Announcing the newly released book, Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound

Congratulations to MTSU faculty member (Department of English), Mary Carroll Leoson! Dr. Leoson published a short story collection in October 2025, titled Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound. This is the fourth book published under the James E. Walker Library’s MT Open Press imprint. Have you ever wondered about alternative stories to famous folklore, fairy tales, and urban legends? Or are you interested in horror and subgenres that twist in history, fearless perspectives, and hope that shines through darkness via strong female characters? Then you will want to read this book!

What’s inside

• A short story collection that features strong female characters against a backdrop of ghosts, fairy tales, and urban legends. 
• Thirteen stories that subvert the historical narrative of women in need of rescue, positioning them as bold and willing to step into danger.
• Two new stories, including a secret thread that connects to The Butterfly Circle (a novel, also by the author).
• Foreword written by Christopher Barzak, an award-winning author of novels and short stories, including One for Sorrow, Monstrous Alterations, and A Voice Calling.

Book description

Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound is a short story collection featuring strong female characters against a backdrop of ghosts, fairy tales, and urban legends. The thirteen stories subvert the historical narrative of women in fairy tales, positioning them as bold and willing to step into the face of danger. “The Braided Veil” features a young orphan in Victorian New Orleans who seeks revenge upon her mother’s abuser. “Devil’s Oak” addresses the horrors of slavery through the eyes of a young girl who learns that her family owned human beings. “Good Little Girls” takes readers back to childhood, when a sick girl explores her neighbor’s attic on a stormy day; she discovers more than she bargained for. “The Game” features relational aggression in the 1990s in a “mean girls” style that takes a grisly turn. “Selkie Skin” leans into Celtic lore, following a young pregnant girl who longs for freedom. “The Ripper Society” reaches back through time to Jack the Ripper’s wife, who discovers his misdeeds and takes matters into her own hands. “She Has Seen the Wolf” is a longer story that connects to my novel, The Butterfly Circle; when a graduate student learns she is pregnant, she uncovers her family’s connected history to a haunted home for unwed mothers. In “Roots in the Cove,” a woman in an unhealthy relationship shapeshifts into a bear on a trip to Gatlinburg and finally finds her freedom. Both “Marsh Girl” and “Cicadas in the Suburbs” explore the psychological challenges of suburban life, including postpartum depression and the longing for the magic of youth. In “Honey Tree,” a divorced woman seeks comfort from the bees, and in “Crow Woman,” a widow faces metaphorical death and is reborn. Finally, “Ghost Apples” is a retelling of Snow White from the perspective of the queen; she shapeshifts into a wolf to protect a young girl who has been attacked and seeks revenge upon her abuser. 

The book is arranged in three sections consisting of short stories described in the author’s introduction: Maden, Mother, and Crone. This collection tends to have two audiences—genre readers (short stories, ghosts, folklore, and women-centric wounds) and creative writing students.

Keywords: Ghosts, fairy tales, fiction, women, paranormal, magical realism, creative writing, myth, legend, short stories

Reviews

“What distinguishes Mary Carroll Leoson’s work is her ability to inhabit the liminal spaces between myth and reality, past and present, the seen and the unseen. These stories are rooted deeply in the soil of ancestral memory and the landscapes of the American South, yet they reach far beyond that geography into the universal territory of trauma, resilience, and transformation.”

—Christopher Barzak, award-winning author of novels and short stories including One for Sorrow, Monstrous Alterations, and A Voice Calling.  

“Each story reads like an old heirloom passed from hand to hand, warm with use and heavy with meaning. The prose is lyrical but never ornamental; the horror, earned. And as the final page turns, it leaves you changed. Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound isn’t just read. The stories linger like the smell of roses at a closed casket.”

—Diane Sismour, author of novels, short stories, and screenplays

“Kate, Bea, and Nana from “She Has Seen the Wolf” are my favorite characters in this standout story of this Devil’s Oak collection; and I could easily see it adapted to television in some way.”

—Ada Wofford, Sundress Publications  

“My favorite character and story is Claire in “Marsh Girl,” plus “Good Little Girls” is especially chilling, and I enjoyed “The Ripper Society” so much, I was bereft at the end, hoping for more!”

—Jasmine De La Paz, Gothic horror author

About the author

Dr. Mary Carroll Leoson is a Lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University, Director of MTSU Write, and the author of YA novel The Butterfly Circle (Manta Press). She is also a Pushcart Nominee, Senior Editor at the Journal of Creative Writing Studies, member of the Horror Writers Association, and CoHost of Horror Writing Podcast Exhuming the Bones. When she’s not teaching or writing about ghosts, you will likely find her in the garden or on the couch with her husband and two very spoiled dogs. You can learn more at https://maryleoson.com.

Book information

Available at https://openpress.mtsu.edu

© 2025 Mary Carroll Leoson

Published by MT Open Press (Blue Crescent Books imprint) at Middle Tennessee State University ∙ Murfreesboro

DOI: 10.56638/mtopb00425  

ISBN (paperback) 979-8-9995864-0-7
ISBN (hardcover) 979-8-9871721-9-3

ISBN (digital PDF) 979-8-9871721-6-2

ISBN (digital epub) 979-8-9871721-7-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025944260. Full record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2025933025

Follow on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239910520-devil-s-oak

Suggested citation: Leoson, Mary Carroll. (2025). Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound. MT Open Press, Middle Tennessee State University. https://doi.org/10.56638/mtopb00425.

The print-on-demand version (epub, hardcover, paperback) is available at https://lulu.com/spotlight/mtop  

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives-4.0 International License

–Publisher’s Note: Each story has been editor and press reviewed, and the entire book has been externally reviewed by experts in the field as part of the quality review process. Indexed in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB). If you use this book in your course, please tell us at digitalscholar[at]mtsu[dot]edu.—

0725-109/MTSU does not discriminate based on sex, race, color, national origin, or other protected categories. Report concerns to the Title VI/IX Coordinator. See the full policy at mtsu.edu/iec.

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