Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town

by Wrath James White

Mika Shaw is a drug-addicted schizophrenic who lives in Bishop, California, a small town in the Eastern Sierras where there’s not much to do but drink, get high, and have sex. Plagued by bizarre hallucinations, reality and nightmares co-exist in Mika’s mind, indistinguishable from one another.

When her friends begin dying all around her under increasingly violent and bizarre circumstances, Mika is terrified that the nightmares aren’t just in her head this time.

The Paiute believe that malevolent spirits called Pahoha, water-babies, inhabit the Owens River. The Pahoha have pale skin and black eyes. Their voices sound like the cries of young children and lure people to the lake to be drowned. Sometimes they can look like lost loved ones, dead friends, or relatives calling from the other side. To see them is to be fatally cursed…

And Mika has seen them.

Genres: Horror, Dark

95 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Wrath James White is a badass motherfucker who writes baddasss books for other badass motherfuckers. He is a J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award nominee with over two dozen books in print.

Wrath is the author of RABBIT HUNT, THE BUG COLLECTOR, and such extreme horror classics as THE RESURRECTIONIST (now a major motion picture titled "Come Back To Me") SUCCULENT PREY, it's sequel PREY DRIVE, 400 DAYS OF OPPRESSION, and many others.

To follow his Substack, purchase books, get the latest updates about upcoming releases, signed books, merchandise, and more, go to:

https://linktr.ee/wrathjameswhite

Reviews

[Pisces51 · Rating 4 out of 5]

EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS in a SMALL TOWN (2023) WRATH JAMES WHITE
MY REVIEW FOUR STARS

They all had black pupils…(like) a barracuda that had swallowed his line once…flat, dead eyes, devoid of all warmth…The first bite…bit clean through the muscle, down to the bone…blood filled the water.

This supernatural story is described as a Two-Hour Short Read, and this Second Edition was published by MADNESS HEART PRESS in late May 2023. In the forefront of the haunting Cover Art are depicted the malevolent water spirits from Paiute Mythology. WATER BABIES were mysterious and dangerous water fairies that inhabited springs and ponds, purported to lead humans to a watery grave by mimicking the sounds of crying babies at night, and to see them was to be fatally cursed. It was said that the Pahoa had the ability to appear as lost loved ones, dead friends, or relatives calling from the other side of the Owens River.

A poignant love story between two teenagers is unraveled alongside a disturbing tale of evil retribution by the water fairies murdering a series of young men. The tale takes place in the small town of Bishop, California, in the Eastern Sierras. The main character of 16-year-old Mika Shaw narrates the story. The young girl is afflicted with schizophrenia and is prone to carrying on entire conversations with persons she knows when they are miles away or incapacitated. Her mental capacity is significantly compromised at baseline but her chronic use of street drugs renders her perception and comprehension questionable at best. The slight figure of Mika is difficult not to be overcome with a generous helping of sympathy. She was brutally raped a year earlier when she was 15 by her degenerate pedophile of an uncle, her father’s brother Jeff. Her father had beaten his brother and ostracized him from their lives, but Mika felt that justice had never been served. Mika was treated shabbily and worse from her father and she was ignored and belittled while her 14-year-old brother Cliff was idolized. It was common knowledge in the town that Mika was really the daughter of a prominent Paiute elder who was on the council.

The story escalates when Mika sees the Water Babies at the stream, drawn by the sound of their crying. Mika intuitively understood that the children were all identical in appearance and actions. All were toddlers, pale, sickly, skeletal while, offset by dark eyes and hair. Mika suspected that she was hallucinating again, off her meds and under the influence of meth. She perceived herself as worthless white trailer trash. Jenny, Mika’s best friend, source of prescription pills and other illegal drugs, tells her that one of the boys (Howard Redhawk) had drowned the previous night. Jenny revealed her knowledge of the Water Babies which in turn enabled Mika to realize that she had not been hallucinating. She subsequently persuades Jenny to accompany her to the stream. Mika sees and hears a severely beaten and naked apparition that she recognizes as her abuser Uncle Jeff while Jenny is unable to see anything at the water.

Mika’s friends die horrible deaths right after one another, and the girls seek the counsel of Mika’s birth father Joshua who is a Shaman. He offers a modicum of insight into Mika’s dilemma, specifically possible reasons the Water Babies had permitted her to live after she had seen them.

Mika suffers the loss of everyone she holds dear to her heart in a gut-wrenching conclusion. The Water Babies punished her brother for not acting, and Mika for not surrendering. The description of the malevolent water fairies attacking and consuming their prey is horrific . Mika sinks beneath the surface in her lover’s arms.

The ending is very disturbing as well as sad. There is a plot twist at the very end that was both intriguing and surprising. Mika muses about her new shape shifting abilities and the fathers who remain alive in town. The Water Babies are not finished with Mika’s lineage. This was well written and presented a deft plot and certainly gory displays from our Water Babies I liked it quite a bit.

That’s how it goes here. Everybody dies a legend in shit towns like this.

SHORT HORROR WORK THAT BLENDS NATIVE AMERICAN SUPERSTITION, HORROR, AND YOUNG LOVE

[Mar Graham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a single likeable character, very little point, a lot of rape and gratuitous sex that is terribly written, tons of edgelord dialogue, and ZERO character consistency between paragraphs let alone chapters. This is the kind of writing quality I’d expect from a particularly angsty, edgy eighth grader who just started watching HBO and restricted movies. Feels like training wheels for the kind of person that grows up to supposedly love horror but interrupts any conversation on the genre with “but have you seen A Serbian Film?”

I wish I had spent the time doing something more productive, like rereading ‘Woom’—- and I hated ‘Woom’.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mika is a schizophrenic that is addicted to drugs and gets abused verbally and sexually by her father. When her friends start to all die around her she’s confused until she sees them! Those water babies! These spirits will draw you into the water and drown you. They will also shapeshift into your worst nightmares or fantasies to get you to come in. This story had me hooked from the very beginning, such a great pace and I loved the paranormal aspect/urban legend of the story.

[Ashley Hana · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 stars rounded up

Honestly super anticlimactic and bland. There's a lot of potential to the storyline, and the writing is good, but the storyline is honestly just not good. The writing being good is the only reason I'm giving it a rating this high.

[Sonora Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Intriguing little tale about demonic water babies in one of the most depressing small towns I've ever encountered in fiction.

[Christina Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a harrowing tale inspired by true events that involves folk and Native American legends. Mika is a teenager who does not quite belong either inside or outside the reservation. She has struggled to overcome past traumas while continuing to find herself in the process.

Teens start dying in the small town and whispers abound about a Native legend involving black-eyed babies crying in the river. The townsfolk must figure out how to appease these spirits or risk being lured to them.

Mika’s character was identifiable as a teenager feeling like an outcast. She, like most teens, are trying to discover who they are and where they come from. Her life is more complicated by experiences in her past which I will let you read and find out. I really liked the character development of Mika and her progression she makes in this story.

This was a short book and very easily can be read in a few hours. Go check this one out!

[Willard Lawson Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town
👶 👶 👶 👶/5

"What about Us? Who's gonna remember
US when we die?"
"I guess that depends on how we die."

When Wrath told me this book was very different from his other work he was not kidding!

While you will not find pages of eloquently worded scenes of vi0lence, vengeful torture or experiments gone absolutely astray in this book, what you will find is a truly emotion driven story that blurs the lines of reality...oh and creepy ass water babies!

From the atmospheric scenes that really made me feel like I was in that depressing little town, to parts that kicked me in the gut
(Yall...this book made me cry) I recommend this haunting little book if you are looking for a unique story that will pull at your heart strings.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written, with an original premise, interesting characters and full of atmosphere with strong "urban legend" vibes. Sometimes too depressing, other times darkly funny, often sensual, insightful, and a couple of times quite creepy. The lore is treated with great seriousness, the Native American aspect feels very realistic, and the struggle faced by the main character (Mika, a teenage girl) is given all the space it needs to develop into a silent match with the human condition instead of a series of scenes of self-flaggelation. Recommended!

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG, the trigger warnings for this book. Domestic violence , SA, incest, child abuse, suicide, mental health issues, racial slurs. along with underage sex, drugs, and alcohol. All these were done, in my opinion, with tasteless abandonment. It was like he said, "Let's see how much I can make people mad, but at the same time, tell some kind of story." Oh yes, of course he had to throw in LBGTQ+ for good measure. I got this from the author at a book convention. I have no desire to read another.

[Clariece · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this novella, it’s more of folk lore ghost story. I felt a lot for the main character and what she was going thru and you get to know her a lot even tho it’s a very short read! The water babies were very creepy and were a nice touch!

[CIK8A · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

Sadder and less gory than I anticipated.

It was a little like you put My Heart is a Chainsaw and Psychic Teenage Bloodbath in a blender. Not a bad thing by any means.

[Hal Bodner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other readers have already mentioned, one usually expects a lot more gore in a Wrath White novel that one can find in "Everyone Dies Famous..." For some, that's a plus but for, as for me, I generally prefer less gruesome fare. Thus, while I liked this book, I have the distinct feeling that I should have liked it better than I did.

The concept is definitely intriguing and White explores it with originality and literary aplomb. His prose is crisp and he's always able to create a marvelous sense of mood and atmosphere in a way that another layer over the story as a whole.

The problem for me with "Everyone Dies..." is this: every character in the book is so unattractive that I found myself hoping they would die and not to terribly upset when they did. White has placed his story in a fictional world which is not so far from a very ugly reality. Lower class and impoverished people comprise his cast and most of them are drug addicts, alcoholics, spousal/child abusers or suffering from mental illness. These are not to type of people one wants to have dinner with or, frankly, to spend much time with at all.

Though White manages to imbue many of his characters with some small saving quality, he cannot alter his choice to build a fascinating riff on Native American mythology around a group of fairly repulsive people.

My personal likes and issues aside, it cannot be denied that "Everyone Dies..." is a very powerful book at times. It harshly spares no one, saddling people who are already suffering from their existences, with the burden of an additional folkloric curse. The monsters are suitably creepy; those ghosts that appear have a definite eerie quality, and just deserts are brutally and appropriately served.

Wrath White's literary style is just as brutal and effective as the fates that meet his characters and shows a distinct influence from classic thrillers and pot-boilers. Fans of both the horror and thriller genres are sure to appreciate this book.

[James Meeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Wrath James White's style of extreme horror are in for a different kind of beast with this book. If you go into the novel expecting gruesome display's of ultra violence and cannibal sex, you may find yourself disappointed. But don't let that stop you from reading this excellent novel.

Instead of his usually gore we the reader are given a fantastic character driven study of insanity with a massive hint of the supernatural.

The main character Mika suffers from schizophrenia. She is the usually angst driven teen, one who would rather self medicate herself with street drugs then over the counter pharmaceuticals. Her insanity may be the main focus of the supernatural events, or perhaps it is deeper yearning to escape the tortures of her hallucinations, an unloving family and things her uncle did to her.

Or maybe the Paiute myths of the water babies has some substance?

There is a lot of emotion behind this novel, rape, drug abuse, lose, desperation, pain, with very little signs of hope. If you've every been a teen (or an adult who thinks) riddled by the questions of life, much of this novel will speak volumes to you. When reading this also realize much of this novel is based on true stories, events that happened to his wife and her best friend Missy.

I highly recommend this novel to all Wrath's fans who haven't yet read it. As usual, excellently written. Showing Wrath's atypical deeper side and he could easily write a best seller. But thankfully he must love his crazy fans and hasn't sold out. Track this sucker down it is worth every penny you'll spend to add it to your collection.