An Odyssey to the Castle of Vampires
The town of Dagon Hill has made a pact.
Arriving in a haze of fire and blood, a mythical being offers its blood to the townsfolk -- and the immortality it carries. Isolated from the outside world, the town vows to carry the light of humanity in peace, awaiting the inevitable end bound to consume the world.
Yet, not all is as it seems.
Impossible deaths begin taking place both within and far beyond the town lines.
Two men are found brutally murdered in the middle of nowhere -- with no footprints other than their own leading to their bodies. A man who had no reason to die hangs himself. A man is dismembered in a sealed room in a manner of minutes. A car under constant watch explodes -- in spite of no explosive device ever being present.
As the decades pass, so does the gravitational pull of the mysteries. The whirlpool expands -- morphing into a black hole that consumes everything around it.
You may theorize. You may argue. You may even be correct. Even so, the bodies will continue to pile up in ever-more horrifying ways.
There is no escape.
Give yourself to the void.
The Castle of Vampires awaits.
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This novel has been quite a few years in the making.
It is a tribute to the best -- and absolute worst -- aspects of detective fiction, both classic and modern.
Whatever you think this story is -- it isn't. Whatever you want it to be -- it won't be.
From here on out, there's no going back.
---
Cover Art
Huge thanks to selkie for the cover art!
Beta-Reading
Another special thanks to the beta-readers:
- selkie
- Blackrune
- Rosa
- Zep
- Life (not, uh, "life" life, this is the handle -- no social media account to link for the time being)
...And a special thanks to everyone who's supported me over the years!
Download
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Comments
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This was a fantastic read, and did many very cool things. It's rare for me to get this hooked this quickly, and I went through the whole thing in 2 days. The mood was thick, the characters interesting, the mysteries interesting. I loved so much about this book.
... except for the ending. And like, I get it, okay? I see the vision. I frankly respect the guts it took to commit to it, from an 'artistic' perspective I absolutely understand the choice. But as someone who does actually like answers, I would be lying if I said there wasn't some part of me dissatisfied with how things wrap up. Idk, I'm conflicted, because I truly do appreciate what the novel goes for on some level. But I also truly hate that I can't recommend this as one of the best pieces of detective fiction I've read without some qualifiers. Regardless, I'm glad I ended up reading through this. I imagine it'll stick with me.
Ha ha, it's okay. I understand completely. As I've mentioned to some of the other reviews I've gotten, I knew what I was getting myself into. The fact that everything up to that point is still seen in a positive light even after the fact is reward enough for me.
Thanks so much for reading! I'm very happy to see you've read read it at all, especially since I'm a huge fan of Divine Deception.
This sure was an experience.
Bizarre murders with batshit explainations. Some of them left me flabbergasted, some of them made me laugh and some of them did both.
The beggining is a bit rough but everything after the first part until the fourth is good. I have mixed feelings about the last part but I wouldn´t call it bad.
Characters for the most part are serviceable, I think that there is way too many of them, which made it hard for me to keep track of who was who. (I have bad memory when it comes to names.) Dialogue also felt awkward in some parts.
I really liked how experimental this felt. I had a fun time overall.
Good work.
Thanks for reading! Unfortunate that some of the aspects didn't manage to land, but I totally get it. I personally liked the first part the best, but, y'know, bias.
WHAT. WHAT. WHAT THE. NO WAIT WHAT THE. HANG ON. HOLD THE PHONE. WHAT JUST. I THOUGHT I UNDERSTOOD- BUT- AND THEN- WHHHHH
There is- there is so much going on, and it's all going to be stuck in my brain until I figure things out and exorcise it... is there, like, a Discord or a forum or somewhere you know people are talking about this? I need to be where people are talking about this. Where are all the Witch Hunters? I am putting on my goat mask right now.
Thanks for reading! glad to see the misery
Unfortunately, I have no dedicated forum to offer you any additional discussion. A place for general mystery novel/game discussion (Golden Age/Japanese/amateur) is the Honkaku Discord, but I'm not sure how many people there read it.
I'm...still not sure what to think of the last section, nor do I really know who exactly was even responsible for what, but I still really enjoyed the ride. It certainly lives up to the blurb, and left me with the same pit in my soul that Niflheim did. Always glad to see work from ya!
Read the entire thing the day it came out.
I now have a recurring headache and an existential crisis.
10/10.
as intended
Thanks for reading!
Love that this is out finally! I had a great time beta-reading this, this is a engaging book that is one of my favourite mystery works I've ever read in any way shape or form!