The Dance of Rotten Sticks tells the story of Isaac Fletcher, a recent widower struggling to raise three kids after losing his wife to a bizarre car accident. His mother-in-law, aware of Isaac's drinking problem, threatens to take the kids. Hoping to become the father they need him to be, Isaac takes the family to their recently-purchased vacation property on Orphan Island. Strange incidents occur, culminating in their discovery of an abandoned orphanage that some say is haunted. Isaac's youngest begins to hear voices. His eldest has horrific dreams of their dead mother. Only Emily seems to thrive, beguiling Isaac to the true danger that she faces from the island's other inhabitants. Jeff Vande Zande has dedicated his life to writing and the payoff has been an author who continues to grow as a writer, and his wonderful early short stories have grown into the novel The Dance of Rotten Sticks. Vande Zande's voice has a thick Michigan accent, echoed in a novel that is in the shape of Michigan's mitten, with the hand inside it being placed upon a foreboding Ouija board with "a lone beam of light" moving slowly across both. - Ron Riekki, co-editor of The Many Lives of The Evil Dead: Essays on the Cult Film Franchise
More than just a riveting horror story, The Dance of Rotten Sticks is a harrowing dive into the terrifying depths of grief and alcohol addiction. Newfound widower Isaac Fletcher does his best to hide his self-medication from his family after planning a trip to a secluded and possibly haunted island. Isolated from everyday distractions, the journey exposes himself and his vices. While the trip validates his mother-in-law's concerns about the welfare of his children, Isaac finally takes the steps needed to fight his inner monsters so he can not only keep his family, but protect them from the external monsters on the island. - Gina Tron, author of Suspect
Like the best horror and gothic writers, Vande Zande writes about real people, their loves, their losses, their dreams and nightmares. You feel these characters the way you feel the people around you, your mothers and your fathers and your lovers and friends. You want to know them and be with them. And you want to know how they will respond to the horrific things that mark the great horror novels, novels by writers like Stephen King and Dean Koontz and Anne Rice. Like those great writers, Vande Zande answers your question in prose that is beautiful and frightening. - John Guzlowski, author of Suitcase Charlie
