I wasn’t expecting a classic, just something entertaining. I prefer not to read too much about a book before I dive into it myself, so I didn’t know its origin story. I bought this book online after seeing it on a list of must-read horror novels. If given greater care with editing, I could see it being successful. It’s frustrating, especially to a horror-junkie, to see the potential in a horror novel and witness it fall flat due to bad writing. And here lies the problem with Auerbach’s Penpal. Yet suddenly, when one moves the writing’s platform from a subreddit to a novel, either paper or digital, the reader’s expectations are understandably raised.

Sure, maybe that online horror post had bland characters and a few plot-holes, but it scared you, right? The reader doesn’t expect literary greatness on a casual online forum they want a pithy tale that will creep them out. Bad writing works for short online works of horror. It’s vague, stylistically bland, and the language and characterization is shallow. Unfortunately, this book fails, for the reasons that online creepypastas succeed.

With all that being said, you would think I’d love this book, right? Well, not exactly. I am no stranger to the subreddit r/nosleep, where the writings of Auerbach’s novel first appeared, and I have spent hours indulging in its creepy tales. Voracious readers of the genre never have to worry about running out of material when creepypastas are plentiful. New works of horror are just a click away. And now as an adult, I have the entire Internet at my disposal. I loved, and still love, the adrenaline rush that accompanies reading a tale of horror. As a child, I would read horror stories even when I knew the habit would result in nightmares and fed into my already anxious personality. That takes confidence and perseverance, and Auerbach has created a strong following of readers that attests to Penpal’s ability to entertain horror fans. I want to start this review by first mentioning that I have full respect for writers who self-publish, and even more respect for a writer like Dathan Auerbach who expanded a story that was first posted on the Internet into a fully formed novel.

R/nosleep: A subpage on the website Reddit featuring original works of horror fiction by online users.

For those that don’t internet horror much:Ĭreepypasta: Internet horror stories and accompanying imagery and art that are shared, often copy and pasted over and over, on websites and forums.

Penpal creepypasta book