Jonathan Edward Durham delivers pulse pounding survival horror in Winterset Hollow.

Welcome back to the Fox Local Book Club, and today we are diving into what happens when the cozy nostalgia of a beloved children's tale curdles into pure, pulse-pounding survival horror. Joining us is Jonathan Edward Durham, whose viral indie sensation, Winterset Hollow, just hit shelves in a brand new, expanded edition from Union Square and Company. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. So Winterset Hollow has been described as Beatrix Potter meets Lord of the Flies. I'm curious what gave you that initial spark maybe to take these talking woodland creatures, the very hallmark of childhood innocence, and drop them into this razor sharp kind of battle royale. Well, I mean, I think a lot of those stories that a lot of us grew up reading and watching and consuming were probably not quite as innocent as we remember them being. I think some of them are actually very dark. And I think sometimes when we get a little older and we begin to realize that when we start to develop different feelings about them or see them in a different light. It can feel like something of an attack or a betrayal in a way. And so I just I thought it might be interesting to kind of explore that feeling in the form of a thriller. So your protagonist sneaks onto Addington Isle to celebrate what they call Barley Day at the estate of their literary idol, which is pretty cool. You would expect maybe you'd find magic, but they found a nightmare instead. instead, why were you so drawn to exploring the dark side? Well, so there's a really personal answer for that actually. So, in a lot of ways, this is a story about our complicated relationship with stories and really about my own complicated relationship with stories. And at the time I wrote this, I was on the very tail end of eight very frustrating years as a very failed screenwriter. So I was very much feeling kind of misled or betrayed by my own love of stories and my own urge to like want to build a life around them and sort of step inside them. And so I thought I would kind of write about that. So maybe some of the rage on the page, all right, is personal. So you studied literature, I understand, along with neuroscience at William and Mary. So wow, how did your understanding of the human brain affect the way you write? I don't know if it does all that much actually. To be completely frank, I was not necessarily the best student at that point in my career. So there's not a ton I remember from my formal education in neuroscience. But I will tell you that sort of my feel for pacing and action and that sort of thing, I think is mostly a holdover from my screenwriting days, because that's a really important thing in writing a good script. And also during the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, my dad would tear through two or three books a week. And that was kind of thriller central at the time, it was all Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy and John Grisham and Stephen King. And so every time he finished one of those, I would pick it up and read it. And so I think those books had a lot to do with my style as well. Love every one of those authors. So oh yeah, I'm fascinated by this. Your novel began as a self-published word of mouth sensation before being acquired by this publisher. I love the fact that the people spoke, right? What has this journey been like for you? It's been amazing and completely surprising, frankly, and it's really been like the honor of a lifetime to be embraced by a community of readers like that and to have them change my life. And these people literally picked me up from one place and set me down in another one entirely. And it's been incredible. It's been a bit of a transition going from self-publishing to traditional publishing. On one hand, it's great to have people who actually know what they're doing to help you out. You know what I mean? I didn't really have that before. But there was a little bit of nervousness in handing over the keys to something that was mine for so long. However, Union Square has really been nothing but wonderful every step of the way. So I couldn't be happier to be with them. So would you write a screenplay now of this book that's been so successful? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I think at this point in my life, I've determined that script writing is probably not for me. But if the right people were involved, and if I thought I could do the story justice, I might. I've lived with this for a couple years now, and I think I might be too precious about it to do the necessary cutting to turn it into a good movie. But who knows? We'll see. That'll be a good problem to have when it gets presented to me. Yeah, you're right, you're right. So Jonathan, we gotta run and tell people where they can find more information about you. You can find me all over the Internet at this one over here on Facebook and threads and Instagram, where you can just Google my name. And if you wanna read anything more by me, you can check out my Substack, all sorts of short stories and columns there and that's free as well. And the book is available right now wherever books are sold. Thanks for joining us and we're back right after this. Thank you so much.