Boy in the Box

by Marc E. Fitch

Overview

“This is a harrowing and intense psychological horror novel for fans of Peter Straub, Jac Jemc, and Ania Ahlborn." — Booklist

Ten years ago a mysterious and tragic hunting accident deep in the Adirondack Mountains left a boy buried in a storied piece of land known as Coombs’ Gulch and four friends with a terrible secret.

Now, Jonathan Hollis and brothers Michael and Conner Braddick must return to the place that changed their lives forever in order to keep their secret buried. What they don’t realize is that they are walking into a trap — one set decades earlier by a supernatural being who is not confined by time or place: a demon that demands a sacrifice.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787583849
Publisher:	Flame Tree Publishing
Publication date:	04/23/2020
Series:	Fiction Without Frontiers
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Marc E. Fitch is author of the novels Old Boone Blood, Paradise Burns and Dirty Water, and the books Paranormal Nation: Why America Needs Ghosts, UFOs and Bigfoot and Shmexperts. His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year.

What People are Saying About This

Morgan Sylvia

"A creepy, mesmerizing tale of hunters becoming the hunted, Box In The Box is a haunting journey into the evils that lurk in the wilderness, as well as those buried in the human heart. Fitch definitely has a knack for mixing the paranormal with both brutal reality and the emotional heaviness of grief and sorrow."

Eric J. Guignard

“This is what true horror is meant to be, quiet and thoughtful, an eerie sense of something lurking just ahead in your path with no way of escape; BOY IN THE BOX by Marc E. Fitch is the haunting guilt that reminds us mistakes from the past can return at any time, and in the worst of ways."

J.J. Hensley - award-winning author of Resolve

“Boy in the Box is a heart-stopping tale that will keep you up at night because every turn of the page is heavy with anticipation and suspense. Marc Fitch drops the reader into a world in which past sins echo into the present and the search for inner calm involves a treacherous climb through mountains that have a long memory. This is a story you won’t forget.”

Jackson Kuhl

“Boy in the Box is both tragedy and ghost story, a theater ticket to watch actors on stage deliberately pushed inch by inch toward madness. Fitch menaces the reader by reminding us that our most valued possessions — our marriages, our children, our families — are frail and impermanent.”

Interviews

What is the book about?

Boy in the Box is about three friends who must return to the scene of a hunting accident that killed a young boy ten years ago. They buried him in the mountains but now must move the body. Along the way they are stalked by a supernatural being that has been plotting their fate for decades. Their decision to bury the boy in the first place trapped them in a web of guilt, remorse and lies and now they find themselves hunted by something beyond their understanding. In their attempt to bury the truth, they embark down a road that leads to insanity and death.

What are the underlying themes?

Its about the traps that we build for ourselves throughout our lives. Decisions we make shape our lives and our worlds and, in that way, can bury us, condemn us to fates from which there is little escape. It is about guilt, fear and remorse. One of the frustrating tragedies of life is that there is no do-over, as much as we may wish for one.

Did you base your characters on anyone you knew?

I generally use people I know as the basis for characters, so I can visualize them, but that is the extent of it. The individuals I pictured in my mind are far from the men and women depicted in this novel, but I did use certain characteristics, used scenes that I have witnessed to flesh out the characters and make them more real. I also draw from stories I have been told by others, experiences related to me that are not my own but somehow work for the story.

What other works influenced you most in the writing of the book?

The Ritual by Adam Nevill was a great book and part of the influence. But to be honest, I found the most thematic influence to be Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. It’s a haunting look at a man who is defined by a cowardly decision that follows him throughout his life. Lord Jim is horrifying in its own right — there are these quiet, devastating and frightening scenes throughout the novel. Fear and guilt follow Jim like a curse. It is why I quote from the book at the beginning of Boy in the Box: “How does one kill fear?”

Is there any advice you can give someone starting to write?

There’s the usual platitudes of “read everything” and “write every day.” That’s all good advice, I suppose. To me, it was never about wanting to write, it was about needing to write. You have to do it for yourself. If you’re expecting fame or money, find another line of work. That’s just the hard reality of it.

Where did you write?

My life was relocated to a single, rented room. I didn’t have a desk, or much at all, so most of this book was written sitting in bed. Now I’m kind of addicted to writing in bed.

Did you write in silence, or to any particular music?

I prefer silence. When I do listen to music, it’s usually classical played very low in the background. If there is music with lyrics I get distracted by the words.

Did you find it hard to write? Or harder to edit your own work?

The hardest part of writing for me is after the initial rush, when I get into the second act of the novel. The first part usually comes fast and I generally know how I want the novel to end, but it’s the middle of the story that always hangs me up. I like editing my work to an extent. In some cases I get sick of reading my own words and don’t want to look at it anymore. In the case of Boy in the Box, I originally wrote the novel as a first person narrative. I decided that didn’t work and then rewrote the whole thing in third person. It was a lot of work, but it changed the whole perspective and gave me a chance to really rework the novel into a more cohesive piece.

What was it like to be edited by someone else?

I love having editors. There are few things more valuable to a writer than a good editorial eye. If it were up to me I’d keep some poor editor chained up in the basement, available at my beck and call because, when I’m working extensively on a project, I get lost in my own head and can’t see the text for what it really says. You need a separate set of eyes. Just because a sentence or scene makes sense to you, doesn’t mean it makes sense to readers.

What are you writing now?

I’m about a third of the way through a dystopian novel that I’m very excited about. It deals with the abuse of money and power, the haves and have nots, and I think it is an interesting glimpse into a possible future. I am also nearing completion of a novella; a reimagining of the exorcist archetype that also deals with money and horrors of an oligarchic social structure.

Editorial Reviews

Late in Marc Fitch’s book Boy in the Box, the protagonist says, “I don’t think we know what we’re dealing with here,” and so we head fearfully into the final 100 pages or so of a skillful exercise in horror one can’t help but compare to a masterpiece of the genre, Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows.” Fitch’s guilt-ridden trio marches into a wilderness possessing danger they don’t properly fear until, of course, it’s well too late. The novel begins with a tip-toeing dread and builds at a measured pace to a jog and then a run as the protagonists’ attempts to right a wrong from the past open the floodgates to mind-wrenching horror. Fitch’s prose is concise and glues the reader’s attention in a manner making it difficult to put the book down until it’s dismal conclusion. This is solid reading for fans of the genre and would certainly make for a nice introduction for those wandering into this particular forest for the very first time.

Alec Cizak

Marc E. Fitch’s excellent novel, Boy in the Box, is like taking a sideways glance at the normal world and seeing the nightmares that sneak in from the periphery. A tale of ordinary lives sent spiraling out of control—in this case as the result of an incident involving friends on a hunting trip—Fitch creates a moody, muscular read that holds on with white knuckles until the last page. A book to be read and read again."

Gregory L. Norris

"This is a harrowing and intense psychological horror novel for fans of Peter Straub, Jac Jemc, and Ania Ahlborn."

“I doubt I will read many better horror novels in 2020. Boy in the Box was a complete triumph and deserves to be very widely read, even beyond the horror genre.”

“Reminiscent of Neville’s The Ritual (2011), Fitch’s journey into the dark unknowns of ancient forests builds at a measured pace, pushing you forward in slow-building horror that exhibits all the stamina of a hike out into the woods.”

"This is one of those books the reader should never start if night is coming on and he’s alone in the house."

From the Publisher

Boy in the Box is both tragedy and ghost story, a theater ticket to watch actors on stage deliberately pushed inch by inch toward madness. Fitch menaces the reader by reminding us that our most valued possessions — our marriages, our children, our families — are frail and impermanent.

Jackson Kuhl

This is what true horror is meant to be, quiet and thoughtful, an eerie sense of something lurking just ahead in your path with no way of escape; BOY IN THE BOX by Marc E. Fitch is the haunting guilt that reminds us mistakes from the past can return at any time, and in the worst of ways."

Eric J. Guignard

"A creepy, mesmerizing tale of hunters becoming the hunted, Box In The Box is a haunting journey into the evils that lurk in the wilderness, as well as those buried in the human heart. Fitch definitely has a knack for mixing the paranormal with both brutal reality and the emotional heaviness of grief and sorrow."

Morgan Sylvia

"This is an outstanding horror story where the sense of deep dread slowly tightens around the reader like slow strangulation. Unmissable."

Horror DNA

Boy in the Box is a heart-stopping tale that will keep you up at night because every turn of the page is heavy with anticipation and suspense. Marc Fitch drops the reader into a world in which past sins echo into the present and the search for inner calm involves a treacherous climb through mountains that have a long memory. This is a story you won’t forget.

J.J. Hensley - award-winning author of Resolve