The Ocean Hugs Hard, my folk horror/cosmic horror/sunshine noir novel about lost innocence, conspiracies, and tentacles, is out now! This is the book I’ve been working on since 2020, and it’s finally in print (or eBook if you prefer that).
Harman Bass, the novel’s reluctant protagonist, is a cub reporter for a weekly newspaper in Surfside City, a resort town at the New Jersey shore. He’s a local, having lived there his whole life. Sarcastic, asexual, and determined to succeed at his job, Harman takes on the toughest stories, much to the frustration of his editor, Donald Bishop, or “Bish.”
When Harman covers the death of a beauty pageant queen whose body was found on the beach, it’s just another sensational headline about a grisly murder. But when Harman realizes he used to date the murdered woman in high school, his story becomes personal. Fellow reporter June Jensen accompanies Harman on the story, but the two are polar opposites with clashing personalities: June is from the city, is driven to prove her male colleagues wrong about her abilities, and uses cool logic. Compare this to Harman’s small-town upbringing, his cockiness, and his intuition.
Their investigation takes them to Surfside City’s darkest corners, where things aren’t what they seem and a tinge of rot and corruption fill the air. After one of their sources is murdered, Harman and June realize there’s a conspiracy of powerful men who pledge their fealty not to themselves or to the town, but to an old sea god named Ich’thalagog.
The Ocean Hugs Hard was a blast to write. Creating this world, showing the gradual maddness unfold, and plotting the mystery proved challenging. The Ocean Hugs Hard is available for your reading pleasure here.
Eric Avedissian 