Our  online world is already crowded with AI images — and our robotic soon-to-be-overlords are just getting started. But the nearby image is, I promise, nothing more than a standard photo of a very real thing that just happens to look like a piece of scenery from Stranger Things.

It’s called the Angel Oak. This gnarly monstrosity is in a dedicated park on South Carolina’s Johns Island, near Charleston.

The Angel Oak is 66 feet tall, one of its twisted branches is 187 feet  long, and it’s about 500 years old. Sure, there are older trees in North America. There are older trees in the Carolinas, in fact, including one cypress that is thought to be at least 1,600 years old.

It is, however, nowhere near as creepy-looking, as unearthly, as the Angel Oak. Which is what makes it a perfect setting for the historical-fantasy novel I’m working on now: Valley Folk, Book Four of the Folklore Cycle.

As you know by now, I don’t just write historical fiction. I write historical fantasy. And it turns out that both places also abound in the sort of magical folklore I weave into my tales.

Among the legendary creatures said to roam these mountain valleys are Wampus Cats, Hellhounds (called “Snarly Yow” in West Virginia), the lumbering  Sheepsquatch, and the dragon-like Snallygaster. Readers of the Folklore Cycle have already seen some of these critters in action and will encounter others in Valley Folk.

As  for West Virginia’s most-famous monster, he can be found in the picturesque town I just mentioned: Point Pleasant, where the Kanawha River joins the Ohio.

That’s right — Mothman!

This fabled harbinger of doom will make multiple appearances in the fourth book of the Folklore Cycle — including on the cover, if my illustrator, publisher, and I come to the necessary meeting of the minds.

As for South Carolina’s Angel Oak, it will be home to another set of magical creatures, the Lutins, who first appeared in Mountain Folk and whose schemes will drive much of the plot of Valley Folk. Once again, I won’t have to weave a mystical connection from whole cloth. For generations, residents of Johns Island have claimed to see angelic spirits flitting and floating among the oaken branches. Some say they are Indian fairies. Others say they are the restless ghosts of Africans held as slaves on the nearby plantation of Justus and Martha  Angel.

According to one popular tale, a bride and groom who married at noon under the shade of the Angel Oak returned that night to carve their initials into its ancient trunk. Their knife never touched the bark. First came an  eerie glow, then a demonic face scowling at them. The couple fled in terror.

Perfect!

As you can tell from the titles of my books, I draw much of my inspiration from natural features and landmarks.

“Hood’s description of the American landscape will make you see the land with  new eyes,” one reviewer wrote. “The forests, mountains, and rivers take on a magic all their own.”

Did  this reviewer overstate his point? Naturally, I don’t think so — but I’ll let you settle the question for yourself. The e-book editions of Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk are currently on sale for $4.99 a pop at Amazon, while all three signed paperbacks are available as a half-price bundle from FolkloreCycle.com.

Here are some options:

Folklore Cycle novels from Amazon

Folklore Cycle novels from your favorite independent bookstore

And from our own website, signed editions of all three as a half-price bundle.