LOTF 19: Husk by Rachel Autumn Deering

In this episode we discuss Rachel Autumn Deering’s Husk, an “all-too-real work of horror fiction, Rachel Autumn Deering explores the mind of a young man who is struggling to cope with the effects of post-war stress, drug addiction, self-doubt, and loneliness as they manifest themselves into his deepest, darkest fears.” In the story, “Kevin Brooks returns to his rural Kentucky hometown after a three-year-long tour of duty in Afghanistan. He has lost the grandparents who raised him, his lifelong best friend, and his trust in the government he once proudly served. When Kevin meets a kind, young girl named Samantha, he thinks his luck might have finally taken a turn for the better. But something else has its eye on Kevin. Something dark and brooding and mean. Something that knows Kevin better than he knows himself.”

Show Notes:

Initial impressions

Essential horror curriculum would include this book, plusElizabeth by Ken GreenhallShirley JacksonMapping the Interior by Stephen Graham JonesThe House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

Visceral, sexy sex-that-wasn't scenes

Monster as metaphor for PTSDVampire motif?When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord

Skillful dialectThe Redwall series 

Short length = perfect pacing

Key takeaways?

Favorite lines