Are His Dreams and Visions Symptoms of a Holy Illness—Or Are They Caused by the Zombi Potion?

Baton Rouge, LA, December 10, 2007 --(PR.com)-- A boy of mixed race, raised to be the Vodou tool of vengeance against the men who lynched his mother, comes of age during the violent years of the Civil Rights Revolution. A New God for the Crawfish People, the first book in The Froggy Bottom Trilogy, is the strange tale of a bayou boy with four souls, when most folks only have two.

Pratt the Bear grew up on Hoodoo Island with his grandmother, a Vodou priest named Docteur Jacques, and a gris-gris woman named Maman Marie. Hoodoo Island is set between a Cyprus swamp called Le Labyrinthe and Froggy Bottom, an African-American settlement that had grown out of the slave quarters of a North Louisiana plantation.

For as long as he could remember, Pratt had had dreams and visions of spirits and evil, whispering heads, especially after the special Vodou ceremonies, when Docteur Jacques would give him a zombi potion to drink and Maman Marie would spread special lotions on his arms and legs to help relax his body when the gods took over. The secret ceremony was to keep his four souls safe and happy and to keep his secret guardian saint, Saint Jean le Conquérant, growing inside of him, a saint who someday would give secret powers to Pratt so that he could judge and punish the men who had lynched his mother.

Pratt was an unusual boy, to put it mildly. Not only did he have four souls when most people had two, and a guardian saint growing inside of him, he had white skin when most other people were various shades of brown, and orange hair when most other people’s hair was black. And his eyes—his eyes could quickly change from violet to red when he got mad.

Despite his differences, Pratt was happy, and enjoyed his life in Froggy Bottom, exploring the settlement and the surrounding woods. But the time would come when the outside world would intrude on his private universe, and young Pratt would be called to protect the folks of Froggy Bottom and Hoodoo Island from the soul-sick men who were invading and murdering his people.

And when his powers came to him, he would Judge the World.

ISBN: 978-1-4327-1470-3 Format 6 x 9 paperback SRP: $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-4327-0727-9 Format 6 x 9 casebound SRP: $21.95

Genre: Fiction/Literary

About the Author
Author and folklorist Bob Ed Radley currently lives in Froggy Bottom, Louisiana, with his wife—whom he loves for her sharp mind and her fried chicken. His latest novel is the result of a lifelong fascination with the folklore and myths which color the multi-faceted culture in his native state of Louisiana. He is the first to admit he’s a recluse suffering from acute agarophobia with a chronic fear of meeting strangers and a schizoid personality disorder that makes it difficult—if not impossible—for him to make personal appearances. Unwilling to disappoint his fans, however, he has created a Virtual Book Tour on his Web site at www.MentalMovie.com. Radley says that the internet is the answer to his 30-year quest for a way for an artist to control his means of production and distribution. Visit BobEd online to learn more about the man behind the work and his upcoming projects.

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