The Silent Forest
The House on the Hill Book 2
by David Kummer

In New Haven, everything is changing. And there’s no going back now.

It’s been weeks since Allison went missing, and everyone has given up except for Kaia. New Haven mourns their dead as she keeps looking. And now, she’s starting to find answers.

As the unsolved cases pile up, a new discovery in the forest offers hope. But it also threatens to unbury all of New Haven’s darkest secrets.

For the Woods family, it will take everything they have. For Kaia, it’s the last chance.

There are some shadows you can’t keep underground.

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Lily: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview David, The Silent Forest sounded so good I had to pre-order it! Now that the book has been released, we’d like to ask a few questions. Would you and your main characters get along?

David: Thank you for the pre-order, and yes, I hope so! The Woods family (4 point-of-view characters) are very different, but I think I’d get along with them all differently. Especially Kaia. She just seems cool.

Lily: It’s probably a good thing that you’d get along with your MCs. What was your biggest inspiration for this book?

David: I wanted to take some tropes from the horror genre and switch them up. So you’ll notice there’s a haunted house, a creepy little boy, an overbearing sheriff, but all of these work differently in this story than any other you’ve read. Taking familiar tropes and flipping them around is a lot of fun, as well as building this fleshed-out, realistic town where terrible stuff keeps happening.

Lily: That sounds amazing. What books, films, and/or TV shows are most similar to the aesthetic/vibe of this book?

David: A friend of mine named Evan Myers (who also writes great books!) compared this to “Stranger Things” meets “The Shining” and that’s pretty accurate. I also think “The Conjuring” movies fits. The good ones, anyway. But my favorite influence on this book is definitely “The Little Stranger” by Sarah Waters, which gave me the original idea for the house on the hill.

Lily: I’ll definitely have to check out The Little Stranger then! What’s the strangest thing you had to do to create this story?

David: I write outside a lot ever since I started this series. This series really changed my writing process, too, because sometimes I’ll focus on dialogue and other times description and then I have to mash those together for the final draft. Also, I’ve had to watch lots of creepy movies and documentaries to get an idea of the settings I want to use.

Lily: Sounds like you’ve found some great sources of inspiration, and a new way to create the story. Now we’d like to talk about you as a writer. What’s your favorite and least favorite parts of publishing?

David: My favorite is definitely creating and getting to know these characters. I also really enjoy the feeling of completion once you finish a draft, publish it, and every step of the way. It’s very rewarding. I love language and toying around with it. I’m a high school English teach, after all! My least favorite part is absolutely the promotion, but I really like hearing what people think of my stories, so it’s a necessity. And I get to do cool interviews like this, so not all promotion is bad!

Lily: I’m so bad at keeping up with social media, and I know that’s a big part of promotion, so I totally understand! I admit the author interviews are one of my favorite parts of running this blog, after the books I get to read, of course. When did you first feel like an author?

David: I’ve been writing since middle school, but I really felt like an author when my book Everything, Somewhere sold over 500 copies. It’s a literary fiction book set in the town I grew up, so seeing the local community embrace that was really cool. And The Misery House did even better, so here’s hoping for The Silent Forest to have equal success!

Lily: I absolutely loved The Misery House. What do you think makes a good story?

David: Characters are the easy answer. The more complex answer is something familiar and relatable but still exciting and new, which is a hard dichotomy to balance.

Lily: I have to agree with you – it’s hard to get into a story if the characters are too flat. Let’s finish up with some fun questions and get inside your mind. Do you like Pina Coladas? Do you like getting stuck in the rain? (bonus points to anyone who gets the reference) Also, what’s a song you get stuck in your head often?

David: I did get the reference, but I will not acknowledge it. Song stuck in my head right now? Umm… we’ll go with Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova” because it’s A) catchy and B) definitely a song Kaia from my book would like. I’m also seeing Chappell Roan in concert soon. Yippee.

Lily: That sounds like a lot of fun! (And I’ve linked the song for anyone curious). Would you rather always have a full phone battery or a full gas tank?

David: Absolutely a full gas tank. Do people actually say phone battery? Who are these people? Will they give me discounts on gas since they have so much of it?

Lily: Gas is so expensive now, I’d have to agree with you, but I do practically live on my phone some days… What movie/TV universe would be the worst to live out your life in? The best?

David: Worst? Probably The Hunger Games or something dystopian like that. No thanks. I’m not cut out for it. Best? I’d go with That 70’s Show or one of those throwback shows from the 70’s or 80’s. I could survive that.

Lily: That 70’s Show sounds like an amazing place to live, honestly. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be? What product/service would be the core of it?

David: I mean, owning a bookstore would be so fun, but besides that I wouldn’t want to own a business. I’m pretty happy teaching high-school English. It’s the best of both worlds; rewarding and extremely difficult, but also related to my favorite subject: Stories!

Lily: If I owned a bookstore, I don’t know if I’d get anything done, I’d want to read all the books! It’s great that you love your job, though. Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?

David: I didn’t get a chance to mention this, so I’ll throw out a couple recommendations: Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson is my favorite thing I’ve ever read. And if you like my books, you’ll love anything by Mark Edwards.

Lily: Thank you so much for coming to hang out for a little. How can readers discover more about you and your work?

David: I’m all over the place! All of these sites and more, so definitely connect with me, because I love chatting with readers. Best part of this whole business. And I hope you enjoy The Silent Forest, because I can’t wait to shock you when I turn things up another notch with Book 3. Title coming soon *wink wink*