Hey Mike Flanagan, we’ve found your next big project!
New indie horror authors are crawling out of the woodwork every week, and just like indie films, their products are hit and miss. It doesn’t matter how many stars they get; in a post-pandemic world, there is a reader/viewer for everyone. Occasionally, though, a real star is born, and we here at the Grimoire of Horror have discovered one you will want to follow.
Demon Manx appeared on the scene in 2021 with his Splatterpunk Award-nominated debut novelette Abigail and has been gaining momentum ever since. A member of the Horror Writers’ Association, Daemon established Last Waltz Publishing in 2021 to provide a platform for his releases and to offer assistance to other indie authors. Daemon’s Ojanox Series are the latest titles to hit the shelves of Last Waltz Publishing. We had the pleasure of receiving an arc copy Scream in the Dark for review.
“The year is 1979. A small New York town prepares to welcome the fall season in all the expected ways: young children bicker and boast over Halloween costumes, secret lovers meet in clandestine corners, and a tortured soul plots wicked deeds. All the while, hidden just out of view, patient and hungry… an ancient evil lurks.
Welcome to Garrett Grove, an unassuming community nestled within the foothills of the Watchung Mountains. The very definition of “Everytown, USA”, it is a largely self-contained municipality, with most of the residents on a first-name basis. An almost postcard-perfect location.
For ten-year-old Troy Fischer, eagerly awaiting the thrills of Halloween, autumn is his favorite time of year. This spooky season looks to be the best one yet – he has caught the eye of the new girl at school, and the haunted attraction he built in his garage, called Scream in the Dark, is guaranteed to have all of his classmates talking.
But something is happening to the children of Garrett Grove. A mysterious outbreak threatens the community, leaving a handful of doctors and the town’s sheriff desperate to find the source of the contagion before it is too late.”
The Ojanox: Scream in the Dark introduces us to Garrett Grove, a small town in the USA that harbors a dark secret. It’s 1979, the time when Gen X kids were still playing outside until the street lights came on, and the world was a little less aware of all of its hidden evils. Halloween is a big deal in Garrett Grove, but even more so to ten-year-old Troy Fischer who hopes to some day become a movie maker. His innocence is infectious, which makes what happens to his best friend even more terrifying. Something has been awakened, or released, from its ancient burial place, and the people of Garrett Grove are about to pay the price.
Manx uses his formidable storytelling ability to lure his readers into a false sense of security, harkening us back to easier days when kids didn’t carry guns to school and Halloween meant three hours of trick-or-treating with a pillowcase, without a parent tagging along. Any reader from Generation X will resonate with his description of the cool autumn air and exploring local trails for arrowheads because we all have stories like these tucked away as childhood treasures. The opening chapter takes us back to the feeling of Goonies-style adventures, picturing our friends riding bikes in small gangs to follow a treasure map someone made on the back of an old tea towel. That’s not what happens in the story; that’s just the vibe. It’s quaint, and it’s fun until things start sliding sideways.
Troy is just one of several characters in The Ojanox: Scream in the Dark; most others are adults with their own storylines. That is to say, this is not a middle-grade or YA book, it is definitely horror. Manx’s style is to create a vision of the town as a whole, and all the people living there, then lay on the attacks, brutally and mercilessly. He invokes visceral reactions with his words for several reasons. He is a pro at thoroughly developing characters both before the action starts and then by using how they handle their situations to further show us who they really are. He paces his stories so well that we fall into that false sense of security and then he pounces AGAIN, shocking us with horrifying scenes. He writes conversation into the story very naturally, with character voices that are compelling and believable, forcing us to identify with them. And lastly, Manx is very much a “show don’t tell” writer, a difficult skill to master. We have read three of his books, and these are all common qualities they share. Knowing that The Ojanox series was four years in the making, we can also say that Manx takes his time to make sure his stories are just right before he releases them into the world.
This is a spoiler-free review, so we can’t tell you what exactly “the Ojanox” (creature) is, but the book’s cover image is a clue. We will say that this is a unique monster that will have some readers looking over their shoulders and that the mystery is not fully explained in book one. We have the second book, Ashes to Ashes, loaded up and ready to read next!
If you’re a fan of stories about ancient evil being unleashed on small towns, this is the series for you. It reads with so much imagery that it feels more like you’re watching a Netflix series, and we would love to see someone like Mike Flanagan or Guillermo del Toro take a crack at a screen adaptation. It has all the goodies you could ask for in a well-written series: nostalgia, suspense, horror, and at least one pretty girl to worry about!
After reading The Ojanox: Scream in the Dark, we had to sit down and talk with this new horror mastermind to learn more.
GoH: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us! Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
DM: Thank you for the kind words. I always begin by saying I am an author with a backstory. And that’s putting it lightly; for better or worse. I’ve certainly experienced both sides of the coin, as I am certified shipwreck scuba diver, was a stagehand in NYC, working on the sets of the Letterman Show and Saturday Night Live, and even once kissed Melissa Manchester. However, I have also been in a motor vehicle accident with Ronald Reagan’s limo, struggled with addiction, and spent nearly a decade in the prison system. How’s that for an icebreaker?
GoH: That is just about the best icebreaker we’ve had! Is it true that you were once a contestant on The Wheel of Fortune?
DM: I can confirm the rumors are true. I was a contestant on the show during Christmas week in 1999. I had made it through three rounds of auditions before I was finally selected to appear. Then I flew out to L.A at my own expense, stayed in Culver City, ate some awesome Mexican food at El Coyote, and taped the show the following day.
They filmed five shows in one day and I was picked to be in the first one. I was nervous, sweating and jumping out of my skin really. When it was my turn to spin the wheel, the world all but disappeared. I can only explain it as an out of body experience; like I was watching the events unfold from afar.
The puzzle was huge and it was a whirlwind. I was landing on $500, $700, $1000 spaces, and all the letters I guessed were popping up, doubles and triples at a time. I bought the vowels, I spun the wheel, yet all the while, it wasn’t exactly me in control. Finally, I came to my senses as Pat asked, “Would you like to spin or solve?”
Nearly every letter was shown to reveal a puzzle even I couldn’t mess up.
“I’ll solve … The Grinch tried to steal Christmas from this town.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Pat said. “And for an extra $3000 can you tell us the name of the town?”
I could. “Whoville?” I answered.
That surreal moment in time won me $16,000 but it wasn’t even close to over yet. I was about to go onto the bonus round, solve the puzzle, and win a fully-loaded Chevy Tahoe.
Although this is a condensed version of the tale, I wrote about it at length in “Manx-iety: A Collection of Disturbing Stories”.
And yes, that was an amazing stroke of luck that not everyone experiences, but, little did I know, my luck was drastically going to change.
GoH: You’re very open about the time you spent in prison. Can you tell us what it was like to write during incarceration?
DM: Ah, here’s the part where my luck changed.
There are two very different paths you can follow when you find yourself in the prison system. You can follow the wrong one, the one that leads to darkness, or you can pursue a path toward the light, the one that feeds the human spirit and helps develop the tools needed to navigate the days and nights behind the wall. I chose the latter; I made a conscious decision to turn my life around.
Reading and writing were more than just ways in which I spent the time, they became nourishment for my soul. The creative process and outlet is so important to growth, and in the early days of my recovery from addiction, it was the only way I could express what was inside me. Lord knows you can’t bare your innermost feelings in prison.
The ability to take the pain, the emotion, and the fear, and release it onto paper was what saved me from losing hope, from losing my mind.
But it wasn’t easy to do. There is always something going on in prison, and rarely is it quiet. The ability to tune it all out, the madness, the insanity, the violence, takes a certain skill and determination. However, if you don’t possess those skills when you arrive in prison, you are sure to develop them.
I am fortunate to have a passion I could grasp with both hands. Writing truly saved me, in every possible way.
GoH: Do you think you’d be the writer you are today if you’d never experienced incarceration? Did being in prison give you a creative opportunity you may have missed out on otherwise, or were you always a writer?
DM: I may have just answered that question. But to be honest, I would not be the writer, nor the man, nor the human being I am today, had it not been for the time I spent in prison. The lessons I learned, the hardship and uncomfortability I endured, molded me like a forge. I would call prison my chrysalis, and I always say, although it may sound cliche, I wasn’t sentenced, I was saved.
Rarely, if ever, are we offered a time-out in life. It’s as if the universe hit the pause button on all the insanity I was caught up in. I was removed from society and deposited in one of the few places that would offer me the time and reflection to not only develop as a person, but also as a writer.
GoH: Tell us about publishing your first book. How did it feel? Were you nervous? What was the reception?
DM: My first book was called Abigail: a story about a very different baby who is left on a doorstep. I always had a master plan for getting published and that was true with Abigail. I crafted a very clever query letter in the form of an author leaving his baby on the publisher’s doorstep: Please take care of my novelette Abigail. I am no longer able to give her the love she requires. I know you will take good care of my baby. P.S. Don’t feed her milk; she is lactose intolerant. (It went something like that.)
Well let’s just say, the first publisher who received that letter snatched up Abigail within an hour of reading it. I was overwhelmed, excited and couldn’t believe I had pulled it off. It was my first publication other than short stories in magazines.
I was even more amazed to find how much everyone loved Abigail. To be honest, she is a very lovable little girl. But it was a lot at once. The book, only 50 pages in total, is still my most reviewed book, and holy cow!! Abigail went on to be nominated for best short story in the Splatterpunk awards and was also nominated for several Horror Author’s Guild awards that year.
I have been asked by so many readers to revisit Abby’s world and write a second part to her story. This makes me so happy, and who am I to say no? I am not sure when it will happen, but I have every intention of diving back in and paying Abigail and Adrian a visit in the future.
GoH: We just finished reading The Ojanox: Scream in the Dark, the first in a series of 4 books. As a site that primarily reviews movies, we reached out to you because we have a feeling we’re going to be seeing this story told on the big screen, and we wanted to be one of the first to jump on The Ojanox bandwagon. To us, it felt like Stranger Things meets The Strain. Do you have any aspirations to have the series made into a television series?
DM: When I wrote this series, I clearly saw all the scenes playing out as if on the big screen. I’m not sure if that’s the way it is for all writer’s with all stories, but this is the first time I ever saw each detail, character, and scene so vividly. There is nothing I would love more than to see this story adapted into film, and I have even considered taking a break from writing anything new and spending that time on the screenplay for Scream in the Dark.
I’m just going to put this out there, Mike Flanagan … you should really call me. I’ve got your next blockbuster and it’s ready to go.
GoH: What’s your elevator pitch for The Ojanox series? What can you say in one paragraph that will excite our readers and make them leave this article to go buy your book (besides us telling them that they NEED to)?
DM: If you like old school horror, creature features, and stories set in isolated towns during Halloween, then The Ojanox is for you. Imagine The Thing meets The Stand with a sprinkle of It for good measure. It’s 1979 – there is no internet, there are no cell phones, and if you find yourself cut off from the rest of the world in need of help, you are in very big trouble.
GoH: The Ojanox: Scream in the Dark is filled with Halloween nostalgia for Gen X readers (it’s set in 1979). Is this your generation? Did you grow up loving Halloween? Tell us what Halloween means to you, and why you chose to set The Ojanox around this holiday.
DM: Everyday is Halloween in my house. This book, this story is ripped from the pages of my life. I built a haunted house in my garage when I was ten and called it Scream in the Dark. I have been in love with the mystery and sense of wonder that autumn and Halloween brings for as long as I can remember. I wanted to capture that feeling we all felt as children when the spooky season rolled around. This book is an homage to that period in life as much as it is to the novels of that time period.
Yes, I am a Gen Xer and damn proud of it. This book is reflective of all that. People were different in 1979, not saying for the better, but definitely different. This story is a snapshot of that time. It is also something I always wanted to write since the first time I read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. No story captures that feeling of Halloween and wonderment as this classic. I wanted to pay tribute to that feeling in the only way I knew how, by writing my own tale that captured all those emotions. Whether they were seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, or through the eyes of a Vietnam Veteran turned sheriff.
Oh yeah, Halloween is also about the peanut butter cups. Lots, and lots, of peanut butter cups.
GoH: You’re releasing all four books in the series over the next few months. How long have you been working on this project? We think readers will be thrilled that they don’t have to wait long to continue reading about The Ojanox!
DM: I started writing this book over four years ago in April of 2020 under covid lockdown in a halfway house in Newark New Jersey and have been redrafting, editing, and refining the project everyday since then. It’s an epic tale, over 1200 pages in total which could not be delivered in one book. Who would read it if it was? I knew I had to break it into four parts but I didn’t want readers to have to wait to finish the story. I have tried to space each book out no longer than three weeks apart, hoping that gives enough time to finish one, digest it, and then jump into the next without losing interest. Wish me luck.
GoH: Who do you think the best audience for The Ojanox series is?
DM: I think fans of old school, small town horror. Definitely readers who enjoyed the early work of Stephen King but maybe wished his stories were a bit more faster paced and the endings a bit more … you know. I’ve tried to make this a rich story of world building and character development without going off on a tangent. I have also developed this story to play out like a roller coaster ride and by time the reader dives into books 3 and 4 they are sure to have a white-knuckled grip on the pages, because it definitely gets bumpy.
GoH: If you could choose any director or production company in the world to bring The Ojanox to the big screen, who would it be? What other work from them have you enjoyed?
DM: Without a doubt, Mike Flanagan. I love everything he has done, from Midnight Mass, to Fall of the House of Usher, Haunting of Hill House … Let’s just say, I am a fan. The work he has done on Stephen King’s titles was amazing.
GoH: Time to drop names. Who are some famous (or sort of famous) horror authors or creators you’ve become friends with since you came on the scene?
DM: This past year has been crazy and I’ve had the chance to meet and become friends with so many awesome people in the horror world, most of which are in the film industry. I have to mention Felissa Rose, the scream queen icon herself from Sleepaway Camp and countless other horror movies, who was gracious enough to write a very flattering blurb for this series. Also ACW pro wrestler, Jason Knight was kind enough to offer a blurb for the book as well. Such an amazing dude.
I have become friends with Drac Kokia, the host of the television show, Transylvania Tonight and had a few great phone conversations with Catherine Scorcese about the movie business. And recently, I became friends with Ian Bick, host of the hit podcast Locked In with Ian Bick.
GoH: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers? About you, your books, or horror in general?
DM: Just this … anything is possible. I have almost twelve years clean and sober after having done eight of those in the prison system. I found the strength to turn my life around and pursue my dreams, and so can you. I hope you find whatever it is that makes you happy and you hold onto that feeling like a life preserver. Because that’s exactly what it is. Don’t let anything stop you from attaining the happiness and success you deserve.
GoH: You rock, man. Seriously, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. And when you make it big, don’t forget that we were one of the first sites to see your talent and feel it in our bones that you’re about to bust through the glass ceiling like the Kool-Aid Man.
Check out The Ojanox, and the rest of Daemon’s dark creations on his website, Last Waltz Publishing.
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Kate’s love of all things dark began as a child and deepened when she realized what being an adult meant. She was born with a pencil in her hand and loves nothing more than writing horrific stories to tantalize her inner demons. Kate lives in Hamilton, Ontario Canada with her husband and her boys, stirring up trouble wherever she can.