Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spells, Salt, & Steel | 2018 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 2 | Open Season | 2018 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 3 | Deep Trouble | 2018 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 4 | Close Encounters | 2018 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 5 | Night Moves | 2019 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 6 | Monster Mash | 2020 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 7 | Creature Feature | 2020 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 8 | Spells, Salt, & Steel Season 2 | 2022 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
| 9 | Dead of Winter | 2025 | Gail Z. Martin | Buy |
The Spells, Salt, & Steel series follows Mark Wojcik, a monster hunter working the back roads of rural Pennsylvania. Mark is not a wizard or a chosen one. He is a regular guy who happens to know the old folk remedies, salt wards, and cold iron techniques that work against the supernatural creatures hiding in the woods and abandoned mines of the Pennsylvania countryside. The first book, Spells, Salt, & Steel (2018), establishes the setting and Mark’s methods.
The series grew quickly, with Open Season, Deep Trouble, and Close Encounters all published in 2018 alongside the first book. Night Moves (2019), Monster Mash (2020), and Creature Feature (2020) continued the run, followed by the collected Spells, Salt, & Steel Season 2 (2022) and Dead of Winter (2025). The books draw on Appalachian and Eastern European folklore for their monsters, and the rural Pennsylvania setting gives the series a blue-collar, back-roads atmosphere that sets it apart from the typical city-based urban fantasy.