Swimming in the Sea of Trees

by Adam Millard

A year after the death of their son, Dan and Kelly are visiting Aokigahara, the infamous Japanese forest. Dan knows of its past as the place where souls come to die, to commit suicide either through hopelessness, debt, or love. Kelly does not, but all that changes when the forest’s ghosts begin to reveal themselves.

Genres: Horror

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 23, 2017

About the author

Adam Millard is the author of twenty novels, twelve novellas, and more than two hundred short stories, which can be found in various collections and anthologies. Probably best known for his post-apocalyptic fiction, Adam also writes fantasy/horror for children and Bizarro fiction for several publishers. His work has recently been translated for the German market.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The suicide forest of Japan is such an ideal story setting, it’s no surprise so many books and movies utilize it. Millard’s take on it is very much within the usual standards, which is to say the story doesn’t really outshine the setting, the trees don’t distract from the forest, if you will. But it is a pretty compelling story of a couple who’s had their share of marital difficulties, despite which Dan still thinks it’s a good idea to lure (drag, mislead, invite under pretenses) his wife Kelly to the famous forest so he can get some material for his blog. Soon the pair goes their separate ways and gets their very own individual tailormade hauntings, because places that are inadvisable to enter often prove to be impossible to leave. Alternatively, you can read this as a sort of arboreal marriage counseling session. Either way, it’s a nightmare. So yeah, my second read by Millard, still not getting the wow factor, like wow, gotta read more of this guy now, but very decent and a super quick read, maybe 30 minutes. On the literary side of things, fans of psychological scares should enjoy this one.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Trees are the castles of the woods, and I felt that every sprawling tree I passed under was lined with ancient sentinels.”

This story was especially creepy for me to read, considering I’m flying to Japan tomorrow! Thankfully I won’t be venturing into Aokigahara.

If you’re looking for a short, but intense story, this is it! I would’ve liked the couple to experience more creepy entities/things in the forest, but that’s really my only complaint. From beginning to end, it was supremely eerie.

“There are places on this earth that need to be seen. We are only here for a short time, and it should be our mission to witness as much of the world as possible.”

[Gemma De-lucchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

Another amazing story. Shows how talented Millard is, moving from the usual satire comedy of Larry etc to this terrifying tale.

[Kayleigh Marie Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great novella, and as usual, Millard's character and setting work is excellent.

[Wisteria_Dreams420 · Rating 1 out of 5]

It started strong then just kind of dropped off by the end. Hated Dan.

[Happy Goat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review at Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2023/11/0...

Well, shit. That's a story and a half (the only reason it's not 5 stars is because I predicted the ending and I prefer to look like shocked Pikachu at the end of a book).