A Word Please: Conversations With 24 Authors Read online

  Going to the cinema with my husband as often as possible – I absolutely love it, though I’m often disappointed in the weak storyline, the big screen is wonderful. I also create handcrafted cards and jewellery, dabble in encaustic art, drawing, painting, scrapbooking – anything creative. I also like walking on beautiful days and gardening. I’d like to read more, but with writing, posting reviews for others and all the other things I have to do, time flies. I’m looking forward to a break, however, where I’m going to read all those Dean Koontz books I’ve been saving.

  A psychic has just told you about your past life. Who were you?

  I’ve no idea. Ideally, I would have loved to have been Leonardo Da Vinci – what an incredible mind! Or Shakespeare – all those wonderful words! Though thinking about it, my handwriting is so bad that nobody would have been able to read my work. And just think of all the quills and parchment I would have destroyed. Well, maybe someone beautiful and rich and…well, that’s another story…

  About the Author:

  My name is Julie Elizabeth Powell with a passion for words and six books published…all thanks to https://www.lulu.com, much hard work, sleepless nights and a very understanding and supportive husband.

  My eldest daughter has flown the nest and is married to a man who doesn’t mind his mother-in-law though my son is still fluffing his feathers.

 

  My middle child is off on a mysterious adventure, the like of which I can only guess…and tried to do so in my first book, Gone.

  I love to read and am looking for ways to double time so to indulge in the mysterious and wonderful and delicious and strange…my favourite kind of story.

 

  Writing takes up most of my days (and nights) though I enjoy creating handcrafted cards, making jewellery and dabbling in encaustic art whenever I can.

 

  Oh yes, I used to teach or mark exam papers and have a BA (Hons) amongst other qualifications and hate all those necessary domestic chores that would, for me, be included in the Rings of Hell!

  Julie Elizabeth Powell on Amazon

  Websites: https://www.freewebs.com/julizpow and https://www.alchemyuk.yolasite.com

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/starjewelz

  Goodreads: https://www.Goodreads.com/author/show/1349023.Julie_Elizabeth_Powell

  The Nightmare Within and Where Darkness Dwells by Glen Krisch

  Maury has the power to pull dreams into the waking world, giving the dreams

  corporeal form. These dream-people range from seemingly human figures, to monstrous beasts compelled by the most primal urges. Once exposed to the real world, the dreams evolve, adapting to their surroundings.

 

  Maury is gathering dreams for display at Lucidity, the soon-to-open Museum of Dreams. From a boy named Kevin, he removes Mr. Freakshow, a nightmare feeding on the trauma of Kevin having recently witnessed his father’s murder.

 

  As Maury falls in love with a dream-woman named Joy, he realizes how wrong it is to enclose the dreams. During the Lucidity’s Grand Opening, Mr. Freakshow escapes. To create a diversion, Mr. Freakshow frees the other dreams. The Nightmares, The Erotic Dreams, The Serenity Dreams–all of the dreams–invade the city.

 

  Mr. Freakshow knows the rules that govern the dreams:

  1. A dream-person achieves immortality by killing its dreamer.

  2. If a dreamer dies for any other reason, the embodied dream disappears forever.

 

  At first Maury seeks out Mr. Freakshow in order to stop him, only to realize there is only one way to accomplish this; he must find Kevin first, killing him before the nightmare has its way.

 

  Kevin will do whatever it takes to be free of his nightmare, once and for all.

  Maury will do whatever it takes to protect the love of his life.

  Mr. Freakshow will do whatever it takes to realize his immortality.

 

  Will Kevin survive his nightmare?

  During a hot summer night in 1934, tragedy strikes when two local boys search for the truth behind a local legend. They stumble upon the Underground, a network of uncharted caverns just below the surface of Coal Hollow. Time holds no sway in the Underground. People no longer age and their wounds heal as if by magic. By morning, one boy is murdered, while the other never returns home.

 

  The Underground is hidden for a reason. Certain locals want to keep their lair secret, no matter the cost.

 

  After learning a long-held family secret, Theodore Cooper is set adrift. Once well off and set in his ways, he is no longer sure of his role in society. He leaves his comfortable life in Chicago to tramp the countryside, searching for meaning in this new context. During his travels, he’s drawn to an abandoned house in Coal Hollow and impulsively buys it.

 

  Cooper doesn’t know that a massacre had taken place in his new house. In 1851, a group of bounty hunters tracked a family of runaway slaves to the home. They wound up killing the homeowners as conspirators, then chased the runaways into a cellar tunnel leading to the Underground. The bounty hunters cornered the slaves and killed them. To everyone’s astonishment, the slaves then rose from the dead. Over time, the bounty hunters chose to stay below ground, taking advantage of their new slave labor to build what they term “Paradise.”

 

  Their numbers are augmented by deathbed miners who are offered immorality in exchange for their subservience and labor.

 

  Below a town struggling to survive both the Great Depression and the closing of the local coal mine, there lives an immortal society built on the backs of slavery and pervasive immorality.

  Our Conversation:

  In your novel The Nightmare Within, people’s nightmares literally come to life. What inspired this story?

  I wanted to write something of a thriller/horror hybrid. I imagined a novel with plenty of scares and an ever-tightening plot that, once the essentials were established, would be a sprint to the finish. I also wanted to try to make it as original as possible. On the surface it’s a ridiculous concept—a man with the ability to pull dream-beings from the mind of a dreamer? But just about any horror trope, especially of the supernatural variety, is somewhat ridiculous. The dead rising from the dead to hunt the flesh of the living? Creatures that feast on blood and are rendered both immortal and mortally afraid of the sun? So I settled on the idea of dreams. But not all dreams are scary. But when they are… hold on to your seat!

  You gave vivid descriptions of the nightmares, making them feel all too real. Were any of them adapted from your own nightmares?

  Kevin suffers a case of sleep paralysis—the state when you’re awake, but you’re unable to move because your nervous system is still in “disable mode.” Basically you’re paralyzed for your own safety as you sleep. Occasionally signals can get mixed up and you’re fully awake even though you still can’t move. It’s happened to me a few times. Even though sleep paralysis is not technically a nightmare, it is one of the most frightening things you can experience. Of the “dream people” in the story? I’m sure a few details drifted over from my subconscious, but I didn’t purposely base any of them on my own dream experiences.

  You perfectly captured Kevin, the young boy at the heart of this tale. His character was so well developed that I ached for him and wanted to rescue him from the nightmares. Tell us about your process for character development. Do you spend time outlining your characters before you write? Or do they evolve as you go along?

  I tend to do a rough plot outline, nothing more than a “point A, to point B, to point C” sort of thing. My characters live inside my head. If I close my eyes, I can see what they wear, what they feel, know what they’re thinking. I glimpse the plot through their eyes, and that’s what ultimately dictates what happens.

  Your novel Where Darkness Dwells is set in the 1930s and flashes back to the 1800s. I felt you did
an incredible job of capturing the emotions and mentality of the eras. Did you do a lot of research? How did you get yourself into the necessary mindset for writing from the perspective of a generation you’ve never experienced?

  As I started writing Where Darkness Dwells, the plot was just a heap of puzzle pieces, and I had to figure out how they had to come together. I’d been reading a lot of nonfiction at the time. These books were about the Great Depression, WWI, the fugitive slave laws, the Seminole wars, hobos… I’m sure there were other subjects that influenced me, but that gives you the idea. One day I was toying with a story idea. This 1930s hobo leaves the tracks he’d been following all day, and he soon comes across a gleaming red water pump handle. Once I wrote that brief paragraph or two, I knew I was in trouble. I’d never written anything that hadn’t been present day. But once I started, and once I understood that I was writing a complex novel involving multiple eras, I knew I had to do right by the subject matter. I guess my hard work can be seen on the page. So much material never reached the final draft, but it was all essential for the creation of the finished project.

  What draws you to the paranormal/horror genre?

  Horror offers a flexible foundation on which to build a story. You can do just about anything. I’m a “what if” writer. I’m constantly asking myself that question. “What if a guy can pull dreams from the mind of a dreamer?” “What if a subterranean world exists where people no longer age? What if that world is ruled by evil men?”

  With that said, horror, for me, has to have a point. If a horror story doesn’t have some underlying message or some examination of humanity, it’s just an empty sequence of words. As both a reader and writer, I’m always looking for depth of character, a revelation or insight, a nuance that prompts contemplation long after I’ve read (or written) the story.

  Is there a line you won’t cross with gory details? Do you feel horror should be about shocking with explicit detail, or more about allowing the reader’s imagination to do the work?

  Where Darkness Dwells contains some of the most grim, dark material I’ve written. Even so, I censored myself when I wrote the Underground scenes. I’d originally intended to write a layer to the plot that I eventually scrapped. I thought it was too much. I wanted every bleak happening to have meaning. I didn’t want to go for the gross-out. Actually, one of the worst things that happens (the murder of a child character), happens off screen. I thought the message hit home even harder by not detailing it. I haven’t heard a single complaint about the graphic nature of the Underground, which has somewhat surprised me. I guess I struck the right balance.

  I love the cover art for your books. Do you design your own?

  I have absolutely no desire to do my own covers! I leave that to my go-to cover designer, Kealan Patrick Burke. Most notably an award winning author and editor, Kealan runs a full-service site for indie authors (covers, editing, formatting, etc). He can be found here: https://ebookcoverdesign.org

  What scares you the most and why?

  I have plenty of irrational fears. I’m actually quite neurotic, but try to keep things in check. My most realistic fear is the fear of something happening to my family.

  Aside from reading and writing, what is your favorite pastime?

  I claim to be a runner, but the last year has been horrible for that hobby. I also like to garden on a large scale. If I could ever afford it, I would have a 2+ acre organic garden, an orchard, honey bees, and chickens. Hmm… I just noticed how labor-intensive my hobbies are. Just thinking about it makes me tired. Maybe I should try out a new hobby: napping. Nah, sleeps over-rated!

  About Glen Krisch:

  I have written three novels: Where Darkness Dwells, The Nightmare Within, and Nothing Lasting, as well as the novellas, Loss, and Brother’s Keeper. My short fiction has appeared in publications across three continents for the last decade. Dog Horn Publishing (U.K.) will publish my story collection debut in 2012. I am also a staff editor for Morrigan Books. As a freelance editor, I have worked on books by Tim Lebbon and Lawrence Block, among others.

  Glen Krisch on Amazon

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4525598.Glen_Krisch

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glen.krisch

  Blog: https://glenkrisch.wordpress.com

  Twitter: www.twitter.com/glenkrisch or @glenkrisch

  B-Sides and Broken Hearts by Caryn Rose

  Lisa Simon, age 37, still loves loud punk rock and hates Dave Matthews with an all-consuming passion. April 15, 2001 should have been just another Sunday night. But a news headline landing in Lisa’s email inbox changes everything: “Joey Ramone is dead.” The death of one of her teenage heroes serves as an long-overdue wake-up call causing Lisa to examine her life and how she’s lived it, from her youth as a poet on the streets of the East Village to 10 years later, all grown up with a career and a fiance. Add to the mix Jake McDaniel, lead singer of million-selling, critically-regarded Seattle band Blue Electric, known better to Lisa as the starving renegades who lived next door to her when she first arrived in Seattle. In the midst of an unexpectedly heated argument with the fiance over the historical relevance (or not) of the Ramones – which forces Lisa to face the truth about her relationship – Jake writes and invites Lisa to LA. Throwing what seems like half her cd collection in the car, along with a wardrobe consisting of high heels, jeans and t-shirts, Lisa starts driving from Seattle to LA in the middle of the night, accompanied by music, memories, and the ghosts of the past. Arriving in LA, she finds refuge, but also collides with her past, present and future; decisions need to be made, and this time, Lisa stands her ground.

  Our conversation:

  While B-Sides and Broken Hearts is not a memoir, only an author with an intense love of music could have pulled it off. Do you remember that moment when rock jumped to the forefront of your life? Were you struck by a particular song or band?

  I don’t remember much of my life when I wasn’t listening to music. My mother gave me her old radio and phonograph (god that makes me sound so OLD) before I was in first grade. I was buying records as soon as I had an allowance. My parents weren’t rock and roll fans but my mother loved music (she was more of a Sinatra and Johnny Mathis kind of gal). So no, I can’t tell you when I had that big A-HA moment because it happened so early on.

  You give great detail on Lisa’s adventures during the New York punk scene and later, in Seattle, on the emerging indie scene later labeled grunge. I’m assuming you experienced these to some degree yourself, since research alone would not have allowed you to write with such clarity. Which is your favorite, from a rock fan’s perspective, and why?

  I don’t want to shatter anyone’s illusions but — I didn’t start going to CBGB’s until I was almost done with high school. I didn’t see the Ramones until 1981 and I only saw the Patti Smith Group once or twice before Patti retired. I never saw Nirvana live (I was living abroad and always thought I’d have the chance) and didn’t move to Seattle until 1995. Grunge was over, done and dusted at that point.

  To paraphrase Natalie Goldberg, a good writer can take a potato chip rack from a bar in Rochester and move it to one in Duluth and make it seem like it’s always been there.

  As to having a favorite I always say that I am a member of the church of Strummer & Springsteen. Which kind of puts me in no-man’s-land, which is just about where I like it.

  What are the 10 most played songs on your iPod/Mp3 player?

  I had to reinstall iTunes recently which completely blew away all my setlist counts. I was interviewed back in December about this very question and at the time, The #1 most played song in iTunes was “Bulletproof” by the Afghan Whigs at 653 plays, and #2 is “Hold On, I’m Coming,” by Sam & Dave which is only in the 400s. Frankly I was more shocked it wasn’t “Born To Run,” “Clampdown” or “People Have The Power” but it is what it is.

  You are a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. What is it about his music that draws you in?

  It’s
loud, it’s epic, it’s great writing, it’s an amazing band, it’s positive, it’s hopeful, it doesn’t talk down to you, it inspires you. He lives at the intersection of rock and roll and rhythm and blues and soul and that’s my zip code. I love the energy and the earnestness and the complete and total lack of irony.

  Let’s talk about your writing process. Do you outline first? Do you make character diagrams, complete with personality traits, birthdates, job histories, etc.? Or do you grab an idea and run blind?

  When I started *B-sides* I had no idea about process. I had always wanted to write novels and had tried to write novels. I did writing exercises for about a year until one night I dreamed the first chapter, woke up, and started writing. I wrote chapters out of order and then put them back together again, and had no idea how it would end until I got there. I am much, much more methodical now. I outline but not so much that I lose spontaneity. I do character sheets or at least sketches and the main characters have to have a playlist.

  The one process I am absolutely dedicated to is showing up. I am a firm believer in butt-in-chair, move-hand-across-page. I write one day of every weekend. I don’t care if I only write five pages, that’s five more than I had the day before.

  Silence or noise when writing? If noise, what are you listening to?

  It depends on what I’m writing but I am a big big fan of silence. I have a manuscript that takes place in the 80s and the Sirius 70s and 80s channels were a godsend at recreating FM radio for me. Or, the character’s playlist. But I can’t have music on just to have music on.