In Titus Murphy’s debut novel, Black Oak (Cosby Media Productions), something dark is lurking in the woods of Wichita, Kansas. This quaint Midwestern town has seen more than its fair share of bloodshed in recent years. But unbeknownst to the townsfolk, that violence was just the beginning. Something bigger is brewing on the horizon — something magical and dangerous.
Black Oak is the first book in The Loveless Chronicles, and Murphy starts the series off with a bang. The reader is thrown into the middle of a supernatural conflict between witches and Jackals — werewolf-like creatures with the ability to transform at will, without the need for a full moon. The battlefield is the Black Oak forest, in the year 1782. There we learn of the reason for the carnage; the fight is over a legendary spell book that the witches have sworn to protect. In the hands of the Jackals, the destruction would stretch past Kansas and soon overtake the American mainland.
Murphy’s story stretches across centuries, from 1782 to 1815 to modern day. A magical through-line connects each generation, as the guardians of the spell book try to outrun their pursuers. By the time we reach the modern day, both sides are desperate to end this bloody conflict once and for all.
