Most Popular Books by Jack Cady

u200bHaving considered the subject for more than sixty years, Jack Cady shares his knowledge of the American Writer in this wonderful and provocative book. The American Writer is both an open letter to young writers and a lovely overview for anyone interested in reading. Cady traces with insight and passion the threads of sin and original good in American literature, examines the thorny question of race, and explores the fantastic in modern fiction. He looks anew at familiar writers like Hemingway and Steinbeck, and repeatedly focuses on storytellers who have fallen out of favor today. Decidedly non-canonical and definitely not Politically Correct, this long overdue reprint of The American Writer celebrates the nation’s whole literary history from its roots to its crowning achievements up to the year 2000. It sees the New World through experienced eyes. Passionate, honest, and powerfully inspiring, it will be read and treasured for years to come.

Cady''s horror is that of the working man who has put his soul and sweat and hands to build a civilization, only to see the edifice of his creation taken apart by time, by selfishness, and by the warped, dark corners of the men who would bend the work of others to their own ends. The Hauntings of Hood Canal presents a small town in Washington state, a town that has settled into its own equilibrium, only to have that equilibrium upset by the arrival of a man who''s a little too fond of small children. A responsible blacksmith rids the town of this infection, but the doing of it creates a moral imbalance, and restoring the balance means facing an evil that has cracked the foundation of civilization itself. A dark and moody novel of small-town life in Washington disturbed by a mysterious entity that drags cars into Hood canal. A cast of drifters, hustlers, and others on the fringe find their lives drawn into a vortex of anxiety by an investigation into the deaths caused by an ancient creature that takes up residence in the canal they live by.

The crew of a Coast Guard search and rescue cutter, find themselves ice-bound off the coast of Maine in an unnatural winter. These men, trapped off-shore, find themselves at odds with one another . . . and with the sea. Strange events start to occur, and a pair of ghostly apparitions haunt the crew.

Over the course of his career, Jack Cady won the Bram Stoker Award, the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, a special award from the International Horror Guild, the Atlantic Monthly First Award, the Iowa Prize for Short Fiction, the National Library Anthology Award, and the Washington State Governor''s Award. Cady''s keen and profound insight into the collective psyche of the modern world — both from a narrative standpoint and from a critical cultural analysis — are captured in this collection. Phantoms includes his scathing critique of wartime politics and how these national policies are indelibly tied to the simple act of paying taxes (“Dear Friends”), to an anguished reaction to a world caught on the cusp of change during the 1970s (“Birds”), to a modern parable of the frustrating nature of Satan''s job (“The Parable of Satan''s Adversary”), to a romp through science experiments gone awry (“The Twenty-Pound Canary”). The world is filled with ghosts, but to Jack Cady, these phantoms are vital aspects of who we are. His stories never lose sight of the marvelous mystery of the fantastic.

u200bIn this third volume of collected short work, Jack Cady shows his mastery of narrative and uniqueness. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Nebula Award, and many others, Cady captures the feelings and fleeting moments that seem far beyond the reach of mortals who don’t have the patience to look. Ephemera delivers stories that demonstrate Cady’s Western spiritual paradigm. These include “The Priest,” written after a study of the journal of George Fox, and “The Sons of Noah,” about members of a secluded pious community living in close harmony with primordial forces interrupted by an eruption of Old Testament violence. Then there are tales such as his 1965 Atlantic Monthly story “The Burning,” where Cady introduced a character that would appear in his 1981 novel Singleton. Cady produced some of his finest work in short fiction. The tales within prove that he was truly a breathtaking writer. Introduction by Mark Teppo, author of Longspur

There is a curse on Point Vestal. Time moves differently in this sleepy Northwestern coastal town, where the ghosts of the past roam the streets as readily as the living inhabitants. It''s still the late 19th century, and underneath the quaint touristy allure of the commingling of the past and present is a lurking darkness. August Starling, a decadent (and dead) crime baron, has a plan for Point Vestal because the magical nature of the town is a haven for sinners fleeing judgment for their crimes. And the only residents who can stop him are newcomers to town: a defrocked Episcopalian priest and a talking cat, who is fluent in seven languages. The Off Season is an effusive meditation on the nature of the fantastic, by a writer the Atlanta Constitution calls "a lasting voice in modern American literature." Cady, winner of both the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award, has given us "a consummate yarn, told with many digressions and anecdotes that combine with folksy humor to create a tall tale suffused with pathos and melancholy." (The Seattle Times)

The dream always started the same... Psychologist Meredith Morgan understands the how and why of dreams. She understands that dreams are how our subconscious mind tells us things we are too busy to notice. It was a nearly senseless dream... She understands that some see dreams as prophetic, as the future reaching back and giving us a clue as to what is to come. Some see dreams as open doors through which the past can claw its way into the present. Dreams are where time and space collapse. Meredith awoke... But dreams are dreams, and when you wake up, the people you meet in your dreams shouldn’t still be with you...

This Philip K. Dick Award nominee is a multi-layered novel: a murder-mystery, a classical tragedy, and a spiritual journey. Set among the Cherokee of North Carolina in the 1950s, Inagehi is the story of a young woman who inherits a mountain and the mystery of her father''s death. With themes as ancient as the existence of God and as modern as post-traumatic stress disorder, Inagehi answers that voice inside us all that asks how "it" all fits together. A work of uncommon power from a master craftsman.

Master storyteller Jack Cady''s final novel, Rules of ''48, is a stirring semi-autobiographical examination of changing social conventions, and the development of the American conscience in the aftermath of the greatest war in history. In a city with roots deep in the Confederacy, five men endure seven deadly weeks that forever alter their perceptions of the world.

u200bIn the coastal town of Surfbreak, Molly Snow explores mysterious stories that whirl around a brave explorer who ventured here long ago. Why did the maps Alfred Aowl drew of the region depict places that don''t exist? And how did he die? u200bSoon her interest in Aowl and his feud with the Indians resurrects dark forces only a shaman can understand.

THE CLOTTED BLOOD OF A BROKEN WORLD. Dr. O’Connell and Padre Sandoval join the away team as they investigate the hulking wreck of Isla Lodo’s petroleum plant and oil derricks. But biohazards and tormented spirits aren’t the only horrors waiting in rusting ruins; one crewmember with ulterior motives may be enough to spell disaster for them all.

Truck drivers with troubled consciences over the death of a fellow truck driver on the road, a father taking his son north to Canada to escape the draft, etc.

A novel of transcendental horror and vengeance from the author of The Well and The Jonah Watch. In the heart of the deep south, where memories of a war long over still simmer, Dan McDowell is pursued by a chilling apparition—the spectral image of his great-grandfather... a family horror almost too awful to comprehend. Destined to learn the secret of his family’s past, McDowell is constrained to repeat—in the name of honor and Southern chivalry—the heinous crime of his ancestor, an act required, demanded by his ghost...

Ghosts of Yesterday is a stunning collection by multiple-award-winning author Jack Cady The Off Season, The Haunting of Hood Canal. Cady captures the sights and emotions of America, from the Pacific Northwest ("Jeremiah"), to the streets of San Francisco ("The Lady With the Blind Dog"), to the Midwest-heartland ("Halloween 1942"), along the roads and highways in between ("The Ghost of Dive Bomber Hill"), and back into the history of the American Southeast ("The Time That Time Forgot"). The stories that make up Ghosts of Yesterday are detailed and realistic portraits of the world that, despite (and perhaps because) of their authenticity, manage to convey a sense of wonder and fantastic, where anything is possible. The characters and places that Cady brings to life demonstrate clearly why he is one of the most versatile and respected writers today... His stories will move you, and change the way you look at the world.