The Jersey Devil Stalks The Pine Barrens

Sept. 17, 2008 - PRLog -- Legends linger in the dark places of the earth … legends as old as fear itself.   

Many of these myths have gradually become part of world literature.  Vampire lore gave rise to the classic novel DRACULA.  Tales of ogres and golems evolved into FRANKENSTEIN.  While in this country …  

Nearly twenty years ago, a horror novel set in the New Jersey Pine Barrens created a sensation.  THE PINES was the first novel to explore the lore of the Leeds Devil (one of America’s oldest oral myth traditions). Though heavily expurgated, THE PINES was hailed as a masterpiece of horror fiction.  This year – just in time for Halloween – Leisure Books will release THE PINES in its first unabridged paperback edition.  This constitutes the definitive version, with all previously censored material restored.  

What inspired the novel?  “I grew up on the legend of the Jersey Devil,” explains writer Robert Dunbar.  “I heard the stories everywhere as a child, on every camping trip … every summer at the shore.”  Those terrifying tales had a profound effect on him.  “The nightmares lasted right into my teens.”  Over the years, THE PINES has attained a fiercely partisan following and has garnered the kinds of reviews most authors only dream about.  “Those reviews are incredibly gratifying, because this is meant to be serious literature – scary but serious.  It’s only in recent years that Horror has been relegated to the ranks of pulp fiction,” insists Dunbar, “but the American horror novel represents a venerable tradition, founded on the works of giants like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville.  In so many ways, I feel I’m on a mission.”  

Robert Dunbar has often lectured at schools and libraries, and he has been a guest on numerous television and radio programs, discussing both THE PINES and THE SHORE, a sequel, which moves the action to a Jersey beach town.  THE SHORE is also due out shortly in paperback, and THE PINES is currently available for pre-order from both Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.  

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PRAISE FOR THE PINES

“Dark, foreboding, menacing, eerie … seductive.”
~ The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Not only a superb thriller but a masterpiece of fiction.”
~ Delaware Valley Magazine

“Bloodcurdling and hauntingly believable.”  
~ Wilmington News Journal

“Saturated with sinister presence.”  
~ Burlington Tribune

“At last, the Jersey Devil has come out of hiding.”
~ Atlantic City Magazine

“The way great horror should be written.”
~ HellNotes

“Riveting and chilling.”
~ Rave Reviews

“Captures all the mad poetry of the midnight woods and their legendary dweller.”
~ The Mage

“Intelligent, frightening and plausible … one of the most finely crafted horror novels of the past three decades.  Publication of this restored edition gives the book’s current fans cause to rejoice and will help Dunbar’s powerful book find the place it deserves among the classics of modern horror."  
~ Weird New Jersey Magazine


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Deep within the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, a series of macabre murders draws ever nearer to the isolated farmhouse where a lonely woman struggles to raise her strange, disturbed son. Does some ancient evil prowl these woods? The boy seems to be in league with a presence that makes itself felt in every rustle of wind … in every gleam of moonlight. As a wave of terrifying violence threatens to engulf them, the young mother must join with a group of demon hunters – outcasts all – in a battle for her own survival… and for the life and soul of her son.

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For more information about Robert Dunbar’s work, visit   
http://www.DunbarAuthor.com