The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle

Tyler Kyle doesn't believe in monsters. A washed-up thirty-year-old actor and reluctant cryptid investigator, Tyler is used to playing the Scully to his best friend Josh's Mulder on their stupidly popular YouTube channel. But when Tyler receives previously unseen footage of the B movie bombshell mother who abandoned him eighteen years ago—footage linked to an isolated island in the Canadian wilderness—the mystery is one conspiracy he's determined to investigate. The fact that following the scent gives Tyler an excuse to run away from the "straight" Josh, whom he drunkenly made out with, is just the cherry on the shit sundae.

But Echo Island isn't what it seems. Somewhere amongst its pine-clad hills lurks the stalker whose footage lured him to the island in the first place, and behind its eerily scenic veneer hides a twisted secret buried in its roots as a gay conversion camp. As Tyler retraces his mother's footsteps, he discovers a supernatural connection the residents share with the island—one that calls to Tyler the same way it did his mother.

Face-to-face with the supernatural, he sure-as-shit wishes he hadn't gay-panicked and left the cryptid-obsessed Josh behind. Pursued by the stalker, searching for his mother, and debating whether it's possible to queerbait yourself, Tyler comes to realize that it doesn't matter so much whether you believe in monsters, if they believe in you.

THE ERSTWHILE TYLER KYLE is an adult horror comedy for fans of GHOST FILES, BUZZFEED UNSOLVED, and TWIN PEAKS. Content warnings can be found at the back of the book, or on Steve Westenra's website.