The Lodge of Death boar reads P.J. Hoover’s TUT.
When I saw the prompt for day 14 of #18DaystoMGDebut, strangest place I worked on THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, the answer came to me straight away: the Lodge of Death.
Twice a year, a group of writer friends rent out a lodge on a lake and spend a weekend silently writing, with breaks for food and wine, of course.
What makes this retreat space so strange is that it’s covered in weird taxidermy. The towel racks are deer antlers, the kitchen cabinet is home to a raccoon with glue on its butt, and check out the boar head and hooves gun rack in the picture. At least it has good taste in books; TUT:THE STORY OF MY IMMORTAL LIFE by retreat organizer P.J. Hoover is one of my favorite middle-grade adventure novels.
For the record, none of the writers at this retreat are fans of the taxidermy; we go there because the space is the right distance, inexpensive and quiet. But whether it’s the dead animals or the company, a lot of published books have been written there. THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST is around number 16, I think, and my next book was started there too.
What’s the weirdest place you’ve worked?
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