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Round And Round It Went
The Yellow Sign follows a traumatized FBI agent that has to figure out what is real and what is in her head in order to save her friend that has gone missing. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The inspiration for the story is a little cliche: I was struggling to fall asleep one night a few years ago after reading The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers, and a scene kept playing in my head of a doctor racing to a college campus to help an (unknown to him) dead patient. Her revival, her mad zealotry, and her turning the tables on the doctor (“He told me your name”), the scene wouldn’t let me go. Round and round it went, as more details filled in.
Eventually, around 02:00, I had to get up and write down the scene, just to get it out of my head. Most of the opening of TYS is straight from those first notes, that punch-in-the-face pulpy hook.
After that, it became a question of what made that scene important. Some parts of the setup were natural storytelling (a friend of the doctor tries to find and save him), while others came much later and with much staring at a blank screen (Blaine’s struggles with… everything).
Erica Blaine has suffered a great deal but still risks it all for a friend. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Blaine is a very flawed character; she has made plenty of mistakes, suffered much, and we meet her at her lowest. Some of the driving ideals in her development include her willingness to jump into danger for those she loves, showing how sometimes the best way we can help ourselves is to help others, despite our own (sometimes literal) internal voices telling us how worthless we are.
Blaine presents as an extreme loner, but when push comes to shove she becomes very protective of those she becomes close to (e.g. Amber). These actions help her to begin moving towards the road of recovery, but alas, when your therapist is the leader of a cult, are things really going to get better?
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The themes most dear to my heart are all of the struggles Blaine goes through: deep depression, fighting through trauma, and the courage it takes to face those pains. Everything around the inner voice was very important for me, allowing me to shape the story in a unique direction. I’ve always loved cosmic horror tropes, and they allowed me to play with themes of narration and motivation in ways I rarely see.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently working on The Knife that Bites, a story set in a far-future hive-city of ten billion souls, as famine runs rampant; it will be more sci-fi than The Yellow Sign, but will still have plenty of horror. I just can’t resist. Give me red and raw and ruining any day.
I am hoping to get The Knife that Bites out to everyone in 2023. Fingers crossed.
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As is the voice that won’t allow her a moment of peace.
But when her old Army buddy goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Erica is pulled back into the Lovecraftian world of cult infiltration. The Yellow College welcomes her with open arms, but as her sanity crumbles beneath the weight of hallucinations, old traumas, and lost memories, how can she expect to save her friend when she can barely tell what’s real and what isn’t?
Have you seen the shores of Carcosa?
The Yellow Sign
After what FBI Agent Erica Blaine has gone through, you’d think she deserves a long and restful vacation. After fruitless therapy sessions, copious amounts of booze, and her gloves that cover her scars, it’s only logical to give her all the time in the world to recover. But when her old army buddy, Dr. Feinstein, goes missing without an explanation, she packs up the flask and goes undercover to uncover the secrets of The Yellow College, where Feinstein was last seen. Thus begins The Yellow Sign, a novel of occult and cosmic horror by James Hodge.
The Yellow Sign has a straightforward plot that allows the readers to follow the character’s actions without keeping track of an assortment of subplots. As a plot-focused novel, the narration marches on at a smooth pace. Blaine, as a character, is easily a relatable hero with just enough personality for readers to root for.
Readers will immediately be immersed in the horror of this novel, making it hard to put down. The reader is constantly reminded of a traumatic event in Erica Blaine’s past, but we are never given more than a subtle glance. I feel that the theme of overcoming personal demons through facing actual monsters is a horror trope that is acutely utilized in this novel. However, genre veterans will love how Hodge brings the situations to life with his graphic details and impressive worldbuilding.
The Yellow Sign promises a dark descent into the depraved world of a mysterious cult, and it delivers. You’ll find yourself zipping through the pages, wanting to get to the flesh and bone of things. This all begins in the prologue, with the deliciously pulpy encounter between Dr. Feinstein and Alice. There also seems to be a charming encounter with her henchmen, the humorously named Thin and Thick.
The Yellow Sign is a good place for readers new to cosmic and occult horror to start reading and get a feel for the genre. The charismatic characters and the strong plot will give readers a great novel to segue into darker occult fiction.
Pages: 242 | ASIN : B09VWY7D9Y
LITERARY TITAN 