LIVONIA, Mich. - s4story -- Debut author Lisa Menzel's historical horror novel, Stel Parad, is based on true events and a curious legend that followed the completion of Chicago's I&M Canal project that displaced the Potawatomi in 1848. Although the canal is abandoned, its presence lingers as an eerie reminder to our dark American history.

"My home is above one of Chicagoland's most haunted cemeteries along the I&M Canal. Police reports have confirmed modern day ghost sightings linked to this legend," says Lisa Menzel. "My novel is based on town records and also my love of Native American lore."

In Chicago 1845, jaded Irish famine survivor and gravedigger Enda Hughes has one year left of burying the digging crew before the I&M Canal opens. When the canal foreman alerts her to an order of phantom monks seen wandering the cemetery, it calls everything they know into question. As visitations plague the town, the Hughes and encamping Native American tribe must use their medicine and magic as a barrier to save themselves from the unholiest of brotherhoods.

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Stel Parad is is published by BHC Press and is available at all major booksellers, including Bookshop.org.

Booksellers, retailers, and librarians may order direct from Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Gardners, Overdrive, Perma-Bound, and the publisher's website
https://www.bhcpress.com/

Praise
"incredibly evocative...brilliant." —Matthew Bird, Producer, The Musketeers

"A workman piece. Like something from David Mamet meets Wong Kar-Wai." —Tom Burstyn, Cinematographer, Hell on Wheels

"poetic and idiosyncratic… Readers who enjoy seemingly impenetrable puzzles will find plenty here to unscramble…" —Publishers Weekly

"A very powerful story! The fact that it is inspired by real events that occurred during the construction of the I&M Canal in Chicago makes it even more disturbing..." —Giovanni Bonura, Film composer, Reliving Marilyn

About the author: Lisa Menzel's ancestors were immigrant farmers in Minnesota who fed the mocked and starved Chief Medicine Bottle in their soup kitchen. She splits her time between Los Angeles and the Midwest, and her home is above one of Chicagoland's most haunted cemeteries along the I&M Canal, the focal point of Stel Parad.

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About  BHC Press:  BHC Press is an award-winning independent publisher of fiction and nonfiction for the adult, teen, and children's market. To learn more, visit www.bhcpress.com.

On-sale: 12/3/2020
Stel Parad by Lisa Menzel
Hardcover: 978-1-64397-020-2, $26.95, 278 pages
Softcover:  978-1-947727-44-1, $15.95, 316 pages
Ebook:        978-1-64397-021-9, $7.99
LCCN: 2018930853