The Forever Long Road of Olan Walker

It was Easter Monday, 1952. It was a day like any other. The slat truck rolled into camp with half a dozen new convicts. I counted a couple of vagrants, one drunk, one assaulter and one assaultee.

All of that and Olan Walker.

Olan Walker was the first man out of the slat truck and the way he was built he could have slid through one of the slats. That man was nothing but lank. He was as lean as a dog in Lent. He was as lean as hunger poured thinner than a spoon full of prison soup. He looked like he ate nothing but wind and shadow all his life. If there was a king and queen of skinny; a duke of raw bone, an earl of gaunt and a prince of scrawny - well Olan Walker was the lord high ruler of them all.

It didn't take too long before we all found out what Olan Walker REALLY was.

Olan Walker was a conjure man.

A haunting story that reads a little like a cross between Shawshank Redemption, Cool Hand Luke and Mickey Rourke in Angel Heart - fans of haunting Southern gothic horror stories will want to give this one a read.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT STEVE VERNON

"If Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch had a three-way sex romp in a hot tub, and then a team of scientists came in and filtered out the water and mixed the leftover DNA into a test tube, the resulting genetic experiment would most likely grow up into Steve Vernon." - Bookgasm

"Steve Vernon is something of an anomaly in the world of horror literature. He's one of the freshest new voices in the genre although his career has spanned twenty years. Writing with a rare swagger and confidence, Steve Vernon can lead his readers through an entire gamut of emotions from outright fear and repulsion to pity and laughter." - Cemetery Dance

"Armed with a bizarre sense of humor, a huge amount of originality, a flair for taking risks and a strong grasp of characterization - Steve's got the chops for sure." - Dark Discoveries

"Steve Vernon was born to write. He's the real deal and we're lucky to have him." - Richard Chizmar

My Mom thinks I'm pretty cool, too.