Horror Aficionados discussion

This is the thread for the March 2021 Group Read #2 with Guest Author, Hailey Piper, as we read her cosmic horror hit, THE WORM AND HIS KINGS. Pick up your copy here and join us as we delve into this wild ride

https://www.amazon.com/Worm-His-Kings...

Thank you, Ken, and everyone for having me! I'm honored to be a guest here, and I'm excited you'll be read Worm! 🐛👑

I just started reading it last night, so this is perfect timing!

Welcome Hailey!

Ooo! This one looks like my kind of fun! :D subterranean and cosmic horror?! <3 I'm gonna try and squeeze this one in for March!

I'm excited to read this. I just ordered my copy today.

I need to order this one asap!

Thanks for joining us for the discussion, Hailey!

Welcome Hailey, my copy was downloaded yesterday 😀

Yes, I picked up my copy already and have just started. Great start! Looking forward to the discussion.

I just finished The Worm and His Kings and I'm genuinely awestruck... Wow! Congratulations Hailey for writing it, I'm now a big fan :)
I'm also looking forward to the discussion! This is my first group discussion with an author and I'm not sure how it works. Like, can we talk about that phenomenal ending or do we wait until everyone is done?
Here is my review, by the way:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

inciminci wrote: "I just finished The Worm and His Kings and I'm genuinely awestruck... Wow! Congratulations Hailey for writing it, I'm now a big fan :)
I'm also looking forward to the discussion! This is my first g..."


You can talk about anything you like. If your conversation is going to include spoilers, make sure you use spoiler tags.

about to start reading this, and i'm excited to contribute to the discussion when i finish!!!

inciminci wrote: "I just finished The Worm and His Kings and I'm genuinely awestruck... Wow! Congratulations Hailey for writing it, I'm now a big fan :)
I'm also looking forward to the discussion! This is my first g..."

I haven't done one of these in a forum capacity before, so we'll all have to learn together 😊 but I'm so glad you got so much out of it! Thank you!

Kenneth thank you very much for answering so promptly and sorry for the late response.
Hailey, thank you too for answering, I guess I'll just put everything in spoiler tags then, so here I go.
(view spoiler)[First of all, I think it’s wonderful that your lead character is a trans person and you include that part into the horror. The life in the tunnels under cities as well as hardships trans people endure should more often be thematized in horror.
My question would be; Is your worm in fact Haiogh-Yai? When I first heard the title “The Worm and His Kings” I immediately thought of a Lovecraftian worm/serpent god and the black hole/worm hole was a similarity, but I'm not very sure. Does yours have its roots in some kind of pre-existing mythology or did you create the mythology of the Worm and His Kings (the Gray people, the Old Time etc.) from scratch? Have there been any influences/inspirations? I am asking because I find that part of your book fascinating and would love to read more about that. I’m sure that as an author many people tell you “you should write about this” “you should write about that”, and without wanting to suggest that kind of pressure, I’d like to state that I'm very much interested in the stories of each king separately or a whole universe based on the Worm’s reign :D . (hide spoiler)]
Thank you very much, I think it's great of you to discuss your book with us here :)

inciminci wrote: "Kenneth thank you very much for answering so promptly and sorry for the late response.
Hailey, thank you too for answering, I guess I'll just put everything in spoiler tags then, so here I go.
Firs..."

Let's see about these.
(view spoiler)[I'm not familiar with that Lovecraft character, but I will say I don't touch on his stories or mythos in any of my fiction.
The Worm and His Kings mythos is built from scratch as far as fiction is concerned. Science influenced it most. I looove Earth's history, and the Worm's history formed from overthinking our planet's past and general physics stuff that my wife and I like to discuss. As for the Pangaeans, I felt birdlike people made sense for our world, but they probably have a little bit of the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal in their appearance.
As for expansion, there is something building, but it's too early to talk about more than that. (hide spoiler)]

Thank you for such great questions! I appreciate your kind words about the book. 😊

It's even more interesting then :)
Thank you for writing it and for taking the time to answer my questions!

i don't really have any questions, i just wanted to jump in and say that i finished The Worm and His Kings in one sitting, and then declared it a favorite.
It's a short book but it packs such a punch. the characters are so well-written and the spooky underground mythos was incredible.
i just really really loved this book.
if you ever write another cosmic horror like this, i will read it in a heartbeat.

also @Inci those were really good questions!

thank you Wormy :)

Wormy wrote: "i don't really have any questions, i just wanted to jump in and say that i finished The Worm and His Kings in one sitting, and then declared it a favorite.
It's a short book but it packs such a pu..."

Thank you so kindly, Wormy (perfect name for this book)!

Hi Hailey - I just wanted to chime in too. Great book - congratulations! I really enjoyed it. Authors need praise when well deserved and you deserve it. I loved the world building aspect, especially when it deviates from the normal trope. (view spoiler)[ I thought it was great how Gray Hill never spoke (reminded me of No Face from the classic Spirited Away movie). Why the name 'Gray Hill'? Was this name significant in any way? (hide spoiler)]. Also, I really loved the book cover art work. Beautiful, mysterious, terrifying - pulls you right in. Thanks

Marc wrote: "Hi Hailey - I just wanted to chime in too. Great book - congratulations! I really enjoyed it. Authors need praise when well deserved and you deserve it. I loved the world building aspect, especiall..."

Thank you, Marc! 😊

(view spoiler)[She speaks, just not anything we humans understand 😄 as for Gray Hill, that's just her NYC cryptid name, because she's big like a hill. (hide spoiler)]

Thank you! Squidbar Designs did wonderful work on the cover; I loved it at first sight.