...just beyond Loretello, in the Marche region.
Actually, the mysterious town is based on the layout of Loretello.
Funny, there's nothing much going on in Loretello. It's small, you can walk through it in 5-10 minutes, depending on your pace.
As noted in a previous blog post dealing with the origins of my 42000-word novel/novella, OUR SAVAGE ANATOMIES, the inspiration for the first words was just outside of Loretello, where in 2021 while visiting a friend, I ran into a field of late summer burnt sunflowers. I swear I have photos of them, but since I cannot find them, you get two photos from a couple years after that encounter (courtesy of Alessandra), when the field was once again full of sunflowers and, hey, in the first photo, in the distance, you can see the blood trees! At least in the novel/novella, that's what they are.
At the end of August this year, we spent a week in the region again. I snapped a few more photos pertinent to the novel. The first one is of a vineyard, which served as the sleeping place for Rufus Skye, our wayward werewolf in search of peace of mind.
In these two photos we are inside Loretello and have the terrace, sans the metal table that was there when I first saw it, where Rufus and Mister E. converse about blood trees and fates being aligned. This is also where Rufus meets Sasha, his love interest, though there time together is brief.
Also: making another appearance, the blood trees!
The second photo is of the church that plays a huge role in the finale. It is on the right, next to a bar that is, yes, underneath stairs. Weird set-up, but hey, limited space means you do what you must.
Notice there's nobody around. There are times we've been there when it's questionable whether anybody lives there. Ahem!
I find it quite curious how inspiration works. Honestly, the town is barely a blip and might not even show up on most maps, yet being there in 2021, something was lit within my writer's brain...and I ran with it; okay, I wrote the short story, "Home is Where the Howl Is" (which looks like it will be a special treat for those who pre-order OUR SAVAGE ANATOMIES, which will be up for pre-order any day now), and as I've mentioned already, I realized after completing that tale, if I added one sentence to the end I could run with it, as I did.
Anyway, inspiration. A curious beast. Yet, I find the world infinitely inspiring. What might seem like nothing can lead to 42000 words and make me shake my head and smile like a madman as I'm writing it.
We (Hybrid Sequence Media and yours truly) should have pre-orders soon. You are going to love this one if you like off-the-wall horror that throws a wrench at the tropes.
There ya go. Whipped this together just to get some photos your way and, of course, to pique your interest even more. I expect the next blog post might be for the pre-orders. That's when every one of you purchases a copy or ten and...and...
;-)
