The Gore

About the Author

Novelist, folklorist, and public radio commentator, Joseph A. Citro is considered an expert on New England's historical oddities and unexplained phenomena. A resident of Vermont, he has authored numerous novels and nonfiction books, lectured widely, and appeared on regional and national radio and television.

On Writing The Gore

T

his was a fun book to write. It's as close to a "boy's adventure" novel as I've ever been able to concoct. The moment I stumbled upon Vermont "gores" this story took root and almost wrote itself.

At that time, I was researching a historical script for public television. That's when I stumbled upon gores. They are unorganized parcels of land that lie outside the borders of all official townships. Since they are in no town, they are quite literally "no-man's-lands."

Gores do not exist by design. They are blunders made by colonial surveyors who first measured unexplored land. Many Vermont gores remained uninhabited because they are in some of the state's most inhospitable terrain. My guess is that a few of those early surveyors deliberately overlooked such godforsaken acres

To me all this was a revelation! What a perfect place to set a scary book: an uninhabited no-man's-land created by mistake!

So, the book's wonderfully ambiguous title was essentially handed to me: The Gore. What else could I have called it? This is one of those rare instances when the title came before the book. More precisely, the title inspired the novel!

Alas, when Warner Books originally published it in 1990, they - for some unfathomable reason - renamed it The Unseen.

I was upset, fearing that flaccid title would predict the book's fate.

I was right.

Rescue came in 2000 when the University Press of New England (UPNE) resurrected it as part of their prestigious Hardscrabble line. They graced the printed edition with an elegant cover by nationally renowned artist Wendell Minor. And they restored its proper name.

Later, in 2012, Crossroad Press published the ebook and an audio book, beautifully voiced by the talented Chet Williamson. At this point its birth title was permanently in place.

But Fate had other plans for The Gore. In 2018 UPNE went out of business, making the printed edition unavailable.

Luckily, in July of 2024, I was delighted to cross paths with Redhawk Publications. Their Publisher, Robert Canipe, introduced me to Acquisitions Editor Patricia Thompson and the rest is history. Or better yet, the future. It is my hope that Redhawk will keep The Gore in print for many years, once again making it available to its old fans and to a new generation of readers.