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Relict
Four leisure travelers boat their way to Palmer Atoll, deep in the inky heart of the Pacific Ocean, hell and gone from anywhere, not guessing that they have stumbled upon the lair of something ancient and terrible. It watches them from the tropical waters, a lurking evil with an endless appetite: a monstrous, many-armed thing, a species of a bygone age with a golden gaze. Set in an exotic, remote island purgatory-paradise, "Relict" is a hybrid horror novella that grips you tightly in its clutches and won't let you go.
102 pages, Paperback
First published March 16, 2013
About the author
D.T. Neal
18 books37 followersBorn in Missouri, growing up in Ohio, living for decades in Chicago, and now residing in Pittsburgh, D. T. Neal has always written fiction, but only got really serious about it in the late 90s. He brings a strong Rust Belt perspective to his writing, a kind of "Northern Gothic" aesthetic reflective of his background.
Writing his first novel at 29, he then devoted time to his craft and worked on short stories, occupying a space between genre and literary fiction, with an emphasis on horror, science fiction, and fantasy. He has seen some of his short stories published in “Albedo 1,” Ireland's premier magazine of speculative fiction, and he won second place in their Aeon Award in 2008 for his short story, “Aegis.” He has lived in Chicago since 1993, and is a passionate fan of music, a student of pop culture, an avid photographer and bicycler, and enjoys cooking.
He has published numerous novels, SAAMAANTHAA, THE HAPPENING, and NORM—collectively known as The Wolfshadow Trilogy—CHOSEN, SUCKAGE, and the cosmic folk horror-comedy thriller, THE CURSED EARTH.
He has also published the superhero thriller novel, BRIGHTEYES and the short story collections, THE THING IN YELLOW and SINGULARITIES.
Additionally, he has published three eco horror novellas—“Relict,” “Summerville,” and “The Day of the Nightfish.”
AWARDS:
• 2008 Aeon Award, Second Place for “Aegis”
• 2009 Honorable Mention, “Best Horror of the Year,” edited by Ellen Datlow for “Aegis” and “Rotgut.”
• Runner-up, 2013 Best New Novel by a Chicagoan, Chicago Reader, for “Suckage”
• Shortlisted for the 2012 Aeon Award for “Day of the Nightfish.”
Writing his first novel at 29, he then devoted time to his craft and worked on short stories, occupying a space between genre and literary fiction, with an emphasis on horror, science fiction, and fantasy. He has seen some of his short stories published in “Albedo 1,” Ireland's premier magazine of speculative fiction, and he won second place in their Aeon Award in 2008 for his short story, “Aegis.” He has lived in Chicago since 1993, and is a passionate fan of music, a student of pop culture, an avid photographer and bicycler, and enjoys cooking.
He has published numerous novels, SAAMAANTHAA, THE HAPPENING, and NORM—collectively known as The Wolfshadow Trilogy—CHOSEN, SUCKAGE, and the cosmic folk horror-comedy thriller, THE CURSED EARTH.
He has also published the superhero thriller novel, BRIGHTEYES and the short story collections, THE THING IN YELLOW and SINGULARITIES.
Additionally, he has published three eco horror novellas—“Relict,” “Summerville,” and “The Day of the Nightfish.”
AWARDS:
• 2008 Aeon Award, Second Place for “Aegis”
• 2009 Honorable Mention, “Best Horror of the Year,” edited by Ellen Datlow for “Aegis” and “Rotgut.”
• Runner-up, 2013 Best New Novel by a Chicagoan, Chicago Reader, for “Suckage”
• Shortlisted for the 2012 Aeon Award for “Day of the Nightfish.”
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 15, 2024
Danger! Keep Off!...
RELICT by D.T. Neal
No spoilers. 5 stars. Good, adventurous seafaring horror stories are my favorite kind of horror stories, and this is a good one! See what you think...
The pleasure craft AFFINITY cruised into the lagoon of Palmer Atoll under overcast skies with rainclouds looming...
Two men and two women were aboard for the vessel's maiden voyage...
The atoll...
... was surrounded by tricky reefs and bad currents; the lighter blue of the shallows was filled with coral and fish. It was beautiful and haunting...
A rusted metal sign read:
Danger! Keep Off!...
It was interesting that the lagoon was as deep and dark as the ocean around it, and it was frightening that the atoll was...
In the middle of nowhere...
... surrounded by the deepest, darkest sea and endless sky. The lagoon was as dark as ink. It looked like death...
Going ashore...
The party found a journal stashed out of the weather that told the story of a dangerous kraken living and hunting in the depths of the cove...
It was a bad place...
This novella satisfied my constant craving for a good seafaring horror story; the kind of story you might tell around a bonfire on the beach.
Give it a try. You can almost feel the sun beating down on the deck of the ship and the seaspray on your face.
Recommended as a one-sitting choice for Halloween night
RELICT by D.T. Neal
No spoilers. 5 stars. Good, adventurous seafaring horror stories are my favorite kind of horror stories, and this is a good one! See what you think...
The pleasure craft AFFINITY cruised into the lagoon of Palmer Atoll under overcast skies with rainclouds looming...
Two men and two women were aboard for the vessel's maiden voyage...
The atoll...
... was surrounded by tricky reefs and bad currents; the lighter blue of the shallows was filled with coral and fish. It was beautiful and haunting...
A rusted metal sign read:
Danger! Keep Off!...
It was interesting that the lagoon was as deep and dark as the ocean around it, and it was frightening that the atoll was...
In the middle of nowhere...
... surrounded by the deepest, darkest sea and endless sky. The lagoon was as dark as ink. It looked like death...
Going ashore...
The party found a journal stashed out of the weather that told the story of a dangerous kraken living and hunting in the depths of the cove...
It was a bad place...
This novella satisfied my constant craving for a good seafaring horror story; the kind of story you might tell around a bonfire on the beach.
Give it a try. You can almost feel the sun beating down on the deck of the ship and the seaspray on your face.
Recommended as a one-sitting choice for Halloween night
April 25, 2022
It’s short, fast, furious and awesome. It reads like a Hollywood blockbuster and features the Kraken, my favorite fictional monster. Easy recommendation.
May 23, 2022
“When did you first discover this place?” John asked. “Just recently,” Sebastian said. “It’s not on most charts. A friend of mine told me about it. Told me to stay the hell away from it, in fact. Said it was a bad place.” “A bad place?” Paige asked. Sebastian nodded.
A solid aquatic horror creature-feature novella with strong The Ruins vibes mixed with classic Tentacles (1977) flick ones.
“What’s wrong, Paige?” he asked. “I don’t like this place,” she said. “It’s just off.” She couldn’t put her finger on it, either. It was just wrong. Meg looked up from her picnic preparations, and Sebastian smiled. “People sometimes get disturbed by little islands,” Sebastian said. “It happens.” “No,” Paige said. “There’s just something wrong here. Something is not right about this place. Can’t you feel it?”
Such a shame the monster was spoiled by cover art and synopsis, the giant crabs parts would have been a nice red herring otherwise.
Then Paige looked up and saw a long, thick, snakelike thing slip out of the water and snatch up the coconut crab, coil around it, and yank the crustacean into the water with barely a splash. It was greenish-black in color, smooth and horrible and dreadfully long, like a mass of tubing, like a flexible tree or pipe. She gasped, jumped to her feet, pointing, words failing her.
I would have liked a few fleshing more about Paige and the rest of the supporting cast of doomed characters but, besides that, this was a thrilling and entertaining read for me and the ending was just a perfect one too.
She imagined piles of crab carcasses, empty shells sucked clean, piled beneath the crystalline water, and skulls and bones of countless victims of the thing, carefully arranged. An octopus’s garden in the bottom of the lagoon, an oceanic ossuary placed there by that thing. The ocean was a giant graveyard, Paige thought, full of all the things that had died within its depths.
‘Nuff said.
November 10, 2013
Like the legend of the Kraken? Just finished RELICT, a short story (.99c) by D.T.Neal.
Here's my Review - So horrifying, and yet so plausible. As an author who has written a book about a giant sea creature, I take my hat off to Neal - this guy takes us all to school in showing what it would be like to be trapped somewhere remote by something with a monstrous size, appetite and intelligence. Great work - now to see what else he's got!
Here's my Review - So horrifying, and yet so plausible. As an author who has written a book about a giant sea creature, I take my hat off to Neal - this guy takes us all to school in showing what it would be like to be trapped somewhere remote by something with a monstrous size, appetite and intelligence. Great work - now to see what else he's got!
February 3, 2022
A battle on the atoll!
Great and fast read! A woman and her companions battle a horror lurking in a black lagoon. A lot was crammed into such a short read, and Neal pulled me right inside his head with descriptions and the terror felt by the victims. Loved the monster, and the ending was perfect. Fantastic read!
Great and fast read! A woman and her companions battle a horror lurking in a black lagoon. A lot was crammed into such a short read, and Neal pulled me right inside his head with descriptions and the terror felt by the victims. Loved the monster, and the ending was perfect. Fantastic read!
August 8, 2021
Survival & Ocean Horror combined, this little novella certainly quenched my thirst. This is the type of horror i love! Being stranded somewhere, with some kind of monstrosity hunting you down! MORE, PLEASE!!!!
May 8, 2020
I finished this one day into my beach vacation, so I think it'll be sticking with me, at least until I head back into the city.
Definitely a fun novella!
Definitely a fun novella!
July 29, 2022
Great short story
Good story with some quick character development.
Great monster, and a good ending.
As a short story, I found it better than most of the same genre.
Good story with some quick character development.
Great monster, and a good ending.
As a short story, I found it better than most of the same genre.
June 4, 2022
Since Jaws, the concept of “aquatic horror” has kind of just turned into a bunch of Jaws ripoffs with different kinds of monsters. This is fine. I love every single one of those books or movies where the Mayor won’t listen to whoever and shut down wherever because there’s some great big old shindig coming up that’s good for the towns economy. D.T. Neal’s Relict is a breathe of fresh air in the genre. You won’t find annoying mayors or bad fishing puns. Instead this book is filled with the kind of quiet approach to horror usually reserved for folk horror. Neal sets up everything early on, and the rest is an exercise in slowly raising the tension higher and higher like you’ve caught a big something or other on your fishing pole; I said his book didn’t have bad fishing jokes, that doesn’t apply to my review. It always seems that creating a logical aquatic threat to a land based human is always a bit of a stretch in most situations as well, to quote David Hasselhoff from his award winning role in Piranha 3-d, “Just literally get out of the water. That’s all you have to do.” Neal has made the Hoff’s brain power completely irrelevant here. Relict is a quiet breeze through an ocean usually only filled with loud, chaotic, and explosive thunderstorms. Hey, that was a decent little line there! K thx.
April 3, 2013
This novella kept me sucked in from beginning to end. It starts out with 2 couples deciding to explore an atoll in the Pacific Ocean where they quickly discover a giant octopus stalking them and waiting for it's chance to capture each and everyone of them. Of course, none of them want to succumb to the kraken, but Paige, in particular, has decided not to go down without a fight. She pulls every resource and bit of strength she can to finally escape from this deadly creature. But is she successful?
Before reading this story of D.T. Neal's, I was none too keen on swimming in the ocean in the ocean, but now I will be hard pressed to even walk along the shore and dip my toes in the water! Great description, suspense and horrifying story telling.
Before reading this story of D.T. Neal's, I was none too keen on swimming in the ocean in the ocean, but now I will be hard pressed to even walk along the shore and dip my toes in the water! Great description, suspense and horrifying story telling.
May 1, 2013
I don't normally read novellas, but I dug the title and was intrigued enough to pick this one up. Having read and enjoyed Neal's novels, I wanted to see what he'd do with a shorter format, and wasn't disappointed -- this short (102 page) tale is rich with dread and intrigue. I'm not going to spoil anything by saying that, yes, there is something with tentacles in the story (what's with Neal and tentacles? Anybody who's read "Chosen" can't get that image out of their head). Anyway, it's a nice little work, richly imagined, with that telltale evocatively spare style of writing he has -- Neal paints stark prose portraits with a steady hand, conjuring up horror that is both funny, cool, and ghastly. I enjoyed this dip into tropical waters, and can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
July 12, 2024
I waited too long to write this review and can't remember what I was going to say. So, I'll just say I'm a big fan of underwater creature features, so I enjoyed this book. I will definitely be checking out more from D.T. Neal.
June 2, 2020
'Then Paige looked up and saw a long, thick, snake-like thing slip out of the water and snatch up the coconut crab, coil around it, and yank the crustacean into the water with barely a splash.'
.
.
Four amateur adventurers travel to a remote insignificant dot of an Atoll deep in the Pacific Ocean. What starts out as a pleasure trip soon takes a dark turn as the foursome soon realise that theyre not alone and that something is staking them beneath the waves. Stranded with little chance of rescue, they've got to embrace the survivor instinct to make it out alive.
.
.
Relict by D.T. Neal is a full blown creature feature. Focusing mainly on the unknown, giving brief glimpses to the creature stalking just below the surface. Very similar to Jaws where your imagination does the majority of the damage with Neal pushing you in the right direction.
.
.
The second novella of Neal's that ive read. And once again it is a fast paced, anxiety enducing read. I wasnt a big fan of deep, open water before but the chances of me taking a leisure cruise now are extremely slim, in fact there's not a heard of wild horses that could usher me on a boat.
.
.
Novellas are great and Neal is definately a master of the craft. Anyone who likes the creature feature horror genre will lap this up. Its completely worth the heart murmors.
.
.
Cover art is again FABULOUS!
.
.
Four amateur adventurers travel to a remote insignificant dot of an Atoll deep in the Pacific Ocean. What starts out as a pleasure trip soon takes a dark turn as the foursome soon realise that theyre not alone and that something is staking them beneath the waves. Stranded with little chance of rescue, they've got to embrace the survivor instinct to make it out alive.
.
.
Relict by D.T. Neal is a full blown creature feature. Focusing mainly on the unknown, giving brief glimpses to the creature stalking just below the surface. Very similar to Jaws where your imagination does the majority of the damage with Neal pushing you in the right direction.
.
.
The second novella of Neal's that ive read. And once again it is a fast paced, anxiety enducing read. I wasnt a big fan of deep, open water before but the chances of me taking a leisure cruise now are extremely slim, in fact there's not a heard of wild horses that could usher me on a boat.
.
.
Novellas are great and Neal is definately a master of the craft. Anyone who likes the creature feature horror genre will lap this up. Its completely worth the heart murmors.
.
.
Cover art is again FABULOUS!
April 15, 2018
Short sweet and satisfying. Took me about an hour to read the novella and it was satisfying.
July 14, 2019
3.75 stars
October 21, 2023
4.5 it was so much fun to read. Good horror novella, I recommend. It just does its job
November 18, 2023
"She didn´t know this for sure, but felt it was about as good an answer as any. Why wouldn't a monstrous octopus want to play? Who knew how many times this thing had played this kind of game with visitors to the atoll? If it had seen this played out enough times, it likely understood that the tiny people seemed to really want to get to their big floating shelters.
Paige wondered how old the kraken was, how long it had lived alone, or whether there were any others, whether it was male of female."
Paige wondered how old the kraken was, how long it had lived alone, or whether there were any others, whether it was male of female."
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews