In his latest novel - CREATURE - Hunter Shea has created a masterpiece of horror. here, he gives us an insight into how the story was born.
She was unconscious. She had been for days
now. The only sounds in the room were the beeping of her monitors, the soft
chatter of the television. Over the past few months, I’d learn to understand
what the various numbers on the monitors meant. This day, none of them were
good. With each passing hour, they worsened.
Acid roiled in my stomach while I held her
cold hand. My wife and I were twins at that moment, both beyond words. I tried
to talk to her, the nurses telling me she could hear me, but what could I say?
I murmured that I loved her from time to time, my words trailing off, tumbling
into tears.
Night had come. There was a knock on the
door. He was here.
The priest, who had delivered pictures he’d
drawn for my wife these past torturous months, always with a smile and words of
encouragement, was somber and silent. He paused beside her bed, his hand on her
forehead. His gaze flicked to me, as if asking for some sign of further
reassurance. I had already agreed for him to perform last rites earlier. I
couldn’t bear to give that permission again.
Instead, I concentrated on her face, so
pale, eyes closed, mouth slack. I didn’t realize he’d begun, deaf to his somber
prayers. He anointed her head with oil from a small jar.
A nurse stepped into the room, saw the
awful thing that was taking place, turned and left us. People walking outside,
laughing their stress away. The overhead speaker blared for a doctor to pick up
a phone line. Outside the window, a bus belched diesel, rumbling along its last
trip for the night. People out there carried on, not knowing that my wife was
going to die.
I hated them. I hated the priest, this man
who had always been welcome in her room. I hated God. I hated the doctors.
It seemed wrong to be bursting with hate.
Not at this moment. Would my hate spill into my wife like an ink stain? We
wanted her soul to ascend to heaven, free of pain and fear. Could my hate alter
her course? There were rules. Priests and nuns and teachers had hammered them
in my head all throughout school, but I couldn’t remember a single one now.
Fuck their rules. And fuck their heaven.
The priest spoke to me. I nodded, wordless,
pleading with my eyes for him to just go.
The room was dark. We were alone again. The
nurses, previously tending to her like bees in a hive, came less and less.
Visiting hours were over. The rooms and halls and streets tip-toed into night
silence.
I gripped her limp hand, her fingers like
ice now.
I watched the monitors, the numbers
descending.
The night wore
on. Together, we waited.
People ask authors all the time where they
find their inspiration. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a turn of a
phrase or glimpsing something from the corner of your eye on a walk to the
store. Sometimes, it comes from pain.
CREATURE was born from pain. And fear. And
anger.
What you just read was real. It was the
night the doctors had told me my wife was going to die, sooner rather than
later. It was 1993. We had been married for a little over a year. I didn’t
think life was unfair at the time. I just thought it was total shit.
My wife survived that night, and roughly
9,125 nights since then. But it hasn’t been easy. It’s never been easy.
Love gets you through it. Well, that and a
stubborn streak that can stretch from Boston to Neptune.
About CREATURE:
The monsters live inside of
Kate Woodson. Chronic pain and a host of autoimmune diseases have robbed her of
a normal, happy life. Her husband Andrew’s surprise of their dream Maine lake
cottage for the summer is the gift of a lifetime. It’s beautiful, remote,
idyllic, a place to heal.
But they are not alone. Something is in the woods, screeching in the darkness, banging on the house, leaving animals for dead.
Just like her body, Kate’s cottage becomes her prison. She and Andrew must fight to survive the creature that lurks in the dead of night.
Critical praise for CREATURE:
“A heart-wrenching story with massive amounts of carnage. Dare I say there is something for everyone.” Cemetery Dance
“Creature is quite simply brilliant! It put me through the wringer, the final third of the book ramps things up to unbearable levels of emotional (and horrific) tension. It’s not very often I finish a horror novel with tears in my eyes.” Kendall Reviews
“CREATURE! It. Knocked. My. Socks. Off.” Char’s Horror Corner
But they are not alone. Something is in the woods, screeching in the darkness, banging on the house, leaving animals for dead.
Just like her body, Kate’s cottage becomes her prison. She and Andrew must fight to survive the creature that lurks in the dead of night.
Critical praise for CREATURE:
“A heart-wrenching story with massive amounts of carnage. Dare I say there is something for everyone.” Cemetery Dance
“Creature is quite simply brilliant! It put me through the wringer, the final third of the book ramps things up to unbearable levels of emotional (and horrific) tension. It’s not very often I finish a horror novel with tears in my eyes.” Kendall Reviews
“CREATURE! It. Knocked. My. Socks. Off.” Char’s Horror Corner
You can find CREATURE! here: