An extremely funny and terrifying original supernatural cautious tale about camping in the woods.
- Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
- Gore factor: ★★★★☆
- Fun factor: ★★★★★
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Originality factor: ★★★★★
- Supernatural factor: ★★★★★
How to Survive Camping: The Man with No shadow was first published as a series of posts on Reddit’s r/nosleep subreddit. Bonnie Quinn posted a chapter every five days and it was so successful that it is now turned into a physical book. And rightly so, because this is such a fun and original book with great characters, imaginative inhumans and a great thrilling and funny story that deserves a big audience.
If you liked Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cramer that was based on their podcast Welcome to Night Vale, then you will definitely like this one too. Although Welcome to Night Vale was a fun cosmic horror novel, and this a fun supernatural horror novel, the style, the many creative characters and the mystery that is going on is very similar.
It consists of 320 pages.
Plot
Kate is the campground manager of Goat Valley. The camping ground belonged to her family for many years and because it’s old land it attracts a lot of inhumans. Kate keeps the inhumans inside her land so that they don’t bother the people in town thus keeping them safe, and the people and campers have to live by the rules she has set to keep themselves safe and alive. And when there is trouble with an inhuman, she has to clean up the mess, like a torso in the middle of the road.
It’s a lot of work to keep everyone safe and it’s not easy to deal with all the different inhumans. Not all of them are evil, like the Man with the Skull Cup, the Woman with Many Eyes, the Dancers. But a lot of them are dangerous and deadly, like the girl who’s weeping at her window all night, the Children with No Wagon who are selling ice cream, the Vanishing House, the Lights and the Thing in the Dark. And of course the Man with No Shadow.
Her staff mainly consists of her family members and others who can deal with this unconventional situation. And the Old Sheriff has got her back. But a deputy is eying his job.
Every year has its difficult periods like summer, when it’s very busy, Halloween and Christmas, but this year something is stirring. Something evil with a plan. Kate has to do more than just cleaning up, she has to figure out what’s behind the risen activity, before it’s too late.
Continue reading below this announcement.
Did you know I also make Art & Designs.
This design of a Pink and Green Skull is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Hoodie and other apparel in my shop at Threadless.
Short Review
The story is told by Kate herself. She has written this story to illustrate her rules for camping, how important they are. She is a strong woman, a fighter and doesn’t blink to clean up a big mess, read dead bodies, scrubbing gore of the floor and even more extreme measures she has to take to keep everyone safe. As the inhuman activity grows and the game gets more dangerous and deadly, she even asks herself if she’s not becoming a monster herself. But things need to be done in order to keep the inhumans inside and the people safe.
The inhumans are a wide variety of creatures and beings, imagined or borrowed from all kinds of folklore from different cultures. That creates a great mix of supernatural beings that will surprise you with their originality and keeps things interesting. Although her family has documented everything they know about them, there’s so much more they don’t know and now that Kate’s parents have died, who were the camping groundkeepers before her, she’s sometimes at a loss. She shows her vulnerable side as well, but still keeps on fighting, even if the town hates her and the Man with No Shadow has it in for her.
The story is equally funny, original, thrilling and gory. The human characters are interesting, especially Kate, but the inhuman characters are a mystery and very intriguing and even more interesting. Some of them help her, some are neutral, and some are plain evil.
It’s great fun and the best part is, that there’s more to come.
Because this book was first published on Reddit in 2020, and it also has three sequels. The second book The Lady in Chains will be available on April 28 2026. The third book The Horse-Eater will be available on April 27 2027. And the fourth book The Beast will be available on October 5 2027. Although they were already published, if you want to read the physical form or in ebook form you will just have to wait a bit. But it recon it will be very much worth it.
Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.