Welcome to Gnat Smoke Press
Gnat Smoke Press is a publication company dedicated to bringing you the finest quality poetry and fiction from John Ryland. As a southern small press, we revel in southern hospitality and great southern writing. We are unique, perhaps a little quirky, but we always aim to please. Stay a while, have a look around, just be careful which curtain you pull back. Some of them are hiding ghosts.
Work in Production
The Book of Demons
When a man turns up with strange burns on his body, the case involving a local Satanic cult takes a drastic turn. Now, Detective Scott Hodkins finds himself in the complicated world of angels and demons, ancient languages, and forbidden rituals. When his search leads him to a mysterious hidden room, and an even more mysterious book, he must choose his allies carefully because the wealth and power promised by the dark forces within the book, have the power to tempt anyone.
Juggling a stranger who knows more about the book that he should, local politics, and possible world-ending demons, he is pushed to his limits and must make some serious decisions that not only will affect his life, but potentially the life of everyone on the planet.
A Meeting of Consequence
The first time Carver Willis and Benjamin Howard meet is a fiery crash that takes both their lives. But then each man wakes to the same day again, with only vague recollections that something bad happened. As each man relives the same morning, he must piece together the chain of events that leads to his death. Unfortunately, avoiding the crash causes more problems than expected. The whole world stops in its tracks.
When they meet a strange man who tells them that they must go through with the crash, each comes face to face with their own mortality and is forced to make a hard choice.
The Last Elemental
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After Amery Coalfield wins the bid to remove an abandoned bank vault from a vacant lot in downtown Johnson's Hollow, he draws the ire of the town's elder generation. When an old woman warns him of a spirit trapped within the vault, he dismisses her as crazy- a theory confirmed by her niece- but the seeds of wonder soon grow. Determined to find out what has been hidden in plain sight for fifty years, he decides to open the vault. When he does, he releases an entity on the town that is hell bent on avenging the death of her band of elementals- earth spirits that only wanted to live in peace. Drawn to the beautiful, but deadly winged woman, Amery must now decide whose side he's really on.