‘Dopefoot’: A Must-Read Cryptid Horror Novel

Note: Dopefoot author Josh Millican previously served as Editor-in-Chief of Dread Central

Dopefoot is dope. Josh Millican’s (Chopping Mall novelization, Deeper Than Hell) occult creature feature is brimming with radical, subversive ideas. Today’s world of horror publishing, especially indie horror publishing, is richer than it ever has been, but you need to know where to look. While Millican has largely helmed tie-in novelizations before (including the underrated All Through the House), Dopefoot is a riotously original take on cryptid mythos.

The cryptid in question is Bigfoot. While arguably the most famous among them—and Millican’s cold open does well to acclimate readers to decades of lore—the core conceit of Dopefoot does what the best horror does: Pair its monster with the singular savagery of human beings.

A college dropout dubbed Harmless by his crew is picked up roadside at a quirky local Bigfoot Museum for a summer of cutting cannabis. He’s new to the business and distinctly sensitive, though he loves to smoke, and he hopes the few weeks’ worth will make him enough money to last an entire year. That’s the goal, anyway.

Of course, it’s pure Harmless naïveté. Right away, the crew at Goat Farm, the aptly titled compound deep in the California wilderness, oozes menace. Jester, his chauffeur, seems to disregard human life. Honeydew, a young woman inextricably committed to Goat Farm’s ways, claps before every sentence she speaks. And Mother Agatha, while ostensibly maternal and kind, harbors a hidden brutality Harmless can’t yet see.