Bearing ‘Witness’ — Author J.C. Vande Zande discusses Michigan-set horror novel

After completing “The Dance of Rotten Sticks,” his first gothic horror novel, author J.C. Vande Zande discovered he wasn’t quite finished with the Fletcher family.

This compelled him to write a sequel, “Blood of the Witness Tree.”

“I set ‘Witness Tree’ in the Pigeon River State Forest up near Gaylord. In it, Isaac Fletcher tries to take his son on a fly-fishing trip, only to learn that the past and events from the first book aren’t done with him,” said Vande Zande, of Midland.

A witness tree is a tree present during a grand historical or cultural event. In Vande Zande’s novel, it taps into the rich, unsettling roots that have always run through American literature — from the spectral woods of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the brooding seas of Herman Melville to Edgar Allan Poe’s psychological dread and Washington Irving’s haunted legends — and winds its way into the present, according to Vande Zande.

“There is a witness tree in the Pigeon River Forest that factors into the story,” he said. “I have fly fished in the Pigeon River Forest for the last 25 years. I know it very well, and it was very satisfying to put that knowledge into the book.”

The author spoke about creating Isaac.

“He is loosely based on me,” Vande Zande said. “One of the things he struggles with is alcoholism — as do I. In fact, watching how his alcohol intake affected his ability to be there for his family inspired me to quit drinking. I think while I was writing about him, especially in the first book, I was holding up a mirror to myself, and I didn’t like what I saw.”

To date, Vande Zande has penned seven novels, a poetry collection, and three short story collections. His novel “American Poet” won the Stuart and Vernice Gross Award for Literature.

“Both of these latest novels are horror novels, and I had never, up until 2020, really dabbled very much in horror. I think COVID turned the world upside down and, as a result, jumbled up my genre of fiction writing,” he said. “I’m so new to the horror genre that I still suffer a bit from imposter syndrome.”

Born in Marquette, Vande Zande is the youngest of three children. He has a son and a daughter, both in their 20s.

Vande Zande is a graduate of Marquette High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Northern Michigan University and his master’s degree in American literature from Eastern Illinois University. He has also completed graduate-level coursework in film at Central Michigan University and Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio.

For 30 years, Vande Zande has taught at the college level. Of those 30, the last 25 have been at Delta College in University Center, where he teaches English, creative writing and film studies. His father, John Vande Zande, also was a professor and author.

“I had the chance to do some teaching during graduate school and realized that I’m good at it. My father was also a professor at Northern, and I admired that way of making a living,” he said. “I always had an interest in telling stories. Plus, my father was an author, so I suppose it was in the blood.”

Vande Zande spoke about his writing routine.

“I do some loose plotting, but mainly I sit down every day and make myself write at least 100 words of the story. On the really good days, that 100 words becomes 700 words,” he explained. “It takes me about six months to write the first draft — my least favorite part — and then probably another three to five months of rewriting.”

Currently, Vande Zande is putting the finishing touches on the final book of the “Dance of Rotten Sticks” series.

“I think of this series as kind of like ‘Michigan Chillers’ (Johnathan Rand’s YA horror series set in various Michigan locations), except for adults,” he said. “The book I’m working on now is called ‘Coven of the Worm Moon’ and will likely be published within the next one and a half years.”

 

 

J.C. Vande Zande appearances

• Author J.C. Vande Zande will speak about and sign copies of “Blood of the Witness Tree” on the following dates:
• Saturday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at “Michigan is Dead 2026” in The Lakes Mall, located at 5600 Harvey St. in Muskegon. Call (616) 502-6958.
• Sunday, March 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Oracle Brewing Co., located at 122 N. Michigan Ave. in Saginaw. Call (989) 401-7446.
• Thursday, April 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the “Scaring Up Some Poetry” event at the Theodore Roethke Home and Museum, located at 1805 Gratiot Ave. in Saginaw. Call (989) 928-0430.