The TOWN CRIER - Michael Mortimer

In the rolling mountains of northwest New Jersey, a powerful magic stone is passed on through millennia, often into the wrong hands, until it ends up in the present day with Cobb: a middle-aged borderline recluse unprepared for the existential upheaval that occurs when magic enters his life.

Now, Cobb is forced to protect the stone from a two-hundred-year-old sorcerer who has waited more than a century to claim it and wreak supernatural havoc on the town that betrayed him all those years ago. Cobb isn't well-equipped to deal with a magus, let alone a lake monster or a man/bear hybrid, but luckily he's got a few faithful friends and a witch named Fey to help.

The TOWN CRIER is a kaleidoscopic journey through time, mixing actual historical figures and events with fantastical fiction, local folklore, and all the ingredients fans of weird tales search for -- witches and wizards; talismans and grimoires; dungeons and secret chambers; warlocks and shapeshifters; cosmic forces and the power of nature -- while always keeping one foot planted firmly in the real world.

*this book contains depictions of child sexual abuse that some readers might find triggering; it also contains violence, gore, and profanity. Reader discretion is advised.