The trailhead #08
Celebrating the Launch of The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford
There are moments as a writer when a story refuses to stay contained within the boundaries you originally set for it. The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford is one of those moments.
This novella was never conceived as a traditional sequel. It wasn’t designed to move the central timeline of The Towpath forward or to resolve unanswered questions in comforting ways. Instead, it emerged as something more unsettling—and more honest: a recovered artifact. A fragment. A voice clawing its way out of the dark.
That is why seeing The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford officially announced through EIN Presswire felt especially fitting. The press release frames the book not as “Book 1.5,” but as what it truly is: a companion piece that expands the Towpath universe by narrowing its focus. By centering the story entirely on Gil Stanford, the announcement captures the intent behind this project: to let readers experience the world of The Towpath from inside the mind of one of its most troubling figures.
A Found Object, Not a Traditional Narrative
As the EIN Presswire article explains, The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford presents itself as a discovered composition notebook, recovered near the Sand Run caves years after the events of The Towpath. That framing isn’t a marketing trick. It’s the spine of the novella.
From the beginning, I wanted this book to feel like something you weren’t meant to read. Diaries are dangerous objects. They are unfiltered. They bypass the social masks we wear and go straight to obsession, fear, rationalization, and self-justification. This story isn’t about spectacle; it’s about proximity. It invites the reader uncomfortably close. In The Towpath’s first draft, Gil’s increasingly disturbing passages were delivered aloud by Libby Jaite, her voice barely above a whisper, as she read by flashlight to Aaron Porter and Simon Kent during their final journey to confront the Redeemer and her legion, in the hope of finding Owen Porter. Even then, the material unsettled them. But alas, the pages (and well, an entire chapter) had to be cut from The Towpath to preserve the novel’s pacing—a necessary sacrifice, a “darling” set aside for the sake of momentum.
But the past has a way of resisting erasure. And some documents, once created, seem to insist on being found again. And Gil Stanford was always a character who existed in the margins of The Towpath. Readers saw his actions and felt his impact, but his inner world remained obscured. A diary removes that distance. It places you inside his thoughts—his spirals, his logic, his attempts to explain himself to himself.
The EIN Presswire release describes the novella as revealing “the unfiltered descent of its most complex and unsettling character,” and that language is deliberate. This is not a redemption arc. It is not a confession designed to earn forgiveness. It is a document of collapse.
Why Gil, and Why Now?
After The Towpath was released, one thing became clear very quickly: Gil Stanford lingered with readers. Conversations returned to him again and again—his motivations, his contradictions, the sense that there was more beneath the surface than the main narrative could fully contain.
Rather than answer those questions directly, The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford complicates them.
As with The Towpath, this novella doesn’t clarify Gil in a comforting way. Instead, it exposes how he frames events, how he reshapes memory, and how he justifies choices that ripple outward with devastating consequences. The press release emphasizes this psychological depth, positioning the book as an expansion of theme rather than plot—and that distinction matters. This story exists to deepen the emotional and moral gravity of The Towpath, not to soften it.
Horror Through Intimacy
Tonally, The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford leans closer to psychological horror than suspense. The unease doesn’t come from what happens on the page, but from how it’s processed. From watching a mind tighten around an idea until everything else bends to serve it.
The press release calls the diary “chilling,” and the chill comes from recognition. Gil’s thoughts aren’t alien. They are disturbingly human. His need to feel chosen, to impose meaning on coincidence, to believe that events are guiding him toward something larger—these are impulses we all understand. The danger lies in how far he follows them.
By presenting the story as a recovered artifact, the novella invites readers to act as investigators, weighing what’s reliable against what’s self-serving or delusional. That experience mirrors the role of law enforcement within the Towpathuniverse itself—authorities who initially dismiss the notebook as the ravings of a lunatic, another detail highlighted in the EIN Presswire announcement.
A Launch That Reflects the Story
Releasing The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford through EIN Presswire wasn’t just about visibility. It reinforced the book’s identity. The announcement positions the novella as a discovery—something newly surfaced that complicates an already unsettling world.
The release also confirms what many readers have been asking: The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford is available now on Kindle, with a paperback edition actively in the works. That physical version feels especially appropriate for a story that masquerades as a damaged notebook pulled from the mud. Holding it should feel a little like handling evidence.
What Comes Next—and How to Read It Now
This novella marks an important tonal shift for the Towpath universe. It opens the door to darker territory and signals the direction future stories will take. It is not a bridge between books. It is a descent—and one that reshapes how the larger narrative is understood.
If you’ve read The Towpath, this diary may change how you see it. If you haven’t, it offers an unsettling entry point into the world.
The Lost Diary of Gil Stanford is available now on Kindle. If you’re drawn to found-footage storytelling, unreliable narrators, and psychological horror rooted in character rather than spectacle, I invite you to read it.
Read the EIN Presswire announcement, explore the diary, and decide for yourself whether what Gil left behind is a warning—or an invitation.
Stay in Touch
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