When a traveler takes one of the winding back roads between Martinsville, VA,
and Eden, NC, he may come upon a lonely and curious little community
called Sandy Level. There, for many years, at least one forbidding-looking but
otherwise jovial figure occupied a singular space along the roadside, leering
and waving at the passersby. I called him the Sandy Level Creep (or Creeps,
when there was more than one;
you may read about them here), but a few years ago, all the Creeps mysteriously vanished. Happily, as I
discovered recently, a new corps of Creeps has settled in the old ones' place.
That's them in the photo above, in case there's any question.
I had an appointment in Eden this morning, so I opted to take the back roads
rather than the main highway. Since I'd noticed the Creeps' return some time
ago, I decided to stop and take a photo today. Notice how overjoyed they
appear,
My trip to Eden was to deliver a few books to
Eden's Ember Bookshop, which is set to open on Saturday, April 4. There will be a grand
opening event from 12 noon to 4 p.m., with several local authors—including
me!—on hand to sell and sign their books. The store will be carrying Blue Devil Island, Fugue Devil Resurgence, and The House at Black Tooth Pond, but I'll have a larger selection at my table, including The Lebo Coven, The Nightmare Frontier, Gods of Moab, and several of my Ameri-Scares series titles.
Eden's Ember Bookshop is located at
729 South Van Buren Rd., Eden, NC 27288
(see map below), in the basement of the
Kings Mill Coffee
building. (Note that parking and the entrance are at the back of the
building.)
I'll throw in a personal plug for Kings Mill Coffee, as I had lunch there
today—a gigantic BLT and a jumbo mug of coffee. The sandwich includes bacon,
lettuce, and tomato, of course, but also prosciutto, arugula, avocado, and
garlic aioli, all on toasted sourdough bread. It comes with fries. Yeah, I
recommend this highly.
After lunch, I headed to several relatively new geocaches north of Reidsville.
I even got first-to-find honors on one of them, which was fun.
I'd love to see you at Eden's Ember's grand opening. If you're within
traveling distance, please stop in, so I won't have to hurl a bunch of insults
at you. I will, you know.
