Upper New England

Much of the collection takes place in upper New England, an area famously known for its gothic aesthetics and quiet remove from the rest of society. Hill deploys this setting as a means of exploring the loneliness and isolation that undergirds many of the stories in his collection, turning the landscape itself into an extension of the stories' horror. He also explores the class dynamics of the region, which is well-known for condensing extreme wealth and blue-collar poverty into small areas of land. Though the exact settings of the stories shift from town to town, the broad aura of the region can be felt in many of the stories in the collection.

Biden Academy / Wellbrook Progressive Mental Health Center

As mental health struggles are a prominent feature in many of Hill's stories, it follows that he would be interested in the aesthetics of facilities designed to...