When I was in high school I read a lot of classics, including a creepy short story by Ray Bradbury— “The Veldt” —about two children who basically murder their parents because they don’t want to leave this special room that gives them whatever they can imagine. “A Voracious Grief” is almost a retelling, but not quite.

Yes and no. I’ve previously written two other novels, but decided not to publish them because I felt I needed to become a more skillful writer in order to do them justice. I want to return to those stories down the road. For now, “A Voracious Grief” seems to be a wonderful novel to debut with. I’m sure I’ll make plenty of mistakes during the book launch process, but I’m hoping those can be invaluable learning opportunities in the long run.

When I began drafting “A Voracious Grief” I’d just pulled through a really dark season of depression while battling a chronic illness. In addition to that, a few years prior I’d become estranged with one of my younger brothers. All at once, it hit me that my brother was lost to me. Honestly, I felt like he’d died. I began to really grieve his loss, and through that pain I learned a lot about myself. I have another medical condition that’s resulted in frequent PTSD, and during the writing of this book I began to work through some of these compiling traumas. I wanted this story to engage with everything I was learning about myself and about suffering as a broad spectrum of the human experience. I wanted to write something that could help other hurting people.

I like to say it’s a story about how we evolve beyond our traumas. The main characters, Ambrose and Mattie Bancroft, are siblings who’ve lost all their family. But they respond to their grief very differently. Because of the conflict between them, they don’t realize there’s a monster lurking in their manor until it’s too late. It’s a thriller full of relational tension, but its also a story about the meaning of pain.

I’m publishing under my own imprint—Lamh Books. Interested parties can sign up on my website’s newsletter page to get publishing updates. I am also writing an anthology of short stories about Ambrose Bancroft and other characters from “A Voracious Grief”. By signing up for my newsletter, you can receive these bonus stories for free.