The strange things that go on in Coon Hollow Coven
by Marsha A. Moore
Coon Hollow is the setting for Witch’s Moonstone Locket, the first of the series, Coon Hollow Coven Tales, but there are a lot of odd happenings going on in the Hollow.
The Hollow is a fictitious small valley in southern Indiana, south of Bloomington. Somewhere in Brown County near Nashville and Bean Blossom, if you’re from around those parts. It’s Hoosier hill-country at its finest.
The coven was founded on strict rules of adherence to lifestyle and customs that existed at the time of the coven’s conception, in the mid-1930s. The rationale: to keep the transmission of witchcraft from one generation to the next as pure as possible. Members dress in styles of that period and drive long sleek Packards, Studebakers, and Nashes.
Coon Hollow’s coven members stay to themselves but sometimes need to do business in the nearby small town of Bentbone. When witches and townies mingle, all sorts of trouble and fun can happen.
Several times during the year, the coven puts on magical events open to the public as fundraisers for their schools and eldercare. Witch’s Moonstone Locket opens with the coven preparing for their annual Labor Day carnival. Magical fair foods change flavors in your mouth. Rides like you’ve never seen include the Racing Serpent, where two giant golden snakes with passenger seats fixed to their backs race along a double-tracked wooden coaster. People come from all over to see these attractions!
Like most places, Coon Hollow Coven has its share of political struggle. The coven is governed by a council, along with High Priestess Adara. The degree of adherence the1930s lifestyle that existed at the coven’s founding is always a topic of great debate. Some council members lobby for change that will allow coven businesses to grow. This opposes the wishes of Adara, who will do anything to maintain traditions, which also means keeping her family in the coven’s leadership. In Witch’s Moonstone Locket, new people bring new ideas into the coven, and this difference widens into a chasm that cannot be ignored as the book's story unfolds.
