The Horsey Tree
& Other Scary Tales

I am republishing this book in loving memory of my grandmother, Susu. She was an amazing, hardworking, animal-loving, wild, and courageous woman.

While I plan to delve deeper into her life in a future short story collection of my own—using photos to honor everything she overcame and weaving together the stories she told me while we worked in her garden—I wanted to begin her legacy here. My first steps are launching a website in her honor (sskingsolver.org) and getting her very first book back out into the world.

In 1998, Susu had to quit smoking due to a serious lung disease. These 16 short stories are what poured out of her during the first couple of years she fought those intense nicotine cravings. She loved to write and truly used it as a therapeutic tool. I fondly remember many nights walking down our driveway to her house, looking through her office window, and seeing her typing away at her computer.

I am so proud to call her my grandmother and to share her work with the world now that she is gone. You are missed so much, Susu, and I feel incredibly lucky to have spent those precious last few months with my favorite hippie grandma.

Fly high, Susu. We love you and miss you every single day.

These stories contain true life situations distorted enough to make them fun to read. Life is scary and sometimes impossible to face without a little fantasy thrown in to lighten the harsh reality. — S.S. Kingsolver

Format

Paperback

Pages

134

Genre

Horror Fiction

ISBN-13

978-1-4137-1343-5

Sixteen tales in all. A few you'll find inside:

• The Horsey Tree
• Slow Suicide
• The Trip
• The Bamboo Thicket
• …and twelve more!

"Slow Suicide" was Kingsolver's first published story in the horror genre, and "The Bamboo Thicket" was later rewritten with Eric S. Brown and published as the novel Katie.

S.S. Kingsolver turned the hardest chapter of her life into fiction. After lung disease forced her to give up smoking in 1998, she picked up the pen instead — and never looked back. Her stories blend lived experience with dark fantasy, finding the horror hiding in everyday places. She is also the author of Three Strikes You're Out.

“Any horror lover should not miss this collection of short stories. They’re creepy, disturbing, and frightening! Ms. Kingsolver is one of the few authors I’ve read that makes me squirm in my seat … unable to stop.” — Reader review, Amazon (2004) ★★★★★

“All three start off normal like and then each takes a turn into the dark side. What an enjoyable ride!” — Reader review, Amazon (2004)