THE FOREST DEMANDS ITS DUE

A Lesson in Vengeance meets The Taking of Jake Livingston in this page-turning YA horror/fantasy set in dark academia about a queer Black teen who discovers the sinister history of his boarding school and the corrupt powers behind it all. A USA Today bestseller!

Regent Academy has a long and storied history in the small town of Winslow, Vermont. But so does the vast forest that surrounds its campus. While the school is known for molding teens into world leaders, its history is far more nefarious - and even more entangled with the forest - than anyone would suspect. Seventeen-year-old Douglas wants nothing to do with Regent's king-making; he's just trying to forget his past and survive his present. But then a student is killed and no one remembers him ever existing, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper's son, Everett. As Douglas begins to research what he finds to be a centuries-long curse, he and Everett awaken a horror hidden within the forest. To save the town, and the school, the forest is demanding more blood as payment. But will Douglas and Everett be able to pay that debt? Critically acclaimed author Kosoko Jackson explores how power can - and will - corrupt absolutely and how cycles of violence are perpetuated throughout history in this high-octane, page-turning dark academia mystery of murder and magic. Kosoko Jackson is the author of YA novels championing holistic representation of Black queer youth across genres, including Yesterday Is History and Survive the Dome. He also writes adult romance, for which he won a 2023 LAMBDA Lammy Award, and works as a digital media specialist focusing on digital storytelling and email, social, and SMS marketing. His work has also been featured on Medium, Thought Catalog, The Advocate, and in several literary magazines. He lives in New York, NY, and you can visit his website at kosokojackson.com.