Charlottesville Fantastic Book Reading & Signing will be held Sunday, November 10, 2024, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Art Hive in Staunton.
“Charlottesville Fantastic: Arcane Echoes from Virginia’s Heartland” features 20 short stories based in and around the Charlottesville area. Experience the mysterious, the supernatural and the humorous. Readers will meet unforgettable characters including a vampire at a UVA sorority, a 400-year-old dragon hidden in Shenandoah National Park and an enigmatic tuxedo cat on the Downtown Mall. Each of the 20 tales explores the mystical essence of the region, revealing a place where the past, present and future intertwine in unexpected and enchanting ways.
Whether you’re a long-time resident or a curious traveler, the anthology promises to captivate and thrill, and offer a glimpse into a Charlottesville where the ordinary meets the extraordinary.
In Catherine Simpson‘s “A Hard Bargain,” a woman’s anniversary takes an unexpected turn when a friend convinces the couple to hold a picnic at an abandoned hotel off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
A writer and editor based in Charlottesville, Simpson writes cozy fantasy stories and is working on a Southern Gothic novel. She enjoys wandering the Rivanna trails or talking to her cat, Mauka.
“Join the Journey” by James Blakey is set at Carter Mountain Orchard where a young influencer is looking for content ad encounters a haunted scarecrow. Blakey lives in the Valley and writes full-time for in the fiction genre of Crime/Mystery, SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Western and Romance. His “The Bicycle Thief” won the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2019 Derringer Award for Best Flash Story. When he’s not writing, Blakey is on the hiking trail or bike-camping his way up and down the East Coast.
James Verlon‘s “The Tree that Smiled” tells the story of a tea shop owner who is in denial about her financial situation until she has a vision of a tree who serves her Rooibos tea and a reality check. Verlon’s first novel project was a socio-political dystopian but he has recently hit his stride writing humor fiction. He has lived in Charlottesville for six years and plays tenor sax at local open mics.
Art Hive is an inclusive art space at 835 Spring Hill Rd, in Staunton, which brings together artists, enthusiasts and community members for artistic exploration, collaboration and self-expression. With a diverse range of engaging activities and a showcase of local talent, Art Hive is dedicated to empowering individuals through art.
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Rebecca Barnabi
