Why Horror Loves an Island: Behind The Island

Every good island horror starts with a boat trip that should have been cancelled. And my book, The Island is no exception.

Last week I was busy introducing you to the keepers of the underworld, the gods and goddesses who make the dead feel at home. This week I am coming back across the water to tell you a little about The Island, and how it came to life.

Behind the book

I wrote The Island when Kindle Vella was in full swing, and I wrote it for a serial novel platform. Every episode (that is, every chapter) was a cliffhanger.

I always had the idea to write a slasher, and this is it. Much like the 70s and 80s horror movies, the characters get picked off one by one. I had two simple rules I abided by while I wrote it: Every chapter had to have a different kill, and no murder weapon would be used twice. The chapter titles themselves are clues inspired by one of my favorite television shows, Harper’s Island.

Writing The Island was a fun romp. I never knew who was going to die until I sat down to write the chapter and pulled a name out of a Christmas ornament. I also made sure there wasn’t a teleporting killer either, which made me get creative with the method of death for whatever name I drew. It was definitely a stretch for my writing.

The reunion nobody should have RSVP'd to

For years I had been trying, and failing, to find books that gave me the same vibe as my favorite genre to watch. Yet none of the supposed ‘slasher’ horror novels I read lived up to my expectations. After I had finished writing one of my serial novels on Kindle Vella, I decided the platform was perfect for what I had in mind to pen my own. And that is how the story was first born. An island resort had just finished construction, and the old crowd comes back for a twenty-year reunion. The water is warm, the drinks are cold, and the memories are supposed to be happy. Then the body count starts climbing, and there is no bridge, no ferry and no way off.

A reunion is gold for a mystery. Everyone arrives with a shared past, which means shared debts. A stranger's secrets have to be dug up one grave at a time, but an old friend's secrets are already half known and half buried. The guest list writes its own suspect pool, and every face at the welcome table has a motive older than the resort's new coat of paint.

The Island began its life as a serial on Kindle Vella, arriving one episode at a time. In 2022 it took first place in the Summer Kindle Vella Madness contest. These days you will find it on Amazon in paperback and eBook, and as a Collector's Edition hardcover with exclusive extra content.

Why the island keeps working

So why does this setting never get old? An island is a locked room with the sea for walls. The bridge is out, the ferry stops running, the storm rolls in, whatever the excuse, nobody leaves. Everyone is trapped with everyone else, and with whatever is doing the killing.

A reunion makes it worse, which is to say better. Everyone already knows each other, and nobody knows everything. Twenty years of grudges, secrets and old flames, all under one roof with no exit. Christie knew it in 1939 with her novel And Then There Were None. Every cursed summer camp, haunted hotel and doomed cruise ship since owes her rent.

The isolation also strips away the everyday excuses. Nobody can slip out early because work calls in the morning. Nobody can call for help once the radio is dead. On the mainland a character can always walk away from a strange house; on an island the story locks the door behind them.

Islands carry their own weather, both kinds. A place you can only reach by boat keeps its own rules, its own stories, its own silences. The mainland's law stops at the water, and the reader knows it even when the characters do not.

There is a quieter reason the island keeps working on me. The map is small. You can hold the whole place in your head, every guest, every room, every stretch of dark water between you and the mainland. The truth is always in the room with you. You just cannot see which of your friends is holding it.

Have you read The Island? And do you have a favorite island horror of your own, from 1939 to now? Tell me in the comments. I read every one.

If you enjoy your dread mixed with the strange history of everyday holidays, take a trip through my Incredibly Strange & Completely Random Holidays series. And my newsletter lands once a month with new art, new releases and a free downloadable calendar.