Carl Reader

The Son of the Blue Mountain Witch Carl Reader

Gwendolyn Gladys Gavin, the sometimes hideous, sometimes gorgeous and always quirky Blue Mountain witch, has a young son she doesn't much like, and she lets him know it in no uncertain terms, such as informing him she might still abort him, even though he's already born. She has that sort of power. Of course, being a witch requires some very absurd and questionable behavior, such as cooking and eating the men you meet in a bar and temporarily killing off children so that their parents pay you to bring them back to life. These things Gwendolyn does with relish, and you might even laugh at her while she does them, so the abuse she heaps on her son isn't all that bad in comparison. Thomas Gavin understandably develops some personality problems, which she takes full advantage of. Since Gwendolyn loves her destructive profession, things get worse, as she develops her craft and engages an entrepreneurial spirit to wring every last buck out of her witchcraft and its various enterprises. As all this is taking place, Thomas falls in love with a girl she's killed and brought back to life, but even that simple grace of loving is denied the harried couple. Gwendolyn uses both her boy and the girl to further her empty murderous enterprises, bamboozle a town and create a vast financial enterprise based on her lust for money and power and the suffering of her hapless son. She asserts her power over Thomas and the world she hates in ruthless and sometimes hilarious ways, and creates an empire that astonishes the world.