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Imp: a novella
"It's not a 'he', it's an it.
And I call it Imp."
Cal Thornton is struggling. After the film adaptation of his bestselling horror novel failed at the box office, his career has been on life support for ages, and he desperately needs a change of scenery...and maybe even a miracle.
When his publisher sends him to Graft Creek Lodge for a silent creative retreat, Cal is skeptical at first. Even when he meets aging painter Richard Avalon, who swears up and down that there's something special about Graft Creek. Something almost spiritual.
As the retreat commences and the silence settles, Cal begins to suspect that there is indeed something haunting the woods around Graft Creek Lodge.
But is it sacred, as Richard seems to think?
Or is it sinister?
***Imp is the perfect, bite-sized horror novella for a quick, mysterious read, set in the chilling atmosphere of a Pacific Northwest winter. Exclusive to Kindle Unlimited!
Download today! The muse awaits...🦋
And I call it Imp."
Cal Thornton is struggling. After the film adaptation of his bestselling horror novel failed at the box office, his career has been on life support for ages, and he desperately needs a change of scenery...and maybe even a miracle.
When his publisher sends him to Graft Creek Lodge for a silent creative retreat, Cal is skeptical at first. Even when he meets aging painter Richard Avalon, who swears up and down that there's something special about Graft Creek. Something almost spiritual.
As the retreat commences and the silence settles, Cal begins to suspect that there is indeed something haunting the woods around Graft Creek Lodge.
But is it sacred, as Richard seems to think?
Or is it sinister?
***Imp is the perfect, bite-sized horror novella for a quick, mysterious read, set in the chilling atmosphere of a Pacific Northwest winter. Exclusive to Kindle Unlimited!
Download today! The muse awaits...🦋
73 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 15, 2025
6 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
S.E. Reid
8 books19 followersS.E. Reid is a freelance writer, editor, and poet living on a patch of wooded wetland in the Pacific Northwest with her craftsman husband and her two big goofball dogs, Finn and Huck. She loves to hear and tell stories about nature, history, ghosts, and God, and when not writing she can be found cooking nourishing food, reading widely, and tending to her vegetable garden.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 29, 2025
We all love a great book, but there are times when a story just cuts a little deeper than most. That is the experience I had with Imp by S.E. Reid. I absolutely devoured this book, which at 73 pages, wastes zero words on filler and fluff. It is beautiful and got under my skin right from the opening paragraph.
Imp tells the story of Cal Thornton, a writer struggling to find his words after an awful movie adaptation of a successful horror novel derailed his career. He heads to a retreat called Graft Creek in hopes of finding his muse and rediscovering the words that made him such a hit in the past.
While at the retreat, Cal meets an aging painter who has been a regular at the retreat for years. The moments where these two characters sit and talk absolutely bristle with an undercurrent of tension that you can feel sizzling between the lines. The writing is astonishingly good, and you also get little reveals about the “magic” of Graft Creek.
As a writer, I have experienced the feelings of failure and hopelessness experienced by the main character, which helped make the story feel all the more real. If you are looking for violence and gore, you are going to be disappointed, but if it’s a beautifully written tale that worms it way inside and males you feel uncomfortable, then you need to get your hands on Imp. I can guarantee that many of you will get through it in a single sitting.
5 Stars out of 5
Imp tells the story of Cal Thornton, a writer struggling to find his words after an awful movie adaptation of a successful horror novel derailed his career. He heads to a retreat called Graft Creek in hopes of finding his muse and rediscovering the words that made him such a hit in the past.
While at the retreat, Cal meets an aging painter who has been a regular at the retreat for years. The moments where these two characters sit and talk absolutely bristle with an undercurrent of tension that you can feel sizzling between the lines. The writing is astonishingly good, and you also get little reveals about the “magic” of Graft Creek.
As a writer, I have experienced the feelings of failure and hopelessness experienced by the main character, which helped make the story feel all the more real. If you are looking for violence and gore, you are going to be disappointed, but if it’s a beautifully written tale that worms it way inside and males you feel uncomfortable, then you need to get your hands on Imp. I can guarantee that many of you will get through it in a single sitting.
5 Stars out of 5
December 19, 2025
LOVED this short! I could feel Cal’s stress, the cold weather, the weird interaction between him and the Lodge (both the people and environment). I’m a “creative type”, and the desire to just go somewhere to sequester yourself to get things done is SO appealing! Imp plays that all the way out by showing what it looks like to be completely immersed in your craft - for good and bad - and what you’d do in that situation. Fun tale! (I found S. E. Reid on Substack awhile ago, and am looking forward to more from all of the Talebones writers on and off Substack!)
December 19, 2025
I had no idea what to expect going into this, but it hooked me immediately. There are such eerie vibes throughout the whole story and leaves you wondering what’s going to go wrong. Loved the ending and yet also never wanted it to end.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews