burgio (Grain of Salt).

This is thriller fiction at its best! What I love is the plot doesn't need demons, vampires or monsters todrive it but rather real people and down to earth scenarios! BACKED with pleasure!

Liz
The Cheech Room

Love it! Well written and descriptive...
Backed!

Hey, maybe Eunice is from Appalachia...?
Dan-
Eunice Stubbins, among others...

Backed.

Jesse - Savant

You blend the fact and fiction effortlessly! Well done, this is skillful and interesting writing! Shelved!
Simon

This has the great rambling quality of southern storytelling. The storyteller will get to the point when he's good and ready, but there's a lot of good stuff between here and there. I love the narrator and his attitude is pretty amusing. Believe it or not, he'd fit right in up here in the rural north. I think country people are much the same wherever they come from. Not sure I want to know which is factual and which isn't.
The first paragraph of the first chapter is a problem. He's been seeing the lights for 20 years, but still needs a shot of JD to deal with it? Seems like he'd either move away or get used to it. Other than that, I like the way the narrator mentions the lights, then goes off on his family history and his coon hounds and all. Like I said, that rambling tradition. The coon hounds and the rotten father-in-law all being good stories in themselves, we'll get to those lights later on I'm sure. -Steve Merrill

Gale, reading this is like listening to a fine storyteller - one who's so good at spinning yarns that you really don't mind when the stories are a bit embroidered -) A great sense of place, and a distinctive voice.

Shelved.

I like it Gale. I'd get rid of the first paragraph, it reads better from the second. Also I noticed that you had put sight instead of site for building site.

It is easy to read and authentic and very well done. I like the idea of a southern fried thriller x x

This book reads like it could be true. Its easy to read and the setting is lovely. Great characterizaion in GD. I read the first three chapters and felt really involved. Good luck with this - love sarah x

There is good writing here, but if I may suggest, I think you need a stronger hook at the beginning of your story to pull the reader in. The confrontation with the Councilman would do it. Backed for the quality of the writing.

Right off the bat it jumps into the thick of it. you really have depicted the MC well and I felt bad for him.
This is great. I love books like this and this one did not disappoint.
I laughed out loud at the poo prank and was equally horrified.
I like that she didnt know which car was the right one so she did both. Good girl. Cover all bases.
This is great to read. Flows well. Keen dialogue.
Backed.
T.L Tyson-Seeking Eleanor.

This is wonderful writing, it is so realistic and so full of detail it could be autobiograhy, I was fascinated and gripped by it. I back this with great pleasure.
BADD

Read the first six chapters. Alcoholic sits on rocker on his porch looking at scary "haint" lights. Lots of family conversations and ... in ch 8 we get to a kid being buried. Now... that I think is where you need to start from! It's a bit slow-paced up to there, and we need more initial fireworks. Having said all that, it's very well written...
Best of luck with it.
Frank

Gale,being a wimp, I read this with trepidation. I had to skim over the bit about the cat. But your writing and charcterisation are compelling. The scenes you paint are vivid. It's easy to read and difficult to put down - or it would be, if it were printed. I have a feeling this will do well. Shelved.Lynn

Gale
‘Southern fried thriller’ – I like it!
You get off to a great start and as a reader I was intrigued and feeling sorry for the protagonist. You build tension well, getting to the councilman’s house and up till the last minute I was still guessing what was going to happen. You know, this prose has good voice. It is clear and strong, making for quite addictive reading. Our protagonist is an interesting man and some of his actions puzzle to me, making me curious to find out more about him. Why go for such extreme vengeance? Good characterisation. As I come to the end of the opening chapter I am quite horrified by his actions. Did the councilman really deserve such treatment?
I think you have a fine story building here and I particularly like the one-liners, like ‘nervous as a hooker in confession.’
Backed with my best wishes
David
Green Ore

Hi Gale,

I'm here for my return read. What timing! We just had some friends over (they were dropping off their daughter for a sleep-over) and while we were in the kitchen, they were treated to their first look at what we call "the neighborhood welcoming committee" - over a dozen adult dogs (retrievers and shepherds) and countless puppies, all crowded together on the small deck of our across-the-street neighbor. So I immediately related to the situation (albeit from a different perspective), and I was pulled right into the story. Interesting characters, realistic situations that slowly incorporate the fantastic - how could this not go up on my shelf?

~Traci
Tangled Web

G.D. is an excellent character, and the whole atmosphere of the opening is great. Like nothing I've ever read before. Shelved.

What a yarn this is. I came from a family of tale spinners when you never knew how much was truth and how much someone just thought up and added in because it sounded good at the time. This is brilliant, full of old coots just like my relatives. It's a fun read right from the start and doesn't lag one minute. And you nailed that Tennessee / Eastern Kentucky culture. I love the way you spin the story. The dialog is great, the characters totally unique. Shelved!

This is really entertaining and extremely well-written. You have a way with words and storytelling...and some classic lines. I only had time for the first chapter but will definitely be back again to dig deeper. Shelved.

Very interesting read and I can understand dealing with piss ant councilmen. Enjoyed and backed,...Gordon Kuhn

I laughed when I read ‘as nervous as a hooker in confession’ I guess I never thought they went. ‘…a pious little ant of a councilman’ – your book could almost be backed on that statement alone – I’m with you there.
I really like your MC and his decision to move was great and his wife’s prank is priceless. Well done. This is a great read and it is well written with humor.
I am very happy to back this now and I will read some more since it is such good fun.

Adrian

Gale, you're a born story-teller, that's obvious, but when you describe your character's father-in-law in chapter 2, the shampoo bottle, the electric "trap" and then the cruelty to the cat, you make the repulsive creature come to life. I don't know the area you write about, but that doesn't matter a bit as your folksy style took me there. There's a horror story here, no question, along with humour and a great many memorable descriptions unique to yourself.
I loved the cover, the pitches work well and you're a talented writer.
Shelved.
Jared

Hi Gale,
You're a storyteller. You're the kind of person sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, telling stories to anyone that will listen and you have the ability to glue your audience to their seats. Fortunately for you (and for us), that ability also comes through in your writing. You could probably tell the story of the world financial crisis in a down-home way that would make people nod and smile. It's a pleasure reading your book.

Shelved.

Charley
"5ive Speed"

Gale,
Your “Haint Lights” opens with a man drinking too much as he ponders the light that’s appeared on the back ridge for twenty years. Clearly, the light disarms him and has become his nemesis, as the whiskey blunts the pain. A thump tells him the light is there, without him seeing it. The thump turns to a beat.

What brought him to this place? Twenty years earlier, he’d gotten into a fight with a city councilman. His fourteen coonhounds barked all afternoon while he was away and the annoyed councilman filed a complaint. He charged over to the guy’s house, let loose a tirade, and would have belted him had the man been more than five feet tall. He left behind a trail of torn up sod and marigolds in the wake of truck tires on the lawn. He drove to the animal shelter, fearing the worst. The animal control officials told him that he’s allowed only four dogs and no goats, but the ferrets and rabbit are fine. Of course, he refuses to part with any of his animals – he’ll move.

He and his wife Rita had been talking about moving away from a city with crumbling factories and spray painted graffiti. They wanted a better place to raise their children, so this clenched it.

They head to Lynchburg, Tennessee where some of Rita’s paternal relatives live. He walks some property with Uncle Archie and after spotting coon tracks, he bought fifteen acres the next day, even though Rita never saw it. She stayed up north with the kids while he and Archie built a log cabin. After moving into the finished house a couple of months later, she’s uneasy and he doesn’t know why. She finally confessed to taking revenge on the councilman. On Halloween, she vandalized his cars with dog poop, and the man was so distraught he had a heart attack and triple bypass surgery, then stepped down from his seat on the Council.

Your story begins with eerie tension and a character in distress, so you capture your reader’s attention. Your narrative has the homespun quality of Mark Twain and feels authentic and natural. I’ll move this to my bookshelf.
Mary

Enjoyable read, feel akin to the MC, my kind of man!

Melxx

a grand, confident start – tension in the eeriness of the thudding in the mountain & the following scene is also vivid and moves us forward at good pace - “pious little piss ant of a councilman” is great – the events forcing them to leave the city, his plan to attack the councilman, changing his mind, but his mild-mannered wife secretly getting revenge & how shit on steering wheel led to the guy’s heart attack... all good character development there.

all round i think you have an excellent skill in drawing rich & varied characters – the setting is great too and allows, i think, by its very nature for expansive description, which you do well.

the early chapters set us up well – the escape to the rural area, better life, healthy place to raise family – this is stuff with which we can all identify and we are lured in, as was stillwell, by this belief.

the southern narrative voice adds a particular strength to the writing – we relax into a confidently told story because we believe it...

later events promised in the pitch – rumours of creatures in the mountains, little people, the threat this will pose to the stillwell’s – all bodes well for the genre/s and, against this glorious backdrop, promises a chilling read.

i’m putting this on my rotating shelf and wish you well with it.

freddie
("honour")

Funny! I love the sense of humor in this story. Your pitch was excellent and your story followed. I wish I could give you some editing advice, but I was engrossed (no pun intended!) by your story.

Great job!
SD Gillen

I have the distinct feeling you are actually from the south. Having grown up there, these stories ring true. Nicely done.

Well, at first I really laughed. At the pooh and at the shampoo bottle. And then I got to the end of chapter two and was really revolted. I'm not sure if this is meant to be funny or scary or horrible. But nevertheless, I liked it. Your writing style is easy to read, well laid out and presented, and not overly fussy. You tell your story well. I liked your bio too. You sound a bit like me and my husband, living here in France. That was what made me want to read this in the first place. You say it is based on truth. And what is stranger than that? Nothing. We have had weird things happen too, and I look forward to keeping on going with this (just read two chapters so far) and finding out what happens next.
Hate the old man though. Hope he gets his comeuppance.
I am putting this on my shelf now.
Flicka

I think this is well written and moves at a pace that is just right for the plot. Living off the land doesn’t appeal to me but I am happy to read about it. I will back your book Good luck..

Tony

Hi Gale, This is quite an insider’s view of residential conflict. The narrator’s voice has the storyteller’s folksy ascerbity. And he relates the vengeful actions in a startling way. It’s entertaining and although I didn’t get to the little people, the first chapters introduce the theme of confrontation well. Shelved – Katherine

Any professed goat teat tugger is someone I want to read and my sister drove a 280Z.
Does one really have ferrets and hounds and goats in Tennessee?
is it true your wife stores multiple dog turd bags in your car? Why save them instead of getting rid of them immediately? Saving up her energy?
and you FIL must've had a thin tallywacker.
How odd to read two books in a row where dip was mentioned. I think its a sign that I should give it a try once again and forget about the time I hit that bump on my bicycle and swallowed the lump.
this is funny stuff. v good.
Best of luck to you with it.
-=Bradley

Having read your bio i had to read your book, if you told your life story it would be good enough to make it to print ~i think. The book you have here though is fascinating, written well and very atmospheric. Good luck with it, i have backed it for its sheer originality.

Having read your bio i had to read your book, if you told your life story it would be good enough to make it to print ~i think. The book you have here though is fascinating, written well and very atmospheric. Good luck with it, i have backed it for its sheer originality.

Reminds me of my own futile excursions outside the South -- they really just don't get it, do they? How can you have too many dogs? Where would you get the poop when you need to smear it?

I like the feeling of a misfit looking to come home, then finding that there are "issues" there, too -- a them that resonates back to Thomas Wolf.

A good read.
Stuart Phillips
High Cotton

Dear Gale,

A southern fried chiller, for sure, and a voice worth gracing the archives.
G.D's authority phobia, his reassuring voice telling of most un-reassuring haints. We're left guessing at what the lights on the hill imply, be it the fate of rousted Indians on the Trail of Tears, or the various fateful murders that occured round the ridge. I can see how G.D. can't survive the various levels of freeze without his Jack Daniels.
Andf that nasty piece of work, old Jonas ... too damn mean to die, he's just going to nasty away ...
Or Mud, another misfit ... I often wondered how he ever got any beans in his mouth without that nose knocking them out of the spoon ...
It's clear that you wove in many incidents of your life, and as such, it's a novel record of an era and a people.

Technical glitch - I noticed chapter two and three are repeats. Also, in chapter five, the first paragraph, you repeat a sentence. And chapter six, the last sentence, I wonder if you mean 'without' hearing a single note.

How you use that light on the hill is masterfully dramatic, and carries the narrative.

Pia (Course of Mirrors)

I read two chapters of this delightful story and have every intention of finishing it. It was so funny and so well written.
I have heard many times about the lights and this wasn't what I was expecting at all, it is so much better.

Having started just two days ago, I'm not sure of what kind of comments are expected. You have such a fantastic book started here, drawing me in completely that I must read the rest of it. But, this second chapter does need some slight editing. I notice that some of your paragraphs are indented and others aren't. The only other thing I see are about a half dozen places where you have inserted a word twice, or left one out altogether.

A very close read and I'm sure you will spot them, and since I can see this book really shooting up the list, I would have it in perfect shape before it hits the Editors Desk.

Love it so far and will definitely continue to read. This is going right to my bookshelf.

Best of luck with it.

Trish

You build tension with your beginning before moving into the story smoothly.

This held my interest and reeled me in.... I have already backed this and have come back to read and comment.

Good luck

Jo xx

Spoilt

Read chapters 1, 6, and 10. Great story and it moved along at a great pace. Characters well developed.

Backed

Jill

I read your chapter 6 at random. I enjoyed meeting Dorsey. Quite a character. You do have several run-on sentences, but interestingly enough they lead to the casual style of the piece.

typo in this line: Rita had continued on her Dorsey binge during the entire solo without hearing a sing(l)e note. (and I'd put a ; instead of a comma just before Rita)

I look forward to reading more.

Writing as a Jack Daniels fan myself I would want to back this book it being so ass-tearing droll. I don't know where the hell it will end up, but the first few chapters persuade me...somewhere ornery. Real quality of writing all its own. But maybe they are all like that, in Tennessee. What genre could contain it? Backed. DB

This completely captured my attention, I was absorbed into the writing from the off. Very, very well done, and I really liked the colloquial feel to it. Full of mystery, but written such that it is believable, I really think this is one of the best books on here.

Andrew

nicely done. But then I favor southern stories like this as that's what I write.
I think asshole is one word.

backed

So ticked! Sick, don't feel like slinging paint, just want to lay in bed and read, and can't open a single blasted book!

The pitch for this was very strong and read like the outline of a film to me. The first sentence gave me a very vivid sense of place due to your descriptions and there was a definite mood of discontent and darkness throughout which gave the book an atmosphere and depth which I greatly enjoyed experiencing.
Kendall Craig, The Halo (of Delight)

-Haint Lights-
Hi Gale,
I love your sense of humor! Your thorough description of the father-in-law is both hilarious and repulsive. This is easy to read, so well-written, that it was hard to stop and get to bed. Also chilling--the idea of the lights is going to give me nightmares. I really enjoyed this.

I did notice that when I clicked on the 3rd installment, it was the same as the 2nd. You might want to check that out. Also, asshole is one word, and at the bottom of chapter 2, it's Charles Manson.

You should do extremely well with this. Good luck and on my shelf with pleasure.

Jambi
Fringe of Darkness

Haint Lights

Hi Gale,

First thing I learnt was what a Haint is, second I learnt was the southerner ability to tell a good story, a yarn basically. You do this so well and effortlessly, it reads like an autobiography in many places and you have such a wonderful story-telling voice. This is almost oral history but written down, wonderful humorous situation with a little twist of the supernatural and that place where we can't quite tell where the truth ends and the yarning voice takes it up. Wonderful stuff, I enjoyed this very much and read three chapters in the end, great contemporary writing that made this place come alive. If you have time to read my book I'd be grateful.

Best wishes and good luck
Andrew W.
(Sanctuary's Loss)

Gale,
Now that's what I call one Jack Black bottle full of laughter. I'm hanging onto this one. Some of the funniest writing I've seen in a long time. You have a unique and wonderful writing voice and the stories are right out of my childhood. I remember putting a sackful of dog poo on a neighbors porch and lighting it afire. Standard stuff where I grew up in Texas. This is so well written and so much fun to read my editor's eye has been completely blinded. Fun read, Gale, good luck with your book.
Steve Ward
Test Pilot's Daughter: Revenge

You do have some wonderful lines...‘nervous as a hooker in confession.' Now that is good. Lots going on in this story and some bigger than life characters. Like to see these live wires do more scenes though. Wouldn't that be explosive. As it is there is a lot of narrative. A few things I stumbled with-

I don't think that the dog catcher would write the councilman's name in the note. How did G.D know it was him?

‘I finished by telling him to could cram his city up his ass sideways....' Have to get rid of the ‘could'.

There are a few places like that, that need a bit of an edit. But as it is you kind of have a real firecracker here. On my shelf C.P