Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Let's just get right to it. We've got a bunch of

spooky stuff for you in today's episode. In a bit, we'll head to the woods and hear about a horror

book inspired by the mysterious events known as the Dydezlov Pass incident. But first,

Rachel Harrison's novel, Black Sheep, takes its inspiration from something

a lot closer to home for me, and I'm assuming you, is about religion and family and, well,

the devil. But in this conversation with NPR's Aisha Roscoe, she talked about finding that the

horror is in the cynicism she sees in everyday life.

That's after the break.

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When we meet Vesper and the new horror novel Black Sheep, she's a prickly 23-year-old waitress estranged from her family

for years. Her father is nowhere to be found. Her mother, Constance, is a horror movie

Scream Queen with a taste for the macabre and zero interest in parenting. The only love Vespa

has is from her aunt and her cousin, but was it really love?

It occurred to me then that our past is not the truth.

It's warped by time and emotion, inevitably muddied by love and resentment, joy and shame,

hope and regret.

I couldn't trust my own memories, good or bad.

In Rachel Harrison's novel Black Sheep, Vesper questions all her memories

when she finally returns to the fundamentalist community that she grew up in to attend her cousin's wedding.

...