That Old, Misty Country by Pendleton Weiss

Throughout the world is found myriad out-of-the-way places, unsettling vistas that travelers pass through quickly, if unable to avoid entirely. Sometimes, the fears dredged up by such places are unfounded, a mere symptom of an unfamiliar road. Of course, there are actual places to be feared too. Masked by vagaries and altered names, a careful listener may find some clue - subtle to the uninitiated, bold elsewise - that a macabre tale comes from such a place, one stranger and to be feared beyond all others. Shiver at the revelation and hope someone similarly knowledgeable has merely latched onto the rumors, deciding by their own twisted purview to attach a lie to something so horribly true. In short, Hope It's Fiction. That Old, Misty Country is a collection of stories centered in the titular region, each drenched in horrific implications. This first book in the Hope It's Fiction series focuses on the three cities therein - Passerport, Esterton, and Brickwood - as well as the dense, impassable woods that surround the area. There are terrible things lurking under the sky-blotting canopy, hidden in the fog that rises each night. And what of Mr. Brightmore, the philanthropist? Begin to uncover the strange mysteries that permeate throughout the night as thickly as the mist itself.