Midwestern Gothic is four gothic novellas from horror author Scott Thomas, the novelist of Kill Creek and Violet.
In This Spotlight On Midwestern Gothic
About Midwestern Gothic
In The Door in the Field, a construction worker’s bad day becomes a far worse night when drinks at an off-the-books bar send him down an unforeseeably bloody path.
In The Boy in the Woods, something evil has infected the counselors at a summer camp, and a young boy will have to do anything he can to survive the night.
In One Half of a Child’s Face, a woman spying on her daughter and ex-husband notices an odd painting hanging in an empty apartment . . . one that seems to call to the building’s children.
In Wear Your Secret Like a Stone, a big-box clerk discovers that her book pick for a Halloween display echoes a dark secret hidden beneath the idyllic facade of her hometown.
With this collection, Scott Thomas digs his hands into the soil of the American heartland and establishes himself as a master of Midwestern Gothic.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Inkshares
Publication Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN-13: 978-1950301713
Editorial Review of Midwestern Gothic
Library Journal – starred review
In this collection of four novellas, Scott Thomas (Kill Creek; Violet) brilliantly presents a book that not only is dripping with overwhelming dread on every page but also serves as a proof of concept for the Midwestern gothic.
The novellas, all set in the fictional town of Blantonville, KS, are framed by the works of Thomas’s most famous characters, the horror novelists from his book Kill Creek. From cosmic to folk horror, from a twist on the summer-camp slasher to a Hitchcockian psychological nightmare, each single-sitting read stands alone as a fully realized, unnerving tale, expertly merging compelling storylines and fascinating characters.
However, it is the sense of place that shines here, illustrating how the vast, wide-open prairie can turn against the characters and provoke terror in readers. An immersive, chilling, and unsettling read that will put Blantonville on the horror map right next to Castle Rock.
VERDICT A must-buy title that updates the enduringly popular form of the gothic novel from a new perspective (as in Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia or The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson), while also adding depth to the horror that unites Thomas’s literary universe, similar to Goblin and Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman.
Praise for Midwestern Gothic
“Midwestern Gothic roots its dread down deep into the region . . . every howl could be the wind or a scream.”—Clay McLeod Chapman
Midwestern Gothic “Grabs you by the face. Grim and brutal.”—Stephen Graham Jones
In Midwestern Gothic “Scott Thomas puts a cool, creepy twist on the summer camp killer story.”—Paul Tremblay
About Scott Thomas, Author of Midwestern Gothic
Scott Thomas is the Stoker-nominated author of Kill Creek, which was selected by the American Library Association’s reader committee as the top horror book of 2017. His second novel, Violet, was named by Library Journal as one of the Best Books of 2019. Originally from Coffeyville, Kansas, Scott attended the University of Kansas where he earned degrees in English and Film. He has written TV movies and teleplays for Netflix, Showtime, Syfy, MTV, VH1, the CW, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Freeform. He has feature adaptations of his novels Kill Creek and Violet in development.
You can find and follow Scott Thomas on his website, on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Source: https://www.scottthomaswriter.com/
Titles by Scott Thomas
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