D.T. NEAL
THE DAY OF THE NIGHTFISH
NAUTICAL HORROR | NOVELLA
“Bloody brilliant! The Day of the Nightfish by D.T. Neal. A short, sharp-as-nails story. Loved it! More, please!”
—Sibrary, Instagram review
A young chef-in-training and self-styled culinary adventurer is transported by tasting the savory food fad, nightfish, at a top-notch hotel in Thailand with his rich girlfriend. Nobody can tell him what nightfish actually is, and his quest for the elusive and enigmatic nightfish takes him across half the world to the unassuming town of Gunwale, Rhode Island, sole producer of nightfish. Here, he works his way to get aboard one of the Blackfin Fishing Company boats, the Amanda Luce, for an unforgettable and horrifying seagoing adventure, where he gets far more than he bargained for.
ABOUT D.T. NEAL
Born in Missouri, growing up in Ohio, and settling in Chicago, 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 six novels, Saamaanthaa, The Happening, and Norm—collectively known as The Wolfshadow Trilogy—Chosen, Suckage, the cosmic folk horror-comedy thriller, The Cursed Earth. He has also published three novellas—Relict, Summerville, and The Day of the Nightfish.
He co-edited THE FIENDS IN THE FURROWS folk horror anthologies, The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror, The Fiends in the Furrows II: More Tales of Folk Horror, and The Fiends in the Furrows III: Final Harvest.
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
PRODUCT DETAILS
- Paperback: 110 pages (Novella)
- Language: English
- ISBN-13: 978-1944286149
REVIEWS
‘Don’t read this the wrong way, but if you’ve ever tasted Nightfish, you’d know just why I did it.’
There’s a new culinary delight taking the world by storm, an expensive delight that rocks the tastebuds, the Nightfish. Whilst holidaying in Thailand an aspiring young chef happens upon said fish. Upon enquiring about the mysterious fish he hits dead end after dead end, no-one knows nor cares about where or what this fish is. And so he eventually finds himself in Gunwhale, the only known exporter of Nightfish. Needless to say, he gets more than he bargained for, a lot more.
The Day of the Nightfish is another anxiety-inducing thrill ride from the creative juices of D.T. Neal and good god do they flow.
I’ve mentioned before about deep water not being my thing, I don’t think deep water at night does a lot for me either. With a name like the Nightfish you can guess its habitat and at what time of the day it generally bimbles about. There’s something about human nature that makes us seek out the thing that gives us the willies.
The novella is very much in the same vein as Neals others; very fast-paced and not a single sentence wasted, getting as much substance as possible into such a small book. And for the price, they’re not to be sniffed at, very much a steal on kindle.
If horror shorts are your thing then this will be the catch of the day; there’s just enough to keep you busy for a couple of hours whilst equally making you afraid to leave the house for the rest of the day. I know it’s set at sea but it’s been raining a bit recently and I’d rather not risk it.
