Horrorstor: A Novel

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If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to put together furniture from IKEA, you’ll get a laugh out of Hendrix’s spoof mystery.” Things begin innocently enough, though, with this uncomfortable looking couch. Not cozy, but not exactly a torture device…yet.

You can listen to free, amazing, and did I mention free podcasts of his fiction on Pseudopod. He also does a podcast called Super Scary Haunted Homeschool.Despite his picture, this guy can write very, very well. It was strange and funny, but without actual jokes...can you even understand what I mean when I say that? Now, I am not educated in English beyond high school, but I read a lot, so I think I’m a little above average with the language. However, there were a few words in there that I had to look up (yes, I’m that kind of geek) – I had no idea what pareidolia or panopticon meant. This novel taught me that any setting can be the groundwork for a spooky good time. It is also textbook perfection on how to blend horror and humor. Hendrix clearly has a blast describing overworked and underpaid employees and putting them in zany sources of danger. His infusion of social commentary into the plot is precisely what I hope to achieve in my own writing. It’s hard to walk into an IKEA and not think about his “bright and shining path," or the false doors that, in this book, do open and lead to interdimensional horror. Amy, the narrating character, dreams of having what she calls a “sit down job”, but she can’t seem to break out of a long string of minimum wage retail jobs. Orsk, an Ikea rip-off store, is hell. Retail hell - something Hendrix seems to be very familiar with.

His plan is to spend the night in the building with a strategic strike team that will be ready to catch these neer-do-wells in the act! But since he doesn't have access to any professionals, he's willing to go in with two of his employees, Amy and Ruth Anne. Neither of them is at all qualified to do anything other than point and scream if they were to run across someone messing up the store in the middle of the night. Much like some countries that require each citizen to do a stint in their army, I feel that everyone should have to do a tour of duty as a retail worker. Horrorstör delivers a crisp terror-tale…[and] Hendrix strikes a nice balance between comedy and horror.”— The Washington Post A vampire's hunger for blood may be insatiable, but this masterpiece novel ladles out ample thrills, chills, and relevant examples of sociopolitical injustices to satisfy any literary appetite.”Horrorstör is elevated from a typical horror novel because of its setting, which is really quite clever, and the way Grady Hendrix, the author, weaves the store manual into the narrative. Basil approaches Amy and another employee, Ruth Ann, and asks them to work a dusk-til-dawn shift with him to hopefully catch the vandal. Important people from corporate are arriving the very next morning and he wants to have a handle on the situation prior to their arrival. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves horror and satire. Grady Hendrix does a brilliant job of creating a creepy and hilarious atmosphere in the Orsk store, where nothing is what it seems. The characters are incredibly relatable and witty(especially if you have worked within a commercial sales setting), and the plot is jammed full of twists and turns. The novel is a charming testament to friendships and life's imperfections, with dashes of rot and savagery to earn its keep in horror literature....It's a rollercoaster [that] lands as a vampire story concreted in vileness and Southern charm.”