The Gods of Ghost River

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

“Those eyes staring back at me. They know me. I don’t want them to know me…”

Alone in the oppressive desert night, ancient things stir, unearthly, bound by blood. Disconnected from the civilized world, Riley finds himself propelled into a realm of shadows. Does he trust his perception or is this a nightmare born of the deepest folds of his mind?

I release chapters slowly, as I am a working artist and have Comic Con shows running from Spring to Summer. My writing schedule runs Fall through Winter

6 CHAPTERS TO GO!

Love The Gods of Ghost River? Visit www.SplitMountainStudios.com for all of the latest goodies from the GOGR universe!

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2022
Author
SplitMountainStudios

Tags

ADVENTURESUPERNATURALSLICE OF LIFEPSYCHOLOGICALMALE LEADHORRORLOW FANTASYMYTHOSURBAN FANTASYCONTEMPORARY

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.7/ 5.0
Followers
16
Views
16,050

Chapters(23 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(3)

  • LunarEveRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Style - I absolutely adore this style! It's super descriptive and shows every detail that the author wants you to know. The italicization during the flashbacks, thoughts, and during "dreams" is great as well, helping the reader differentiate between them. The use of onomatopoeias is nice as well! The dialogue between the characters feel natural and not awkward at all while the thoughts of the main character feel refined and careful, as expected from a character that could be described simply as "quiet."
    Grammar - My ability to see mistakes in grammar isn't the best but so far, as the latest chapter is only at eight, I feel like it's perfect.
    Story - The story is very interesting, leaving foreshadowing points every once in a while, vague enough where everything isn't completely revealed while the reader can somewhat inference what they mean. The part at around chapter two or three was very much unexpected but it was a pleasant surprise! I can't exactly put the story at five stars yet as it is still young, though so far it is very well-paced.
    Character - The characterization of the protagonist and the side characters was done very well. Starting with the main character, Riley, he's clearly not doing well: depression, probably being bullied, and he isn't exactly socializing with other people. As the story continues, some character development is seen, exposed by the dire situation that he was put in. Nico, the first character that is seen to be physically talking with Riley, kind of always had some kind of fishy part to him. Personally, my first impression of him was "wild." Bobbi and his mother so far are my favorite characters. They're kind and help Riley with his immediate needs, allowing him to pick himself back up after the traumatizing experience he had just went through. Clearly the selflessness runs in the family.
    As a side note, I love the quotes at the beginning of the chapters. The stories that I have seen that do this, whether the quotes are purely fictiona
  • PlatymooRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    UPDATE: I've really come to love the thick, juicy writing style of this story! It feels far more real and involved than a lot of internal monologues that I've read in other stories. The story continues to pull me back in as it ebbs and flows from the day-to-day to the supernatural and surreal. Along the way, the dialogue and internal thoughts feel real. In a sense, they feel like first-hand accounts of someone actually going through this trauma and excitement, not someone's assumption of how that would feel/sound.
    The quotes at the top of each chapter provide a clue as to what is going on within, sometimes in a literal sense, and sometimes in an abstract and intriguing sense. The whole experience in reading this story feels like a brain massage, encouraging many different ways of viewing and interpreting what is happening!
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Style - Incredibly thick writing! It feels like an exercise to consume all of the language, but it helps paint the world in a way that prevents any guesswork on behalf of the reader.
    Story - The story starts off so inocuous and humdrum before ramping up in interest and intrigue. I'm excited to see where it leads, even as the intensity rises and falls throughout. The horror elements evoke a feeling of uncertainty in your own perceptions. Along side this, there's a sense of having a peek behind the curtain of reality, and not liking what you've seen.
    Grammar - There's a rhythm to it at times that allows me to very easily forgive a wonky comma or run-on sentence. There's an interesting layout to the different types of experiences the main character has, from a dream-like state, to memories, to the current moment, each type of experience is differently represented visually. Once you've learned that visual language, the way you interact with the text changes!
    Character - The relatability of the main character is the real draw here for me. Even if the words or thoughts don't perfectly m
  • ecobumRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 4.0
    It would be easy to simply write the horror that is in fashion right now--topical, clever post-mod cultural war takes, maybe some extreme violence and jump scares. What Split Mountain Studios does here instead is a horror of place, steeped in the landscape of the Southwest United States. It's a "somewhere" story, not an "anywhere" story.
    Developing an imaginary Southwest Native American mythology, Split Mountain connects the contemporary characters to a deep past that, distracted by modernity, many are not even aware of. But that past is aware of them and it re-asserts itself into their lives in myriad ways.
    Because these spirits are just that, inhuman and attached to an ancient land, they are not "evil" in the sense of the cultural West, but like Lovecraftian creatures they simply do not understand the fragile mortals they again interact with, in ways that seem evil to humans but almost kind to the spirits. Confusion abounds on both sides.
    The prose floats, dreamy and reflecting the clash of mundane human life with a dark mythology. Descriptions of the landscape are lush, as are the inner monologues of the humans and spirits that tangle in this strange encounter.
    Summary: A dark fantasy Southwestern that provides no easy morality but instead describes something perhaps more frightening: the clash of worldviews of those who are mortal and those who are not.