Stuck in a twilight world between life and death…
A hit-and-run driver leaves Ernesto Martinez to die by a Miami canal. Then an alligator comes along to finish the job.
Being dead gives Ernesto plenty of time to think. He thinks about his wife, taken from him too soon by illness. He thinks about his daughter, the victim of a drunk driver. He thinks about his death as he watches his body slowly decompose.
Most of all, he thinks about injustice.
The meth head ex-con living in the Everglades. The judge enjoying retirement on the Gulf Coast. The son of a Colombian drug kingpin partying in South Beach. These men care nothing for the pain they’ve caused. But they’ll soon know what it is to feel pain.
Set against the sweltering bug-infested backdrop of South Florida, Florida Gothic weaves a darkly unnerving and visceral tale of sex, drugs, crime and vengeance.
(Book 1 in The “Gothic” Series from Mitzi Szereto)
Genre: FICTION / HorrorAbout Florida Gothic:
Florida Gothic is the debut release in The “Gothic” Series,” which features standalone novels set in different American locations. The key themes in the book are revenge and retribution. Florida Gothic has a generous amount of gore, violence, grit and sex to attract readers on a visceral level, along with a setting that appeals to people worldwide. But it’s also a morality tale. The story explores how actions can bring about devastating consequences—and what someone might do if given the ability to seek retribution for the devastation caused by such actions. The protagonist Ernesto is a hero of sorts—he’s killing people in a brutal way, but readers will be able to sympathize with him and understand why he’s doing this. They can also make up their own minds as to whether he’s “bad.” Unlike a lot of horror which exists for no reason other than to be brutal and violent, there’s character development and a moral code at work in Florida Gothic as well as surprise twists, especially in the conclusion. Locations used are Miami (Little Havana), South Beach, the Everglades and Naples (Gulf Coast). The South Florida location is particularly relevant, as it shows how one person’s “paradise” can easily be another person’s “hell.”
(Listed in the top 50 books for 2017 in Conversations Magazine's Book Club)
Reviews:
"Mitzi Szereto's dark night of the soul is one wild, soul-blasting old mother of a trip, plus maggots, cockroaches, and cocaine. Solid, slippery, bug-eyed fun." - Peter Straub, Interior Darkness: Selected Stories
"From gators with a taste for human flesh to a meth-addled son of a drug kingpin at the wheel of a Hummer, Mitzi Szereto's Florida Gothic exposes the world of South Florida's seediest through the rotting eyes of a revenge-driven corpse. Raunchy, gory, and impossible to put down! Follow the 'Pied Piper of cucarachas' at your own risk!" - Lucy Taylor, The Safety of Unknown Cities
"Florida Gothic is an intelligent dip into the supernatural..." - UK Horror Scene
"Mitzi Szereto's Florida Gothic is like an alligator - quick, powerful and primal - once it has you, it will not let go!" - Mark Onspaugh, Deadlight Jack
"An excellent read and one I would happily read again and again."- HorrorScreams VideoVault
"Look out readers! Florida Gothic will shock you to your core. Mitzi Szereto carefully guides us through the very nasty underbelly of the darkest of Miami's dark side in a gritty tale where love is scarce and violence rules 24/7. It takes a highly skilled, intelligent writer with impeccable control of her craft to keep me glued to the page, and I was. This first in a series plunges headlong into the sinister minds of high-and low-life criminals, and the soul of the tormented, preyed-upon protagonist who is hell-bent on revenge. Recommended? Absolutely!" - Nancy Kilpatrick, Revenge of the Vampir King; Sacrifice of the Hybrid Princess
"Part Poe, part Serling, and part King, Florida Gothic is a dark, powerful, entirely satisfying read." - Beauty in Ruins
Dusk spreads its steamy cloak over Ernesto’s Little Havana neighborhood. Watchtower pamphlets lie scattered on the rubber welcome mat along with pieces of junk mail that fell out of his mailbox. The pile also contains a soggy notice from the post office informing him that his mail will be held at his local branch for thirty days, after which it’ll be returned to the sender if not picked up. The notice is dated three weeks after Ernesto’s death.
It feels strange leaving the house.
Ernesto pauses on his front porch, listening. The neighborhood offers all its usual sounds: dogs barking, children playing, people bickering in Spanish. The steady hum of traffic coming from Southwest Eighth Street is suddenly interrupted by the blast of a car horn, followed by an angry shout. “¡Cabrón!” Everything’s pretty much as it should be…
…Except for Ernesto, who doesn’t belong here among the living. But other than his missing arm and mangled leg, he seems to be in better shape than ever. His hearing’s sharper and so is his eyesight, which, prior to his death, was in a depressing state of decline. Even in the fading daylight he can see things clearly—the letters and numbers on the license plate of Gonzalo Hernandez’s Ford parked across the street; the rain-blurred type on the post office notification lying on the doormat; even the phone number on the lost dog flyer stapled to the electricity pole. It never occurred to him that being dead would have so many benefits.
Taking a deep breath to fill non-functioning lungs, Ernesto leaves the safety of his front porch and merges with the thickening dusk. He walks with a lopsided gait, his damaged right leg dragging behind him like an appendage that doesn’t belong to him, yet still insists on being there. His pace is slow, but determined. He doesn’t think about where he’s going.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Carmelo Massimo Tidona
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Author review: Carmelo is easy to work with, conscientious and replies promptly to queries. I'd definitely consider working with him again. |
