Author Susan Sheppard grew up only hills away from the first sighting of the West Virginia Mothman that occurred on November 14, 1966. This spectacular event helped shape Sheppard's imagination and set the tone for her future writings. Between 1966 and 1967, one hundred sightings of the Mothman were reported by local media. By 1968, the Mothman had disappeared. But his story did not end there. In The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale, the peaceful landscape of West Virginia is shattered by a being that can only be described as a part-human, part-ghoul - a red-eyed, winged beast. Sheppard re-imagines her tale and builds a world for her Mothman through a cast of characters that includes an alcoholic preacher, ghosts of lynched slaves and a beautiful witch queen ruling over local ghouls. In this book, mixed with a dreamlike setting, the Mothman not only comes to West Virginia, he finds his humanity in one stunning final victory.
| ||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Needs an Editor and Better Language Skills,
By
This review is from: The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale (Paperback)
I am entirely fascinated by the lore of the Mothman and the events in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in 1966 and 1967. Knowing this, a family member gave this book to me as a Christmas gift.
I wanted to like it. I really did. Unfortunately, the editing is incredibly poor and the language is childish at times. There are so many obvious errors, it makes the reading frustrating and stilted. I recognize some of the language is based on regional dialect, but having lived in West Virginia for four years myself and having numerous relatives still living there, I can tell you the language often comes off as racist and ignorant. The offensive language and stereotyping comes not just from "the bad" characters like Madja, Queen of The Ghouls. The book is laced with ugliness masquerading as regional charm and wit. This book comes courtesy of "PublishAmerica." It's unlikely it would have been released by another publisher. The roots of a great story are in the pages, but there clearly was not enough time spent in writing and no time spent editing and improving the work. No matter how many of the authors friends post their only review as a five-star rave, the fact remains the book is poorly written and riddled with mistakes and errors. The mistakes and errors are in basic grammar, word usage and spelling and have nothing to do with whether or not the text follows any previous work regarding the Mothman phenomenon. The author apparently doesn't know the difference between "illusion" and "allusion." Or, when to use "there" instead of "their." They are mistakes that cannot even be attributed to the colorful language of the characters. Spelling errors seem to be on every other page. These are mistakes that would be annoying enough in a public blog, let alone a "published" novel. No one who purchases this book should be under any impression other than that it is a work of fiction. However, it doesn't matter if you are a male reader or a female reader. Like the author, her defenders apply sexist remarks instead of owning up to the shortcomings of the work. Certain basic language skills should always apply to published works. This book falls far short. I wanted to recommend this book, but I can't. It gets two stars because it's about The Moth.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horrible Book,
This review is from: The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale (Paperback)
Do not waste your time or money on this book, it is terribly written, there are many spelling errors, and mistakes.
I am really suprised that this author (?), found anyone who would publish this. What a joke. I only gave this one star, because, I could not give it none.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gallows Tree,
By
This review is from: The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale (Paperback)
"The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale" is anything but an amateurish novel in need of an
editor. This is a truly original novel brought out by PublishAmerica last year. Granted, it does not follow the usual lines of the West Virginia Mothman story, and the book has more in common with Anne Rice and Mary Shelley than John Keel. But like the "Da Vinci Code" Susan Sheppard's novel does not claim to be anything more than pure fiction. As far as "The Gallows Tree" being racist -- That is off the mark, the slave dialect is written from pre-Civil War times and any racist comments made are ones by the Majda, Queen of Ghouls. Her character is meant to be evil and no one you would bring home to mother! Just because a character makes terrible remarks doesn't mean the author believes that way. Is Anne Rice a vampire? Is Stephen King an ax murderer? Did Edgar Allan Poe kill his wife? Susan Sheppard's book is like entering a rich dream, filled with nuances of emotion, sex, violence, laughter and poetry. "The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale" is in fact a very romantic book that might appeal more to women than men. Perhaps that is the problem the previous reviewer had with it. "The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale" not really a guy book and perhaps the Mothman is typically more guy subject matter.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
