Gothic Revival (eBook)

Michael Mullin (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
242 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-8666-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Old friends gather to write ghost stories in the vein of Mary Shelley's iconic creation of Frankenstein only to realize their host is hiding a dark secret.

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The Psychological Thriller Inspired by the Creation of FrankensteinChris, Anne, Fiona, and Lauren were inseparable friends while earning MFAs in Creative Writing. Years later they've grown apart and are surprised to receive an invitation to a reunion from the fifth member of their group, Eric, a successful screenwriter. Eric flies them to a remote lake villa where he reveals his new obsession: their group is a modern version of the famous one from Villa Diodati in 1816, the iconic literary event during which Frankenstein was created. Chris and Anne are their Percy and Mary Shelley. The free-spirited artist Fiona is like Claire Clairmont. Instead of Dr. Polidori, they have Lauren, PhD in Victorian History. That leaves Eric, the Hollywood player, as Lord Byron. Like Byron, Eric proposes they write ghost stories, an homage to their famous predecessors. Laughter, creativity, and reminiscence are soon replaced with deceit, suspicion, and fear. What is the self-proclaimed clairvoyant Fiona seeing and hearing? Why does Eric lie? What does the creepy old housekeeper know about their host? Tensions grow as relationships are tested until a shocking discovery reveals the true intention for the reunion. Fans of Gillian Flynn, Alex Michaelides, Lisa Jewel, and Alice Feeney will love the suspense and intrigue of Gothic Revival.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Chris Quinn

Chris didn’t realize he was killing Yi-Ling until it was too late. As much as he wanted to save her, he knew that once she made the decision to follow the traders, her fate was sealed. She was smart enough to plan and skilled enough to execute another escape, but not this time. He’d make sure her memory was kept alive and that her name was evoked at just the right times. Not too much. But that was all for later. Right now, he had to focus and create her death in the best, most interesting way possible.

The last thing Chris should have done in that moment was get up from his writing desk, but that’s exactly what he did. He rationalized that he needed to walk around, maybe even outside, and think about all the ways one of his main characters could meet her end. Weigh all the options and decide. He liked the idea that anyone who was reading his book series would be shocked by this turn in the saga. The traders weren’t bad; they were just opportunists whose culture was entirely different. Plus, they had no idea what they were walking into. Yi-Ling’s team, those who knew and loved her, would arrive too late, making for a powerful scene. In the aftermath, her son Haim would set the wheels in motion for his revenge, and that’s where this novel, book five in his series, would end. Good stuff.

He checked his watch. 4:43. Almost happy hour. Coming out from his study he saw Anne sitting at the dining room table with the mail. She looked particularly engrossed in one piece. “Making a drink,” he said. “You want something?”

“Sure,” she said, her attention still on the paper in her hand.

He stopped and waited, then finally asked: “Martini? Negroni?”

She looked up at him. “Sorry. Martini is fine. Look at this. It’s from Eric Asher.”

“For real?” asked Chris as he sat with her and took the paper she was holding out to him. He noticed on the table in front of her two United Airlines envelopes, tickets obviously, and the larger torn envelope this all came in. “What in the world?” he muttered as he started to read the letter, which oddly had a big, boldfaced headline like a magazine article.

DON’T IGNORE OPPORTUNITY.

DO ACCEPT THIS INVITATION.

Hello to my dear old friends Woodstock, Mowgli, Ginger, and Brontë ~

I hope all is well in your worlds. It has been far too long, and I have a proposition for you all. An offer you can’t refuse (but not in any cinematic, life-threatening sense). My hope is that you would not see any reason to refuse it.

I’ve recently found myself reminiscing quite a bit about our time together. Our late-night discussions that touched upon virtually everything from the issues of the day to our personal lives to our headstrong and unapologetic adventures in fiction writing. In short, I miss your thoughts, your ideas, and your humor. These days I listen to people opine and pontificate about all sorts of things, and whether they are colleagues in conversation or strangers on Twitter, I find myself thinking what would you say? Especially now that we are all life-experienced adults.

I know far too little about what that experience has brought each of you. I know I’m to blame there, having become a bit of a social recluse. I’m sure you’d agree, however, that social media updates, however wonderful (and yes, I am updated on you there) are not really enough for those who were once so close like we were those unforgettable years.

Please find enclosed tickets to San Francisco. Note that the date is months away, which I hope will ease the planning on your end. Once there, the four of you will meet up and take a private plane to another location where I have secured a beautiful villa by a quiet lake. My plan is to host four days of fun, nostalgia, inspiration, creativity, and reward. All of us together again. Am I looking to escape my current, woefully superficial scene and ground myself in something I know is real? Yes, but I feel our reunion will be so much more than that. I sincerely hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am.

All My Best,

Gregor

P.S. It’s imperative that everyone be there. If for some reason you cannot attend on those dates, let me know ASAP, and I will reschedule.

“Wow,” Chris said. “We can go, right?” he asked having no idea what her answer might be.

“I guess,” she said. “I’m sure I can tag whatever the dates are.” She reached for the plane tickets and checked them.

Tagging dates was shorthand for requesting time off at Anne’s work. She was one of three women who founded a moderately successful event planning company. He was proud of what she had accomplished, but the truth was her work changed who she was. When they met in grad school he saw her as a highly imaginative creative writer. She once wrote a harrowing but hopeful short story from the point of view of a balloon that had been accidentally let loose by a child. He still remembered the bittersweet ending and the brilliance of the language cadence mimicking haphazard floating.

In the last several years, however, he’d witnessed the emergence of this astute, no-nonsense businesswoman. It wasn’t as if he no longer recognized her. That would be too simplistic and melodramatic. Planning events had a creative side to it, but he watched silently as she delegated more and more of that work to her partners. Anne always billed herself, truthfully so, as a private person. To succeed in business, she created a kind of “work persona” that allowed her to become the “face” of the company, the salesperson who closed the deals. She was also, for lack of a better term, their bookkeeper. It was impressive in a way, but also weird, given that he often felt married to the persona.

“It’ll be great to see everyone again,” he said, looking at the letter again. Eric seemed apologetic for not keeping in touch. Maybe he thought the rest of the group was still tight, but the truth was, their contact with Lauren and Fiona was sparse at best, marked by little other than Facebook interactions and holiday cards. Maybe Anne was a little better with them, but Chris wasn’t sure about that. There was no falling out, but the graduate school friends, who met while earning their MFAs in Creative Writing, had simply gone their separate ways. Lauren Curtis, who became Lauren Curtis-Pritchard got more degrees and became a professor near Chicago. Fiona Voss was a teacher and painter in New York City. Eric Asher ended up making movies in Los Angeles, while Chris and Anne married and remained in the Boston area.

Eric was a shy, unassuming guy from Minnesota who answered Chris’ ad for a roommate. Chris had a few other bites of interest, but this Eric guy with his buzz cut, black-framed glasses, and quick wit was, to Chris’ surprise, starting the same writing program he was. That seemed like a good omen, and he was right. They became fast friends. Eric eventually became the Golden Boy of their class, publishing a short story in a reputable journal while they were still students, then his first novel (which was also his master’s thesis) less than a year after graduation.

That book, which Chris recalled was set in a traveling carnival in the 1940s, was met with lukewarm reviews and modest sales, but who cared? He was published! A year later the publisher pulled the plug on his second book months before the scheduled release. There was never a clear story as to why. Eric talked about “creative differences,” but the friends feared off the record to each other that he’d been unable to finish it.

But then, in an embodiment of the third time being a charm, he published All That’s Left to Know, a poignant, beautifully written novel about a small-town tragedy that causes a family to crumble from within. The main character, Alvin Skinner, became a kind of cultural icon, representing such things as grief, a guilty conscience, and false hope.

The book was a hit, and Eric made the rounds on a multi-city signing tour. The friends all went to his event in their respective cities, each bringing a small group of soon-to-be fans.

When Hollywood called, Eric was hired to adapt his book into a screenplay and got an Oscar nomination for his work. He focused on screenwriting from then on, eventually producing and even directing indie films that were almost always critically acclaimed if not blockbuster popular. Eric was by no means a household name, but he had built a solid, respectable career in Hollywood. Fans of his novel clamored for him to write another, but he never did.

Although Chris was still writing novels, his career was much different. His real job was Communications Director at a financial investment company. He’d started years ago as a copywriter in their in-house creative department and worked his way up. It was fine, paid well, and everyone liked him. He was set.

The sci-fi novels were his hobby. He enjoyed writing them but could never manage to make a living out of it. Traditional publishing didn’t work out, so he self-published each book then moved on to the next one. He was terrible at the promotion part, giving it minimal effort, and as a result, not many people knew about his Equinox book series. He was resigned to the fact that his books would probably never be more than “out...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.3.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-8666-5 / 1667886665
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-8666-4 / 9781667886664