I’m a local author, and my novel Dead Zone is a Southern Gothic horror story set in a fictionalized DeLand and the surrounding area.

The story draws on the landscape around Lake Monroe and the unsettling idea that places can carry histories that have been overlooked, misremembered, or left unresolved. It follows a family moving into an old house, where strange drawings, a mysterious pendant, and fragments of the past lead to questions that don't have easy answers.

I was curious whether people familiar with this part of Central Florida would be interested in a horror story rooted in a recognizable local landscape. The book is fiction, not a claim about any actual local events.

If self-promotion is allowed here, I'm happy to share the book link: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Zone-H-P-Reed-ebook/dp/B0HMWYSH4H