Craving a Yummy Horror Novel?

Every so often, we hear music or find movies, clothes that make us feel nostalgic. That feeling from the past is difficult to recreate, but when we do, the product becomes the new classic. Television shows like “Stranger things,” “Twin peaks,” and Stephen King’s books are some of the instances that depict the past with an underlying theme of horror, transporting us to those times.

Author David Ruggerio who is also a celebrity chef and star chef of cooking shows like Ruggerio to Go on the Food Network and Little Italy with David Ruggerio on PBS has already written two acclaimed cookbooks. After publishing “Little Italy with David Ruggerio,” and “David Ruggerio’s Italian Kitchen” with Artisan Books, he decided to give horror novels a try. This was going to be so different from what David has written before. But he was so inspired by Stephen King and Washington Irving that he was up for the challenge. David released his horror book: A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters last year and went on to win the Maxy Awards – Best Horror 2019.

A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters takes you to a not-so-intrinsically wicked-looking village – Brunswick, NY, with about 4,941 inhabitants. But as you flip the pages, you’ll see that an unspeakable evil occupies this place. On the surface, this sleepy hamlet comes alive in the autumn with picturesque apple orchards, haunted corn mazes, laden pumpkin patches, and holiday hayrides. During a snowy Halloween, a young William Willowsby must battle evil forces that have been shielded by the locals for generations.

On the outskirts of the town is the abandoned Forest Park Cemetery. All things wicked seem to revolve around the old graveyard. A rarely seen homunculus serves an evil taskmaster. Together they weave a wicked web that attempts to snare the youth of the hamlet. A creepy graveyard, a spooky schoolhouse, an abandoned mortuary, and a member of his own family will leave you feeling sleepless at night.

The book recreates the small gothic town’s atmosphere with its supernatural secrets from the bygone times that can be relived through our imaginations. The style of the story gives flashbacks into the horror fiction of the past century. J. Aislynn d’Merricksson from the Manhattan Book Review believes that A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters is the kind of horror story director Tim Burton would have written. So, gather your appetite for something that hits the flavors of the genre and leaves you feeling so satisfied!

Don’t miss David Ruggerio’s second book, Say Goodbye and Goodnight, a modern, Shakespearean love story in the set up of 1977 Brooklyn, New York, with disco- music that liberated the whole generation.

To learn more about the multi-genre writer, David Ruggerio- listen to the Books That Make You podcast show hosted by Desiree Duffy. They talk about his books, the life events that inspired David to write, and much more. For more bookish interviews, subscribe to Books That Make You YouTube channel today.