This is the first issue of a continuing and ongoing series of books based on folklore, fireside tales, anecdotes, and ghost stories that have been told and retold in the mountains of eastern Kentucky for several generations. Some of the stories are based on actual events, and others are just a retelling of fireside and ghost stories gathered and recorded by author Brian R. Hall from close family members and relatives over a 40-year span. Several of the issues will feature stories written and created, within the same time period and setting, by the author. The stories are best described as being close in style to the TV shows Twilight Zone , Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Tales from the Crypt. Each story is uniquely different, blending humorous satire, suspenseful mysteries, chilling thriller horror, and the eerie supernatural. The setting takes place in the historic 1900 to 1950s time period of rural Kentucky. The story is told from the viewpoint of storytellers: Papaw Elihu Skeans, Mehmaw Eunice Skeans, Hoobi the Horned Owl and Elijah, the coal black cat. Each takes turn entertaining a porch full of neighbors, eager to hear the Night Owl Tales, every Saturday night at the Skeans’ ranch-style farm house resting in Hannah’s Branch Hollow in the foothills of the Kentucky parts of the Appalachian Mountains. The format of the book is done in the first ever NOVIX book style created by the author Brian R. Hall and editor Catherine Gutierrez. The Novix, named from a hybrid mix of a novel prose and comics bubble and story panels, is a unique blend of both genres. It’s not a graphic novel and it’s not a reformatted comic, or an overly illustrated book; it is a blend of all three. This first issue of the Mountain Night Owl Tales is historically the first book ever printed in this new and progressive format. Cover art and a portion of the illustrations were done by two-time Emmy award winner, producer and director Bill Diamond.
