There are a number of books that could show up on this page, but they are crossovers and I’ve left them where they fit most correctly. Nevermore – A Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe, A Midnight Dreary (Book V of the DeChance Chronicles) and Crockatiel – A Novel of the O.C.L.T all involve Old Mill, and all but Nevermore also involve Cletus J. Diggs. There is also a twenty-five thousand word novella titled “Cletus J. Diggs & The Dun WHAT? Horror” that was published in Tales of Yog Sothoth, edited by C. T. Phipps. (Amazing audio by Joshua Saxon on the entire anthology)
Cletus is my way of coping with living in rural North Carolina. His buddy Jasper is loosely based on an AC repairman, and most of the other characters have at least a tenuous connection to the various towns of Hertford, Elizabeth City and Winfall. We have albino twins, aliens, ancient rituals, weird churches, and buried history…
The Not Quite Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs & The Currently Accepted Habits of Nature
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Apple / Kobo / Smashwords / Audible Narrated by Joe Geoffrey
“All that grows must decompose.” —Cletus J. Diggs.
When Cletus J. Diggs gets a visit from his buddy Jasper and learns about the dead man sticking boot-first out of the fishing hole, he has no idea what it will lead to. How could he? Old Mill is famous for a lot of things, good fishing, barbecue, over-sized satellite dishes and disappearing beer; it is not known for genetic research, ancient rituals, or alien abduction. From the moment Cletus and Sheriff Bob drag the corpse from the fishing hole to the final moments of terror, the action is non-stop, tense, and filled with surprises. Between the Reverend Dozier and his church, the swamp witch, the albino twins, and the local lodge’s well-hidden secrets, the strange events in Old Mill, NC are pretty much out of control. Only Cletus, ordained minister, common law attorney, journalist, private investigator and jack of all trades can draw together the people and resources necessary to set things right. The question is, can he do it before it’s too late?
This special digital Edition includes the short story “The Not Quite Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs & The Fruit of Another Vine,” as well as interior illustrations by Zach McCain AND by the author, David Niall Wilson. Also included is the author’s introduction to “The Not Quite Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs & The Crazy Case of Foreman James,” as well as an excerpt from that novel!
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Apple / Kobo / Audible – Narrated by Joe Geoffrey
Foreman James has always walked the streets of Old Mill, North Carolina, standing tall on street corners and booming his “story” to the world. Not many know where he comes from, or where he goes – no one knows the whole story. When an old, hand-written journal Foreman has carried since childhood goes missing, his carefully preserved world begins to crumble, and Old Mill takes notice.
When Cletus J. Diggs’ buddy Jasper drops by to tell him how the crazy man was accosting pedestrians on the street, nearly got picked up by the sheriff, and drew the attention of one of the most powerful, and potentially evil men in ten country miles, Jarrod Pope, Cletus is interested. You see, Cletus found a book that day – a very old book – and it has bits and pieces of a very personal, very dark mystery tucked into its weathered pages.
Can Cletus, investigator, common-law lawyer, journalist, ordained minister and self-taught jack of all trades unravel that mystery despite the years that separate him from it before something very bad happens? Will Jasper ever get to go fishing? Will Foreman get his book back – and just what happened, decades in the past, when the old peanut oil factory burned down – the Day Jarrod Pope was a hero? Find out in the pages of The Crazy Case of Foreman James – the second Cletus J. Diggs supernatural mystery. Welcome to Old Mill.