DL
D. R. Long
📍 Smyrna, DE, USA
My name is D. R. Long, and I write quiet, character-driven horror that drifts into dystopian, noir, and the supernatural. If you like slow burns, emotional weight, and stories that linger after the last page, that’s where I live.
You can find my books and more at:
www.drlongwrites.com
I’ve only been published a short time, but I’ve been an artist my whole life. The worlds in my books are ones I’ve been building for years… only recently have I started opening the doors and letting people walk through them.
You can find my books and more at:
www.drlongwrites.com
I’ve only been published a short time, but I’ve been an artist my whole life. The worlds in my books are ones I’ve been building for years… only recently have I started opening the doors and letting people walk through them.
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★★★★★
When I started writing The Monsters We Are, I thought I was writing a noir murder mystery set in a city where magical cloaks failed and everyone’s true form was exposed. I wanted to poke fun at tropes, lean into them a little, and have fun with it.
By the end, I realized it was about something else.
It became a metaphor for what it feels like when reality shifts underneath you and you’re still expected to function like nothing happened. For living in-between worlds. For masking. For exposure. For the quiet violence of being seen in a way you didn’t choose.
Lou is a mutant, like nearly everyone in Nightmare City. Almost human, but not quite. He can detect lies, but not motives. Truth doesn’t bring peace. It just brings more truth.
Nightmare City used to be ordinary. Then the cloaks failed. Now everyone can see the monsters that were always there, the ones that embody us all. Still, the city keeps moving. Bills get paid. Bars open at five. Even when something fundamental has broken.
I’m not saying this book is about schizophrenia, mental health, or any one diagnosis. But it is about perception. About fractured realities. About what happens when the masks come off and people do not like what they see.
It is about loss. And it is about how we survive that loss.
If you just want a hard-boiled monster mystery, you will get one. It is right there to smack you in the face.
If you are looking for something deeper under the surface, it is in there too, practically begging you to find it.
— D. R. Long
By the end, I realized it was about something else.
It became a metaphor for what it feels like when reality shifts underneath you and you’re still expected to function like nothing happened. For living in-between worlds. For masking. For exposure. For the quiet violence of being seen in a way you didn’t choose.
Lou is a mutant, like nearly everyone in Nightmare City. Almost human, but not quite. He can detect lies, but not motives. Truth doesn’t bring peace. It just brings more truth.
Nightmare City used to be ordinary. Then the cloaks failed. Now everyone can see the monsters that were always there, the ones that embody us all. Still, the city keeps moving. Bills get paid. Bars open at five. Even when something fundamental has broken.
I’m not saying this book is about schizophrenia, mental health, or any one diagnosis. But it is about perception. About fractured realities. About what happens when the masks come off and people do not like what they see.
It is about loss. And it is about how we survive that loss.
If you just want a hard-boiled monster mystery, you will get one. It is right there to smack you in the face.
If you are looking for something deeper under the surface, it is in there too, practically begging you to find it.
— D. R. Long
Reviewed 2 weeks ago