The Dryad of Dueling Oaks By Rowland Bercy Jr.

Hell hah no fury like a Mother scorned.

I don’t want to put Rowland Bercy Jr. out on front street. I also don’t want to become labeled one of those woowoo crystal hippies. That being said, there’s one zodiac sign that eats, drinks, sleeps REVENGE better than any other and I happen to know that Rowland happens to be one. *cough* Scorpio *cough* Why is this relevant to this novella? Alright calm down Aries, let me finish. Yeesh. Because Rowland is one with the 🦂, he knows revenge well and he uses his skills as a writer to spin some of the best revenge tales out there. If you liked Payback is a Witch, you’ll LOVE the Dryad of Dueling Oaks.

Quick Synopsis:

When Hilda loses her son to some heinous circumstances, the transgression opens wounds of grief & anger that can’t be sealed by time alone. She wants answers. She wants vengeance. She wants justice served. Knowing a thing or two about nature spirits, she calls upon one who resides in the last Dueling Oak in City Park. Now her prayers are being answered, the perpetrators each meet their demises in horrifying ways. But now it seems she’s opened a can of whoop ass that’s not so easily closed. Will her own need for vengeance consume her as well?

The only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is caffeine & spite, so I get it. Who doesn’t love some good comeuppance? & not many deliver it quite like Rowland does. In far from cliche, imaginative, & agonizingly detailed throughout ways. While this was a novella, Bercy Jr. is able to impart a lot of feeling & heart, before he rips it out of your chest. (He knows what we want.) With the city of New Orleans as the background, this story felt like it was in the same universe as Payback is a Witch but with a more moody, stylized component which I very much enjoyed. The magic/historical aspect just sweetened the pot really. So thank you to Rowland for feeding my inner Machiavelli-isms & please keep them coming. Never stop being a Scorpio, that is until you end up in front of a judge, which is inevitable.