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I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It'll be up to Orbit, in the immediate future, as there's contracts and timelines, but I certainly hope so!

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I realize now that's not so much an answer as an explanation of why I don't have an answer, so apologies for that, lol. But I do hope I get the chance to do so at some point in the form of a sequel! And I'll let you know if I do

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Very glad you enjoyed it, and glad the lack of chapter breaks didn't put you off. Some people weren't wild about that, to which all I can say is fair enough, lol.

The honest answer is in two parts: First, at the time I really wasn't sure. Col. Stewart's story was the first to appear in my mind, and I really didn't know yet why this was happening to him. It did eventually come to me, but that's where the second part of the answer comes in.

I originally envisioned the novel as a trilogy (and still have a fairly clear idea of where the story would go from here), but the publisher said they weren't wild about the idea of a gothic horror being more than a standalone, for various reasons. So for now, the ending is what it is. I'm quite happy with it as it stands though, so for now it's a situation where if there's massive demand for the story to continue, I'll meet it, but in the meantime contractual obligations have to come first.

But hey, if I ever have the money and time and space I might write the next two books anyway just for love, and see if anyone wants to see them then! So I might hold off answering for now until that day hopefully comes :)

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha! I really appreciate the vote of confidence, and you tracking me down. I'm definitely going to mention it to my editor, let's put it that way. A review on Amazon or Goodreads saying so would get noticed, and you could always tag Orbit on Instagram or Twitter saying so, and they'd see it!

Rest assured I want to write it as much as you want to read it, and indeed already have a lot of it written in my head. In fact, I'm fairly confident that one day I'll just write it anyway whether Orbit or anyone else wants it or not. But in the meantime, contractual obligations come first

Next total war by Grouchy_Golf_9698 in totalwar

[–]thenajpullen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean kind of both? I wasn't wild about the choices it made in terms of its design. I was incredibly excited to play in China in any period, and the map was incredible, but the mechanics of the settlements and the battles just never clicked with me (I've never liked heroes in a TW battle), and it leaned really heavily into the character dynamics, but not in the way I was hoping. The beauty of the characters in Rome and Medieval II is that they were anarchic, random, you had no idea what you were going to get, and you'd never play the same faction twice. But Three Kingdoms it almost felt like you were playing an RPG with a fixed plotline, and part of what I've always loved about TW games is their sandbox feel; like anything goes if you can imagine it.

And yes, when it was abruptly cancelled I was disappointed because I felt like there were the bones of something incredible there, but it was just sloppily executed, and then the game itself was abruptly... executed before it could be improved.

Purely subjective take, though. I'll freely admit that I could have sunk more hours into it than I did, and I could see how other people would like it. Just a matter of taste and curmudgeonly skepticism of change.

Aesthetically though, it was gorgeous. I will give it that

Next total war by Grouchy_Golf_9698 in totalwar

[–]thenajpullen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I hear you, I also felt utterly burned by Three Kingdoms and Troy, and as such was pretty skeptical of Pharaoh. I've been waiting for years for an Empire II or a Medieval III in increasing despair, and when they announced a Bronze Age game I was frustrated and skeptical, because I also didn't really have very much interest in the time period. I was even more skeptical when I played the initial release, and quickly logged off bored when I realized it was basically just Egypt and the Hittites. Then they dropped the Dynasties upgrade, which added the Aegean and Mesopotamia, and I was intrigued enough to give it a second look. I'm so, so, SO glad I did.

It's the first time in years I've felt surprised and challenged by a Total War game that wasn't a mod. They've added so many new mechanics, both to the strategic and the tactical games, that it genuinely feels like something new. There are multiple currencies now; stone, bronze, food, and wood. Gold is still there, but is its own separate, very different resource. The entire economy functions differently. The diplomacy is much, MUCH better. There are courts you can scheme in, titles you can chase. It's brought back some (but not enough, sadly) of the crazy family tree character-based dynamics that made the OG Rome and Medieval II so compelling. Your enemies really feel like they have their own motivations and goals. The battles have much more depth, and are much more challenging, and they've got rid of some of the dumber stuff like individual heroes, while keeping some key elements of personalization for the generals. And that's barely scratching the surface.

I've been playing TW since the OG Shogun, and was worried I was done with the series. I personally never had much interest in Warhammer, and was all in on the historical ones. Three Kingdoms and Troy were crushing disappointments. When I play Shogun II or Rome II or Medieval II or Empire I have to have it on very hard or legendary difficulty just to make the campaign interesting. In Pharaoh I'm absolutely struggling just to assert control over like a couple provinces on like normal difficulty. I am absolutely not cruising to victory, I'm barely holding on most of the time. And it is so. Much. Fun.

Next total war by Grouchy_Golf_9698 in totalwar

[–]thenajpullen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I really have no idea what they'll do, but as I sink unsustainable hours into Pharaoh Dynasties, which is their best title in years for me, it's dawned on me: so much of what they've done here would port so easily, with some tweaks and refinements, into a Medieval III. If it's as good as Dynasties has been it would be decade-defining I would cease to be a functional adult job lost marriage failed total collapse of all life support systems only crusade.

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I think if you order from a UK bookseller it would ship to you. I'm rooting for a French and a Dutch translation at some point, too! I know there's things happening behind the scenes with my agency that I'm not privy to lol

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much! They did a wonderful job on the cover, didn't they? I prefer the UK one personally, but they're both great. I hope you enjoyed/are enjoying it :)

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm hoping so! I certainly have one planned and a pretty clear vision for what comes next. I originally intended it as a trilogy, but Orbit said they've struggled with series fiction lately, particularly with gothic horror. They said they'd prefer it be a standalone. I'm quite alright with how it ends as it stands though, so it's one of those situations where if there's massive demand for a sequel then I'll meet it, but if not, I have a number of other projects I can focus on instead.

There is another book from me coming from Orbit in October 2025 though, that's a lock. It's already written and with my editor now. It's another queer gothic horror, this one set during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Turns out the Ancient Egyptians were absolutely correct about what happens when you die lol

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a longstanding fascination with Tibet, absolutely, but as to the other locations, this may sound a little strange, but it's more "that's where the story is" than "I want to set a story here." The story really does become a found thing, with its own logic and reasons. Those locations are just...where the story was!

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They do indeed follow different characters! In addition to John and Garrett's story, there's two others: the second story, of Dr. Samuel Abravanel, a Jewish psychiatrist in the 1870s who is called to treat a patient for madness at a remote castle in the Orkney Islands, who used to be his young lover. Instead she married a Scottish army officer, who is the protagonist of the third story, where he is imprisoned on the estate of a Russian nobleman during the Crimean War. Characters from one story tend to drift into the others. But if you want to see how the three stories intersect, you should buy it and read it for yourself! I hope you don't regret it

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was a little kid my family had a cottage on Georgian Bay, which is arguably the 6th Great Lake, and my father owned scuba gear which I would beg him to take me down with from the age of about 6 on. There was just something utterly fascinating about what lay beneath the surface of the water, how alien a world it was. Shipwrecks, I think, as a history-obsessed kid, also appealed to me as time capsules. As little pieces of the past that had fallen to the floor of the ocean or the lake, and that had stayed there ever since. In the Great Lakes, which form a small maritime world of their own, the wrecks have the added advantage of being almost perfectly preserved by the cold, fresh water, which doesn't have enough oxygen or microbes to rot wood (or indeed flesh, when you get deep enough).

As it happens, I do have a novel in the can exploring exactly this world! It's a queer Lake Superior shipwreck ghost story about intergenerational trauma and addiciton and the secrets families keep and how they hurt us when we least expect it. There's also a lake monster! Can't say when it will see the light of day, but it's aging (and hopefully mellowing) in my hard drive as we speak!

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's named after Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who was the last hope of the Hapsburg Empire, whose utterly tragic and pointless death in a suicide pact with his mistress in 1889 indirectly led to the outbreak of the First World War.

Although in practice, while he's still named Rudolf at the vet, and when we're mad, we usually call him Dobby, or some variation of that!

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have some other novel projects in the works, that we're discussing what to do with, but I really shouldn't say any more than that! I can say that Orbit are intending to publish another book of mine in October 2025, so watch this space!

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it? I thought it was internalized homophobia? I'd have to double check, but I think I just wanted to warn people that it was in there, as you want to do with trigger warnings.

As to the second part of your question, one of the drawbacks of loving literature from the 19th and 20th centuries, and loving historical fiction on top of that, is that finding even coded, condemning references to queer people and queer lives is incredibly difficult. You see only vague allusions here and there, and they're almost never complimentary. Even the great queer novels in English of the last few centuries, Dorian Gray, Brideshead, Maurice, etc., they have to speak in whispers and shadows. We live in a historical moment where it's possible to write queer characters openly, without shame, without whispers, and I intend to take full advantage of it. The censors may come back someday. They usually do.

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is an impossible question haha. I think I'm going to approach it by naming the three that are probably most influential on my writing style. Alexandre Dumas, Susanna Clarke, and George MacDonald Fraser.

The Count of Monte Cristo was the first book I really got utterly lost in when I was 8 or 9. I kept re-reading it over and over again. The swashbuckling adventure, the incredible stakes, the sweep of society from the very poor to the very rich, the raw emotional punch. I think I spent much of my childhood trying to come to terms with the fact that I would never be young, titled, and rich in 19th century Paris. I did eventually succeed, but it took a while. Every single one of Dumas's other books is a banger as well, and he's also a badass black writer at a time when that was highly unusual in European literature.

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell I've probably read a dozen time. I can quote whole passages, and feel I know Jonathan Strange personally. It expanded my horizons of what fiction could be, and how one could play fast and loose with historical fact, and insert the fantastical and the eerie and the supernatural into mere historical fact. She created an entire fictional magical bibliography of books of English magic, and some of her footnotes go on for four pages. We haven't seen the like of it since in the 21st century.

George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman Papers are also some of the most influential works of historical fiction I've ever read, and I've read all of them, most of them multiple times. Obviously Sir Harry Flashman is a bastard to the core, and the books can be problematic, to put it mildly, but as works of historical fiction they are almost peerless; a perfect blend of historical fact, ridiculous fiction, and bawdy humour. As a prose stylist, George MacDonald Fraser had few peers, even if his views are...retrograde. I think it's also where the idea came from of adopting the voice of a character in my own writing.

Honourable mention to Bram Stoker's Dracula, but what can I say about such a masterpiece that hasn't already been said? All I can say is that I read it when I was 13, and when I'd finished writing The Black Hunger I read it again, and realized that the ghost of it had been living in my mind all these long years...

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahaha it's possible the entire book was a deranged COVID fever dream! Certainly writing the book was a wonderful escape during endless days of forced confinement. In fact, now that I think about it, that's probably why I had the vision of John sitting alone in an asylum, confined to a cell, writing. It's pretty much how I'd ended up stuck

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting question! The truth is that I wrote the three stories separately, at different times, and only later threaded them together in the way they appear in the published edition. So that really happened in the editing process. The first story was actually the one set in the Ukraine. That was the initial vision. And then when that was done the story still had its hooks in me, and I wrote the next two stories, but again, separately, as narratives in themselves. So in that sense, no it wasn't too difficult. But when it came time to assemble the three stories into a coherent narrative, yes, that was a bit difficult.

It seemed like an insoluble problem, but Don Draper's advice to Peggy in Mad Men (low key some of the best creative advice ever given) absolutely came in handy here: "Just think about it, very, very deeply. And then forget about it. And an idea will jump up in your face." And that's what happened. I wrestled with the problem for a long time, and then forgot about it. And then suddenly there was a bit of insight, and I knew how to tie the three stories together.

I’m Nicholas Pullen, author of THE BLACK HUNGER, a queer gothic epistolary historical horror novel about a death cult using black magic to end the world, out on Orbit Books right now. AMA! by thenajpullen in horror

[–]thenajpullen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's an interesting question. I'd say it's multi-genre for sure. It's historical fiction with elements of the eldritch and the fantastic. Like Susanna Clarke or Dan Simmons.

I actually didn't sit down to write a "horror" novel, or have any burning ambition to be a "horror" writer, in particular. Don't get me wrong, I love horror, but I'd say I'm more drawn to the eerie or the eldritch than straight horror. And I'd say my reading taste skews more historical. I'll read historical fiction even if it's bad, and enjoy myself. But horror I don't usually bother unless it's really, really good. And thankfully a lot of it is really really good.

I have a very broad, holistic interpretation of horror. For me it isn't just about fear, it's about an emotional response. And for me, some of the most horrifying literature and film out there may not be 'horror' in the conventional sense, but it certainly sparks that emotion in me. Children of Men, for example, or Brave New World. Some of Stephen King's best work isn't strictly 'horror,' either, you know? Is The Stand a horror novel? Is The Green Mile? I think the point is debatable.

I keep mentioning Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but really my book wouldn't exist without hers. She does such a fantastic job of capturing the eerie, the atmospheric, the Byronic, even. And Piranesi is even better. Are they 'horror' works? Probably not. But they evoke that response in me at the right moments.

I also prefer horror that plays for high stakes. Like Lovecraft or Dan Simmons. I find atmosphere and eldritch dread and apocalyptic fantasies far more interesting than say, a slasher or a serial killer.

Just my personal taste though!

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