Title: Out of Curiosity and HungerAuthor: Amanda M. Blake
First Published: June 10, 2023
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 220
Genre: Horror, Psychological, Supernatural
Format: Ebook
Source: Purchased
Rating:
Synopsis:
Languishing in a dying urban landscape, photographer Willa Dearborn struggles to find something that excites her the same way that capturing images of animals in their wilder natural habitat did for years.
Then she stumbles upon a strange creature that she’s never seen before and can’t identify, roaming an abandoned industrial park.
Without hesitation, she seizes the opportunity to finally achieve something amazing right there in the city she hates by thoroughly documenting the life and growth of this unknown creature—and its prodigious appetite.
Buy the Book: AmazonReview
Have you ever thought, “I love National Geographic, especially when the animals eat each other, and sometimes maybe humans too.” This is the exact vibe I got from this book. Out of Curiosity and Hunger is a curious little novel about a wildlife photographer, stuck in the urban hellscape that is Detroit, Michigan, and the strange creature she discovers there. The creature is unlike any animal she has ever photographed before, and she sets out to document it.
Right from the get go I was intrigued by the premise of this book, and following a documentarian was fascinating, it made me think about how much we humans interfere with wildlife in the name of science. The first third of the novel is a slow burn, but once it got going I couldn’t put the book down, it is absolutely worth the investment. Blake’s prose is polished and beautiful and I ate up every word. This has absolutely secured a spot as one of my favorite creature horror books.
Quote
“With their constant surveillance and supervision, they had inured the creature to human presence. By feral standards, they had ruined it, because it would think nothing of approaching another human out of curiosity—or hunger.”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Amanda M. Blake
Amanda M. Blake (she/her, they/them) is a cat-loving daydreamer who enjoys geekery of all sorts, from superheroes to horror movies, urban fantasy to unconventional romance. Born and raised in Texas, Blake attended Trinity University in San Antonio and graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in English.
Amid dipping tentacles into the sea of gothic and horror short stories and poetry, Blake is also the author of fantasy novel Drift, horror novels Deep Down and Out of Curiosity and Hunger, dark poetry collection Dead Ends, and the fairy tale mash-up Thorns series. Extreme novel Question Not My Salt is slated to come out in 2024 through Crystal Lake Entertainment imprint Torrid Waters.
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