Small Spec Book Awards - Semi-Finalist Feature #1
Welcome to the first of many posts featuring the semi-finalists of the Small Spec Book Awards!
Every few days between now and when the finalists are announced, I will be highlighting three semi-finalists at a time. More information on the awards can be found here. The full list of semi-finalists can be found here. Each author has been asked the same questions:
1. What inspired you to write this book?
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
For this first post, since it is October, the month of all things spooky, I have decided to start with three of the horror semi-finalists: Carson Winter, author of A Spectre is Haunting Greentree, Damien Casey, author of Church of Skatan, and Emmett Nahil, author of From the Belly.
A Spectre is Haunting Greentree by Carson Winter
REAP WHAT YOU SOW
In the wake of a series of panic attacks, isolated and introverted Carina takes a friend up on an offer: go to Greentree, Oregon, escape her abusive ex, and start a new life.
But upon arrival, the town is stranger than Carina could have ever imagined.
For one, they still have a video store. For two, everyone is rich.
For three, what’s up with all these scarecrows?
As Greentree’s secrets begin to unravel, as the autumn sun bends below the corn, as scythes sharpen in the night—a violent revolution stirs.
1. What inspired you to write this book?
When I was writing A Spectre is Haunting Greentree, I had just gotten my first real taste of anxiety. I had been hyper focusing on my heart for months, to the point that I was in constant fear of having a heart attack in my late 20s.
This anxiety, this feeling of being under something’s thumb, terrified me—but it also inspired me.
The second influence for Greentree was a desire to write something decidedly old school. I wanted to write a horror book that would fit perfectly amidst the 80s paperbacks I loved so much. That’s where the scarecrows came in.
A Spectre is Haunting Greentree is an amalgam of different emotions and interests that coalesced into a bizarre whole. An anti-capitalist killer scarecrow novel about anxiety—what’s not to love?
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
My favorite part of writing A Spectre is Haunting Greentree was writing the scarecrows! They have such a unique perspective on their predicament, and I loved channeling their revolutionary tone.
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
You can find me at carsonwinter.com, but also every week on the Dead Languages Podcast, a horror craft writing podcast I co-host with P.L. McMillan. I’m also on Bluesky at @carsonwinter.bsky.social and Instagram at @wintercarson.
Church of Skatan by Damien Casey
In the backdrop of the early-2000s small-town skate scene, a group of skaters is about to face off against evil cultists...
As
kids growing up in the suburbs, Ethan, Dylan, and Billy bonded over
their mutual love for skating. When they reunite in their hometown
during college summer break, it seems like nothing’s changed.
Same boring town.
Until
they discover a skater’s dream: an abandoned building with a pool all
to themselves. But when they attempt to drain the pool, they
accidentally send out a call to The Daughters of Eve, a murderous cult
intent on unleashing an ancient evil lurking under that very same
building, setting off a chain of violence, magic, and nightmarish
creatures made of gears, wires, and mangled flesh.
1. What inspired you to write this book?
Church of Skatan is basically my letter of annoyance toward organized religion. I don’t mean ALL religious people; some are amazing. This was more so directed at the folks that treat their religion like a sort of yacht club and decide what the members do, wear, and believe in. Something that was specifically heavy on my mind at the time, and honestly more so now, is the way society has been conditioned to treat women. Christian religions in the area I live in follow the idealogy of women being somehow less than men. They should be the stay at home mom who is submissive and blah blah blah. I hate that mindset. I loathe any mind or idealogy that puts another human being below them. Unfortunately, the Christian religion has done this to women for centuries; look at how Eve is considered to blame for the Apple, the whole made from a rib thing, and don’t get me started on the weird relationship with consent Christian men have thanks to the story of Mary. I’m also very interested in Satanic cults; one particular named Our Lady of Endor from the late 1800’s. They believed Satan was helping Eve by showing her that God was not allowing them the free will he promised. Basically, Satan exposed God as a fascist, and is therefore a figure to be appreciated. The skating aspects came naturally; I’ve skated since I was 13, I’m 38 now, I don’t want to do the math on that. I always wanted to do something with skateboarding in my work, and this was the perfect opportunity. TL:DR - I got mad and made something that was a bit over the top to show how annoyed I was.
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
The mechanical monstrosities. I’m usually a very character driven writer; I love dialogue, building personalities, having characters act in ways that can be analyzed and related to. But with Skatan, making some of those Evil Dead meets Terminator style monsters was a blast. Have you ever seen Virus with Jamie Lee Curtis? I haven’t either, but I used to play this game on my PC when I was a kid based on it. Basically you ran from this weird mechanical thing; I always thought the movie would be a ton of insanely cool robotic monsters. I don’t know if it is or isn’t, I had the game on floppy disk which is a whole thing. I’ll watch it and report back.
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
Instagram: damienthulhu
Etsy: Damiensweirdlilguys
From the Belly by Emmett Nahil
The whaling vessel Merciful has just made its strangest catch yet: a massive whale containing a still-living man secreted within its stomach lining. Sailor Isaiah Chase is tasked with keeping the enigmatic man alive.
As their relationship grows, a series of accidents, injuries and deaths quickly befall the ship and its crew. Isaiah is plagued by strangely prophetic dreams, even as the crew continues their endless quest for whale oil under the command of an increasingly unhinged captain.
As events spiral further out of control, the mysterious man confesses what Isaiah has begun to suspect: the crew of The Merciful has fallen into a cycle of punishment for their greed and destruction. Isaiah must confront the sea's vengeance made flesh, and choose between this new, strange love and the fate of the ship itself.
1. What inspired you to write this book?
I'm very much inspired by myths, legends, and history, and so the story of the disaster of the whaleship Essex was hugely interesting to me. In a lot of ways, the story seems like a tale of man's hubris when confronted with the enormity of nature, so I wanted to capitalize on that in one of my favorite settings: isolation horror. The first season of AMC's The Terror as well as Eric Jay Dolin's nonfiction book Leviathan were both inspirational during the early phases of writing From the Belly.
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
My favorite part of writing is always the second draft, where things really tend to fall into place. It's easy to romanticize the possibility and expansive imagination for a first draft, but I like feeling like I kind of know what I'm doing and what direction I'm traveling in. I also tend to under-write, so going back and adding in more scenes, more background is pretty fun for me.
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
You can find my work at www.emmettnahil.com and on most socials under @_emnays such as Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky.
Thanks for reading!
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