Available for the first time in paperback and digital, "Cottonmouth" is a prequel to KIN set in the aftermath of the Great Depression in Tennessee, a time of religious fervor and charlatanism, of thieves, murderers, and moonshiners.Here you'll meet Horseshoe Collins, a traveler on a vengeful search for the father who abandoned him; Billy Wray, a snake-handling Pentecostal preacher bringing the promise of salvation to rural communities paralyzed by fear of the Devil; and Jonah Merrill, a child grieving the loss of his beloved father and tormented by his mother's wrath.With the threat of a second World War looming on the horizon, destiny will bring these three people together and set innocent young Jonah on the path to his eventual fate and a new name: Papa-In-Gray, the patriarch of the dreaded Merrill family whose horrific exploits were first introduced to the world in KIN. Hailed by Booklist as "one of the most clever and original talents in contemporary horror," Kealan Patrick Burke was born and raised in Ireland and emigrated to the United States a few weeks before 9/11. Since then, he has written six novels, among them the popular southern gothic Kin, and over two hundred short stories and novellas, many of which are in various stages of development for film/TV.A five-time nominee, Burke won the Bram Stoker Award in 2005 for his coming-of-age novella The Turtle Boy, the first book in the acclaimed Timmy Quinn series. As editor, he helmed the anthologies Night Visions 12, Taverns of the Dead, and Quietly Now, a tribute anthology to one of Burke's influences, the late Charles L. Grant.More recently, he wrote the screenplay for Sour Candy (based on his novella) for producer Joel B. Michaels.He also adapted Sour Candy as a graphic novel for John Carpenter's Night Terrors.His most recent release is Cottonmouth, a prequel to Kin. The Widows of Winding Gale, a maritime horror novel set in Ireland, is due for release in October as a signed limited edition from Earthling Publications.Kealan is represented by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House.He lives in Ohio with a Scooby Doo lookalike rescue named Red.
