I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.
Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).
And now, DL MUllan’s Kurst:
The village of Salt Pines, Arizona, resided between dreamy pine peaks and unfathomable horrors. This desolate range of wildlife trails, snowcapped mountains, rivers and lakes, forgotten mines, and a reservation harbored a landscape with a terrible secret. A secret only family were allowed to know.
Out there lingered the Kurst inheritance.
Out there was a few rest stops away from claiming its next victim.
How the story came about:
Before you reach for a drink, know that Kurst is a different type of story. In the past, I have written about consciousness and the Space-Time Continuum in The Reality Hackers; angels and devils in the Saint trilogy; vengeful spirit jurors in the 12 Angry Dead; as well as insane vampires in the fan favorite: In the Name of Blood series. Since I incorporate factual information, personal paranormal experiences, and the spiritual elements of the supernatural, my creative writing has become a world unto itself, and Kurst is no different.
This time, I incorporated cryptid myths, legends, and lore into a narrative unlike any other published:
Karen Kurst comes into the legal possession of her deceased grandmother’s cabin in Salt Pines, Arizona. As she delves into the secrets of the quaint mountain village, she discovers that there is more than meets the eye. A mysterious creature roams the woods, a blended cryptid: Elemental, Sasquatch, and Skinwalker. The only way to contain this entity is through a magical spell passed down by her ancestor, Ralph Wallen. Teaming up with the local indigenous sheriff, Karen is determined to break the family curse.
However, the question remains – will she have to sacrifice her own life to protect the people around her?
http://www.undawnted.com/p/kurst-inheritance-curse-cabin.html
In the paranormal community, skinwalkers are en vogue. Anything with a shape-shifter vibe has an allure. What I wanted to know is, if this lore was native to Arizona? I have had my own experiences with cryptids in my home state, but was it documented by others?
With little effort, I discovered that not only has the elusive Sasquatch been identified here, but also in the area where my made up town of Salt Pine hails. Big Foot, Yeti, Swamp Ape are all names for the same creature. A monster I once observed while in a vehicle, being driven by another down a desolate road westward from the metro area, circa 1980-90s. During the era when cellular phones had no video and the other occupants of the vehicle were looking the ahead, this undeniable figure stepped onto the highway behind the car. The image was burned into my memory forever.
The question became: could I fit all three factors in Arizona for a story based on real events? I went into research mode. A Sasquatch-type creature has been seen on border patrol agents’ thermal imaging, by hikers in the Superstition Mountain area that treads northward into Payson, and throughout the Mogollon Rim region. Skinwalkers are part of Navajo culture, which this native tribe calls northeastern Arizona home. Elementals were the last piece of the puzzle. Several years ago, I had an experience with an elemental at my front gate, as well as another weird paranormal episode down the street from me in the past six months. I had all three.
What I posit happens in the forests is that the proto-human great ape we call: Sasquatch, their consciousness can be reached and controlled through spiritual practices. Portlock, Alaska is an example of an elemental using Sasquatch to mark its territory. Other areas around the world have seen similar instances of aggressive, even murderous, Yeti like in the Dyatlov Pass incident and Ural Mountains in Russia.
Kurst is the imaginative retelling of personal, current event, and historical stories into fiction form. The perspective combines cryptid mythology, the skinwalker legend, and elemental lore. Each component has a basis in the area known as the Tonto National Forest, my playground growing up. The Superstition Mountains alone is centuries’ worth of spiritual stories from the Apache and other tribes.
To bring the story to life, the characters’ own strengths and weaknesses are essential. Sheriff Barrett is subject to the law and his native tribal upbringing. Karen Kurst is a photojournalist, who grapples with PTSD. Together, they battle against the myth, legend, and lore of a spiritually-created Wendigo by the magic of a medicine man, his skinwalker avatar, and the Sasquatch for which his ritual ruined, as he combined the three of them into one evil entity.
An entity Karen’s ancestor (and mine), Ralph Wallen II, cursed onto his property, land she inherits from her grandmother. In this paranormal-cryptid saga, Karen learns her roots and the magic responsible for the curse and monster.
Will she be able to curse the Wendigo into a harmless form? Or, will she have to risk her very life to do more than appease the curse?
In Kurst, we learn that: curses are forever.
Continue reading “DL Mullan’s “Kurst” in Midnight Garden“