Postcards #15

A mainstay of many rural and folk fiction horrors is the homecoming.

In these stories, someone who left (or fled) their small town is forced to come back. A death, an inheritance, a financial setback--all these things can make it necessary for a person to return to their childhood homes. And things seldom go as hoped or planned.

A short list of "had to come home" books:

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

Friends who survived a childhood horror are called back to their dying town as adults only to realize it's still there. Waiting. Dread-inducing, but so good.

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

Imagine escaping a cult and being invited back to a friend's wedding, only to find out you are the centerpiece of the puzzle you could never understand? Not to mention finding out who your father really is. This story turns the whole religious cult story on its head. Love this book. Her recent release Play Nice is also a homecoming story. A woman inherits the home her mother insisted was possessed. She finds out her mother wasn't crazy after all. Interesting story with a good use of the ordinary to create scares.

Seed by Ania Ahlborn

Driven home by financial disaster, a man and his family are forced back to his hometown. His daughter is changing. And he recognizes the cause from his own childhood.

Terrifying. She also wrote a book called The Bird Eater, which, while scary, had characters in it that could have left and for some reason didn't. Made no sense that the man would stick it out.

It by Stephen King.

This has all the needed elements and it's been discussed to death, but it fits the genre. See also, 'Salem's Lot.

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

A small town held together by high-tech surveillance and weird groupthink in order to hide it's oldest resident. This one is a mindbender.

Scuttler's Cove by David Barnett

A woman who fled Scuttler's Cove as a teen returns to find the old and new clashing, while at the same time something ancient is awakening.

This is a small list, but you get the idea. Have you read any of these books or others like them? What did you think of them?

Until next time,

Lyndsey

Photo: Matthias Reding