In his first collection of stories, Septic, Chuck Smith introduced us to a declining Pennsylvania suburb riddled with loss, disillusionment, and horror. In this, his second book, he takes us further into his dark imaginings.

The year is 1846. Tensions between the American north and south are mounting. Settlers are migrating westward along the Oregon and California trails, pressing into the mountains, and the wild places.

It is a time of great unrest, and something in the mountains is pressing back.