Haunted Shores: A Gothic Novella

When I was a teen, I went through my Gothic period. I read all the Gothic novels and short stories I could find. 

I don’t think it’s unusual for teens to find Edgar Allan Poe and Gothic tales intriguing. Of course, I also read adventure contemporary novels, fantasy, and science fiction.

There was something special about gothic novels. I could read late into the night with the possibility of feeling a little unsettled. Let’s be real, I managed to scare myself. 

I wasn’t crazy about horror, but I liked the suspense in the Gothic stories. There was always the possibility of something unnatural happening. You know what I mean, ghosts, danger, unrevealed secrets, or even aliens. Of course, there were always family secrets, which were often worse horrors than other evils.

A couple years ago, a relative sent me an old gothic suspense novel with a note saying she remembered me reading these types of books. The book was a well preserved used book store find. I read the book and remembered how much fun I had reading the slightly spooky events and the suspense of what really dumb things the heroine would do like going outside at midnight in her nightgown to investigate a noise.

The pleasant memory of reading that novel nudged me toward trying my hand at writing a Gothic short story. 

I wrote two longer gothic short stories, and then moved on to write Haunted Shores, a Gothic Novella. As I suspected, I had a great time with these stories. I freely admit that my stories didn’t go deep into darkness because horror isn’t my thing.

In Haunted Shores, I wanted to write a suspenseful, sort of off kilter book set in a place most people think of as sunny and beautiful—a vacation spot.I decided on Big Sur because to me Big Sur, a California coastal city, is beautiful—it has more than beauty.

By that I mean, the location, a coastal town set in the mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The cliffs overlooking the shore are steep with enormous jagged rock formations, and most of all, every time I’ve been there, a thick, gray fog would rise up from the Pacific Ocean. The gray smoky cloud slowly creeped upward, slithered up those dangerous boulders and rock, and crossed the road silently advancing into the pine forest. Hovering like a waiting menace

 That change of weather created an oddly romantic and creepy atmosphere. For me the experience was a little spooky. That delightful juxtaposition created a perfect setting for secrets, suspense, and danger.

The first version of the cover looked great in the ebook version, but the print copy had a few issues. Rachel tweaked a few key areas of the cover. This version turned out perfect.