Day 31: Joshua Skye

     Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, autumn my favorite season. Most of my stories take place in the fall. My novel, "The Angels of Autumn" (Pink Pepper Press) certainly does. The intrinsic eeriness in this time of year meshes well with my fascination of the paranormal, all those things that go bump in the night. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my mother telling me scary stories, true stories. Ghosts, ghouls, aliens, and other creepy creatures, her tales crawled with them and I was endlessly enthralled.
     It is perhaps no surprise then that I love to tell scary stories as well. I've been writing ever since I can remember and loving it. There's nothing quite like watching someone read one of your stories, their reactions eliciting perhaps a morbid joy. One of my most provocative tales, "Matriz de Madre" (KMS Books LLC) never ceases to freak people out. I've been told I have the kind of sense of humor that grew up in a dark basement. It's an astute observation.
Some of those early tales have been the basis for more mature stories I've written as an adult. My story "Timothy" was first born a long time ago and has haunted me through the years, rewritten many times until the demonic little imp was fully realized in all of his gruesome glory. He has a home now, nestled snugly among other great yarns in "Childhood Nightmares: Under the Bed" from Sirens Call Publications. I've written many stories of childhood terrors but "Timothy" will always have a special place at the proverbial campfire. He really like to scare people, you see.
     Adults have fears too, and it is equally fun to invite those to the party. Knowing that yes there really are such things as monsters, and understanding them from an adult's perspective, the things that lurk in the shadows are often times more disturbing from a grown-up's point of view. Its one thing to know that monsters are out there, its quite another to realize what their true intentions are. My stories "Trick" and "Cathy's Treat" in "31 More Nights of Halloween" from Rainstorm Press, explores monsters from both perspectives. The ghoul in "Trick" could very well be Timothy's mischievous brother, while the monsters in "Cathy's Treat" are a parent's worst nightmares. As a parent myself, nothing could be more terrifying.
     Do I believe in the paranormal? Absolutely. I've seen ghosts, unidentified flying objects, and I've had strange otherworldly experiences. Many of these things I've experienced make appearances in my stories. A being of light walking across a field is an image that haunts me and my work because I actually saw it as a child. A character in my novel "The Singing Wind" (JMS Books LLC) speaks of just such an experience. Was it a demon? An angel? An Alien? I explore such concepts often in my work perhaps in an attempt to explain what I had seen. That in itself is a frightening idea. What if all authors of the paranormal are trying, through the medium, to explain things they'd actually experienced? Stories take on a more disturbing depth with that in mind.
     I think its time to revisit one of my favorite collections of scary stories. "Night Shift" by Stephen King. I love to snuggle down in my bed, pull the covers up to keep the chill at bay, and read a great scary story. Maybe if I read out loud I'll have a few ghostly visitors, it is that time of year after all. Happy Halloween!

**Note: There is a HUGE giveaway at the end of the month after Halloween!!! To enter for the giveaway, comment on the blogs. The more you comment, the bigger chance you have at winning!!! There will only be 1 winner, and the winner will be announced 1st week of November!!! Good Luck!!!

Day 28: Emily Fayad - S.A. Swiniarski

First off I want to thank Lacey for inviting me to get involved with her “31 Books of Halloween”.  When Lacey first emailed me about being involved I was really excited.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I jumped at the chance to get in on the fun.  But what to write about!  There are so many wonderful books out there it was going to be hard for me to pick just one, but after much consideration I got it.  I decided to pick a book that may not be very well known, written by an author who may also be a new name to many.  The novel I speak of is “Raven” by S.A. Swiniarski and was published by DAW Books, Inc. in 1996.  Before stumbling upon this book, tucked away and all alone on a random book shelf, I had never heard of either the book or its author.  However, after reading the back I was hooked, and had to buy it.  Then after reading it, within a single night, it quickly became one of my favorite books and now I wish to give the author the credit he deserves.  Though I haven’t written a book review in many, many years -  I’m going to give it my best shot.

This novel starts off with us finding the main character, Kane Tyler, waking up in a dark, dismal storm tunnel with a horrible case of amnesia.  He feels weak, scared and very unsure of anything – including who he is and what happened to him.  Finding nothing on his person that would give him any useful clues, except for a lone hotel room key, he stumbles his way to the road above and begins his journey to finding the truth. This journey takes him from one horrifying discovery to another. Kane finds himself faced with a string of shady characters and the realization that nothing is what it seems.  His journey takes us on a path to the truth about who he is, the horrors of what happened to him, the realization of what he must do now and the undeniable reality of what he has become... a vampire.

An excerpt from “Raven” – page 26

“…my subconscious left me with a deep rage and a feeling that I had been in some sense, raped.

“Maybe I don’t want to remember.” I took a deep breath. “Stop talking to yourself in the dark, people will think you’re nuts.”

I groped for the light switch.   A frosty fluorescent flashed a few rattling strobes before it came on.

The bathroom was a mess.  Worst was the bathtub.  The water was black with dirt and blood.  Water had slopped over and drenched the hex-tile floor, streaking it red and brown.”

This novel takes you into the dark realms of paranormal horror – where vampires are real, the lines between good and evil are blurred, and sometimes the only way to get what you want is to become what you fear most.

This is truly a wonderful novel and the author takes a new approach, with new twists, and spins them with a well-known tale.  I want to wish everyone a very scary and wonderful Halloween.

Emily Fayad, aspiring writer

DarkRose2001.blogspot.com

**Note: There is a HUGE giveaway at the end of the month after Halloween!!! To enter for the giveaway, comment on the blogs. The more you comment, the bigger chance you have at winning!!! There will only be 1 winner, and the winner will be announced 1st week of November!!! Good Luck!!!

Day 25: Paul Western-Pittard Inteview

Let’s talk about the first book Undreamed. A psychological thriller about a girl, Alice, who lives two different lives. One in a dream and one in reality, but she is confused between what is real and what is not. Have you lived a life that is in comparison to this story? If not, what inspired you to write something with so many twists?

Hi Lacey, and thanks for the opportunity to chat.

It’s hard to say what exactly was the inspiration for Undreamed. I do know a large part came from that classic, lurking paranoid question of: What if none of this was real? How would I ever know? For me, anyway, that question is a mind-bender. We can only ever trust the evidence of our senses, but what if they were somehow fooled? It’s a classic setup and used in many different genres, but just like Alice mentions in the book, the question of what’s real has existed as long as there have been people around to think about it.

I was intrigued not only by the question, but what it would mean to someone living inside that insanity, where they absolutely knew one version of their lives was a fake, but not which one. What would it do to them? How would they cope? How could you exist, knowing that one half of your life was lie?

I actually set out to write it as simply as I could, with chapters roughly ping-ponging between her dream life and her real one, but in the end it does get crazy as it all unravels for her.

Movies like ‘The Game’ ‘The Cell’ and even ‘Fight Club’ have helped flavour it, along with books like ‘The Magus’ and a lot of writing by Lovecraft.

Now your other book Jan and the Spooky Periscope Incident (The Chronicles of Jan). Which is a book of short stories. It seems like a book of science fiction, completely different from Undreamed. Is there any science fiction films or books that inspired these short stories?

I’ve had a couple of people mention that the Jan stories remind them a little of Douglas Adams, and whilst I never set out to write a story in that style, his ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ series is a big favourite of mine. I guess I must be channeling some of that.

The Jan series is on the other end of the spectrum from Undreamed. It’s geeky absurdist sci-fi comedy and a nerd-fest of badly used science concepts. It’s a blast to write to this stuff because it’s such an opposite and believe it or not, a sanity check from some of the darker things I’m working on.

On your website cerullean.net, you have a blog series The Barefoot Goddess. And I just want to say that the illustrations are down right adorable. The first one is “The Well-Taker”, you described the girl as “a creature of wishes”, collecting money from a well  and collecting the people’s money. And you also described her as a “dream”. Is she a paranormal creature, or a figment of everyone’s imagination?

Thank you. All the artwork on that series was created by Wayne Bryant (@Wayneartist) on Twitter. We go back forever and the Barefoot Goddess is an evolution of project we’ve been working on for a while.

Is the girl a dream or figment of someone’s imagination? Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? The series (it’s very short) follows her on a journey as she discovers her nature and the truth of her existence. It isn’t at all what she first thinks it is. She is definitely real, through I’m not entirely sure I’d want to meet her by the end of the series.

What inspired you to write in this genre of books and short stories? Dreams from when you were a child? Real life incidents that you transform into a fantasy?

I’m not drawn to a specific genre as such, but I love stories that question identity and shake down the hero’s understanding of what’s real. Stories that break the real world or hero’s world in some way.

As to what inspires it? I’ve seen things in real life that I can’t explain, met people who seem to be connected in ways even harder to explain. I love it when my assumptions about things turn out to be completely wrong - because then I have to go back to square one and figure it all out again. It’s this unsettled or liquid nature of truth that inspires me, I think.

What is your favorite paranormal author or book?

Tough question. I’ve always enjoyed H.P Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Stephen King. I think I’d have to say Lovecraft, for his vast worlds and (again) that sense of reality vs dream world.

I have asked this question before, and I want your take on it as well. There has been many paranormal books made into movies. What is your favorite movie based on a paranormal book?

It would have to be ‘The Others’ (2001) It’s not so much about the twist at the end as the whole build of fear and paranoia. It’s different enough from ‘The Turn of the Screw’ on which it was based, but I think as a film, it captures that psychological horror and sense of dread in the book. In my opinion, scary isn’t about gore, it’s about staring at your face in a mirror and seeing stranger.

Do you have anything works in the making? If so, how about a little teaser?

Yes, a couple of things. The first is a serialised Urban Fantasy novel called ‘The Transcedents’ which tells the story of Nick Lejune, who discovers he’s at the centre of war between two rival groups of powerful magic users. They both need him to stop a sickness that is ripping apart reality and unmaking more and more of the world.

And ‘Godless’, a psychological horror novel set in a mining town in the Australian desert. Tara Lakin, a reporter has been sent to cover the anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of the town’s population thirty years ago. Her report uncovers more than she could ever have imagined, and somewhere in the desert, ghosts begin to stir, seeking revenge.

Last one, I have many friends who are fans of the paranormal, and they are also aspiring writers. What advice would you give them to make that spark into a flame?

Finish what you start. Learn from your mistakes and do the next story better. Ideas are worth nothing unless they’re expressed, and there’s no sense in tinkering with one thing for years until it’s ‘perfect’. It never will be, so follow your passion, practice your craft, keep writing and keep getting better. 

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**Note: There is a HUGE giveaway at the end of the month after Halloween!!! To enter for the giveaway, comment on the blogs. The more you comment, the bigger chance you have at winning!!! There will only be 1 winner, and the winner will be announced 1st week of November!!! Good Luck!!!