#Spooktober ‘Gothic’ by Philip Fracassi

About the book…

On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks—a famous, but struggling, horror writer—receives an antique desk from his partner, Sarah, in the hopes it will rekindle his creative juices. Perhaps inspire him to write another best-selling novel and prove his best years aren’t behind him.

A continent away, a mysterious woman makes inquiries with her sources around the world, seeking the whereabouts of a certain artifact her family has been hunting for centuries. With the help of a New York City private detective, she finally finds what she’s been looking for.

It’s in the home of Tyson Parks.

Meanwhile, as Tyson begins to use his new desk, he begins acting… strange. Violent. His writing more disturbing than anything he’s done before. But publishers are paying top dollar, convinced his new work will be a hit, and Tyson will do whatever it takes to protect his newfound success.

Even if it means the destruction of the ones he loves.

Even if it means his own sanity

‘Gothic’ by Phillip Fracassi is due to be published by Cemetery Dance in 2023, and I am so grateful to have had the chance to read this via Netgalley, thanks guys!

What is there to say about this novel other than that I feel it will be HUGE.

To me, it has this immense sense of retro, 80’s horror in the vein of James Herbert, from the cover to the gothic haunted desk which turns out to have this sprawling, blood soaked history, it is an absolute revelation for readers like me who are, ahem, old enough to remember devouring novels with covers like this behind my nan’s parlour settee. It was such an incongruous setting, everything in there was for best, and yet there was this bookcase in the corner crammed with 70’s and 80’s horror classics.

In this book, Tyson is an author battling expectations of his public, his editors, and himself as a writer.

He is broke, his much younger wife is one of his biggest and earliest fans, his brand of horror has fallen out of fashion and so the advance for his latest book has been long spent.Pride dictates that he does not borrow from his very well connected other half, or any of his friends, he wants to capture his glory days without compromise to what he wants to write.

However, he cannot write.

Given the ultimatum of having a month to write a whole novel, after failing to sell the historical one which he has written, he is at his actual wits end. He cannot tap the vein of darkness which would let him pour forth the words which once made him top the bestseller charts.

Unbeknownst to him, his wife is planning to surprise him on his 59th birthday, where he is tipping from being a recognisable man to a properly middle aged has been, he is about to have his wishes come true…

She has tracked down the perfect writing desk, hoping that he will be able to write once more.

But what he produces has a very particular audience in mind and what moves him to work has a sinister intent…

There is so much to revel in, the lush descriptions of the desk, the blood soaked scenes of horror, the inner workings of a writer’s mind, all of it are so rich and vivid.

You could feel Tyson’s frustration rising off the page, his wife’s need to be the muse which brings him back, all of which lead to the buying of what turns out to be something much more horrific than anything he could conjure.

It’s a cautionary tale, raising the spectre of just what you would sacrifice for your goals and the motif of a writer’s desk as a sacrificial altar is brilliant. His wife is so desperate to make him into the object of her desire that she leaves herself open to the dark influence of this desk, Tyson is so caught up with his professional and personal failings he will sacrifice his peace of mind to be able to write.

And the thing is, the dark force moving through the desk makes this writer both vulnerable and a perfect target because he already has this in him.

Greed, ambition, perception of success…it all matters in this situation and I genuinely felt completely creeped out, compelled to keep reading and enthralled by the back story of the writer’s desk from hell.

Using an unlikable character as the principal narrator takes balls, it takes talent as you could so easily be put off by Tyson. But the essentially hopeful nature of the human heart anticipates him being strong enough to fight this malevolence in the same way you root for Jack Torrance in The Shining.

Embracing all that is good and great about the gothic gene, this is a reinvigoration of the classic art form with a very modern twist.

Superb!

About the author…

Philip Fracassi is an award-winning author and screenwriter living in Los Angeles.

His debut collection of short horror,‘Behold The Void’, won “Story Collection of the Year” award from both This Is Horror and Strange Aeons Magazine.

His new collection, ‘Beneath A Pale Sky’, arrived June, 2021, and his debut novel, ‘Boys In The Valley’, came out on Halloween day, 2021.

His stories have been printed in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Nightmare Magazine. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, LOCUS Magazine, Rue Morgue and many others.

His screenplays include the Lifetime thriller Girl Missing and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups, from Disney.

Links-http://pfracassi.com/

Twitter @phillipfracassi @