Tails of the Apocalypse

A Word from Hank Garner

Earlier this year, my friend Chris Pourteau started talking about this passion project that ultimately became the collection you are now holding. When he first released “Unconditional” as a stand-alone story, we all knew he was onto something unique and, frankly, quite special. There is something stirred deep within our hearts when we think of the most unimaginable catastrophes and how our four-legged companions show unconditional love in those times. I think these stories stir us to be better than we are.

I love stories about strange people and places. For a couple of years now, I’ve been building a fictional place called Weston, Mississippi. Each of my books have been set there, and each story has at its core the fact that the veil between this world and another is somehow thinner in Weston than in most places. Chris challenged me to tie “Keena’s Lament” to my larger world, and the idea for this tale was born.

I’m fascinated with legends and myths that seem to transcend cultural groups and specific places. Almost every culture has some sort of ancient flood story. There are also stories about creatures that came from the heavens and mixed with the people of Earth. These offspring became the demigods, the heroes of old, the Nephilim; they’ve been called many names. In most of these legends, these otherworldly creatures were destroyed in floods or other disasters. I wanted to tell one of these stories from the opposite viewpoint that you’re likely familiar with. I began to wonder what it would have been like for these creatures to experience an apocalyptic event. Would they also be blessed with the companionship of one of our four-legged friends?

“Keena’s Lament” is a piece of ancient backstory that gives a glimpse into one of the reasons Weston is such a strange place. In my latest book, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, a character named Crowley has uncovered others of these ancient stories. He sets out to manipulate the power of this place for his own diabolical ends. But a man and his dog—different characters from the Watcher and Keena in this story—stand in his way.

If you’d like to learn more about me and my work, you can find my other books at hankgarner.com, as well as listen to the weekly podcast I host called the Author Stories Podcast.