Where Do We Go Now? (Part 2)
I've had somewhat better luck with my horror novellas than I have with my horror novels, for whatever reason. Maybe because they're shorter, they're better-suited to today's attention spans.
Although I've seen readers write that they wished that some of my novellas were longer than they were, so there's that.
Although I didn't intend it when I first wrote them, there's an Eco-Horror vibe with the three I wrote, so that's how I'm framing them:
ECO-HORROR NOVELLAS
RELICT: My single most successful book, which continues to be bought, read, and enjoyed by readers. Not sure why this one in particular resonated, except that it's a creature feature, with a human-versus-sea monster story that compels. I'm happy to see it continuing to do well. I love cephalopods, which I think are fascinatingly alien. I almost felt guilty making a giant octopus the monster in this one (which is why the protagonist often calls it "the kraken"). The original inspiration for this story was a Google Map satellite shot of a very remote Pacific island, which freaked me out. The rest flowed from that initial horror.
SUMMERVILLE: I've always been a fan of Southern Gothic (and Southern writers, for that matter), so while this isn't officially a Southern Gothic novella, it certainly tips its hat toward it. I enjoyed writing this one, which had that good ol' dark humor in it. There's an interesting podcast review of it where I think one of the reviewers didn't like it, but came around in the course of the podcast, which is fairly gratifying. A lot of readers really wanted to know about the ghost town of Summerville, wanted to learn more about it, but I'd have to have a ton more sales of this book to devote the time and energy to producing that. As it stands, it's a fun little horror story.
THE DAY OF THE NIGHTFISH: Originally a short story that shortlisted with the Aeon Awards, only to falter, I was persuaded by my partner to revisit it and turn it into a novella. The result is another sea monster story, critique of influence and foodie culture, and an exploration of the toll of food production practices on workers and sea life. I like this one , which I feel hits some good notes, but it mostly drowned in the sea of all the other books floating out there. Again, I think there's a lot to this one, but it never found its audience, so it floated like an anchor, to my considerable disappointment.
I enjoyed my novella run (and there are more to share within Science Fiction and Fantasy, but I'm keeping to Horror for now).
One thing that bothered me was how many others were flooding the market with horror novellas, so I just walked away from them, preferring novels as my primary fiction outlet.
I saw it as better to be in less-crowded areas, where I might hopefully (haha) stand out. Obviously, as you saw in my Part 1 post, that definitely failed to pan out with my Horror writing, however I still prefer the long fiction to the short fiction, anymore.
Next up, short story collections...
Although I've seen readers write that they wished that some of my novellas were longer than they were, so there's that.
Although I didn't intend it when I first wrote them, there's an Eco-Horror vibe with the three I wrote, so that's how I'm framing them:
ECO-HORROR NOVELLAS
RELICT: My single most successful book, which continues to be bought, read, and enjoyed by readers. Not sure why this one in particular resonated, except that it's a creature feature, with a human-versus-sea monster story that compels. I'm happy to see it continuing to do well. I love cephalopods, which I think are fascinatingly alien. I almost felt guilty making a giant octopus the monster in this one (which is why the protagonist often calls it "the kraken"). The original inspiration for this story was a Google Map satellite shot of a very remote Pacific island, which freaked me out. The rest flowed from that initial horror.
SUMMERVILLE: I've always been a fan of Southern Gothic (and Southern writers, for that matter), so while this isn't officially a Southern Gothic novella, it certainly tips its hat toward it. I enjoyed writing this one, which had that good ol' dark humor in it. There's an interesting podcast review of it where I think one of the reviewers didn't like it, but came around in the course of the podcast, which is fairly gratifying. A lot of readers really wanted to know about the ghost town of Summerville, wanted to learn more about it, but I'd have to have a ton more sales of this book to devote the time and energy to producing that. As it stands, it's a fun little horror story.
THE DAY OF THE NIGHTFISH: Originally a short story that shortlisted with the Aeon Awards, only to falter, I was persuaded by my partner to revisit it and turn it into a novella. The result is another sea monster story, critique of influence and foodie culture, and an exploration of the toll of food production practices on workers and sea life. I like this one , which I feel hits some good notes, but it mostly drowned in the sea of all the other books floating out there. Again, I think there's a lot to this one, but it never found its audience, so it floated like an anchor, to my considerable disappointment.
I enjoyed my novella run (and there are more to share within Science Fiction and Fantasy, but I'm keeping to Horror for now).
One thing that bothered me was how many others were flooding the market with horror novellas, so I just walked away from them, preferring novels as my primary fiction outlet.
I saw it as better to be in less-crowded areas, where I might hopefully (haha) stand out. Obviously, as you saw in my Part 1 post, that definitely failed to pan out with my Horror writing, however I still prefer the long fiction to the short fiction, anymore.
Next up, short story collections...
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