Blackwater: The Complete Caskey Family Saga (The Flood; Levee; House; War; Fortune; Rain)

Michael McDowell was proclaimed �the finest writer of paperback originals in America� by Stephen King, and �one of the best writers of horror in this country� by Peter Straub. Now, McDowell�s masterpiece�the serial novel, Blackwater�returns to thrill and terrify a new generation of readers, with all six volumes available for the first time as a single e-book. Featuring an insightful new introduction by John Langan, Blackwater traces more than fifty years in the lives of the powerful Caskey family of Perdido, Alabama, under the influence of the mysterious and beautiful�but not quite human�Elinor Dammert. The Flood heralds the arrival of a visitor who will change the Caskey family�and the town�forever� When the town builds The Levee, it proves a vain attempt to control a horrific power that can never be contained� The House hides terrible secrets that whisper in closed rooms and scrabble at locked doors� The War reveals family secrets more deadly and devastating than anything Perdido has ever dreamed in its deepest nightmares� The Fortune brings happiness and power�but even greater terror� And finally, the mysterious saga of the Caskey family ends the only way it can�in terrible judgment and fury delivered under the cover of a relentless, earth-shattering Rain. Will Errickson (Too Much Horror Fiction) writes, �Michael McDowell has written a rich, layered historical novel with many Southern Gothic touches, filled out with memorable characters and satisfying moments of death and shock.� ** Blackwater is the saga of a small town, Perdido, Alabama, and Elinor Dammert, the stranger who arrives there under mysterious circumstances on Easter Sunday, 1919. On the surface, Elinor is gracious, charming, anxious to belong in Perdido, and eager to marry Oscar Caskey, the eldest son of Perdido’s first family. But her beautiful exterior hides a shocking secret. Beneath the waters of the Perdido River, she turns into something terrifying, a creature whispered about in stories that have chilled the residents of Perdido for generations. Some of those who observe her rituals in the river will never be seen again ...Originally published as a series of six volumes in 1983, Blackwater is the crowning achievement of Michael McDowell, author of the Southern Gothic classics Cold Moon Over Babylon and The Elementals and screenwriter of Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas. This first-ever one-volume edition, with a new introduction by Shirley Jackson Award-winning author Nathan Ballingrud, marks Blackwater’s first appearance in print in three decades and will allow a new generation of readers to discover this modern horror classic.