Title: Placerita

Authors: Lisa Morton & John Palisano

Release date: June 14th, 2024

If you’ve been a fan of crazy creature stories, then you might’ve come across the story/idea that deep below the city of Los Angeles resides or used to reside a race of lizard people. While it sounds insane to some, to others it’s not rumor – it’s fact – and that fact was first presented back in 1934 in the LA Times of all places.

G. Warren Shufelt – a miner and engineer, said he’d developed a way to scan below ground and in doing so, had discovered a massive, sprawling city made up of tunnels and chambers below LA. Shufelt then claimed that after mapping this area, he’d met with a well-respected Hopi Indigenous man, who told him about the Lizard People who lived below the surface and that there was a city built of gold.

It’s with that back drop that Morton and Palisano deliver ‘Placerita’ a history-horror novella that deftly blends fact and fiction. That should come as no surprise, when considering the two authors involved. Morton is an internationally lauded writer of both non-fiction and fiction, and Palisano himself is no slouch, having won a Bram Stoker Award and been nominated several other times as well. Both know the area this is set in intimately, and it was with all that in hand that I jumped into this story.

What I liked: The novella follows a young woman in 1928. Alexis has been hired on as a Professor of Biology at a University, and is excited about making strides in her field. Then things take a turn. A dam bursts, her home is destroyed, and within all of that madness, she finds a scaled hand. One that shouldn’t exist.

It’s that discovery that sends her down the rabbit hole of learning about the oddities of the potential Lizard People below Los Angeles. She has run-ins with some nefarious characters and even Schufelt himself.

Morton and Palisano do a wonderful job of collaboration. It felt like a singular voice wrote this and the pacing is spot-on perfect, with each section building intrigue but also setting up for a big reveal.

Throughout, we get hints and clues regarding whether that population of lizard folks actually exist, and the ending was a rational, well executed ending that also showcased how Alexis processed her new-found information.

What I didn’t like: While I really enjoyed the story and the way it was told, a lot of the ‘big moments’ felt like Lite moments. We were always on the precipice of a big reveal, only for it to arrive and not happen, the direction of the story changing. It left a lot of ‘what if’s’ and ‘what was that’ spots. Additionally, while the ending was exactly how it should’ve played out for Alexis’ character, for the story itself, it just didn’t resolve anything for those reading this for a creature experience. It just sort of… ends.

Why you should buy this: This is a novella that really does two things perfectly. The first, is that it is very, very engaging and will have you racing through the story to see what happens. The second, is that is will also have you racing to your bookshelf (if you’re like me and have a bunch of books about mythical creatures and forgotten civilizations on your shelves) or Google (if you don’t have those other books!) to read all about the history of the Lizard People.

This novella was really well done and I think it’s one that historical-horror fans will really enjoy!

4/5