Dobbs Ferry is setting for insectoid horror in Luis Paredes’s novel Headhunters
Dobbs resident puts a twist on a familiar setting
by Lilly Sayenga
Dobbs Ferry — Dobbs Ferry has been given a spooky mythos in Headhunters, a new novel by Luis Paredes.
The novel, Paredes’s sophomore effort after his 2023 debut Out On A Limb, owes its setting to the author’s two-decade-long residency in the town. In an interview with the Rivertowns Current, Paredes explained that while neighboring locales Sleepy Hollow and Yonkers have their own dark reputations, Dobbs Ferry has yet to gain its own creep factor. But in Headhunters, Dobbs Ferry becomes the playground of giant alien insects who wreak havoc on the families of two young protagonists.
Working at the Dobbs Ferry Library has allowed Paredes to explore his longtime affinity for horror in a more localized context. When it came to deciding on the novel’s setting, Paredes noted the intrigue of exploring what may lurk behind the familiar. “It was just easy for me as a writer to visualize these places that I see every day and add my twist to it,” he explained.
Dobbs Ferry materializes in the story as a backdrop for a weirder, darker underbelly of evil. Specific places are mentioned by name, such as Springhurst Elementary School and South Street Presbyterian Church. Paredes even notes that his own house served as inspiration for a character’s abode. These nods to local haunts ground the narrative in a sense of reality — but things certainly do get strange.
Though not exclusively a Young Adult novel, Paredes cited the family-oriented character of Dobbs Ferry as ripe for putting two tweens to the test as the kids are put in danger. “They're in the middle of a horrible storm involving very powerful deities that hunt ghosts and can hunt people if need be,” Paredes said.
Paredes cites Clive Barker as a favorite author of his when he was a tween, and notes Barker’s influence on his own current work as a horror writer. As with Barker’s work, maintaining both audience accessibility and a high fear factor was an important part of his creative process with Headhunters.
The concept for the novel’s antics came to him from one eerie line. “It's the start of chapter one,” Paredes explained. “‘Edgar Tooms stared at his grandfather's severed head and smiled…’And I was like, ‘That's weird. I love it.’”
Paredes’s dedication to horror comes less from a desire for gore and more from a love of what he refers to as “weird fiction.” He says this allows him to “branch off” from the confines of traditional horror tropes to explore the terrain of surrealism and dark fantasy, creating a unique tone in each of his texts.
The cover of Headhunters looks straight out of an ‘80s video store, with neon colors accenting a moody sky. A massive insect towers over two tweens frozen in fear, as the title looms above in a foreboding blood-red color. Paredes notes that he commissioned Malaysian illustrator Morbid Works to visually translate the book’s spooky atmosphere to a retro-style cover.
Bringing a catastrophic army of insects to quiet, family-oriented Dobbs Ferry felt like an exciting challenge for Paredes. Living in the area with his wife and seven-year-old, Paredes enjoys the community aspect of the neighborhood. “There’s tons to do,” he said.
Why bring in the bugs, then? “Little insects, big insects, whatever size, they're all going to be creepy and disgusting,” he explained. “Whether you love or hate bugs, I think Headhunters is going to offer a lot to the reader, because it does open your mind to other worlds.”
Headhunters is available now from Platypus Book Press at online booksellers and local bookstores including Transom in Tarrytown. Paredes’s urban noir fantasy Out on A Limb is also available for purchase. Dobbs Ferry will once again be the site of ghoulish activities in his next novel, which is currently in the works.
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