A pair of plantation slave ghosts are carrying out a mission of vengeance against the first-born sons of two old and prominent plantation families in Wainwright County, Mississippi. This tightly kept secret is exposed in a letter to "The File Room," a new cable and internet show that investigates and documents supernatural phenomena. The program is sponsored by a secret organization that has monitored and policed the supernatural world for over a century, until their cover was blown.
And that's just the beginning...
Banjo Strings is an epic and graphic tale of antebellum ghosts,
supernatural spies, and a den of iniquity amid the Red Maple
and Magnolia trees.
Here's my latest promo, and Chapters 1 - 5 from the edited manuscript version as a novel excerpt.
"...I get a strong X-Files vibe from it, which is definitely a
good thing. It also seems like the scope of the story widens with
each of the first several episodes, so just as soon as I started to
think I had a handle on the whole thing, it got even bigger, which
was really exciting. Banjo Strings is definitely for mature
audiences only, but if you can handle Falcon Twin, you can probably
handle Banjo Strings."
"This is a complex plot, expertly handled, with flashbacks and multiple POVs. The history of the Wainwright plantation is woven in well with the current-day scenes. The horror of both what happened then and the retribution on the Wainwright descendants is stark, and leaves the reader dreading what comes next. There are very explicit sex and violence scenes, but they are integral to the plot, rather than used gratuitously...overall, this was a very powerful opening, guaranteed to keep the reader turning pages."
- carrieB
"What a fantastic piece of hallucinatory gothic fun! I discovered this while browsing and thought I should stop for a quick review. You manage to sneak some very serious points into a narrative which, at the same time, retains an atmosphere of wild invention and playfulness. I loved it, and I'd love to read more of it."
- panurge
"Well, this is just excellent.
I think the highest scoring I’ve given to date for any review.
If I was being picky, I might suggest that more dialogue would enhance this piece but I’m not, so I won’t.
Fact is I read all of this with equal glee and awe. completely transported into time and place, I only wish all of the reading I did for review was of this quality, it would make it very enjoyable indeed.
It reminds me of the writing of David Mitchell, which you should take as high praise indeed coming from this reviewer.
Thanks a bunch!"
- patwhendersen
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Send questions and comments to: novel [at] larrywinfield [dot] com
Authors Note (to those who've made it to ch. 19):
I made a continuity change at the end of the episode.
You'll figure it out in listening to ch. 20...
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Banjo Strings, copyright 2007 2009 12.23 Press
Original photo for book cover, copyright andipantz.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
either are the product of the author’s twisted imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons,
living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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A pair of plantation slave ghosts are carrying out a mission of vengeance against the first-born sons of two old and prominent plantation families in Wainwright County, Mississippi. This tightly kept secret is exposed in a letter to "The File Room," a new cable and internet show that investigates and documents supernatural phenomena. The program is sponsored by a secret organization that has monitored and policed the supernatural world for over a century, until their cover was blown.
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