Just Don't Kill the Dog!

When I released Asylum Lake one chapter each week for the span of six weeks via the official website I was worried for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, I had never been a believer in the "if you build it they will come" philosophy of life. Sure, it worked well for Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, but I don't typically have his luck (my luck is much more on the Water World end of the spectrum). Fortunately, word of mouth spread and the website received 15,000 unique hits over the course of those six weeks. I give most of the credit for this to my wonderful designer who captured perfectly my dark vision.

My second concern was the graphic nature of the story, especially Chapter 5 - Crimes Against Humanity. Without giving away any spoilers, this chapter describes in fairly great detail the brutal murders of a young couple and their two children. It was a fun chapter to write -- mildly difficult but not too bad once I committed to it(much like sawing through bones with a hacksaw). Still, I worried about how it would be received by readers.

Surprisingly, my worries were very misplaced. I learned a few things about the readers of Asylum Lake. First, for some reason they enjoyed my musical references and skewed take on what happens when dark memories refuse to remain forgotten. Most importantly, I learned that readers can easily stomach the dismemberment of toddlers and parents, but any thought of harming good old Gruff would not be tolerated.

Easily, 80% of the comments I received during this time were readers who pleased "Just don't kill the dog!"