THE BLACK VERSE: A Novella in two parts. Present and Past.By M. Joseph LaFrance "Write, or be written. Or be alone." Before the deaths. Before the curse. Before The Black Verse became a killer's pattern, it was a poem-a binding. In the present, mysterious deaths ravage the city, the cause unknown. A detective works hard to uncover the truth, but it leads to a tragic finding that will haunt him forever. In 1932, young Dorothy Pollard arrives at Aldridge College determined to study language and grief. But when she discovers a forgotten collection of verses in the library archives, her writing begins to take on a life-and a hunger-of its own. Haunted by visions, unexplained deaths, and the weight of memory, Dorothy must confront the cost of shaping sorrow into permanence. This gothic literary thriller traces the origins of the verse that shaped the chilling events of The Black Verse. A story of ambition, obsession, and the terror of what we choose to remember. For readers of Shirley Jackson, T. Kingfisher, and Sarah Waters.