A Tree Born Crooked

When the deadly repercussions of his younger brother’s criminal mishaps sends him on a whirlwind road trip across desolate Florida, mechanic James Hart must decide how much he is willing to risk in order to protect his family.

When James Hart learns of his father’s death, he’s forced to return to the one place he’s avoided for years: home.

Located in Florida, Crystal Springs is a place where dreams are born to die. Once back in the rural and stagnant town, James learns that his brother’s crimes have caught up to him. Despite his hesitations, James teams up with a local bartender and hatches a plan to save his brother’s life.

Soon, James finds himself on a whirlwind road trip across the desolate Florida panhandle, trying to outrun an enemy more dangerous than he knows. With bullets in the air and the ghosts of his past haunting him at every turn, James is forced to decide just how much he’s willing to risk to save his family.

Steph Post graduated from Davidson College as a recipient of the Patricia Cornwell Scholarship for creative writing and a winner of the Vereen Bell writing award for fiction. She holds a Master’s degree in Graduate Liberal Studies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her work has most recently appeared in Garden & Gun, Nonbinary Review, Saw Palm, Black Lily and the anthology Stephen King’s Contemporary Classics. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, a Rhysling Award and was a semi-finalist for The Big Moose Prize. She lives in Florida with her husband, three dogs and way too many chickens.