A confession can expose guilt, reveal secrets, or offer the hope of forgiveness. In Heretical Talk, words open the way to something far more dangerous.
Beau Lemmerman’s debut novel follows six people whose encounters with a cursed serial killer continue shaping their lives across several decades. Their stories combine paranormal suspense, psychological horror, science fiction, and spiritual unease within one interconnected mystery.
When Faith Becomes a Doorway
The killer at the heart of the novel is called Needless. His violence leaves survivors traumatized, while his heretical conversations change the way they view existence. Those who escape remain haunted by the knowledge he shares and the questions he plants in their minds.
Seeking peace, the victims turn toward God. Their journeys take them in a darker direction as they discover a void filled with monsters. Through this disturbing premise, the novel examines what happens when someone desperate for spiritual comfort encounters forces that make faith even harder to understand.
The story’s wide timeline allows the consequences of Needless’ actions to spread across generations. Every episode introduces different characters and surroundings, yet recurring connections bring the individual narratives together. Clues develop gradually, giving readers a reason to reconsider earlier events as the history of the killer becomes clearer.
In one 1984 account, a retired trucker takes a road trip with his estranged teenage son. The journey could help them reconnect, though their destination soon becomes a struggle for survival. Umbra Island appears peaceful and remote. Its isolation hides an ancient species of demons capable of turning their troubled family trip into a nightmare.
Another 1984 narrative moves inside an asylum. A young orphaned patient joins an imprisoned Needless in an attempt to stop a demon stalking the institution. They also face a mad doctor whose connection to the supernatural creatures reaches into Needless’ past.
Six Stories With One Dark Pulse
The earliest storyline takes place in 1964, when a gang of biker outcasts known as The Needless confronts a shapeshifting demon. The creature wears human skin and preys upon their town. Suspicion spreads quickly because anyone could be hiding a monstrous identity. The gang members become the community’s strongest chance of surviving the threat.
A decade later, a former drug addict is preparing for a religious life as a nun. Her new faith has given her direction, purpose, and the possibility of personal renewal. When Needless arrives for confession, he reveals frightening truths that challenge the foundation of her beliefs. Their meeting turns a sacred ritual into a deeply unsettling exchange.
The 1994 chapter introduces a survivor who has become a quantum physicist. While living with PTSD from a previous attack, he discovers an equation leading to a dimension older than the universe. His decision to open that dimension releases chaos throughout the research facility. The sequence combines scientific ambition with cosmic danger, showing how human curiosity can reach places the mind is unprepared to comprehend.
In 2004, another survivor travels beyond Earth. He becomes an astronaut aboard a satellite station, hoping the heavens might make him feel closer to God. From orbit, he witnesses nuclear destruction set the planet ablaze. His search for divine closeness places him above humanity during an apparent Armageddon.
These changing settings give Heretical Talk a broad sense of scale. The novel travels from lonely roads and guarded institutions to scientific facilities and outer space. Still, its most powerful horrors remain personal. Each character carries grief, estrangement, guilt, or spiritual uncertainty into an encounter with the impossible.
Beau’s storytelling draws energy from visceral terror and dark poetic imagery. The supernatural elements support an exploration of loss, connection, and the emotional scars created by violence. Readers’ Favorite awarded the novel five stars, while critics described it as “Unsettling. Unhinged. And just plain brilliant.”
Heretical Talk contains elements of supernatural mystery and tells a gritty story filled with psychological dread. It’s a story where the poetic brutality of Cormac McCarthy meets the visceral, reality-bending horror of Clive Barker.
Heretical Talk is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play Books, Ingram, and other book retailers.
About the Author
Beau Alexander Lemmerman began creating and selling fan-fiction comics when he was nine. His first creative investment was a book about drawing Dragon Ball Z characters, purchased after he saved money from a Scholastic book fair.
Raised in rural Upstate New York, Beau worked as a freelance writer, editor, and photographer after finishing high school. His early assignments included work for the Sentinel & Dispatch and the County Public Market Newsletter.
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway, Steve McQueen, and Hunter S. Thompson, Beau left home in his Chevrolet and traveled across the country. His experiences have included working as a bounty hunter and occasional ghostwriter. He now serves as a full-time veterinary biomedical technician in the Puget Sound region.
He also founded Baal House Books, an independent press and creative workshop focused on dark and strange fiction.
The Darkness That Lingers
Heretical Talk presents horror as a legacy carried through time, memory, and belief. By connecting six lives to one cursed figure, Beau creates an ambitious cosmic mystery where the desire for answers leads toward terrifying discoveries waiting beyond the familiar world.
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