What do you think?
Rate this book
In the Valley of the Headless Men
Nahanni National Park is one of last truly wild places on earth. Accessible only by plane, and only when the weather cooperates, it's the perfect place for estranged brothers Joseph and Oscar to have an adventure following the death of their mother. Gillian, Joseph's first love, invites herself along in the spirit of friendship.
The park is much more than beautiful. It's mysterious, with legends of giants and hidden, prehistoric animals. And among its few visitors, an outsized number of violent deaths inspire its second, more seductive name.
While dreaming of the future, the group finds themselves confronted by the past. Far from home and far from help. In the Valley of the Headless Men.
"LP Hernandez is one of the most entertaining and much needed voices in horror fiction's new vanguard." - Brian Keene
The park is much more than beautiful. It's mysterious, with legends of giants and hidden, prehistoric animals. And among its few visitors, an outsized number of violent deaths inspire its second, more seductive name.
While dreaming of the future, the group finds themselves confronted by the past. Far from home and far from help. In the Valley of the Headless Men.
"LP Hernandez is one of the most entertaining and much needed voices in horror fiction's new vanguard." - Brian Keene
145 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 14, 2024
About the author
L.P. Hernandez
24 books108 followersMy journey to becoming a writer began with a love of books, Goosebumps to start followed quickly by Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I later found and fell in love with Robert McCammon as well as works outside of the genre. I wrote stories about alien abductions and sentient scarecrows. I still have some of these stories and...wow. Awful! I never stopped writing but my life would only allow it to be a hobby until I was around thirty. I submitted my first story to a competition and was given an honorable mention. That gave me the confidence to submit elsewhere, including The NoSleep Podcast. My fist acceptance barely caused a ripple, but it lit a fire in me. I placed stories with homegrown anthologies, cobbled together my own collection, and eventually became a regular on the Podcast. I am writing this in 2022 in what has been my most gratifying writing year to date. I will share a TOC with New York Times Bestsellers this year, and also was privileged to release my first novella, Stargazers, into the world. This is just the beginning, I hope, because the fire is an inferno now.
When I am not writing you can find me front row of a metal show, getting a tattoo, hanging with my wife and kids, wrestling with our dogs, and giving out crisp high fives. I also serve as a medical officer in the Air Force.
When I am not writing you can find me front row of a metal show, getting a tattoo, hanging with my wife and kids, wrestling with our dogs, and giving out crisp high fives. I also serve as a medical officer in the Air Force.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
August 21, 2024
"My father was a ghost, Oscar's father was a demon, different specters but we were both haunted."
The writing at the beginning of this novella was so satisfying and good, don't get me wrong it remained good for the duration of the book and there were several lines I thought were really stunning peppered throughout the book but the beginning of the book it was just chef's kiss.
I particularly liked and related to the way Hernandez dealt with the siblings' relationship and how it was impacted by their respective absentee/abusive fathers and the weird distance that just sort of exists there. The reflections about the distance between what we think others are and what they actually are were also really skillfully done.
The imagery was really solid.
I missed having a reading list that I didn't make for myself, so I decided to put Goodreads' recommendation algorithm to the test by reading 60 books from the recommendation tab, mostly from the horror genre and from the recs based on my "TikTok made me read it" shelf (I needed a few wild cards). This book was 2/60 from that list and I had read the author before in Howls From the Wreckage: An Anthology of Disaster Horror. So far the algorithm gets a passing grade.
The writing at the beginning of this novella was so satisfying and good, don't get me wrong it remained good for the duration of the book and there were several lines I thought were really stunning peppered throughout the book but the beginning of the book it was just chef's kiss.
I particularly liked and related to the way Hernandez dealt with the siblings' relationship and how it was impacted by their respective absentee/abusive fathers and the weird distance that just sort of exists there. The reflections about the distance between what we think others are and what they actually are were also really skillfully done.
The imagery was really solid.
I missed having a reading list that I didn't make for myself, so I decided to put Goodreads' recommendation algorithm to the test by reading 60 books from the recommendation tab, mostly from the horror genre and from the recs based on my "TikTok made me read it" shelf (I needed a few wild cards). This book was 2/60 from that list and I had read the author before in Howls From the Wreckage: An Anthology of Disaster Horror. So far the algorithm gets a passing grade.
January 14, 2024
There are rumors of a strange National park somewhere in Northern Canada. Where tales are woven of giants, wooly mammoths, and headless men. Could there be any truth to this?
This book takes you on a strange trip that is liminal, emotional, dark, and brilliantly written. I consumed the pages with a voracious need to be deeper inside the workings of this story.
The characters experience something that is both within and without themselves as they visit this haunted park. It's almost like a dream inside a dream, grappling with the inner emotional struggles that they face. A moving, haunting, weird, and deeply gripping story all alongside the theme of finding yourself.
This book takes you on a strange trip that is liminal, emotional, dark, and brilliantly written. I consumed the pages with a voracious need to be deeper inside the workings of this story.
The characters experience something that is both within and without themselves as they visit this haunted park. It's almost like a dream inside a dream, grappling with the inner emotional struggles that they face. A moving, haunting, weird, and deeply gripping story all alongside the theme of finding yourself.
February 13, 2024
"This is the part of dying no one talks about. The stuff. The half-filled container of flour, the olive oil."
Happy release week! Thank you to Cemetery Gates Media for a review copy of this February 14th release. I was annotating the excellent writing of this story scarcely a couple pages into it. In the Valley of the Headless Men was a fast-paced, cerebral fusion of grief and survival horror, crafted with a lot of thought and personal emotion invested in its pages.
Joseph, grieving the recent loss of his mother and the long-term absence of his father, decides to embark on a search for himself in a mysterious stretch of wilderness in Canada. He's joined by brother Oscar, the two seeking to renew their bonds and reconcile some grievances with absent fathers, and Gillian, Joseph's first love, with whom he shared a grievous loss decades ago. The trip starts bumpy, with a sketchy bush pilot found on Reddit, and the dread only mounts from there. The park is very much more than trees, cliffs, and some creepy Indigenous legends; Nahanni is its own character in the story, a setting trope that I adore.
Setting the story in a remote national park in the Northwest Territories in Canada, rumored to be the sight of many mysterious happenings, was an excellent choice that immediately set the mood. A desolate, uninhabited place easily allows the mind to turn inward in the worst ways. I was amazed to hear Nahanni National Park really exists, almost like a terraneous version of the Bermuda Triangle, with plenty of ominous history if you need some nightmare fuel.
I will admit, I found parts of it honestly a bit too cerebral, and it became difficult to follow what was actually occurring on-page. But that uncertainty can make horror, and its emotional impacts, even stronger. In Valley, L.P. Hernandez has infused a very human story of grief with a deep contemplation of What Ifs, and set it in a striking otherworldly place, cut off from civilization in more ways than one.
Happy release week! Thank you to Cemetery Gates Media for a review copy of this February 14th release. I was annotating the excellent writing of this story scarcely a couple pages into it. In the Valley of the Headless Men was a fast-paced, cerebral fusion of grief and survival horror, crafted with a lot of thought and personal emotion invested in its pages.
Joseph, grieving the recent loss of his mother and the long-term absence of his father, decides to embark on a search for himself in a mysterious stretch of wilderness in Canada. He's joined by brother Oscar, the two seeking to renew their bonds and reconcile some grievances with absent fathers, and Gillian, Joseph's first love, with whom he shared a grievous loss decades ago. The trip starts bumpy, with a sketchy bush pilot found on Reddit, and the dread only mounts from there. The park is very much more than trees, cliffs, and some creepy Indigenous legends; Nahanni is its own character in the story, a setting trope that I adore.
Setting the story in a remote national park in the Northwest Territories in Canada, rumored to be the sight of many mysterious happenings, was an excellent choice that immediately set the mood. A desolate, uninhabited place easily allows the mind to turn inward in the worst ways. I was amazed to hear Nahanni National Park really exists, almost like a terraneous version of the Bermuda Triangle, with plenty of ominous history if you need some nightmare fuel.
I will admit, I found parts of it honestly a bit too cerebral, and it became difficult to follow what was actually occurring on-page. But that uncertainty can make horror, and its emotional impacts, even stronger. In Valley, L.P. Hernandez has infused a very human story of grief with a deep contemplation of What Ifs, and set it in a striking otherworldly place, cut off from civilization in more ways than one.
February 16, 2024
4.5 stars
"It called to you. Didn't it?"
Brothers Oscar and Joe have just lost their mother unexpectedly and are clearing up her house, when Oscar finds letters written to Joe from his absent father. The final letter contains mysterious references to Nahanni National Park in Canada and Oscar insists that he and Joe travel to the remote wilderness to repair their tenuous brotherly relationship, and so Joe can perhaps finally come to terms with the father who abandoned him as a child. Joe's former girlfriend Gillian inserts herself into the journey, and the three soon find themselves on a puddle jumper to the isolated land of legends, the Valley of the Headless Men. From there, things get weird and frightening in short order.
This is a well written novella with true nightmare fuel scenes, but the story is mostly about three damaged souls confronting their individual demons in an inhospitable and awe-inspiring landscape that they cannot begin to understand. I feel like the ending needed more, or at least, I needed more answers, and I would definitely journey back to Nahanni if Hernandez ever revisits the park in future works. It seems like there's a lot more to explore.
"And if you only hear one thing that I tell you, let it be this...the most dangerous animal in this place is you."
"It called to you. Didn't it?"
Brothers Oscar and Joe have just lost their mother unexpectedly and are clearing up her house, when Oscar finds letters written to Joe from his absent father. The final letter contains mysterious references to Nahanni National Park in Canada and Oscar insists that he and Joe travel to the remote wilderness to repair their tenuous brotherly relationship, and so Joe can perhaps finally come to terms with the father who abandoned him as a child. Joe's former girlfriend Gillian inserts herself into the journey, and the three soon find themselves on a puddle jumper to the isolated land of legends, the Valley of the Headless Men. From there, things get weird and frightening in short order.
This is a well written novella with true nightmare fuel scenes, but the story is mostly about three damaged souls confronting their individual demons in an inhospitable and awe-inspiring landscape that they cannot begin to understand. I feel like the ending needed more, or at least, I needed more answers, and I would definitely journey back to Nahanni if Hernandez ever revisits the park in future works. It seems like there's a lot more to explore.
"And if you only hear one thing that I tell you, let it be this...the most dangerous animal in this place is you."
February 8, 2024
This was a deeply moving speculative work of art! No other author has broken my heart several times in such a short amount of pages, firmly rooted in grief horror with a touch of survival the writing is unlike anything I've ever read before, this took me on a cosmic liminal journey that was almost poetic, this felt like a sad dream, this authors ability to convey raw emotions in just a few words is nothing short of magical, an emotionally charged character driven novella that absolutley tears into your heart
April 15, 2024
More grief fiction for the win and this one gets all the stars!
Joseph's suffered a lot of loss in his life. His mother's recent passing, an absent father, a stillborn son that resulted in a failed relationship, and a fresh divorce. While he and his half brother Oscar sort through their mother's belongings, he comes across a letter from his father that prompts them to book a trip to Nahanni in an effort to get some closure from the things that haunt them most.
Gillian, Joseph's ex girlfriend, invites herself along on this strange and impromptu journey into the mysterious national park, best known for rumors of giants and prehistoric creatures hidden in its forests. Within hours of arrival, they can feel something is extremely off about the place, and things only get odder for the threesome the deeper into the park they travel.
Think Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy (Tetralogy?!) and you'll have an idea of what our intrepid adventurers are about to uncover in this vast and liminal space. Equal parts psychological terror and cosmic horror, it's incredibly atmospheric and LP just continued to crank up the weirdness, relentlessly testing our characters perception of reality, and I was there for every second of it.
Joseph's suffered a lot of loss in his life. His mother's recent passing, an absent father, a stillborn son that resulted in a failed relationship, and a fresh divorce. While he and his half brother Oscar sort through their mother's belongings, he comes across a letter from his father that prompts them to book a trip to Nahanni in an effort to get some closure from the things that haunt them most.
Gillian, Joseph's ex girlfriend, invites herself along on this strange and impromptu journey into the mysterious national park, best known for rumors of giants and prehistoric creatures hidden in its forests. Within hours of arrival, they can feel something is extremely off about the place, and things only get odder for the threesome the deeper into the park they travel.
Think Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy (Tetralogy?!) and you'll have an idea of what our intrepid adventurers are about to uncover in this vast and liminal space. Equal parts psychological terror and cosmic horror, it's incredibly atmospheric and LP just continued to crank up the weirdness, relentlessly testing our characters perception of reality, and I was there for every second of it.
January 5, 2024
Wow, I loved this so so much. There are so many original and intriguing aspects to this story, but where it’s the absolute strongest is in its emotion. Les has a talent for absolutely breaking your heart with just one short sentence. He does it more than a few times, throughout this novella. Without context, I don’t believe this example to be a spoiler at all, but once you’ve read it, you’ll understand;
“What other name could I give him?”
Absolutely devastating.
Les is one of those writers who can do this magical thing where I don’t care about the story, I just want to read his words. I know that sounds weird at first, but what I mean is that his characters, the weight of their lives, their relationships and what they’re going through is so tangible that you could place them within the confines of any plot and I would totally be in. This story largely takes place during an existential journey through of the valley of the headless men, but if it took place during an existential journey through a Walmart parking lot, I still would have loved and felt for these characters, just the same.
I can’t recommend this novella enough and I hope to one day read the full novel version of it. I want to know everything about Joseph, Gillian and Oscar. Les is an auto-buy author for me and I can’t wait for whatever he has coming up next!
“What other name could I give him?”
Absolutely devastating.
Les is one of those writers who can do this magical thing where I don’t care about the story, I just want to read his words. I know that sounds weird at first, but what I mean is that his characters, the weight of their lives, their relationships and what they’re going through is so tangible that you could place them within the confines of any plot and I would totally be in. This story largely takes place during an existential journey through of the valley of the headless men, but if it took place during an existential journey through a Walmart parking lot, I still would have loved and felt for these characters, just the same.
I can’t recommend this novella enough and I hope to one day read the full novel version of it. I want to know everything about Joseph, Gillian and Oscar. Les is an auto-buy author for me and I can’t wait for whatever he has coming up next!
February 3, 2024
In The Valley of the Headless Men is an excellent novella which blends together folk horror and cosmic horror, written by L.P. Hernandez, and published by Cemetery Gates Media. An incredibly emotional story, intriguing and weird at some points, following the experience of Joseph, our main character, and his two companions on their travel to the mysterious Nahanni Valley.
After Joseph's mother's death, he finds himself with his half-brother going through their mother's possessions, finding letters from his disappeared father, a moment that marked him for life. One of those letters points to the Nahanni Valley, a recondite natural park in Canada, which might have some answers to the questions Joseph had about his father; the two brothers decide to go, being accompanied by Gilian, Joseph's former partner.
If something gets clear when they arrive, is that Nahanni encloses many mysteries in its wilderness, and that each one of our characters is grieving for different losses in their past. What they will live in the middle of Nahanni will deep into their wounds, but also will take them to the limit; Hernandez excellently crafts a story that mixes these emotional elements with folk horror, making a use of the prose that is simply chef kiss.
In The Valley of the Headless Man is all what you can ask from a horror novella, well paced and which will be perfect if you want to read a book that delves into the humanity of their characters. An excellent story by L.P. Hernandez.
After Joseph's mother's death, he finds himself with his half-brother going through their mother's possessions, finding letters from his disappeared father, a moment that marked him for life. One of those letters points to the Nahanni Valley, a recondite natural park in Canada, which might have some answers to the questions Joseph had about his father; the two brothers decide to go, being accompanied by Gilian, Joseph's former partner.
If something gets clear when they arrive, is that Nahanni encloses many mysteries in its wilderness, and that each one of our characters is grieving for different losses in their past. What they will live in the middle of Nahanni will deep into their wounds, but also will take them to the limit; Hernandez excellently crafts a story that mixes these emotional elements with folk horror, making a use of the prose that is simply chef kiss.
In The Valley of the Headless Man is all what you can ask from a horror novella, well paced and which will be perfect if you want to read a book that delves into the humanity of their characters. An excellent story by L.P. Hernandez.
February 8, 2024
Really enjoyed my first outing with LP Hernandez - this book is dripping with grief and if you know me, you know that’s my jam!
There was loss in this book which encompasses a lot, grief of a lost child, grief of a lost mother, childhood trauma, absent fathers, abusive fathers and LP does a great job in bringing these things together, knitting (if you do in fact knit) a tapestry so rich and so beautiful that it stirs the heart and soul.
LP has a way with words and his observational skills are remarkable, how he can find things, memories, items, sometimes items as dull as a half jar of flour and make it sing from the page with the weight he adds to it.
It took me a chapter to get into his style of writing, but after that it just flowed and I became quickly accustomed to his art of storytelling. The work in bringing the Valley to life was remarkable and the work around Gillian and her own loss and how this manifested in the valley was absolutely stunning (left me wanting a little more from her and their bond though).
Going on this offering I’ll be sure to pick up more of his work as I continue reading, a strong offering dripping with grief.
This one is out through Cemetery Gates Media - go pick it up!
There was loss in this book which encompasses a lot, grief of a lost child, grief of a lost mother, childhood trauma, absent fathers, abusive fathers and LP does a great job in bringing these things together, knitting (if you do in fact knit) a tapestry so rich and so beautiful that it stirs the heart and soul.
LP has a way with words and his observational skills are remarkable, how he can find things, memories, items, sometimes items as dull as a half jar of flour and make it sing from the page with the weight he adds to it.
It took me a chapter to get into his style of writing, but after that it just flowed and I became quickly accustomed to his art of storytelling. The work in bringing the Valley to life was remarkable and the work around Gillian and her own loss and how this manifested in the valley was absolutely stunning (left me wanting a little more from her and their bond though).
Going on this offering I’ll be sure to pick up more of his work as I continue reading, a strong offering dripping with grief.
This one is out through Cemetery Gates Media - go pick it up!
February 10, 2024
Now I would say this one is gonna be a love or hate book……… But, for me it started off probably around about 2 stars, it was a bit trippy and I couldn’t really work out what was going on. But the further I read the more I was engrossed in the story and it ended up breaking my heart! This one is full of childhood trauma, parent abuse and grief. For such a short book it flipped itself around quite quickly and packed itself full of heartache and emotional trauma! This is one of the few books that has proper pulled on my heartstrings.
February 10, 2024
"I walked through darkness not knowing if each step brought me closer to or further from my goal."
My words will not be able to do this book justice. It is a multifaceted treasure disguised as a novella of quiet anticipation.
When one sets out on an adventure we often go for the adrenaline rush of self reliance but end up with a serenity of self discovery and perhaps a new perspective on life. THIS is what In the Valley of the Headless Men was for me.
The tone of this book demands your time with sentences that deserve attention and respect. It feels like you are thinking of a distant memory as you read, projecting in my mind as warm and hazy. A powerfully deep story that will not let you speed through it, and you don't want to, not if you want the full experience.
I could see this story rewritten a total of three times, each time with a different characters point of view. Here we get the perspective of Joe, but i would love to read it again from the perspective of Oscar and Gillian. I had 80 notes and highlights on my Kindle because there was just so many thought provoking lines. I truly believe this will make a great book club read or even could be taught in schools.
Overall, Hernandez is an artist. Each word, each sentence, is another stroke of the brush that we get to sit and watch him create. The canvas is alluring and harsh as you try to decipher the final picture. Your excitement grows as the image becomes clearer until finally you see it...a deeply sophisticated and satisfying triumph filled with personal connotations that feel like they were put there just for you.
My words will not be able to do this book justice. It is a multifaceted treasure disguised as a novella of quiet anticipation.
When one sets out on an adventure we often go for the adrenaline rush of self reliance but end up with a serenity of self discovery and perhaps a new perspective on life. THIS is what In the Valley of the Headless Men was for me.
The tone of this book demands your time with sentences that deserve attention and respect. It feels like you are thinking of a distant memory as you read, projecting in my mind as warm and hazy. A powerfully deep story that will not let you speed through it, and you don't want to, not if you want the full experience.
I could see this story rewritten a total of three times, each time with a different characters point of view. Here we get the perspective of Joe, but i would love to read it again from the perspective of Oscar and Gillian. I had 80 notes and highlights on my Kindle because there was just so many thought provoking lines. I truly believe this will make a great book club read or even could be taught in schools.
Overall, Hernandez is an artist. Each word, each sentence, is another stroke of the brush that we get to sit and watch him create. The canvas is alluring and harsh as you try to decipher the final picture. Your excitement grows as the image becomes clearer until finally you see it...a deeply sophisticated and satisfying triumph filled with personal connotations that feel like they were put there just for you.
February 8, 2024
I may have found my new favorite author with L. P. Hernandez.
Bringing to mind the cosmic mysteries of Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, In the Valley of the Headless Men is a trippy, unsettling, and quietly dramatic novella that carries a surprising amount of weight for a book under 150 pages. Hernandez manages to yank out your heart and stomp on it repeatedly in a short amount of time, all the while dragging you through a dreamy atmosphere of longing and grief. The addition of letters from Joseph’s estranged father is a nice (and especially upsetting) touch in already darkling yearning story of loss and discovery.
Bringing to mind the cosmic mysteries of Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, In the Valley of the Headless Men is a trippy, unsettling, and quietly dramatic novella that carries a surprising amount of weight for a book under 150 pages. Hernandez manages to yank out your heart and stomp on it repeatedly in a short amount of time, all the while dragging you through a dreamy atmosphere of longing and grief. The addition of letters from Joseph’s estranged father is a nice (and especially upsetting) touch in already darkling yearning story of loss and discovery.
June 30, 2024
Decent premise. Uneven delivery. That is all.
May 19, 2024
A great, emotionally resonant read.
Hernandez has crafted a meaningful tale of family loss and longing and love through a horror lens. The tale is of brothers and fathers and husbands and wives and of the disappointments and the things we never say.
In Canada's mysterious Nahanni Valley, two brothers and one of their wives will confront the truths about who they are, why they struggle, and how they can find their way through the dark.
Some effective creepy moments sprinkled throughout help keep the reader on their toes—Bad things can happen here.
But good things can happen to.
This novella is one of those good things.
Hernandez has crafted a meaningful tale of family loss and longing and love through a horror lens. The tale is of brothers and fathers and husbands and wives and of the disappointments and the things we never say.
In Canada's mysterious Nahanni Valley, two brothers and one of their wives will confront the truths about who they are, why they struggle, and how they can find their way through the dark.
Some effective creepy moments sprinkled throughout help keep the reader on their toes—Bad things can happen here.
But good things can happen to.
This novella is one of those good things.
June 8, 2024
LP Hernandez has a distinctive style - no wasted words, excellent pacing, brushstroke glimpses into truths that hurt and heal at the same time. With a keen eye for human frailty and pain, IN THE VALLEY OF THE HEADLESS MEN is an intriguing, beautifully written exploration of family connections and grief. Flew through it.
July 6, 2024
I'm not sure I completely understand everything I just read, but this is a beautifully written novella. It's dream-like, with joyful and nightmarish aspects. I was overcome with emotion more than once, and I highly recommend this to all readers.
February 18, 2024
Review coming soon!
May 10, 2024
ANNIHILATION only that book didn’t make me want to cry. This is fantastic.
May 18, 2024
This story was setting up some good hype on the story tailing then kind of just fizzled out a little pass the middle, the ending was hard to understand not knowing what’s reality or an delusion it all became a haze, the character development was good with a small cast & a very interesting environment, was just a lackluster ending and build up at the end.
May 27, 2024
Things I love in books generally and horror in specific: grief, wilderness, legends/myths/folklore. I LOVE survival horror. This book had all of those promised and I was so hopeful about it. The title alone is so compelling.
But all those things were essentially non-existent, this book should be marketed as Daddy Issues and Nonsense. I really don't understand the reviews calling this one emotional or moving. The beginning when they're cleaning out their dead mother's place, yes possibly. But as soon as they get to the wilderness it just all falls apart. IMO, it gets too weird too quickly, basically within an hour of arriving at the location. I like weird, I read Vandermeer, Algernon's The Willows is one of my favourite stories ever, but it has to be done well and I don't think this book did it. There was no dread or atmosphere built before the wilderness turned weird. Despite having all the building blocks of a great survival horror- unprepared hikers, remote location, no communication, limited time period, limited resources, possible injury, unsettled minds, emotional trauma, off the trails, etc-- their day-to-day survival wasn't really in jeopardy, there was never a palpable sense of risk. I shouldn't be reading a book and be taken out of the story because I doubt the author has ever even been camping. Even when they have no more equipment, food, there's an injury, possible antagonists and dangerous creatures, there's no real fear just a hazy onward motion that eliminated any dread for their survival.
And then there was a trope used that I hate. Spoiler, but frankly I wish I had this element spoiled for me as I would have known not to pick it up.
But all those things were essentially non-existent, this book should be marketed as Daddy Issues and Nonsense. I really don't understand the reviews calling this one emotional or moving. The beginning when they're cleaning out their dead mother's place, yes possibly. But as soon as they get to the wilderness it just all falls apart. IMO, it gets too weird too quickly, basically within an hour of arriving at the location. I like weird, I read Vandermeer, Algernon's The Willows is one of my favourite stories ever, but it has to be done well and I don't think this book did it. There was no dread or atmosphere built before the wilderness turned weird. Despite having all the building blocks of a great survival horror- unprepared hikers, remote location, no communication, limited time period, limited resources, possible injury, unsettled minds, emotional trauma, off the trails, etc-- their day-to-day survival wasn't really in jeopardy, there was never a palpable sense of risk. I shouldn't be reading a book and be taken out of the story because I doubt the author has ever even been camping. Even when they have no more equipment, food, there's an injury, possible antagonists and dangerous creatures, there's no real fear just a hazy onward motion that eliminated any dread for their survival.
And then there was a trope used that I hate. Spoiler, but frankly I wish I had this element spoiled for me as I would have known not to pick it up.
January 30, 2024
I've struggled with this one for a while, and got through it today. The plot should have been exhilerating and there was clearly some interesting and complex commentary on trauma and grief. This is horror with heart. The writing wasn't for me though unfortunatley. I had a similar issue with "Stargazers," last year, and I think I have to just deal with the fact that I don't gel with Hernandez's prose. That's absolutley fine by me. A reminder, the reaction to this book has been overwhelmingly positive- I'm not saying it's unwarranted, or that the book's bad... just not for me. It releases in about two weeks from Cemetry Gates.
February 5, 2024
"The red silk scarf my mother wore on hundred times in life felt like mummy wrappings between my fingers."
HOOKED FROM THE OPENING LINE! L.P. Hernandez has a unique and impressive way with words and storytelling. Everything feels so enriching and comforting, even when what is happening is definitely not that way. And this story?! Some strange National Park somewhere in Canada that has rumors and folklore of giants, prehistoric wooly mammoths, and... headless men?! Sign me up for this haunted park!
But it all goes so much deeper than that. The story has a theme of brotherhood at its core. How our past does not necessarily have to shape our future. How sometimes we're just doing the best we can and it's not wrong if others don't understand or see it somehow differently. There's loss and grief... and a little bit of, "Just what IF..." that kept making me think and breaking my heart a bit.
All the characters in this book have such a journey, both inside and out. It's got these speculative, dark, cosmic-esque vibes at times, too. I absolutely WOULD NOT go on this journey to the park... BUT I am glad this group did because I got to experience the bizarreness of it all. At times it was giving me Blair Witch meets The Ritual meets The Forest... but Hernandez is just a powerhouse writer and I never wanted this novella to end. I would absolutely love to see this in a novel format somehow if still possible (as referenced in the afterword).
Fantastic story!
HOOKED FROM THE OPENING LINE! L.P. Hernandez has a unique and impressive way with words and storytelling. Everything feels so enriching and comforting, even when what is happening is definitely not that way. And this story?! Some strange National Park somewhere in Canada that has rumors and folklore of giants, prehistoric wooly mammoths, and... headless men?! Sign me up for this haunted park!
But it all goes so much deeper than that. The story has a theme of brotherhood at its core. How our past does not necessarily have to shape our future. How sometimes we're just doing the best we can and it's not wrong if others don't understand or see it somehow differently. There's loss and grief... and a little bit of, "Just what IF..." that kept making me think and breaking my heart a bit.
All the characters in this book have such a journey, both inside and out. It's got these speculative, dark, cosmic-esque vibes at times, too. I absolutely WOULD NOT go on this journey to the park... BUT I am glad this group did because I got to experience the bizarreness of it all. At times it was giving me Blair Witch meets The Ritual meets The Forest... but Hernandez is just a powerhouse writer and I never wanted this novella to end. I would absolutely love to see this in a novel format somehow if still possible (as referenced in the afterword).
Fantastic story!
Read
April 23, 2024DNF. I don't hate it enough to give it a low rating, but I do want to take a moment to say that I'm sick of the current boom of Grief Horror. It's all the same, very emo and too metaphorical.
June 26, 2024
Love the title but the story was nothing like I expected and really not my cup of tea.
January 26, 2024
I did not expect so many “feels” in this book, I mean that in the best way!
The story of the valley and the cosmic/ancient entities that live in the valley play as a backdrop to such a heartfelt story! Don’t get me wrong there is more than enough of the bizarre.
The writing is superb, and as a pair of words “flesh petals” is so so so visual.
That final line of the story, bam pow right in the heart muscle.
The story of the valley and the cosmic/ancient entities that live in the valley play as a backdrop to such a heartfelt story! Don’t get me wrong there is more than enough of the bizarre.
The writing is superb, and as a pair of words “flesh petals” is so so so visual.
That final line of the story, bam pow right in the heart muscle.
February 14, 2024
A huge thanks to the kind people over at Cemetery Gates Media for the eARC! Also very happy pub day!
In the Valley of Headless Men felt like a high-concept horror novella examining the vast expanse between matters of the head and the heart. We follow a group of travelers exploring the Nahanni National Park in search of the various legends that are rumored to roam the wilderness. Of course, on a much deeper level, each character is in search of something of their own, something hard to name.
This is a very slippery story, one that deals with elusive matters fueled with high emotion. Our MC, Joseph, just lost his mother and seems to be contemplating the “What ifs?” in his life. As exemplified by the other characters in this story, the road less traveled carries a heavy weight, especially in this untamed wilderness. Hernandez writes this elusive slice of nature as a looking glass for this high sense of uncertainty. There’s a strong, unnerving atmosphere constantly present only heightening the feelings of something being amiss.
Joseph’s story and his subsequent journey were notably moving despite the abstract nature of his time in the Nahanni National Forest. It’s really hard to describe the events that transpire without spoiling things, but this feels like a story in which every person will walk away with a different message. To me, this novella serves as a deep study of the ideas and illusions that seem appealing versus the reality that stands before us. Reconciling the difference between these two can be a definitive struggle, especially in the face of strong emotional connections.
In the Valley of Headless Men by LP Hernandez contains literal frights and creatures that lurk in the untamed wilderness, but also demonstrates just how sharp the teeth of illusions are. Jospeh’s journey felt impossible to put down and spiraled into something I wasn’t expecting but enjoyed immensely. While this is the first work of Herandez’s I read, I don’t feel it’ll be the last.
In the Valley of Headless Men felt like a high-concept horror novella examining the vast expanse between matters of the head and the heart. We follow a group of travelers exploring the Nahanni National Park in search of the various legends that are rumored to roam the wilderness. Of course, on a much deeper level, each character is in search of something of their own, something hard to name.
This is a very slippery story, one that deals with elusive matters fueled with high emotion. Our MC, Joseph, just lost his mother and seems to be contemplating the “What ifs?” in his life. As exemplified by the other characters in this story, the road less traveled carries a heavy weight, especially in this untamed wilderness. Hernandez writes this elusive slice of nature as a looking glass for this high sense of uncertainty. There’s a strong, unnerving atmosphere constantly present only heightening the feelings of something being amiss.
Joseph’s story and his subsequent journey were notably moving despite the abstract nature of his time in the Nahanni National Forest. It’s really hard to describe the events that transpire without spoiling things, but this feels like a story in which every person will walk away with a different message. To me, this novella serves as a deep study of the ideas and illusions that seem appealing versus the reality that stands before us. Reconciling the difference between these two can be a definitive struggle, especially in the face of strong emotional connections.
In the Valley of Headless Men by LP Hernandez contains literal frights and creatures that lurk in the untamed wilderness, but also demonstrates just how sharp the teeth of illusions are. Jospeh’s journey felt impossible to put down and spiraled into something I wasn’t expecting but enjoyed immensely. While this is the first work of Herandez’s I read, I don’t feel it’ll be the last.
January 31, 2024
The first chapter made me laugh, and the second made me cry. LP has a gift for finding that weak heart string, stretching it out, and playing it like a violin. In The Valley is a masterclass in tone, pacing, and next level character building. This is LP's Magnum Opus.
February 27, 2024
I don't have a lot to say about this story other than you really need to read it. Excellent read.
March 27, 2024
Nahanni National Park is one of the last unexplored places in Canada, due to it’s remote location in the Northwest Territories. There is a large oral tradition about that area, stories that involve giants, mammoths, vanishing native tribes, and men found decapitated in the valley. This backdrop lends to the story of In the Valley of the Headless Men by L.P. Hernandez. The story starts with Joseph and his half-brother Oscar cleaning out their mother’s house after their mother’s death. Oscar finds a cache of letters from Joseph’s father. The last of the letters tells Joseph to go to Nahanni National Park because this is where he is. Joseph, Oscar, and Joseph’s ex-love Gillian, set out for this strange valley to find Joseph’s father.
This is not the real reason for the journey. The real reason is that all three of the characters are pulled to this remote valley is because they have something in their lives that they have lost. Joseph is dealing with the loss of his mother and his estranged father. Oscar also has lost his mother but is a recovering addict that starts to show new signs of withdrawal as soon as they enter the forest. Gillian is still thinking about the baby that she and Joseph lost while they were together. In the valley, these lost things become powerful influences, and all three lose their own sense of reality. The cyclical concepts of finding what has been lost while getting lost further and further into the mystery and horror of a place makes all three of them question reality, themselves, and whether they are going to get out alive.
When I first started reading In the Valley of the Headless Men, I thought that this is a pretty simple setup, a grown man finds out his dad might be waiting for him in a remote forest. The truth is Joseph, Oscar, and Gillian are all looking for something deeper, something to console the grief, and it really takes them going to Nahanni National Park and feeling like they are going to die there to make them understand the truth. I did not expect the impact that L.P. Hernandez has in writing this story, the story of exploration, not only of a strange land but of the inner turmoil that has caused all three of them to take the directions in their lives that they have taken. Weird cosmic horror, nature horror, and psychological horror collide in a story that has much more depth than I initially expected. This story and this region will stick with me for longer than I ever anticipated.
This is not the real reason for the journey. The real reason is that all three of the characters are pulled to this remote valley is because they have something in their lives that they have lost. Joseph is dealing with the loss of his mother and his estranged father. Oscar also has lost his mother but is a recovering addict that starts to show new signs of withdrawal as soon as they enter the forest. Gillian is still thinking about the baby that she and Joseph lost while they were together. In the valley, these lost things become powerful influences, and all three lose their own sense of reality. The cyclical concepts of finding what has been lost while getting lost further and further into the mystery and horror of a place makes all three of them question reality, themselves, and whether they are going to get out alive.
When I first started reading In the Valley of the Headless Men, I thought that this is a pretty simple setup, a grown man finds out his dad might be waiting for him in a remote forest. The truth is Joseph, Oscar, and Gillian are all looking for something deeper, something to console the grief, and it really takes them going to Nahanni National Park and feeling like they are going to die there to make them understand the truth. I did not expect the impact that L.P. Hernandez has in writing this story, the story of exploration, not only of a strange land but of the inner turmoil that has caused all three of them to take the directions in their lives that they have taken. Weird cosmic horror, nature horror, and psychological horror collide in a story that has much more depth than I initially expected. This story and this region will stick with me for longer than I ever anticipated.
January 24, 2024
Haunting and Heartbreaking
From the very first words of the title, we know this will be a book about profound loss. The novel opens with Joseph and his somewhat estranged half-brother Oscar going through their mother’s possessions after her death, including a series of letters written to Joseph from his father, a man whose absence has defined Joseph in ways he still has not fully reckoned with. One of the letters suggests that in a remote Canadian wilderness, the Valley of the Headless Men, Joseph may find some of the answers he has been searching for.
The two brothers decide to go, accompanied by Joseph’s former partner Gillian, still aching for the early loss of their baby, a loss they have never really been able to repair. In this wild and remote place, all three have something they have lost, something they must find, but they quickly learn that in Nahanni, the Valley of the Headless Men, they have entered a place where that which has been lost may be found…but not in the way we expect.
The world of the valley takes us into a deep wilderness, a liminal space that exists outside of time, a place that shapes itself around the characters’ individual losses and seems to promise that this is a place where you can get everything back…but it is not so easy.
The imaginative drive of this poignant book carries us through, but it’s ultimately the relationships that ground us, most deeply in the rocky relationship of Joseph and Oscar, who struggle to express the love they feel while simultaneously struggling with buried rivalry, loss, and distance. Little details here feel so vivid and true—the image of a child’s chin pressed to a window waiting for a father who never comes is particularly human and resonant. The negotiations with the past, the journey in and through and ultimately beyond loss, and the bonds that link us with the ones we love will stay with you long after you have finished with this moving work.
From the very first words of the title, we know this will be a book about profound loss. The novel opens with Joseph and his somewhat estranged half-brother Oscar going through their mother’s possessions after her death, including a series of letters written to Joseph from his father, a man whose absence has defined Joseph in ways he still has not fully reckoned with. One of the letters suggests that in a remote Canadian wilderness, the Valley of the Headless Men, Joseph may find some of the answers he has been searching for.
The two brothers decide to go, accompanied by Joseph’s former partner Gillian, still aching for the early loss of their baby, a loss they have never really been able to repair. In this wild and remote place, all three have something they have lost, something they must find, but they quickly learn that in Nahanni, the Valley of the Headless Men, they have entered a place where that which has been lost may be found…but not in the way we expect.
The world of the valley takes us into a deep wilderness, a liminal space that exists outside of time, a place that shapes itself around the characters’ individual losses and seems to promise that this is a place where you can get everything back…but it is not so easy.
The imaginative drive of this poignant book carries us through, but it’s ultimately the relationships that ground us, most deeply in the rocky relationship of Joseph and Oscar, who struggle to express the love they feel while simultaneously struggling with buried rivalry, loss, and distance. Little details here feel so vivid and true—the image of a child’s chin pressed to a window waiting for a father who never comes is particularly human and resonant. The negotiations with the past, the journey in and through and ultimately beyond loss, and the bonds that link us with the ones we love will stay with you long after you have finished with this moving work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews