Jaycee Woods

One of my favorite living authors is Richard Gleaves, who put the fun back into Halloween. Recently, he announced that his Autumn Fool, the fifth novel in his Jason Crane series is available.

The Amazon blurb describes the book:

“Jason Crane’s Salem adventure continues! Caught in the middle of a war, separated from his friends, forced to take sides between the resurrected witch judges of the Appointed and the terrible witch Legion, Jason is fugitive from the noose and from his destiny, but he can escape neither one.”

For context, it describes the series:

“The Jason Crane series is an epic Halloween chase through centuries of real history, myth, and original lore, full of ghosts, curses, witches, monsters, and all sorts of trouble for a rational teenaged hero perpetually in the middle of magical trouble. Written by a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, every page is a loving tribute to the real town, its Halloween season excitement, and an invitation to visitors to explore real sites and real mysteries. A spooky adventure that’s impossible to put down.”

Like Edward Cline moving to Yorktown, VA to write his Sparrowhawk series, Gleaves immersed himself into Sleepy Hollow, NY while working on the first three novels in the Jason Crane series. Then moved to witchy Salem, MA to write the next two novels in the series. This immersive research allowed Gleaves to make both towns vibrant characters in the novels.

Recently, while scrolled through my X feed a sports reporter posted a picture of the Headless Horseman mascot leading the Sleepy Hollow football team to the field, I recognized the real-life scene in the picture immediately as I had lived it through Gleaves’ vivid writing. “Pumpkin Blaze!” you had to be there through Gleaves’ writing to believe it.

One of the amazing aspects of this series is how Gleaves integrates Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon and Nathaniel Hawthrone’s The House of Seven Gables as living parts of a modern spooky mystery thriller. With only a hint of spoilers, Gleaves’ heroic lead character Jason Crane is a descendent of Ichabod Crane on his father’s side and Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon on his mother’s side.

If you have not started the series yet, begin at the beginning with Rise Headless and Ride, which the Amazon blurb describes:

“JASON CRANE just turned seventeen years old. He’s a STAR WARS fan and a history geek. He doesn’t believe in ghosts or the afterlife. He doesn’t believe in psychic powers or tarot cards. He doesn’t believe in the Headless Horseman. But Sleepy Hollow will change all that. Because Jason Crane has a heritage to claim. Jason Crane has a Gift to discover. And Jason Crane has an old enemy who will RISE HEADLESS AND RIDE. Rise Headless and Ride is only the beginning of the epic Jason Crane Sleepy Hollow Trilogy, which encompasses three novels. It starts a generations-spanning tale of the Crane and Van Brunt families, modernizing the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and bringing it into today. But The Jason Crane Series is more than just a good spooky tale. Every location, down to the last tree and building, is a real place in modern Sleepy Hollow, NY. The story incorporates real town events, real history, and in some cases real people. Each book peels another layer back, going deeper into Tarrytown history, looking beneath the modern town, to its 19th century foundations, all the way back to the colonial village that Washington Irving would have known, where we’ll meet Ichabod and Brom and Katrina all over again. If you are looking for a great ghost story, you’ll find it here. There’s Headless Horsemen, supernatural gifts, exhumations, treasures, witches, a few decapitations, and a lot of spooky fun. But you’ll also be swept away to one of the greatest Halloween destinations in America, and discover the now almost-forgotten real-life Tarrytown of long ago. Nominated for ‘BEST NOVEL of 2016’ Spectrum award, in recognition of its inclusive cast.”

Gleaves had a discussion on Hank Garner’s podcast about Halloween and his Jason Crane series.