Mancala Moon

*** Selected as a 2026 Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize Finalist ***
*** 2026 First Horizon Award Shortlist Finalist • Honorable Mention in Literary Fiction ***

“Magical realism greets generational trauma in a mind-bending journey of grief and choice.” — IndieReader

“A moving debut. Bowers’s writing is lovely, immersing readers with precise, evocative prose.”
— Publishers Weekly/BookLife

“The forest itself receives a starring role… seeping into each element with deliberate, inexplicable beauty.”
— Foreword/Clarion

Every man in Micah Thorne’s bloodline dies before forty. His father is the latest proof.

Left with nothing but unanswered questions, Micah follows a solitary lead into woods that defy reality. 

Time bends. Paths shift when unobserved. And the forest begins to pull him in.
The forest is watching—learning his fears, adapting to his mind, and closing in faster than he can survive it.

Deep inside, he discovers an ancient game that has waited centuries to be played, bound to rules older than language and tied to his family’s curse. Every move alters something beyond the board.

To escape, Micah must play—and every decision comes with a cost. 
He is forced to confront what ending his family’s curse will truly require, before time runs out.

Some places don't just hide secrets.
They remember you long after you’ve left.