House of Flies [Found Footage Horror]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

[CONFIDENTIAL]

The following files are the CONFIDENTIAL reports gathered in regards to College students Emma [REDACTED] and Blaine [REDACTED], and their relation to the “Maggot Man”. Both young adults came of interest to the Bureau after the discovery of the mangled body of [REDACTED]. Their continued research into the unnatural and unsettling death of their classmate, as well as their involvement in the events in the hometown of prolific serial killer, “Maggot Man” Jake Grantham, has been collected into one location for the use of pertinent investigators.

If you are not a party designated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Paranormal Research Facility, be aware that you are in possession of highly sensitive material of a highly graphic nature. Be advised that everything contained within these pages may have a negative impact on the quality of your life, if not the safety of it. We cannot attest to the truth behind the claims contained herein, nor to the claims regarding a “haunted video game”.

It is illegal to distribute these files in any unauthorized manner.

Beware the Flies.

"House of Flies" is an Epistolary(Found Footage-style) Horror novel told in the form of transcripts, emails, text messages, and excerpts. It tracks the events of two young college students as they try to unravel the increasingly insane mystery surrounding the infamous serial killer, Jake "Maggot Man" Grantham.

As an entrant in the Writathon, the story is being written almost entirely off the cuff in its first iteration, with very little to no planning. Once Writathon is complete and the story is finished, I'll go back and re-edit it once more and clean up some of the style, as well.

What to expect:

1. Heavy depictions of death, gore, and violence.

2. Insinuated violence against children.

3. Serial Killers.

4. Tragic tales of abuse.

5. Supernatural themes.

6. Profanity.

7. Flies.

8 LIGHT Romance

[Participant in the Royal Road 2024 October Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2026
Author: charliehollow

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 77
Views: 37,047

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(6)

CorvibaeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To a word, fantastic! The descriptions are the right degree of depth, especially for the more disturbing scenes. The length of the story seems just right and, with the epilogue, leaves me satisfied. The occasional typo pops up, but overall solid writing that seems to clearly convey the stress and terror of the tale. I hope the author continues to write more, I'll definitely be following them.
Ellen TaylorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is so good. I've been enjoying what I've read so far, and cannot wait to read more!
I'll go over the different subjects to explain why they're all five stars, because they all deserve those five stars.
Grammar is always an easy five stars from me. I'm not a stickler for grammar, and as long as there's not a glaring issue that pulls me out of the story, I give five stars. This story was well done, and I was never pulled out of the story.
The style is done in a fascinating "found footage" sort of way. Meaning I have no idea if the characters survive, and some of them already haven't! The different descriptions of the videos and the journals also give a very eerie feel to an already eerie book and it gives just the right amount of atmosphere.
The story itself is fantastic. Fantastic, in that it makes my skin crawl. Which is a compliment, I swear. The flies, the maggots, the serial killers. I do not like gory stories, and yet this one is just different. The mystery of it all and the worry I have for these characters pulls me along until I'm at that dreaded button that I can't push because there's no more chapters.
The characters, too, are fantastic. As mentioned above, I feel for them and the mystery they are trying to solve. Emma is a great character who is scared, and has every right to be! Blain also brings his own sort of mystery to the story, and it's a joy to watch those two work together. Maybe 'joy' isn't the right word in a horror novel, but they do work well together. There are also side characters that are well fleshed out.
Overall, this is a really well done story! Check it out so you, too, can be terrified of flies like I am!
Evelyn AdelbergRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Every time I pick up a horror story, there's a 40% chance I'll gain a fear of a new random animal.
This time it's flies. I didn't like them before, and I'm low key worried I'll have the same reaction to them as one of the MCs after I finish this story XD
But to get back on topic of this review; it's really good! The logs are mostly dialogue, so they flow really well, and the girls do a great job of setting the tone for their stories.
The author sprinkles in details that foreshadow some of their pasts. It's small things about their habbits and appearance that we as readers of this genre pick up, but that would totally go unnoticed irl.
TLDR: an eerie and fun read.
Noc73mRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
so this story is fantastic.
I am not usually one for horror fiction, but this was done in a great format, and was genuinely creepy.
it did NOT help that i had a minor fruit fly infestation while reading this lol. The story was enjoyable, as were the characters and the scenario. I genuinely would love to read more.
tikiiriaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The format is well suited. The world is well done. Love the characters and to quote my kids I ship Blaine and Emma. The grammar was good. The story was detailed enough to give you the picture of the blood and rot drenched horror without drawing out a scene for 10 chapters with over done details. This could give you the worry of things crawling out from your handheld when you look at it. Love the polls. Personally I prefer either the files format or a journal, the switching between styles was not my taste. Regardless of my nitpick preference it had a good writing style. More works from this world please.
xaimRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story may not be perfect. But it hits all, really all the sweet spots are horror story needs to hit. I am now afraid of flies and maggots? Yes. This story is all the things a horror story needs to be. I devoured this story as the titular flies devoured their victims.