The Man in the Field, by James Cooper (ebook)

About the Book:

The village: a remote, God-fearing place, governed by ancient rituals that provide eternal balance to the land. Here, people have faith in working the soil, the good Lord above and their own peaceful community. This is how they have lived for centuries, the Council providing spiritual oversight and the charismatic Father Lynch lighting the way.

As he does every year, according to an age-old custom, the man in the field arrives amid much rejoicing and apprehension. To sanctify the newly planted crops and ensure a productive harvest, the village must make a personal sacrifice in his name. This is the tradition that must be honored. For every blessing, there is a debt to be paid . . .

Mother Tanner, an older member of the village, has seen all this before. She has been born and raised in the shadow of these harsh solemnities and feels increasingly disturbed by them. Celebrating the Turning of the Wheel and exalting in God’s bounty is only half the story; there is much here that she is starting to distrust. Not least of which is Father Lynch himself and his beloved Council. And the enigmatic man in the field, who gazes not at the village, but at the distant horizon, thinking only of the overdue debt and the stroke of midnight when it will be time to collect . .

"Like other folk horror that centers on appeasing old gods, The Man in the Field is a tribute to the works of Shirley Jackson. Fans of the literary spectrum of horror will enjoy this tale of small-town terror, reminiscent of the early works of Laird Barron and John Langan." - Booklist

JAMES COOPER is the author of the short story collections You Are The Fly and The Beautiful Red. His novella Terra Damnata was published by PS Publishing in 2011 and was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. His novella Strange Fruit and his novel Dark Father were both published in 2014 to critical acclaim.

More recently, PS Publishing released his third short story collection, Human Pieces, while the collection Head Space & Other Uncomfortable Surroundings was published in a beautiful leather-bound edition by Cemetery Dance in 2019. His latest publication is the short novel The Fade from Cemetery Dance.

Forthcoming is the novel Little Boy from Cemetery Dance, as well as a major new project from PS Publishing in 2021.