Local author releases horror novel just in time for Halloween | News, sports, jobs

By ALEXANDRIA

BOURNOVILLE

Journal staff

MARQUETTE – Just in time for the spooky Halloween season, local author Jeff Vande Zande has released his first horror novel. “The Dance of the Rotten Sticks” with Montag Press from California.

Vande Zande, a former Marquette resident, graduate of Northern Michigan University and professor at Bay College in Delta County, has written numerous other books but has not yet delved into the horror genre.

Vande Zande’s main character, Isaac Fletcher, has been in a downward spiral since his wife’s death in a tragic car accident. Isaac, a single father caring for his three daughters, has since turned to alcohol to cope. To make up for his lackluster upbringing, he plans to take his children to the recently acquired island property Isaac purchased with his now-deceased wife for his daughter’s 11th birthday.

“The majority of the novel is set on an island and that’s pretty typical of Gothic horror – to isolate your characters in an unsettling place and a place where they’re often trapped.” Vande Zande said.

However, when Isaac arrives with his children, the paranormal forces present have other plans.

This island-centric book was partially inspired by Vande Zande’s friend’s island property in Traverse City. Another inspiration was the strange case of James Jesse Strang, a Mormon dissident who founded his own sect on Michigan’s Beaver Island and declared himself king there. The daring actions of a man living isolated on an island, driven by occult forces, influenced Vande Zande’s novel.

“You see a lot of horror novels, not that I’ve read them, but you get the basic premise: bloodshed, torture and so on.” he said. “It’s all about the easy way, but the core also allows you to explore aspects of the human condition.”

Interested readers and fans can attend a free reading, book signing and meet-and-greet with the author at the Peter White Public Library on October 24 at 6:30 p.m.

Vande Zande will have copies available for purchase.

Alexandria Bournonville can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 506. Your email address is [email protected].