GOTHIC
A NOVEL.
Cemetery Dance Publications, February, 2023 — Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook
SYNOPSIS:
On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks—a famous, but struggling, horror writer—receives an ornate antiquarian desk in the hopes it will rekindle his creative juices. Perhaps inspire him to write another best-selling book and prove his best years aren’t behind him…
As Tyson begins to use the new desk, he finds himself writing copy at an unfathomable speed, becomes so focused on writing that he binges on all-night, all-day sessions that take a serious physical and psychological toll.
Soon, Tyson begins acting strange. Violent.
Meanwhile, a mysterious woman, Diana Montresor, is making inquiries with her sources around the globe for the whereabouts of a certain artifact she, and her family, have been hunting for centuries.
As forces converge on Tyson’s world, he faces the hardest choice of his life: Does he let go of his new muse, allow it to be taken back to the void of history where it belongs? Or does he continue to live as the desk’s mouthpiece, not only regaining his glory days as a famous writer, but achieving levels of success he’s only dreamed of?
As the desk—and the force that lives inside it—grows stronger, he must choose.
Before it’s too late.
EARLY PRAISE:
"A dark and delirious journey into the unraveling of a mind, Gothic is the accursed 21st century bastard child of the 70s horror boom and John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. Deadly, compelling, and pulls no punches." - BRIAN EVENSON
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"GOTHIC is the literary equivalent of the abyss gazing right back at you from the hellish depths of its pages. Don't lean in too close, lest you fall into this nightmarish novel and never find your way out again." - CLAY MACLEOD CHAPMAN, author of Ghost Eaters
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"Stylish, atmospheric, and chilling, GOTHIC is an affectionate ode to the horror greats, and an effective reminder that Philip Fracassi is destined to become one of them. One of my favorite reads of the year so far."- KEALAN PATRICK BURKE, author of Kin and Sour Candy
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"Not since The Shining has the descent of a writer into madness been so masterfully rendered on the page.” – ROSS JEFFERY, Bram Stoker-nominated author of Tome
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“A high creep factor chiller with a sinister edge that had me reading well past my bedtime. Frightening and fun, and deliciously original!" — JAMES A. MOORE, author of the Blood Red trilogy and Cherry Hill.
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“Fracassi takes the familiar traps—love, obsession, power—and gives them new teeth. It’s dark fun twisted tightly around a story of human frailty...He’s doing for the desk what King did for the car.” – Jeff Terry, THE JEFF WORD
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"Downright chilling. I loved every word. Fracassi is coming into his own and I'm ready to follow him on any journey he takes." - GLENN ROLFE, author of August’s Eyes.
(A limited edition of this book was released by Earthling Publications in November, 2022)