Hi everyone. I’ve just finished the first complete draft of a short horror novel and I’m looking for beta readers for high-level feedback. This is an adult, literary-leaning maritime horror set aboard an early-1700s trade ship off the coast of Cornwall. It’s a slow-burn story focused on atmosphere, moral compromise, and gradual transformation rather than fast-paced action or jump scares.
Blurb: A routine coastal exchange turns wrong when the crew of the Mercy of Fowey encounters a drifting trade vessel with no signal, no order, and no living crew willing to explain what happened. As food runs thin and discipline tightens, the men begin to change. Hunger becomes calculation. Accounting becomes belief. Something aboard the ship learns how they think and starts to think like them. Edmund Pike took the berth to secure his family’s future. He is careful, trusted, and used to weighing risk. But when survival begins to demand more than prudence, he must decide what he is willing to carry and what the tide will inevitably take.
What I’m looking for feedback on:
Does the tone and atmosphere hold?
Does the pacing work for a slow-burn horror?
Do the characters feel distinct and worth following?
Are there sections that drag or feel overly procedural?
Would you want to keep reading?
I’m not looking for line edits or grammar corrections at this stage.
Content warnings:
Body horror, parasitic infection, violence, death, starvation, bleak themes. No sexual violence.
Happy to share a few chapters or the full manuscript via Google Docs.
Please comment or DM if interested.
Thanks for your time.
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Thank you!
Hi, I'd be very interested in exchanging work! I read/write short horror fiction and would psyched to read this. Send me a DM!
Would love to read this. Everything about it is up my alley. Please DM me!
I’d be interested to read this. I read mainly horror and have a novella I’ll swap.
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