Skilled scribe Eric Butler discusses how two harrowing horror stories, The Rest Stop and There’s Something in the Water, draw on legend and lore to take you with his characters right to death’s door.
The Rest Stop
The author of The Pope Lick Massacre and Donn, TX returns with a grindhouse tale in the vein of TCM and House of 1000 Corpses.
At a rest stop with a reputation for abandoned cars in the middle of nowhere, a family’s journey to their new home turns into a tale of terror.
Sometimes it’s better to keep driving, no matter how tired you are.
There’s Something in the Water (Expanded Edition)
All Kurt Reedy needed for his lakeside development project to go through was the land owned by Chuck Miller. The only problem was Miller refused to sell his family’s legacy. In the past, Reedy may have resorted to violence to get his way, but he was a legit businessman now.
Running out of time, he is forced to think outside the box. In his haste, he doesn’t do the proper research, and now there’s something in the water.
Something territorial.
Something hungry.
The Interview
1. Perspectives on Death. In both The Rest Stop and There’s Something in the Water, you tell your tales from limited third person perspectives, switching from one character’s point of view to another to build your stories and their worlds. Why did you choose this approach, and what do readers gain from it? Your use of this perspective differs from most because you have a tendency, a little in Rest Stop and a lot in Something in the Water, to follow a character’s perspective right up until the moment of death, which provides a section or chapter break. What’s attractive about narrating up to that limit? How do you think readers respond when they hit the storytelling wall of a character’s death?
EB: I wish I had some clever reason for writing my stories like that, but honestly, I just enjoy structuring my stories that way. I want the readers to see who the characters are, or at least how they perceive themselves. It also allows me to control the information, doling it out in a way that feels more natural to me. We rarely have the full picture in real life, and I like to mirror that in my writing.
I enjoy taking the reader through the entire experience of a character and often that will include their death. Usually, the reader’s reaction is decided by the character. If it’s one the reader hates, they enjoy it, but if it’s one they loved or connected with, then I do get DMs or reviews dog cussin’ me. Those are my favorite.
2. Travelers Beware. A major setting in The Rest Stop is, unsurprisingly, a rest stop, and a major setting in There’s Something in the Water is a lakeside cabin resort, both places public, neither place intrinsically horrific… how do you turn these locations into bad, scary places? Both places are associated with travel. You seem to be tapping a well of travel horror—where does the horror of travel come from? How do you feel about rest stops and tourist traps—do you share the fears you’re tapping? The description (above) of Rest Stop says, “Sometimes it’s better to keep driving.” Might a better warning be, “Sometimes it’s better to stay put?” Why or why not?
EB: I firmly believe everything is horror, so I don’t have any trouble taking a place or event and finding the horror within. I traveled a ton as a kid, moving a lot since my father and stepfather were both in the Army. Because I’d been to so many places (in and out of the States) in my youth, when I became an adult, I discovered I preferred to stay home. Which sucks for my wife because she is a big fan of travel.
The idea for Rest Stop came from traveling to and from my first major convention, Scares that Care in VA. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to drive there and back from Texas. On the way, I took a nap at a rest stop. When I woke up, I realized how isolated this particular place was, and I was amazed I hadn’t been murdered. That was the planting of the seed moment. The full idea didn’t come to fruition until the drive after the event. Because I left later, when I stopped to rest this time, it was very late. As I walked up the stairs to check out the vending machine, the complete story clicked into place.
To answer the last part of the question. I wouldn’t say it is better to stay put or hit the road. Like I said, everything is horror, which means it can happen wherever you might be.
3. Folklore I: Urban(ish) Legends. The titular Rest Stop is isolated, not urban, but I feel like you had a hand up making your rest stop creepy because people disappearing, being abducted and/or murdered, in rest stops—like in mall parking lots or anywhere good for making out—is the stuff of urban legend, whether or not it actually happens (and I’m sure it does). Were you consciously drawing on the rest stop as a place of modern folkloric significance when you put together The Rest Stop? What might make a scary story about a rest stop particularly good for telling (or reading) around the campfire? A gruesome turn in the plot suggests another urban legend—I won’t say which one, lest I be a spoiler—and the description of the book I borrowed from Amazon suggests a comparison to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which frames itself as a true story (and is based distantly on the perverse behavior of murderer Ed Gein). Might your book’s proximity to urban legends give it an aura of “truth” like TCM’s claim to truth? Why or why not?
EB: I’m a sucker for a good myth or legend. I like to take aspects of them and put them in a place where they feel out of place and yet still somehow fit. I think taking something folks might be a bit familiar with and twisting it gives the reader a chance to connect with the story quicker but still allows for them to be surprised by what happens.
I think any story told well that plays on people’s imaginations and fears would work around the campfire.
When I wrote Rest Stop, I was going for that gritty feel you see with old school grindhouse horror. I compare it to TCM and House of a 1000 Corpses so people know going in what I was trying to capture.
4. Inescapable Trauma. One of The Rest Stop’s lead characters, Kylie, has a history of trauma related to being on the road, and her traumatic experiences in the story bring the earlier trauma back to her in vivid and compromising ways. Why did you give Kylie this traumatic past? What does it add to the horror of the story in the present? Post-traumatic stress disorder often involves experiences similar to repeating the original trauma in some way. A very dark dimension of your story, from my perspective, anyway, suggests that Kylie is doomed to suffer repetition of her older trauma not only psychologically but also physically—and in ways that get worse and worse. Did you consciously create this sense of doom associated with her past? If so, why? What does Kylie’s overall experience with trauma suggest about trauma in general—is it inescapable? Are we doomed to keep suffering injuries like those from our pasts?
EB: This is a fantastic question that makes me feel smarter and dumber at the same time. Honestly, I didn’t think about trauma in that way while writing Kylie. It simply was an aspect of her character. It’s possible I saw all those possibilities with her trauma subconsciously, but more than likely, it was a happy accident. Initially, I didn’t think it would work as well if I said she didn’t want to or didn’t like to drive. I needed there to be a reason she couldn’t drive. It also gives the reader a peek into this family. They know there’s something under the surface, something that may or may not shape the narrative as the story moves forward.
To answer your last question, yes. We are doomed to repeat our past if we aren’t willing to get the help needed to understand it and overcome it.
5. Humiliation and Dehumanization. In The Rest Stop, when female characters are taken prisoner, they are treated like animals. A male character pets one of them, calls her pretty, and eventually spanks her, making her “holler in surprised indignation.” Although the women’s captors have many goals for their captives, why do their goals include humiliation and dehumanization? What does your emphasis on humiliation and dehumanization add to the representation of physical torture that’s more common in “grindhouse” horror? Would the moments of humiliation and dehumanization play differently if the captives were men? If so, what would the major differences be? If not, why do you think they’d more or less work the same way?
EB: Well, these aren’t the greatest of people. They’re doing terrible things to the folks they take at the Rest Stop. They don’t see them as people; they see them as a means to an end. Broadly, I think humiliation and dehumanization are very useful tools in breaking a person’s spirit and will. Specifically in this story, I think they enjoy the humiliation of their captives for no other reason than it’s fun. You may argue that they dehumanize the women because it helps make it easier to do what they want to them, but you can also plainly see that some of the characters revel in it.
I find psychological damage to be just as, if not more, powerful than the physical torture the captives are put through. All of it is used to strip away their humanity, which in turn makes them easier to control and manipulate.
I think overall it’s the same, no matter the sex of the victim. Men and women may handle it differently, or react differently, but in the end, these tactics, done long enough, will wear a person down.
6. Folklore II: Special Monsters. There’s Something in the Water at least hints at modern folklore with the subtitle “An Extreme Cryptid Tale” on the cover. What makes your story’s creature a “cryptid?” What makes it extreme? One interesting dimension of cryptid lore is that its devotees often develop affection for the creatures: Nessie, Bigfoot, the Pope Lick Monster. What’s your interest in cryptids, and do you think there’s potential in this book’s cryptid for affection? Why or why not? What makes your new cryptid memorable?
EB: As I stated earlier, I’m a big fan of finding interesting myths and legends and crafting them into my stories. One way I do this is with cryptids. The creature in There’s Something in the Water is based on an Irish Cryptid. The Dobhar-Chu, which translates to water dog or water hound, is a giant otter-like creature with the head of a wolf.
By Bango Art at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16848874
Many often see or hear the word “extreme” and think it’s gross-out horror or violence for the sake of violence, and while I don’t shy away from extreme as a descriptive, I use the term to let the reader know there are elements within my stories they may find uncomfortable.
I love creatures and cryptids and will look for any opportunity to get them into my stories. I have two Pope Lick Monster (Goatman) novels out already, with a third hopefully out this year. I just finished a project I can’t discuss in detail, but it centers around a well-known monster.
The creatures in There’s Something in the Water are just big dogs, so I‘m sure some folks can easily love them. I think they’re memorable because of the many different fears they allow the reader to tap into: animal attacks, water, and the unknown, to name a few.
7. Other Monsters. As the description (above) indicates, Kurt Reedy is the character who gives There’s Something in the Water, really a story about an ensemble of characters, the most unity, but for me he doesn’t even rise to the level of anti-hero: he’s just a villain who does horrible things hoping for profit. Do you think he represents entrepreneurial evil? Why or why not? You introduce several other characters I think of as human monsters. Do you think the inhuman ones look good by comparison to some of your humans? Why or why not? Among the human monsters are Darlene and Gage, who seem mostly separate from the interlacing intrigues that connect the other characters, monstrous or not. What does including them add to your story’s broader picture of monstrosity?
EB: Kurt Reedy is 100% a villain. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants. I guess he represents entrepreneurial evil, in that he is both an entrepreneur and evil, but I don’t in any way think entrepreneurs as a whole are evil. In this case, he is a big fish in a small pond, but in no way is he the only danger present.
I wanted a hodgepodge of different bad guys peppered throughout the story. It’s a perfect storm of evil activity. You might argue the inhuman monsters in this story are better when compared to the human ones I’ve introduced, for no other reason than free will. The humans have made choices to become the monsters they are at this point. The Dobhar-Chu are simply existing.
8. Expanding. Since I read the Expanded Edition of There’s Something in the Water in one sitting, I have trouble imagining Part One, originally published solo, without Part Two. The intro says you “always wanted to go back” to the tale you’d started. Did you have ideas for Part Two while writing Part One? Either way, how did what I see as the story’s natural extension and conclusion develop? How might it be different if you’d written it all at once? I could imagine the story going even further… any chance for a Part Three? For that matter, The Rest Stop could continue… any thoughts?
EB: I had a very loose idea for a sequel after completing part one in 2023. When I sat down to start part two, I thought it would be fun to let the chaos introduced in the first part kind of spin out of control. I wanted to take the creature feature aspect of part 1 and kind of mirror it with the human monsters introduced. When I finished the rough draft of part two, I realized if folks didn’t read them back-to-back or if it was a case of people reading part one when it came out and then a year+ later, reading part two, the story would lose some of its punch.
I always make notes and leave a way for me to revisit my stories. I like to have a complete tale so readers don’t feel ripped off, but that doesn’t mean I can’t also make them part of a series. So yes, there’s always a chance I come back for part three. My favorite thing to write are creatures/cryptids, so I’m always looking for a way to revisit them.
I will be doing more Rest Stop stories in the future. I’m looking at a loose sequel and a prequel.
9. Fitting? Although I’ve pointed out commonalities, The Rest Stop and There’s Something in the Water are fairly different from one another. Using terms I’ve already borrowed from the stories’ accompaniment, Rest Stop is “grindhouse,” a tale of human depravity, and Something in the Water is “extreme cryptid,” or perhaps a creature feature. How much, if at all, do genre and subgenre factor into your inspiration and planning for your stories? What are other examples of places you’ve visited on the horror (or dark fiction) map? Do you tend to the extreme? How would you primarily like readers to think of you? What’s next?
EB: Like I said earlier, everything is horror. I don’t really focus on a subgenre when I’m coming up with ideas. I think if you try to force some aspect of storytelling, you end up doing a disservice to yourself and the reader.
I do tend to lean into extreme elements, but the most important thing is writing a good story. I don’t have a list of gross or extreme items that I try to shoehorn a story around. I tell a story, and if it happens to become extreme then that’s what the story required. Furthermore, everyone’s idea of extreme is different, so I may not go hard enough for some, and I may cross a line for others. It’s all subjective.
I’ve done some creature/cryptid/urban legends stuff (The Goatman in Pope Lick Massacre and Silly Rabbits, There’s Something in the Water, Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny, The Surrogate, Rest Stop), a Splatterwestern (To Stare Death in the Eyes), cursed town/supernatural/cult/ (Donn, TX series), a Victorian Cthulhu-Sherlock Holmesesque mashup (The Sins of the Past), and supernatural slasher/vacation horror (The Shadow Within).
10. Access! How can readers learn more about you and your works (please provide any links you want to share)?
EB: I’m most active on Facebook, but I’m also on Bluesky, Twitter, and TikTok. Author D.A. Latham and I do a Youtube show (What’s in the Box? Horror) where we discuss classic horror movies and books and how they pave the way for today’s horror.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eric.Butler.Author
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ericbutlerauthor.bsky.social
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatsinthebox-episodesofho5905
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericbutlerauthor
Linktree : https://linktr.ee/EricButlerAuthor
About the Author
Eric Butler does the daily bidding of three huskies but somehow finds time to write horror fiction. With a twenty-year marriage and a grown son by his side, he won’t be running out of material any time soon. His works include The Pope Lick Massacre, The Rest Stop, and The Shadow Within, and his stories can be found in countless anthologies. Eric and his family call North Richland Hills, Texas their home.