Samuel DenHartog's Blog: The Road to 1,440 - Posts Tagged "devil"

For centuries, the Pine Barrens have been haunted by whispers of a winged terror, a creature glimpsed in the night, feared by those who dare to tread too close to its domain. The stories of the Jersey Devil have always been told from the outside, from the fearful voices of those who claim to have seen it, from the desperate accounts of those who have hunted it. But what if the creature could speak for itself? What if the legend was only the beginning?

This book steps into the mind of the beast, unraveling the tale from the inside, through eyes that have seen centuries pass and claws that have torn through the fabric of human history. It is not just about fear—it is about purpose, about hunger, about the voice that has guided it since its first breath. From colonial nights to the burning glow of the modern world, the creature has endured, not just as a monster, but as something more. The Devil does not create without reason, and this is the story of what it truly means to be his own.

Writing this book was an experience unlike any other, diving into the raw and unsettling reality of a creature that was never meant to be tamed. Every sighting, every encounter, every scream in the night is a thread in a much larger tapestry of something ancient, something patient, something waiting. The Jersey Devil is a force, shaped by the fear of those who refuse to believe and strengthened by those who do. This is a tale of horror, power, inevitability, and a darkness that will never fade.

"The Jersey Devil Unchained" is now available, and with it, a new way to look at one of America’s oldest and most terrifying legends. If you have ever wondered what lurks beyond the reach of firelight, what watches from the depths of the woods when the world grows quiet, this book offers a glimpse into that abyss. But be warned—the thing in the Barrens has waited long enough, and now, it is ready to speak.

There’s something uniquely unsettling about stories where evil doesn’t roar, but whispers. When I first set out to write Subject to Corruption, I wanted to explore that quieter battlefield — the one where ordinary souls are slowly nudged off course by unseen hands. Not through dramatic temptations, but through small, daily choices that seem harmless at first. The idea was to show how the greatest defeats often start with a simple shrug.

Rather than telling a traditional story, I chose the form of personal letters between two demons: a mentor and his student. It gave the work a rawness and intimacy, letting readers feel the slow, grinding efforts to undo a single human life. I wanted readers to laugh sometimes, to feel a creeping unease at others, and to realize that these battles — exaggerated though they are — have shadows in the real world.

Crafting the voice of Vilethorn was a careful balancing act. He had to be clever, cruel, and yet strangely funny in his own way. The tone had to walk a line between dark amusement and genuine philosophical reflection without ever becoming preachy. Every letter became a chance to explore pride, fear, loneliness, self-importance — all the subtle cracks that evil loves to widen.

Stories like this, I believe, are most powerful when they leave space for the reader to recognize themselves. Subject to Corruption is not just a story about a demon and his assignment; it’s a distorted mirror, held up with a crooked grin, inviting the reader to wonder where the real battle lines are drawn.