LITTLETON, CO — Wesley C. Martin, a former U.S. Marine turned award-winning screenwriter, isn’t new to stories of conflict—but his debut novel brings the battlefield somewhere few historical novels dare: beyond the grave.
The Revenant’s Mark, now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover formats, is a dark and atmospheric blend of Revolutionary War-era grit and haunting American folklore. In it, Jacob Hawthorne—a rebel Colonial soldier hanged by British troops—rises from the dead not by divine miracle, but by the will of an ancient forest spirit long forgotten by colonial history.
“I wasn’t interested in writing just another war novel,” Wesley says. “I wanted to explore the spiritual aftermath of violence—how nature remembers us, even when history tries to forget.”
A former screenwriter whose debut script The Tale of Altora earned international acclaim, Wesley brings cinematic pacing and thematic weight to his fiction. The novel’s fusion of American myth and military realism speaks to his own journey—from battlefield service to creative resurrection.
“Jacob is a soldier who didn’t get to die clean. He was brought back—claimed—by something older than death. The novel asks why.”
Set against the backwoods of Colonial America, The Revenant’s Mark unfolds like a ghost story etched into the bark of history. Critics and early readers have praised its tonal blend of The Witch, The Revenant, and Cold Mountain, infused with a uniquely American spiritual tension.
“There’s a war behind the war,” Wesley explains. “One for the soul of the land itself.”
In the story, Hawthorne joins two Patriot soldiers on a journey to uncover the truth behind a secretive faction known as the Golden Circle—men who harness ancient rituals and spirits for their own ends and not for nation. The novel builds to a sweeping climax as Hawthorne must choose between vengeance, duty, and the deeper power stirring in the roots of the forest.
Though fictional, the book’s historical scaffolding is grounded in realism. “I spent time researching battlefield geography, witch rituals, and even period herbalism,” Wesley says. “I wanted the magic to feel like it could have been real—and maybe once was.”
Wesley currently lives outside Denver, where the hush of the Colorado mountains and woods often inspire his work. “Out here, I can hear the silence Jacob hears in the book,” he says. “The kind that’s not empty, but full of memory.”
When asked what’s next, Wesley hints at more to come. “This story may be done, but nature isn’t finished with me yet. I’m working on my second novel, a psychological mystery of resilience set in the Colorado mountains.”
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The Revenant’s Mark is available now on Amazon. For media inquiries and more information, visit wesleycmartin.com or follow @wesley.c.martin on social media.
