Chicago suspense writer Bryan Alaspa continues to do things the hard way, announcing via his website and social media that he will be publishing his new psychological thriller novel Storyland under his own publishing label on Halloween, 2017. The reason? The feedback he got from publishing agents and traditional publishers said the novel was “too dark”, “disturbing” and “gritty” for them.
“It was weird,” says the author, “several of them got back to me and the ones who provided any feedback said the novel was gripping, grabbing you from the get-go, and intense, but the ending was way too dark and gritty. After hearing that a little too often, I decided maybe traditional publishers and agents were just too scared to publish it. Fortunately, I have my own publishing house and just decided to do it myself.”
Storyland is a deeply troubling psychological thriller. When Ned realizes that his childhood friend, Martin, has brutally butchered four people camping nearby in the woods, he heads home to figure out why. Along the way, he begins to suspect that Martin may have had something to do with the long-ago disappearance of another boy - and memories of the game they used to play, Storyland, begin to open up further and more disturbing memories.
“It’s a story that builds and builds and asks the reader to determine what’s real and what really is imagination?” Mr. Alaspa says. “Where do stories come from? Who’s really crazy? And the ending is a bit of a shocker.”
Storyland is available for Kindle pre-order at Amazon’s website (https://www.amazon.com/Storyland-Terrifying-Thriller-Bryan-Alaspa-ebook/dp/B07572NZV3) for just 99 cents. The print edition is also available for pre-order at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Storyland-Terrifying-Thriller-Bryan-Alaspa/dp/1549619128). The novel will officially be released on Halloween, October 31, 2017.