RETURN
Having nearly finished reviewing RETURN TO SUMMERVILLE and received highly favorable feedback from beta readers, I'm feeling better about getting this one out there. The best takeaway I'd received from it was that it was "darker than CHOSEN" -- which only makes sense if someone's read that novel.
Ever since that book came out (2012! Twelve years ago!) I've felt that one was my one true horror novel, and was my darkest story. It was my own neo-Lovecraftian spin on a zombie apocalypse, with the Brethren battling the Breathers in the tiny (fictional) town of Ludlow, Pennsylvania.
Without slinging any spoilers out, there are just scenes in it that--for me, at least--are damned DARK.
Jumping a dozen years later, with RETURN TO SUMMERVILLE, I was focused on making a sequel to the original novella, which is often referred to by readers as an "80s-style eco horror romp" -- and I'm fine with that.
However, while writing the sequel, I feel I tapped into 70s-styyle eco horror with this one, which means there's a lot of weirdness, ambiguity, and paranoia in it. There are breaths of folk horror in it, as well.
I know that writing it, I felt a great deal of mental/emotional pain, just channeling what the characters were going through (or, more specifically, what I was putting them through).
This one is very eco horror, but there's also a hint of cosmic horror in it that I think came from my own emotional state while working on it. I'm writing it in a dark time for our country, and for myself personally, and I think it flowed into this book.
I'm pleased that the beta readers liked it, because I wasn't sure if it would play well with others, knowing how much it took out of me personally.
As I'd mentioned in earlier posts, I'd taken refuge in my more cheerfully heroic SHUTTERCLIQUE novels, which are so much fun to write. RETURN was a dark and terrifying place for me to occupy, and even the survivors in that world are haunted by their experiences.
My hope is that readers approach RETURN and find that eco horrific vibe appealing. There's a third book that'll live because of RETURN, so I'll wade back into the weeds again in the next couple of years.
Deathbell | Come To Trouble
Ever since that book came out (2012! Twelve years ago!) I've felt that one was my one true horror novel, and was my darkest story. It was my own neo-Lovecraftian spin on a zombie apocalypse, with the Brethren battling the Breathers in the tiny (fictional) town of Ludlow, Pennsylvania.
Without slinging any spoilers out, there are just scenes in it that--for me, at least--are damned DARK.
Jumping a dozen years later, with RETURN TO SUMMERVILLE, I was focused on making a sequel to the original novella, which is often referred to by readers as an "80s-style eco horror romp" -- and I'm fine with that.
However, while writing the sequel, I feel I tapped into 70s-styyle eco horror with this one, which means there's a lot of weirdness, ambiguity, and paranoia in it. There are breaths of folk horror in it, as well.
I know that writing it, I felt a great deal of mental/emotional pain, just channeling what the characters were going through (or, more specifically, what I was putting them through).
This one is very eco horror, but there's also a hint of cosmic horror in it that I think came from my own emotional state while working on it. I'm writing it in a dark time for our country, and for myself personally, and I think it flowed into this book.
I'm pleased that the beta readers liked it, because I wasn't sure if it would play well with others, knowing how much it took out of me personally.
As I'd mentioned in earlier posts, I'd taken refuge in my more cheerfully heroic SHUTTERCLIQUE novels, which are so much fun to write. RETURN was a dark and terrifying place for me to occupy, and even the survivors in that world are haunted by their experiences.
My hope is that readers approach RETURN and find that eco horrific vibe appealing. There's a third book that'll live because of RETURN, so I'll wade back into the weeds again in the next couple of years.
Deathbell | Come To Trouble
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