We Used to Live Here

Marcus Kliewer is an author and stop-motion animator. We Used to Live Here is his debut novel. It’s based on a serialized short story series that Kliewer posted to a Reddit forum under the username Polterkites. Posting the story there initially proved a fruitful process in which Kliewer received feedback, refined his plot, and worked out any holes and lingering unanswered questions. While the short story has since been deleted in favor of the published novel, Kliewer has been posting on r/NoSleep since 2014 and continues to pen various tales where he originally posted his story. The short-story version was named the Scariest Story of 2021 on the forum, which hosts 18 million members. Kliewer intends to continue authoring stories on the forum and to explore other opportunities and prospects. We Used to Live Here is set to become a Netflix film, and plans for it began before the novel was even published.

Kliewer cites Stephen King as his strongest inspiration; King is known for his ability to create deeply disturbing and entertaining horror that plays off the flaws of human beings. In addition, King’s work skillfully explores many aspects of the horror genre, from supernatural horrors (like the haunting of a lodge and its caretaker in the 1977 novel The Shining, a government experiment’s inadvertent bestowal of telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers on a father and daughter in the 1980 novel Firestarter, or a monster that can assume the shape of one’s worst fears in the 1986 novel It) to everyday horrors that could happen to anyone (like being threatened by a rabid dog, as in the 1981 novel Cujo; getting lost in the woods, as in the 1999 novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon; or confronting the demons of addiction and obsession, as in the 1987 novel Misery). Kliewer’s work maintains this sentiment, using psychological, supernatural, and slasher horror, as well as dozens of common cliches and tropes. Many consider Kliewer an upcoming authorial talent, and fans look forward to his next work.