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Long-undisturbed Tenebrion Wood, identified in the Domesday Book and named by the Romans after a kind of "night-sprit," stands in the way of a road development. Environmentalist Steve Pearlman recruits a number of investigators to examine the site in order to find some justification for its defense, including entomologist John Hazard. At first, the wood does not seem to be of any special scientific interest, despite the occasional profusion of its beetle population, but Hazard makes a surprising discovery in the clearing in the middle of the wood that changes the nature of his investigation drastically -- and suggests that the wood's "night-spirits" might be something far stranger than mere ghosts or goblins...

Published by Wildside Press in May 2016
ISBN: 978-1479421336

Review by Sally Startup

Entomologist, John Hazard, reluctantly finds himself advising the doomed protectors of a rather sickly, supposedly ancient, woodland. He is forced to accept the company of various ecowarriors, along with a formidable historian, a post graduate biochemist and a reporter from the Fortean Times. In spite of all his misgivings, his curiosity is engaged and he becomes involved.

The woodland appears to have some purpose of its own. John Hazard, as a scientist, must try to guess what it is and why it might be important. In the process, he uncovers a deeper understanding of himself and opens to the beginnings of some possible friendships. Nevertheless, he remains so much of a scientist that he is willing to pursue a new discovery even when doing so will put him beyond the support of the establishment. Science is, after all, a matter of exploration.

I found this story quite thrilling because of its plausibility. Something so far undiscovered (by humans) and unrecorded, almost certainly does exist, somewhere. The geographical area that is fictionalised in the novel is not far from where I live. There is no reason such a story should not take place close to my home, or anyone else’s.

The Brian Stableford Website