The Infested is a YA/New Adult horror novel that takes places in an AU of the American Frontier. There are monsters and magic. The story surrounds five siblings struggling with who they are an who they want to become while dealing with generational trauma. There is bi, Sapphic and trans rep.
Excerpt
The United States is Infested, and humans poisoned it. They traversed the great divide between the East and West Coast and died along the way. They killed each other, starved, died of diseases, buried their dead without proper ceremonies, and abandoned items they no longer wanted. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the land turned on them. Demons are real. Spirits haunt the world. Monsters dwell in the shadows and forests. Ghosts float over the plains. Things feed on the dead, infest swamps, and scour deserts. Trace a finger on a map of the United States to outline the barrier on either side of the Infested. Follow the lines of Montana and Wyoming, veering left to surround Utah and straight down to Arizona, finally connecting with Mexico. Then again, from Lake Superior and Wisconsin’s tip, following a jagged line that goes past Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, and straight down, ending in Mexico’s Gulf.
This is in the invisible barrier between the West and East Coast, and all that lay between is the Infested. A dangerous land, full of monsters. The East is overpopulated, busy, advanced, cultured, and full of politics, lavish foods, and sin. The only people to come to the West from the East are the brave, the desperate, or the stupid. One can try to cross through Canada or by boat and come up through Mexico—but it is illegal. Those countries fear America, and they fear that Americans will bring with them the madness that affects their lands. Getting caught by their government is a death sentence. It is a three-month journey from Illinois to Wyoming, and even longer trying to pass through the salt flats to Utah or traveling to the green of Oregon or California’s coastlines. When people first decided to travel West and see what splendor lay on the other side of the U.S., they knew there would be issues like famine, disease, drought, extreme temperatures, and wild animals. They didn’t respect the land or each other, and many paid the price. As each wagon train departed, the tales of what lay beyond Illinois became darker and the number of people making it to the West got slimmer. More than 600,000 people decided to cross the trails West between 1811 and 1830, and only about half made it. The plains didn’t turn sour overnight. It took years for the government to figure out whole trains had gone missing and even more time to find out why. Finally in 1835, the government from the East forbade any more wagon trains West. The West, cut off from many luxuries from the East, put time and money into retaking the trails and making the Infested safe enough for the shipment of goods. Two caravans make the journey West to East. On odd years one from Utah to Illinois, and on even years from Oregon to
Missouri, sometimes they come and go with no issues. Other times, they never come back. They bring back supplies and news, paid for by the gold and silver found predominantly in the West. Almost no one lives in the Infested, and only a few families, like the Ash family, made it their home.
Sapphic, Bi and Trans Rep
TW: Eating disorder, anxiety, gore, war, trauma, grief, death
A brief excerpt
MAY 1900 Day 1 The United States is Infested, and humans poisoned it. They traversed the great divide between the East and West Coast and died along the way. They killed each other, starved, died of diseases, buried their dead without proper ceremonies, and abandoned items they no longer wanted. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the land turned on them. Demons are real. Spirits haunt the world. Monsters dwell in the shadows and forests. Ghosts float over the plains. Things feed on the dead, infest swamps, and scour deserts.
Renee Lake 