October 8th, 2025Cosmic Horror
Erik Horvat grew up in Daylesford, has always been creative, and at just 25 already has his first book on sale, The Sleep Walking Game, at Paradise Books, along with various online booksellers. The Sailors Falls resident chatted with Donna Kelly
Donna: How did you get into words?
Erik: I moved here when I was eight and I’ve always been very creative. I always liked reading and I also do a lot of painting and sculptures. All sort of things. This is the first book I’ve written – and like a lot of creative people I was always too scared to try to make anything of it because there’s too much competition out there. And perhaps I’m not as good as I think I am.
There are two quotes from authors who got me going. One is the comic book artist Alan Moore who said ‘As a prospective writer, I would urge you to not only read good books. Read terrible books as well, because they can be more inspiring than the good books. If you are inspired by a good book, there’s always the danger of plagiarism, of doing something that is too much like that good book. Whereas, a genuinely helpful reaction to a piece of work that you’re reading is, ‘Jesus Christ, I could write this shit!’.
The other one was Ernest Hemingway who said the first draft is always shit. And that’s when I started to write. Overnight. And this is that book.
Donna: No spoilers but what’s the book about?
Erik: It’s cosmic horror. Cosmic horror was invented by H.P. Lovecraft and it’s incomprehensible creatures, things from other dimensions…not to do with space necessarily but it’s more that the world doesn’t work how we think it does. And that is terrifying. The Netflix series Stranger Things is cosmic horror.
Donna: Hmmm. Don’t you get nightmares with all this on your mind?
Erik: I’m really drawn to horror but I am also a very paranoid, fear filled-person. I suppose writing horror gives me power over it.
Donna: What is your writing style?
Erik: I wake up first thing in the morning and I start writing and I won’t stop until about 2pm when I then have to go to my night shift at Cellarbrations. I do it seven days a week, just almost obsessively. I’ll just write until I can’t anymore.
Donna: Who is publishing your book?
Erik: That is a bizarre story within itself. I submitted to a bunch of publishers and there was a small independent publisher in Melbourne who picked it up. It was run by one guy who was also an established writer. They were about to start printing when all of sudden the man died.
All operations had to cease because it was all tied up in his will and some legal issues. So at the risk of waiting another couple of years for that to resolve, one of the senior editors said the book was finished, ready to go and I had still retained all the rights. So I self-published it but I did have a contract.
Donna: Do you have another book ready to go?
Erik: I do. I’ve written several books. I have another one that I’m polishing up just a little bit more and then I’m going to look for a literary agent in the United States.
Donna: Do you hope to be a full-time writer?
Erik: That’s the dream. But dare I dream that? It is terrifying having a book out. Even though I have many, many friends, I am an intensely private person and getting everyone to read something I wrote…I would love them to be made into movies. My partner said what if they make it into a movie and butcher it.
But I would take that paycheck. That would be cool. And outside our store is a basket of The Local – it would funny to flick through it and see myself in it. That would be fantastic.
The Sleep Walking Game is available online at booktopia, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
Image: Kiara Clifton
