Kentucky Dragon

<p><strong>Park ably uses religious symbolism as well as mythical motifs of ancient Germanic people demons and even a dragon in a story that is certainly not for the faint of heart ... A twisty violent tale of a brutal legacy. - <em>Kirkus Reviews</em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A demonic debt destroys Mark's family until he grows up to face its collector The Chicken Man.</strong></p><p></p><p><strong><em>*</em></strong></p><p>So slowly slowly she got up </em></p><p>And slowly she came to him </em></p><p>And all she said when she came there: </em></p><p>'Young man I think you are dying.'</em></p><p></p><p>Barbara Allen</em> traditional folk song</p><p></p><p></p><p>Mark is eleven years old the first time he meets the chicken man. A thin man with discolored fingernails the chicken man tells Mark how to make people happy using an icepick and a metal hammer. Tap tap tap</em> in through the eyes until there are no more tears. As the snow in Kentucky melts from a mine fire deep underground the chicken man collects a brutal debt that leaves Mark traumatized until with enough time bourbon and therapy he convinces himself to forget it all.</p><p></p><p>And he does for eighteen years.</p><p></p><p>Until the chicken man returns. Then from Kentucky to New York City to a German village where a coal fire has been burning for three centuries Mark discovers the dark truth about his family's debt and the flames that never go out.</p> </strong></p><p><strong><span>2025 IngramSpark® Editorial Selection - Horror</span></strong></p>