Amazon Adelle Bradford / The Reading Room Amazon UK WH Smith UK Category:  Fantasy Publisher: PublishAmerica ISBN-10:  1424103703 Type: Fiction Pages: 128 Copyright: Oct 30, 2005 Fantasy Short Stories - Discover how the residents feel about their secrets revealed. Read about it at www.nevermorecountygazette.com Now available in HARDCOVER from Publisher  Author’s Note Writing the Legends stories has been a pleasure and a joy. For me, and perhaps for those who have read or will read these stories, Nevermore County has become a very real place, a "mist-ic" place peopled with very real people who, in their own uniquely human way, are doing their best to come to terms with things they do not understand. Call them stories, parables, fables, allegories, or old wives tales, it is my hope that you are able to read above, below, and between the lines and discern the silken thread of truth that binds them all together. Called by many different names, whether we remember it or not, at sometime in our lives we have all visited the same place, the place of self-enlightenment, epiphany, rites of passage, and metamorphosis, the place I call Mist Tree Mountain. Adelle Bradford       Excerpt Down in the southwest corner of Nevermore County is a mountain the early European settlers called Mist Tree Mountain because of the huge mist-shrouded tree that grew at the very top. In time, it became known to their descendants as Mystery Mountain, and it is in the small backwoods towns and villages around the mountain that these stories take place. Fairly isolated, nestled in the foothills near the No Name River, with only two narrow country bridges connecting them to the rest of the county, these small locales frequently developed odd customs and behaviors. While outsiders might find them exceedingly strange, they are, in one way or another, accepted by the people living there…even when the outcome is fatal.

A very real trip into make-believe
"The Legends Of Nevermore County" is trip to a secret place not so far away. In fact it is strangely familiar. There are deep secrets, hidden agendas, dark and light happenings all seemingly connected to mist, a tree, and a mountain. We start with a natural disaster understood by cows but no one else, that ends in the strange transformation of many creatures. We are introduced to a woman who longs for travel, but waits at home the rest of her life for her ride to arrive. Young Klee, who falls in love with a tree. We sit on the floor watching TV eating Mrs. Winston's wonderful doughnuts. We run into Mother Goody a healer and herbalist that we all wish we had living in our neighborhood. The mysterious Rainbow Weavers live here in Neever's Knob beside the river, grazing their sheep in the surrounding highlands, and exercising their strange weaving rituals. There is the story of a young boy and his coming of age, I reflected on my own personal experiences while looking through his young eyes. Then there is the magic honey from Summer Island that can cure most any ailment, and the secrets of the women who harvest it.

This part of Nevermore County, connected solely to the rest of the world by two small bridges across the Noname River, is a magical place, almost like the "Waltons" placed in the "Twilight Zone". But Ms. Bradford makes us believe, as she reports on the secret lives and experiences of the families who have lived there for generations. She has managed to bring me back to the child watching TV on a Sunday night. Mary Martin as Peter Pan was pleading with me to believe in fairies to save poor Tinkerbelle's life from Hook's poison. Right then, as I clapped my hands until they hurt, I believed, as I have never believed before. Adelle, I believe in Nevermore County and want to read more.


A wonderous world just crazy enough to be real
This is a fantastic collection of stories that shed light on some of the everyday and not-so-everyday ocurrances you'll find if you just look that little bit closer into the small communities off the beaten track.

The tales are carefully and beautifully told and just enticing enough to make you believe in magic.

Can heartily recommend for curious young minds looking for adventures - and old minds that have refused to grow up!

Let your imagination take you there - a homecoming with a twist
Enticing short stories in the Fantasy realm. Sounds like a place I know and would like to return to. Ms. Bradford does a fine job creating her characters. They take on a life of their own as is demonstrated on the website of The Nevermore County Gazette. "Summer's Island" sounds like a movie in the making. Are there sequels in the works, I hope?