What Inspired The Author To Write 'The Otherworld'?

I've been obsessed with 'The Otherworld' since its release, and digging into the author's interviews revealed some cool inspirations. The concept apparently stemmed from their childhood fascination with liminal spaces—those eerie, transitional places like empty parking lots at 3 AM or abandoned malls. The author mentioned how these spaces felt like gateways to something 'other,' which became the foundation for the book's parallel reality. They also cited classic portal fantasies like 'The Chronicles of Narnia' as early influences, but wanted to subvert the trope by making the other world darker and more psychologically complex. Personal experiences with sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming added layers to the surreal atmosphere, especially in scenes where characters struggle to distinguish reality from the Otherworld. The author’s background in psychology shines through in how they handle the protagonist’s mental unraveling as the boundaries between worlds blur.

The author's creative process for 'The Otherworld' is a masterclass in blending personal trauma with mythic storytelling. In one interview, they described how losing a sibling young shaped the book’s central theme of searching for lost connections across dimensions. The Otherworld isn’t just a fantasy setting—it’s a manifestation of grief, where the protagonist keeps glimpsing echoes of their dead brother but can never truly reach him.

Another major inspiration was folklore. The author spent years researching global legends about shadow realms, from Celtic Tir na nÓg to Japanese Yomi, and synthesized them into something fresh. The book’s rules about not eating Otherworld food or staying past midnight directly reference these myths while adding new twists. What’s brilliant is how they modernized these ideas—instead of fairy circles, the portals are glitchy websites or back alley graffiti that shifts when you blink.

Technology plays a huge role too. The author admitted the rise of VR and AI made them question how we define reality, which bled into the book’s exploration of simulated worlds. There’s a chilling scene where the protagonist realizes their ‘real’ life might just be another layer of the Otherworld, mirroring our own fears about digital existence.

As someone who analyzes writing patterns, I noticed 'The Otherworld' mirrors the author’s earlier experimental short stories. Their 2014 piece 'Static Kingdom' featured similar themes—a radio picking up broadcasts from a dead city—which evolved into the novel’s media distortions. The author’s love for weird fiction like Jeff VanderMeer’s work is obvious in the biological horror elements; trees growing teeth, streets breathing like lungs.

They’ve also cited music as inspiration. The repetitive, distorted lyrics of shoegaze bands influenced how characters hear whispers in the Otherworld—just barely intelligible but deeply unsettling. Cinematic influences matter too. The book’s visual style owes much to David Lynch’s dream logic and Jan Švankmajer’s stop-motion surrealism, especially in scenes where household objects move unnaturally.

What fascinates me is how the author turned mundane anxieties into cosmic horror. Interview notes reveal they wrote during lockdown, channeling isolation into the book’s themes of being trapped between worlds. The protagonist’s apartment—which slowly changes when they aren’t looking—is basically quarantine paranoia made literal. It’s this grounding in real emotion that makes the fantastical elements hit so hard.