The final book in my Orphan Island Horror Trilogy has been published:
Montag Press announces the release of Coven of the Worm Moon, the final book in Delta College professor J.C. Vande Zande’s Orphan Island Trilogy.
The Orphan Island Trilogy is an atmospheric, gothic horror series that blends psychological dread, ancestral trauma, and occult forces. Set against the haunting backdrops of Northern Michigan’s wilderness and isolated islands, the trilogy follows a family's fight against both literal monsters and internal demons.
The series’ first book, The Dance of Rotten Sticks, introduces Isaac Fletcher, a recent widower drowning in grief and alcohol addiction. In a desperate bid to sober up, mend his fractured relationship with his children, and escape his family's interventions, Isaac takes them on a getaway to a secluded island on one of northern Michigan’s inland lakes. However, the vacation transforms into a nightmare when they discover the island home to a haunted, abandoned orphanage. As malevolent supernatural entities begin to manifest, Isaac must confront his deep-seated psychological demons and battle the island's terrifying external monsters to keep his family alive.
A decade later, the story of the second book, Blood of the Witness Tree, shifts deep into Northern Michigan’s Pigeon River Country State Forest. Isaac and his son go on what is supposed to be a quiet fly-fishing trip, but the isolation quickly triggers a resurgence of past trauma. It becomes clear that the nightmarish occult entities they encountered on Orphan Island have followed them. The dense woods seem to watch their every move, and ancient, pagan forces tied to a Witness Tree demand a blood price, forcing Isaac back into survival mode as generation-spanning horrors resurface.
Coven of the Worm Moon brings the trilogy's overarching lore full circle, escalating from the localized hauntings of the first two books into a grander, more terrifying supernatural conflict that will take readers on a 900-mile odyssey across Michigan’s peninsulas.
Vande Zande will be promoting the new book at events across Michigan, including:
Sidewalk Sales in Midland, MI on Thursday, July 23
Adult Book Fair: the Fantasy Edition at the Sloan Museum in Flint, July 25
Haunters Againt Hate Horror Convention in Kalamazoo, August 1 & 2
Mill Street Diner Pizza and Book Launch, Thursday, August 13
Michaywe’ Arts & Crafts Fair in Gaylord, MI, August 14 & 15
Rotten Manor in Holly, MI, August 29
Wicked Bizarre, Wayne County Fairgrounds, September 12
Traverse City Library, October 7
Monster Fest, Coldwater, MI, October 24
Vande Zande can be reached at jeffvandezande@gmail.com
