Then Hoodoo next meets up with the Stranger in the swamp, and he understands where that strong left hand came from and why The Stranger wants it back. Then strangely, his own left hand starts tingling, and when the local bully Otis threatens him, Hoodoo discovers he can pick Otis right up and toss him down like a feather with that one hand. Beware the Stranger.'īut now swarms of green flies follow him through the woods, and Hoodoo hears that the scream came from a neighbor who discovered all the graves dug up, and the left hands of all the bodies cut off. 'Your people,' she went on, lips trembling. 'Darkness follows you,' she said, her good eye going all wide. 'Gotta have heart,' she said, almost to herself. 'Her eyes traveled up to my face and landed on my birthmark. The One Who Did the Deed.'īorn with a heart-shaped birthmark, Hoodoo Hatcher is supposed to have the conjuring abilities of his branch of the Hatcher family, but he's never even been able to cast a sign of a spell. He'd looked down at him with mean old red eyes and and said 'Main d'Gloire. And he's had an awful dream the other night, about that man dressed in a black cloak he'd seen in town. Last night, walking home right at sundown, he'd heard a horrible scream close by. A tiny little woman sat hunched over a table.

Red candles sat on stumps of woods and jars full of something all slimy were stacked in one corner. Inside the dirt floor smells wet and musty. 'I'll just watch.'Ī man sitting on a bale of hay took my money. 'You don't have to pay for me,' said Bunny. I didn't want to talk to no fortune teller.

These days, you can find Ronald writing in coffee shops because sitting in a quiet room gives him the creeps.I thought about it. Without a doubt, he’s much happier writing for kids. The book that inspired him to write more than any other was The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron.īefore becoming a full-time writer, Ronald worked in advertising and wrote television commercials for big corporations, helping to sell everything from cheeseburgers to automobiles to airlines. As a boy, he loved to read, especially fantasy and science fiction, and this inspired his lifelong passion of the fantastical. Ronald grew up on Air Force Bases and has lived in Japan, Maine, Alabama, Michigan, South Carolina, and a bunch of other places he doesn’t remember.

He has also contributed to the anthologies The Hero Next Door, Hope Wins and Recognize: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life. His first novel, Hoodoo, won the 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award. His other books include The Mesmerist, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away and Gloomtown. The final book in the trilogy, Uprising, will be released December, 2022. Smith is the award-winning author of several middle grade Black Panther novels including The Young Prince and Spellbound.

Hoodoo by ronald l smith