Some places have a history so dark it stains the dirt.

Orphan Rock is one of them.

Minister Northamm was born a snake—a boonchild who can invade minds. But that door swings both ways, and what came knocking was the Pigfather, the same devil that drove his father to ruin. One day, it will claim his son, Markus, to continue its dogma of pain.

Esther was kidnapped as a teenager and brought to Orphan Rock to survive and appease the Pigfather’s bloodlusts. In that hell, she and young Minister fell in love and dreamed of escape. But under the Pig's barbaric rule, they had no future of their own.

So they made a bloody bargain with the Pigfather's mortal enemy—Delora, the Crooked Woman, eater of children. But her price was their unborn daughter, Shelby, transformed into something with an endless hunger and a taste for human flesh to rival Delora’s own.

Now Delora’s Grim Seed rises. The pigs are crossing over for war. And Orphan Rock itself is tearing free from the earth. Trapped between two ancient evils, the Northamms will do anything—sacrifice anything—to survive one more day together.

Even if it means becoming monsters themselves.

A contemporary dark fantasy with elements of horror, Chad Ryan’s Ghost River is a gritty and desolate journey into the peaks and gulches of the human spirit.

Chad Ryan’s Ghost River is a dark, gritty, and desolate journey into the peaks and gulches of the human spirit.

Reader Reviews

This story is for mature readers.

It explores sensitive subject matter, including graphic violence/death, disturbing imagery, misogyny, domestic abuse, child abuse, racism, kidnapping, and sexual assault.

Read with caution.

All people, places, cultures, histories, traditions, and religious practices in this book are fictional.