It seems like just last week that I was raving about Ulrik, Book Four in Steve Wedel's Werewolf Saga--oh, yeah, it was!--and now the Oklahama author has a brand spanking new book about to hit the small press horror world.

Bad Moon Books is now taking pre-orders for Wedel's Little Graveyard on the Praire. This novella isn't about werewolves, it's about ghosts--but ghosts come in all shapes, sizes and demeanors. I was fortunate enough to read this one in manuscript form; it's the sort of personal story that separates real writers from hacks, and one that will prevent an author as talented as Wedel from being typecast as "the werewolf guy."

Here's the plot setup:

Harley Shaw is a lonely man. His wife left him years ago, taking their daughter with her. His farm was ruined in 1980s oil speculation and money was running low. Then he hit upon an idea he felt sure would rejuvenate his farm and reunite his family - he began selling burial plots to people who wanted their final resting place to be all natural, and in a peaceful country setting.

The problem is, Harley wasn't leaving the bodies beneath the stone markers. He'd found another use for them, and the spirits that once inhabited the bodies were not pleased.

Haunted by the ghosts living on his farm and tormented by the intermittent dementia of Alzheimer's disease, Harley Shaw is a man who knows his grasp on reality is becoming tenuous. But he has more to learn. Memory and the ghosts will teach him that ...

Dead ain't gone, and gone ain't dead.

Only 100 copies of this collector's edition will be published, shipping in late October/early November. Art by Paul Groendes and an introduction by Steve Vernon. Also included are two Wedel reprints ("Nocturnal Caress" and "Reunion.")

"A touching tale of pain and madness. Wedel's voice is one of the most intelligent and moving I've read lately, and I'm now looking forward to many more such works by him."

-Kim Paffenroth, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Gospel of the Living Dead, Dying to Live, and Orpheus and the Pearl

I gotta say, though, $50 is a steep investment for a novella in this economy; you really have to love collecting books to shell out that kind of cash. In this case, I'm happy to vouch for the content, but you have to wonder if these publishers are pricing themselves out of business.