The Lost Coast: A Homecoming Serial

by Eli Horowitz, John Brandon

The Lost Coast is a six-part novella, written to accompany the six episodes of the second season of Homecoming, an audio series starring Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer, and Oscar Isaac.

The two works are designed to be read in alternating installments - Episode One of the podcast, then Chapter One of the book, then Episode Two, and so on - but other sequences are probably fine too.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Thriller

240 pages, ebook

Published July 19, 2017

About the author

Eli Horowitz is the co-creator of The Silent History, a digital novel; The Clock Without a Face, a treasure-hunt mystery; and Everything You Know Is Pong, an illustrated cultural history of table tennis. He was the managing editor and then publisher of McSweeney’s; his design work has been honored by I.D., Print and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Previously, he wrote science trivia questions based on popular films of the 1990s and was briefly employed as an apprentice carpenter. He was born in Virginia and now lives in Northern California.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent companion to the podcast!

[meliss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool compliment to the Homecoming Podcast. I liked the two parallel stories - one in print and one audio and how they fit together. Nice concept.

[Suki_Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the
Podcast, Homecoming and great to read this along with it. Really takes story to a new level.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a novel reading and listening experience to read a companion ebook serial as an expansion of the Homecoming podcast. While the ebook serial can be read alternating with the podcast episodes or all at once, my ebook reading sequence was behind my podcast listening. By the time I downloaded and finished the chapters, I had only two podcast episodes left to go before the end of the season. So, I read the ebook serial in chunks with 1-4 in early September and then 5-6 in late September. Although I missed following the proper sequence as the podcast episodes and ebook serials were released, I enjoyed the added depth with Walter's perspective of the story. It was definitely something I'd like to experience again and see more of in podcast storytelling.

[Gina Beach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following the secret life of Walter Cruz once he is discharged from the Homecoming Initiative, this 6 part novella is available free on iBooks through Oct. 2017. Before you read listen to the first season of Gimlet Media's fictional drama Homecoming, available free from iTunes or anywhere else you can download podcasts. Well written and totally new information not covered in the audio companion, A Homecoming Serial is well worth the read. Each installment is around 35 pages. There are no female characters to speak of and outside of the tangential mention of tamales, Cruz' Latino heritage is not mentioned.

[Helene Barmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first season of Homecoming and it might be my favorite podcast experience so far. When season 2 came out I was excited to find this novel accompanying the podcast episodes. I love the concept of an audio podcast and literary chapter to go along with them but I think that in this case the novel didn't feel close enough to the podcast story. Instead of making the total better, I feel like the two canceled each other out in a way and I didn't get as much out of either storyline as I'd hoped. But I still applaud the effort and the idea and hope for more seasons of Homecoming or similar podcasts.

[Lori Puma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I applaud Gimlet for continuing to experiment. I found this novella just ok. The audio story on the podcast was so riveting. I just didn't feel the same kind of excitement with this book. The podcast was definitely the primary narrative and the book's narrative seemed somewhat tangential. It seems like the novella might have been an add-on and not something originally planned. If there's another fiction Gimlet show that tries to do the same thing, I'd be willing to give them a second chance, but I don't feel like this is required reading for Homecoming fans.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of meh. I feel sort of meh about Homecoming as a whole, although I know it's been a big hit. The pseudo fight club he man's thing going on in this section is kind of yawn worthy. I don't like the push of the weird romantic longing between Walter and Heidi at the end. Meh. There are some real pretty sentences in here and the descriptive language is very good, although sometimes I feel like the author is trying really hard to derive meaning from things that ultimately aren't all that meaningful. Nice melancholy atmosphere though.

[Tina Bounds · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars -
This novel released in a series of 6 chapters to accompany the 2nd season of the Homecoming podcast. It follows the story of Walter Cruz after Homecoming. Fills in what he's doing while Heidi and everyone is looking for him. I didn't love the 2nd season as much as the first and although this was a good way to pull things together I wish there had been more to it.

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would probably enjoy this as a stand-alone novella, but as an accompaniment to the Podcast ‘Homecoming’ it didn’t quite match-up. I wanted to explore the themes of the Podcast further and don’t think this quite did that. I do see potential for this to be used as a TESOL resource or similar.

[Tracey Mcd · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really doesn't work in isolation because you need the history to understand Walter. Great idea to create 'his story' as a separate piece to the podcast.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great companion to the podcast. I love the idea of dueling perspectives. It allows for more depth to the story.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting multimedia experience, listening to the Homecoming podcast and then this story that augments it, chapter by chapter.

[Trisha Kingsbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

The podcast is completely addictive. The book was okay. Not sure it added that much.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun experience to read a book alongside listening to a podcast. The parallel stories complimented each other nicely.

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent serial that acted as a thoughtful and unique companion piece to Season 2 of Homecoming, a narrative podcast by Gimlet Media starring Katherine Keener, Amy Sedaris, and David Schwimmer at his creepy best.

I can't tell you to just read it, because you have to read it while listening to Season 2 of Homecoming. And you can't understand Season 2 without listening to Season 1. Thankfully, both seasons are free and available for you to listen to, and even if you want to dump Uncle Stephen's advice and dive in while ignoring the radio component, that's fine. It's still a good read, but you'll be missing a lot of context.

https://gimletmedia.com/show/homecomi...

Enjoy.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the Homecoming podcast, you should def check this out.

Well-written, engaging, a nice look a little further into the Homecoming world. The stories here undergird the season 2 podcast while not covering exactly the same events.

Well done!