Publishers Weekly
08/21/2023
Rebelein’s busy debut is part cosmic horror, part waggish satire of creative egos. After Cam P. Marion’s first novel receives middling reviews and so-so sales, the perennially grouchy author—who recently has been afflicted by bizarre nightmares—is invited to become a writer-in-residence at Edenville College in Upstate New York, locally infamous as the site of several mysterious disappearances. Seized by career anxieties due to his book’s reception, Cam jumps at the opportunity, but his girlfriend, Quinn, is suspicious from the get-go. Having grown up in a small town near Edenville, she was immersed in urban legends about the school, and her own college friend, Celeste, vanished years ago, last seen close to where Cam and Quinn would be living. Despite Quinn’s hang-ups, Cam accepts the position, and the couple decamps to Edenville’s creepy campus. Once there, Cam’s nightmares intensify, and horrors linked to multiverses and the area’s copious sunflowers start to reveal themselves. Will he and Quinn be the college’s latest casualties? Rebelein sprinkles his wild and unpredictable narrative with pop culture references and a gleeful smattering of profanity (“The big oak fuck of a desk”), setting his voice apart. Unfortunately, his ideas don’t quite hang together—Rebelein has imagination to spare, but the book eventually crosses over from ambitious to overstuffed. Readers will hope for a more focused sophomore effort. Agent: Claire Harris, P.S. Literary. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
There are many campus horror novels, but I think Edenville gets an A for AAAAAAIIIIIII! Sam Rebelein should be awarded a Master’s Degree in SCARY. A major new talent!” — R.L. Stine, author of Goosebumps and Fear Street
"Edenville marks a riveting debut that positions Rebelein as a noteworthy talent in the horror genre...an essential read for horror enthusiasts, especially fans of Grady Hendrix and Paul Tremblay." — Booklist
“[A]n entertainingly bonkers tale infused with so much unease and danger that it is literally dripping from Cam’s eyes. It is a story that explores the cosmic and folk horror tropes to their furthest reaches while also providing a scathing critique of academia, especially MFA programs, all wrapped up in one wild ride of a read.” — Library Journal
“The mundane horrors of rural and academic living collide with pure cosmic weirdness in Sam Rebelein’s Edenville. Not since Jason Pargin’s John Dies at the End have I been so horrified and grossed out by a book, nor have I gleefully whispered ‘what the fuck’ so much while turning the pages. I could say more, but honestly, the less you know about this book, the better. A fantastic debut. Go Crows!” — Todd Keisling, Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of Devil’s Creek and Cold, Black & Infinite
“Rebelein sprinkles his wild and unpredictable narrative with pop culture references and a gleeful smattering of profanity, setting his voice apart.” — Publishers Weekly
"Rebelein’s debut is its own wild and woolly beast, frequently unpredictable and frankly utterly insane at times... I hope I get to go back to Renfield County again, before too long." — Literary Hub
"A wild ride from start to finish, with a heavy dose of humor thrown into the mix." — Crime Reads
"In Edenville, there's a captivating and equally irresistible kind of frenetic intensity pulsing from each and every page—the raw, powerful energy of a new, uninhibited talent in horror fiction. Sam Rebelein possesses the skillset of a venerated master and Edenville is a truly imaginative debut." — Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
"Edenville is a delightfully gooey blend of gothic, cosmic, folk and body horror churned by a sharp-bladed critique of academia." — Lucy A. Snyder, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Sister, Maiden, Monster
"Nobody is writing the uncanny like Sam Rebelein. Edenville is an immersive, visceral, unsettling metafictional tale that lures you into the shadows, and then slowly expands your mind to the horrors that were always there. It's Chuck Palahniuk mixed with Clive Barker and Stephen Graham Jones to create a funny, heartbreaking, original piece of fiction." — Richard Thomas, author of Spontaneous Human Combustion, a Bram Stoker finalist
"A mind-bending experience, Edenville is a transportive read that burrows down into the center of your mind and refuses to let go. There’s beauty and squick in these pages, and at its core, a whole lotta fun." — Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile
"Edenville is a tour de force of horror writing. The eerie atmosphere and building intensity will have you on the edge of your seat, while the sharply drawn characters and nightmarish imagery will keep you hooked from start to finish. Fans of Clive Barker and Stephen King at the peak of their powers won't want to miss this one.” — Tim Waggoner, author of A Hunter Called Night
"Edenville reinvents the small-town scary story as an onslaught of comedy, horror, and grotesquerie. Great, blood-curdling fun." — Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia
"Sam Rebelein's Edenville is pure cosmic gonzo...This jaw-dropping — apologies, jaw-ripping — novel earns its place amongst contemporary classics The Library at Mount Char and The Book of Accidents. You won't read anything quite like it... not in our universe, anyway." — Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters
Library Journal
10/01/2023
DEBUT Cam is a struggling NYC writer whose debut novel flowed out of him in the aftermath of a terrifying nightmare, but it flopped soon after publication. Quinn, Cam's girlfriend, is a bartender originally from Upstate NY who believes in the ghost stories from back home. When an eccentric woman from the prestigious creative writing program at Edenville College, near Quinn's hometown, invites Cam to be a writer in residence, both Quinn and readers know it is a bad idea, yet Cam accepts. What follows is an entertainingly bonkers tale infused with so much unease and danger that it is literally dripping from Cam's eyes. It is a story that explores the cosmic and folk horror tropes to their furthest reaches while also providing a scathing critique of academia, especially MFA programs, all wrapped up in one wild ride of a read. VERDICT In his debut novel, Rebelein confidently writes in a sardonic tone, mixing humor with over-the-top cosmic horror, a combination that will appeal greatly to fans of We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, but don't sleep on the academic aspects, as also seen in Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas.
