Category: Mental And Emotional Trauma

Coming This October!

9/12/2014

Both Water Like Crimson Sorrow: Shades of Midnight Book 2 and Autumn Burning: Dreadtime Stories for the Wicked Soul will be out in October Thanks to Michael Fish Fisher and Dave McGlumphy for the great covers! Autumn Burning has been coming along quite nicely and I think Sam Gregory , who came up with this great antho, agrees that we're going to have a great book to put out there in October. Keep an eye out for it! Water Like Crimson Sorrow is the gorier, more brutal half of the original ELBF book. I'll be submitting the 3rd book very soon.

Interview with Tim Waggoner Author of A Strange and Savage Garden

8/26/2014

Bio:

Tim Waggoner has published over thirty novels and three short story collections, and his articles on writing have appeared in Writer's Digest and Writer's Journal, among others. He teaches creative writing at Sinclair Community College and in Seton Hill University's Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program.

Visit him on the web at www.timwagonner.com

Please keep reading after the interview to find an early review of A Strange and Savage Garden, out from Samhain Publishing October 7th, 2014!

1. A Strange and Savage Garden is a novella that features Johnny Divine, a rather unique character from the mind of Kealan Patrick Burke. Did you enjoy working with your version of Divine in your own world? Were there any major challenges?

Kealan created Johnny Divine as a character to tie together the various novellas that originally appeared in an anthology called Brimstone Turnpike which came out from CD Publications several years back. Kealan developed a description of the character and the old desert gas station where he would encounter the main character of each novella. The only instruction we were given was that Divine should give the character an object that would feature somehow in our stories. We were given the freedom to interpret Divine however we wished. He could be a force for good, for evil, or somewhere in between. I enjoyed coming up with my take on the character, and the only challenge was trying to make sure that he seemed an integral part of my story instead of something tacked on. Hopefully, I succeeded!

2. Lauren is returning home after the death of her father and finding herself fighting for a sense of stability in the process. The reader ends up joining her in a sense, going back and forth between her sense of reality and the little shifts of consciousness, catching the little elements as we go. Were you happy with the way the book turned out? Did it stick to the original story formula you had in mind?

I was happy with the novella, and I hope readers enjoy it. I like to write with an immersive point of view in order to involve readers as deeply in a story as I can. I also like to make a character’s psychological landscape as much a part of the story as what the character says and does. It helps create an atmosphere of strangeness and skewed reality, which is where true horror comes from.

In terms of writing the story, it turned out the way I outlined it for the most part, but as usual, I made some changes as I wrote it, as improvements to the plot or new ideas occurred to me. An outline is just a guideline for a story – not a blueprint that must be followed exactly.

3. Grandma Madelyn is a strong figure, equal parts firm resolve and manipulation. What inspired her?

Without giving away any of the story details, Madelyn is the kind of character she is because of her unique abilities. Abilities like hers would be an outgrowth of a superhuman will and a pathological need to make things the way she wants – or maybe needs – them to be. So once I knew what her role in the story was, I was able to work backward and create a character with the sort of personality who could fulfill that role.

4. This is no ordinary town, were you surprised to see the story unfold as it did or did you plan it this way all along?

Everything was planned, although some of the specifics I developed as I actually wrote the scenes. That’s how I usually write, and this novella was no different.

5. Your writing is an interesting blend of dark fantasy and horror elements, often it’s very surreal and dreamlike. Did you always know it would have this tone or did you discover you voice over time?

When I was in my twenties, I thought it might be interesting to blend horror and fantasy in my writing. I loved horror, but I thought too much of it wasn’t as imaginative as it could be, and I liked fantasy, but much of it followed the same kind of Tolkienesque story patterns, and it too, ultimately, wasn’t very imaginative. So I started working on blending what I found to be the most effective elements of both genres in my writing, and as the years went by, people began responding positively to my surreal dark fiction, so I figured I must’ve done something right. At this point in my career, I’m known for writing these kind of stories (that is, if I’m known for anything at all!).

6. What other writing projects are due out in the coming year? Are there any particular ones you’re excited to see readers react to?

I have a horror novella called The Last Mile coming out from DarkFuse in October. The basic premise is what would humans do to survive in a world where Lovecraft’s Old Ones returned and reclaimed the planet. Also in October, I have a tie-in novel based on the TV series Grimm coming out from Titan Books called Grimm: The Killing Time. In late November, my YA horror novel Dark Art will come out from Nightscape Press. It’s about a troubled teenager whose drawings come to life with devastating results.

My Review of A Strange and Savage Garden:

Lauren is going back home to bury her father. After 11 years of living on her own in California its a tough trip and its only going to get tougher as she goes along. You see, when she left a piece of this place went with her in the form of awful nightmares, strange memories of something so awful she thought it was buried deep in her thoughts. Only now, with Grandma Madelyn in her life and memories of that past stirring, nothing truly seems as it appears to be.

I first discovered Tim Waggoner with his novel Like Death several years ago and I was very pleased with the dark and dreamlike quality of that novel. I'm happy to have had the pleasure of reading A Strange and Savage Garden and found that same sense of the unusual. Lauren is quite a lot more than she seems to be at first glance and the terrible past she's been running from is far more complex than she realizes. Having essentially run away at the age of 17 she's only come back to make her peace and, with luck, return to the life she created in California. The past is a powerful thing and the weight of her Grandma Madelyn's steady gaze often makes her doubt herself. The strange visions and memories only give that sense on instability more weight and soon she is questioning just what it is that really happened all of those years ago and why.

I enjoyed A Strange and Savage Garden because it's a great example of how Waggoner's voice is very much his own. We experience Lauren's life in little fits and starts, dreamlike interruptions coloring both her view and our own. We discover the world and its truths gradually until it all comes together in a very vivid conclusion that challenges many aspects of what we were told about Lauren's life and the identity of the people that surround her. Here we find some very strong characters with unusual outlooks, questions about the idea of self, some consideration of how our perception of the past affects us, and the dark fantasy and subtle horror elements I enjoy in Waggoner's work. This is a very enjoyable and surreal novella that was well worth the read!

Wendy Won't Go Collector's Edition and Time of Tides Collector's Edition from JEA!

7/19/2014

Talented authors, Amanda M. Lyons and Mark Woods, team up for an unprecedented collector’s editions of their debut works, with never before seen bonus stories.

Wendy Won’t Go
Billy and Sara are living a life of fear. Every day and every night since Sara was small they have been haunted by a terrible apparition. She is cold and she is cruel, strange and frightening. Her name is Wendy, and no matter where they go and no matter what they do, Wendy Won't Go.

Time of Tides
What if Global Warming wasn't just down to Climate Change? What if it was down to something else?
As the worst storm of all time hits the entire globe and as all across the world rivers burst their banks and the oceans start to rise, one family take to the Norfolk Broads to try and escape the floods. Little do they know their nightmare is just beginning...because as they are about to find out, nowhere is safe!

Love Like Blood
What would you do to save the life of your child? Anything? This short about a woman’s life turned juxtaposed horror explores just what anything means when your child’s fate is held by an insidious creature. Here we learn that love flows like blood.

Dairy of the Dead
Ever wonder what would happen to all the pets and livestock of the world during a zombie apocalypse? Mark Woods did in this short about a dairy farm gone array in the worst possible way.

She remembers blood.
A fine mist which goes deep into her lungs, over her skin and through the air. She remembers a desert at dusk. The sky indigo blue and the fire bright, so bright that she can see everything. Near the fire, in the night, all she knows is chaos wrapped in crimson. All is death and nightmare with a single solitary dancer who smiles cruelly as he moves. He is power and darkness. He is man and beast, silver coin eyes and that face, those claws and the agony of loss.
Time stretches wide; seconds like vast eons swallow up her world. Vince is dead, his mother, his brother and her small son ripped apart and gushing as he/it moves. She is screaming, a howl of agony beyond words, primal and wordless. Still he moves, faster than air, faster than she could ever be. Blood drips from her face as she grunts, running with her lungs on fire and her last remaining hope wrapped in her arms.
Lungs starved for air, heart leaping in her chest and her feet like pinions pushing her across the desert, she moves. It will never be enough. She will always fail. He is the wind, feathers and strange sounds wrap around her as she moves on, terrible laughter mocking her in the full bright light of the moon.

-from 'Love Like Blood' a story in Wendy Won't Go: Collector's Editon new from JEA!

Kindle $2.99
Time of Tides Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWDMSP4
Wendy Won't Go Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWDMH28

Paperback $9.99
WWG Collector's Print : https://www.createspace.com/4895131
Time of Tides Collector's Print: https://www.createspace.com/4895199

What to Expect Out of the New Eyes Like Blue Fire

7/14/2014

I'm just over halfway into ELBF's edits now and something had occurred to me. If you enjoyed the book when I published it originally you might be wondering if it will be worth picking up a copy of the JEA release. Well, the answer is yes. While the indie print of Eyes Like Blue Fire was a solid one it, like many indie books out there, needed just a bit more polish and refinement to make it the book it always deserved to be. It was also a pretty good sized novel in it's own right and in many ways the events that take place in the first half make up a story worthy of being on it's own, separate from the later half, which stood well on it's own too.

As a result the editors at JEA and I felt it would benefit from being divided into two separate books, ELBF and Water Like Crimson Sorrow. So there will be two books coming out from that one original manuscript and as a result there will be some areas of both chunks that will be getting a well-deserved fleshing out and polishing up before they come out. Why? Well there are some clear points where it needed some refining and others where I could have done more to make the story stronger in that first release. I've enjoyed polishing ELBF these last few months because I was able to see the gems hidden in the rougher bits and make those rougher bits a lot more like the gems. I really think even the fans of that first release are going to enjoy reading this new ELBF and getting a clearer version of the story they love so well. It also means that I'll be able to really focus on that world and get the next book out that much sooner.

Wendy Won't Go and Time of Tides Collector's Editions to be Released!

7/14/2014

If you're a big fan of literary horror and you really enjoyed Wendy Won't Go I'm sure you'll enjoy the new collector's edition coming out very soon from JEA! What makes it so special? While WWG got an ebook release in December of last year it was not released in paperback to the disappointment of some of my readers. Well now it will be out in paperback and it comes with both Mark Woods' enormously successful Time of Tides and a bonus story called Love Like Blood which I've always seen as another side of the coin or sister story to WWG. Time of Tides will also be getting a special Collector's Edition with WWG and a bonus story called Dairy of the Dead to make his edition just as collectible for horror fans! New to paperback for $9.99 and in a special collector's edition for ebook for $2.99 starting tomorrow :) Great literary horror stories from two of JEAs great authors! Keep a look out for the release and links tomorrow!

Why is obesity being treated as if it's nothing to be ashamed of ? Because I have as much right to live as anyone else.

7/4/2014

There has been a lot of talk about body image in the last few years and how much it's really hurting us to try and live up to standards set out by fashion, beauty magazines and society as a whole and since that discussion has opened up so have a whole lot of people with differing viewpoints. One of the bigger points to come out of all of that is just what body acceptance is and how far it can go in defining beauty, life and society as a whole. More and more women are accepting their larger forms and declaring their right to be beautiful in their own right, regardless of size. Well not everyone agrees with that right and they've been just as vocal in their standpoint both as naysayers and as those who feel that accepting a larger body is wrong because it ignores health concerns and gives people the wrong idea about what should be acceptable.

Let me tell you why it's something us plus size folks have needed for a very long time.

It has become a social necessity for obese people to stand up and own their right to be considered a valid part of human life so that they can find happiness in that life, even if they can't be an ideal weight. I think very few people actually understand the level of hatred and ignorance heaped on the obese and how damaging it is to be struggling to have a normal everyday life much less meet society's ideals. We are taught that we are hideous, ugly, stupid, lazy, and worthy of all the hate that comes our way until we reach an ideal weight. The trouble is that it takes a long time to achieve that goal and many of us have health conditions that prevent it from happening at all. As a result we spend a lot of time limiting ourselves because we aren't able to be the ideal size.

We heap self-hatred on ourselves, don't go on dates, don't ask friends out, don't wear a dress and stay in t-shirts and pants instead, we don't wear make-up or don't go out unless we wear it, feel guilty for eating (even if it's a perfectly normal portion and a healthy salad), we tell our lover that we appreciate that they think we're beautiful but really we know we're not, we can't accept compliments because its just "someone being nice". we don't take our kids to parties because we fear other people think we're there for the food, we don't go out for a walk because we know it means being heckled; bullied; and even sexually harassed for it, we are sexually harassed, we are treated like cattle and have our bodies judged out loud as if we are on auction, we have to listen as men heckle each other about how and if they would "fuck that thing", we have to listen to women dictating how invalid we are as women/men, we have to listen to people dictate if we have the right to live our lives as if we were normal, we second guess every single thing we do based on how others will respond, we tear ourselves apart emotionally; mentally; and even physically. We don't have the right to wear shorts in public, to go swimming, to be pregnant and not get judged for it, even people who have no major health issues, despite their size, face serious harassment and even malpractice from doctors trusted to help them maintain their health!

If we don't accept who we are we can't even begin to work on making ourselves fit our own ideals. Why is obesity being treated as if it's nothing to be ashamed of? Because fat people are still people and we really aren't as stupid, negative, unhealthy, lazy and stereotypical as people think we are and it's about time we stood up and said we have every right to claim our lives, even if we aren't what everybody else thinks we should be. I'll bet plenty of 'too skinny' people could tell you the same thing.

Interview with Sharon L. Higa

4/28/2014

Bio: At six years old, Sharon L. Higa became obsessed with the supernatural, compliments of an older cousin who fascinated her with stories of hauntings and horror. Travelling the world with her family, the fascination grew, resulting in creating and telling her own stories. She wrote intermittently for a number of years, but it was after she and her husband moved to East Tennessee that her family and friends convinced her to write and publish her works. She is a newly published author with one novella, ‘The Dam’ and two novels, ‘Number 6’ and ‘Rose & Steel’., as well as four short stories in the Anthology ‘Midnight Remains’, all published by JEA Press. She also has one short story in an anthology, ‘Mental Ward: Echoes of the Past’ with Sirens Call Publications – with many more stories bubbling on the mental burners. She now writes full time. She resides with ten cats, one dog and Mark, her patient and loving husband of twenty two years.

Links:

Website: http://www.leapingunicornliterary.com/
JEA: http://www.jellingtonashton.com/sharon-higa.html
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7303130.Sharon_L_Higa
Twitter: https://twitter.com/elf126

1) Your Debut novel #6 is a murder mystery and revenge tale revolving around a woman who is murdered. Can you tell us a bit about the book and why you wrote it?

I wrote #6 after hearing about an actual murder which occured over thirty years ago when I was living in California. A nurse was kidnapped by two men who then drove her out to the Los Angeles National Forest, took turns raping her then slit her throat. The girl' body wasn't found for one year, but it actually was another year later before the men were caught committing a totally different crime. The younger of the two men confessed to her killing, implicating his partner as well. He said the reason he was confessing was because 1he kept seeing her everywhere he looked and he couldn't handle it anymore. The lawyers, police and media put it down to a guilty conscience, but there was always the thought in the back of my mind that she could have been truly haunting him. And that's how the idea for #6 was born.

2) It’s been called a brutal tale because of some of the darker elements related to both Ida Moreno’s (the main character) death and the crimes she is involved with trying to solve to catch the killer. Do you agree or is it just what the tale needs to be?

The tale is brutal because the crime committed against Ida is brutal. This is what the tale needs in order to carry out the dark theme throughout the story. I don't like gore or sadism for 'window dressing' - I believe it needs to apply to the story and carry the plot otherwise it has no place being in there. Then you are simply relying on shock to carry the reader to the end and that does not always work.

3) Do you often write dark horror fiction or is it one of a few different genres you like to work in?

I like to work with horror, thrillers, mysteries, dark comedy, and fantasy/action. I'm definitely not a girly-girl - give me a good action, adventure or ultimate horror and I'm as happy as a clam! To quote from the horror specialist Stephen King, "Write what you know" is my guide - and I guess I know through life experiences these genres very well!

4) Rose and Steel is your newest book and features an investigative agency that utilizes supernatural powers to solve their cases. Do they all share the same powers or are there a few different types in the company?

Each one of my characters all share the ability to transform into wolves, but they also have talents of their own as well. Shane, our main character, can read minds as well as send messages telepathically; Travis, our youngest and most timid of the group has the ability to become invisible and is very adept at medical aid which is discovered in book two (yes, I have a second book prepped!) and the others have special gifts as well. The key to the story is that they can combine each one of these gifts and help solve every case they are given.

5) The main story revolves around a series of crimes that leave children abandoned without any clear cause and human traffickers that are taking children. Was it a difficult subject for you to tackle?

That was the interesting thing about this story. It basically wrote itself. The 'children' who are abandoned (my 6 gifted characters) is explained using another fact of history - that many times children who were considered by some societies to be mentally deficient/insane or adults too old or sick to benefit the society would be abandoned in desolate areas to basically die. This story gives the fact a little twist which inevitably encompasses the major case they end up working on.

6) What other projects do you have in progress or due to come out soon? Tell us a little bit about them.

I have my own anthology of 13 short stories coming out soon. The title is "Horrors & Occupational Hazards" and - as you can guess from the title - each little story revolves around a regular job that has a 'twist'. The style, my wonderful editor, Mark Woods says, is very 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. I am also collaborating on a novella whose title is 'Z-REGEN (Zombie Regeneration Project)' which is not really your typical zombie story. It is about a CDC researcher who is looking for a cure to the 'Zombiefication Plague' which has hit the planet in the year 2031. I'm also working on a dark comedy novel called 'One Night in the Eternity Of......' -about an Asian vampire with narcolepsy. Not to mention the little shorties I'm coming up with on the side. I guess my plate is pretty full at this time! I would truly be lying if I didn't say I'm lovin' every minute of it!

Interview With Susan Simone Author of Morning Song

4/25/2014

Bio: Susan is a writer and artist by day, a child and pet wrangler by night, and occasional crazy person on the weekends. She lives in a place where new hybrid cars, beat up farm trucks, and Amish horse and buggies meet in fast food parking lots for coffee.

Susan grew up in central Wisconsin, only to move to rural Ohio in adulthood. She's a country girl through and through with progressive and optimistic ideas of nation and society. A heathen by faith and major sci-fi fan she is an eclectic person and welcomes as much diversity into her life as she can to feed her fertile imagination. She lives by the motto, "Let your freak flag fly!"

Susan is the author of "Silent Heart", "Under A Twisted Moon", "Morning Song", and other titles forthcoming. Susan also has her one and only zombie short in the JEA anthology "All That Remains". In addition she has published articles on the Yahoo! Contributor Network in a wide variety of subjects such as the validity of deity in the American government and the use of easy to find herbs.

Susan is the Executive Editor with J. Ellington Ashton Press as well as a graphic design student at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division. She does a large portion of the cover art with JEA and has worked with businesses in the past for logo creation and event announcements.

Links:

Website: http://susansimone.weebly.com/
Yahoo Contributor Network: http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/1652160/susan_simone.html
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6941373.Susan_Simone
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanSimoneFanPage
Publisher: http://www.jellingtonashton.com/index.html

1)    Morning Song is a great story about a wise woman and hedge witch facing her fears and owning her strengths to find that life has a great deal in store for her and the strange man she meets near the beginning of the book. What inspired Morning Song?

It started with a name. I know that sounds odd. I wanted to write a BBW heroine and started thinking about how that would work. There was this idea of calling her Morning. It was almost surreal. With that one thought I could see her in my head so clearly. I was actually the biggest snob picking a model for the cover because I knew what Morna (Morning) looked like to me. I started with the opening scene and that was the last part of that book I wrote consciously. The rest just poured out. It was as if Morna and Arrick existed in another realm or dimension and they were simply telling me their tale.

Yes, writers really are that insane. We have to explain all those extra voices somehow.

2)    Was it difficult writing a post-apocalyptic fantasy romance and handling the midwifery and herbal magic Morna uses in the book?

Post apocalyptic was harder because I’m not used to it. I had to think how the country would be broken up. What parts were important? I had this very clear idea of music. As a singer myself, I’ve picked up all kinds of folk music, madrigals, classics, contemporary. I played with this idea of what music would stand the test of time and turn into folk songs over the years. The music I chose was not a prediction, but more of a secondary idea of getting people to listen to the music and understand how it enhanced the scene.

Midwifery and herbals were much easier. They are subjects I have a fascination with. I do have some midwife skills, but I am not currently licensed because of the direct entry laws. The state I live in won’t let me apprentice under a midwife, I have to have an RN to practice which is another eight years of school. However, I still love it and I’m one of those very annoying people who hand out random unasked for advice when around pregnant women. Lol

I do the same with Herbs. “Oh you’re sick? Try this, this, this and this, but watch out for that, and only use this at this time of day.” That is only an amateur study for me, though. I ascribe to the American Indian belief that everything we need to live happy, healthy lives, and dispel illness grows somewhere on the planet. With doctors and scientists help we need to use it.

3)    Under a Twisted Moon also deals with a heroine discovering herself and growing stronger for it. In this case she learns the part of herself she hid was really her strength. Do you feel that many women find themselves in a position where other people cause them to fear their strengths?

That’s a deep question. I think any *person* of any gender or orientation who finds themselves in an abusive situation, regardless of the abuser or type of abuse, is there *because* their fears have been berated and their strengths twisted to weaknesses.

Some of Amelie’s experiences with Rick were based on things I lived through. I kept that under wraps for a long time, and even came up with politically correct answers to the inevitable questions. In a way, watching Amelie survive and thrive opened the door to a lot of conversations we need to have as a culture. Yes, we all know abuse is bad. We all know abuse comes in many forms and can sneak up on you, but until you’ve lived it, it’s very hard to understand how you got there.

The worst thing I hear is, “Why does she/he stay?” I want to shake people when I hear it. Fear. Fear of the abuser’s reactions. Fear that all the things they told you to keep you down were really true. A very real fear of society taking over the abuse and victimizing you when you just want to live in peace. Fear of being alone because you’ve been beaten down so hard you won’t ever have a normal relationship with anyone ever again, like an abused animal is never normal again.

“Why does he/she put up with it?” Because it’s not clear. Before you all scream at me, listen for a moment. It sneaks up on you. The line of the initial abuse is blurred. You can’t see it clearly from the inside. It doesn’t start with violence. It starts with an unreasonable argument. A personality disorder. A little niggling in the back of your head that makes you wonder if they really were being that manipulative or if they were having a bad day. Then there are more bad days. A lost job, or a fight with a friend. Oh of course they’re having a bad day. They don’t mean it. Pushing away your friends and family, slowly one by one. Life is really hard right now. He/she needs me. The line is blurred and by the time you realize it’s been crossed you’re so far over you start to believe all the lies you’ve ever been told. You worry about staying for the sake of kids, forgetting that by allowing it you’re teaching them that it’s normal or okay. Eventually you find yourself alone; facing things that you know may end your life.

4)    You write about strong female characters that are grounded in the real world. Do you think this gives your book a leg up on books that feature women in more unrealistic or unhealthy fantasy relationships?

I think that was on accident. I’m always interested in the psychology of it. Why do people do what they do? How do people get into these situations? But that’s on behavior alone. I do think it important to reflect women and men who are real, flawed. I pick characters because their flaws are interesting to me. I can’t stand the perfect blond bombshell types, or the overdone hardcore, but really sensitive and sweet deep down types. Everyone is a jumble of all that. No one is perfect, and society’s ideas of how genders should act or what they look like is nothing but a construct created thousands of years ago by a few that were insecure with their own image so they had to spout their way was the only right way. (That was *not* a religious diatribe, btw.)

5)    You write about some tough subjects in your books, how do you approach these? Catharsis or characterization?

Courage? For me and many other writers, the characters are like living people with their own separate lives. I don’t control them. I’ve had several die or get into relationships completely without my approval. I write the hard stuff instead of glossing over because I am honoring them and all the living people that have survived the same things. It’s a disservice to cut it out or gloss over because it’s ugly or makes me cry. In reality my characters may be fictional, but real people, myself included, live these things. There are no tasteful cutaways, or suspenseful music. The world did not stop moving just because your life as you knew it is forever changed. If we are to grow as a society, *that’s* what needs to be known. That’s what needs to be said.

6)    Under a Twisted Moon is a very strong empowerment piece about owning your strengths and coming out of a place where things had been very bleak. In a very real way while one of the male leads helps her to start out on her path to self-discovery it is she who must stand up and take up the reigns of her own life. Is this a message you hope will help others to do so for themselves?

Absolutely. No one can walk your path. It is entirely unique to you. Sometimes you need a little love or a loving kick in the rear, but you still have to be the one to stand up and be counted.

7)    While there are some very involving dramatic pieces there are also lots of humorous and endearing ones too. Was it difficult to write humor into Silent Heart, Under a Twisted Moon and Morning Song or does it come naturally to you and your stories?

I’m one of those dorks that laughs at her own jokes. I’m even snickering as I write this. The humor is very organic. I’ve noticed my dialogue follows my moods. The jokes, the tough conversations, the arguments reflect what I was feeling at that time. Sometimes I’m slap happy and everything in the world is hilarious. I’m also a horrible smart ass, and I think my own natural voice comes out a lot. The things I really want to say but often just laugh to myself about, or the things I wish I said at the time.

8)    Silent Heart was your first book and you’re currently at work on a new cover for it(See the new cover for Silent Heart and Under a Twisted Moon below). Is it hard to go back and try to think of a new way to represent your books after they’ve been in print?

Sometimes, covers make me want to cry. Lol When I did the original cover for Silent Heart, I was new to graphic design and still had a lot to learn. It was not a good cover. So right now I’m revamping a few covers, Silent Heart among them.

I had this perfect image in my head. Red and golds. This layout involving a band of color over top of a pivotal scene in the book in which Paige, a talented artist, takes back some of her power by doing this charcoal drawing on leather of her love. I even managed to make the perfect model for Stone look like it was a charcoal drawing. I was so proud of it. Thought it was great, (I still love the hell out of that image). I showed it off for feedback, which is very important for any work of art. Survey said? No. It was a cool image, but just didn’t work. It didn’t peak anyone’s interest to read the book. Well fudge.

So I slept on it and tried something else the next day. That finally worked. I grudgingly admit it’s a better cover. It fits the genre, but stands out from the crowd, which is what you want. That kind of redo and version after version is really normal for cover art. Never settle for the first thing an artist shows you. Push them and get something great.

9)    You’ve been a cover artist and executive editor at JEA for a long while now. You’ve even trained a few interns and earned an award for the cover of A Fish to Die For in the 2013 Predators and Editors competition. Do you feel like you’ve learned a lot since you first started out?

Yes. Each cover is learning something new. Finding this tool I hadn’t used in quite that way before. A new layout or idea. It’s amazing to take a concept from an author’s mind and turn into a picture for all to see. I love seeing how excited they get. I even love the tough ones that make me go through 10 versions before it’s right. The end result is always amazing. Every once in a while, something will happen, a new thought from one of my classes, a certain request I’m unfamiliar with, and it’s like someone flipped a switch and my work is never the same after, always moving forward.

10) In recent months you’ve also branched out from providing covers for JEA to becoming a freelance cover artist for other writers. What kind of services do you offer and how can people reach you to ask about their projects?

The best way to contact me is through my website. I have a contact form on the artwork page. I offer original design and full rights to the author. In other words I won’t get angry at you down the road and say you can’t use my art anymore. I also do something new that I want to make industry standard. I provide the client with documentation of where the images used on their cover came from. There is so much image plagiarism out there it’s rather insane. Covers on some sites are lawsuits waiting to happen. I’ve personally had to replace covers done by so called “professional” artists because they used a video game screen shot or stole one small part, like a hand, from a major piece of art and blew it up, both of which are illegal. I want to put out such a high standard that it forces authors to demand it from others and other artists to adhere to it.

11) Will you stick to the romance genre or do you think there are some other genres you’d like to explore?

I never intend any specific genre. I just write where the story takes me, following along in its wake attempting to capture the important parts. I get an idea in my head and I run with it. Sometimes that’s romance and sometimes not. I’ll figure out the classification when I’m done. I’m the same way with length. I don’t believe in word lengths based on popular books in the genre. I just write until the story is told. Sometimes that’s longer, sometimes shorter. If I need to flesh something out, I’ll worry about that later.

12) Do you have anything in progress you’d like share?

I have this one I call, Kiss of Luck. It’s a dystopian society with alien mind control and young adults, still teens really, that want out and stage daring escapes. I’m kind of careful with my ideas. I know more than one person that has had ideas stolen. Kiss of Luck, is a special one for me. I dreamed it one night, start to finish, the entire plot line. I’m just filling in details as I go, but it’s going to be really cool.

Interview with Samuel Reese Author of the Upcoming Immolation

4/20/2014

Bio:

Samuel Reese is 32, married and has 2 dogs and a cat who live with him in Tennessee. He loves reading, writing, music., horror movies and stories, sci-fi/fantasy, philosophy, world religions, and anything that is dark.

Reese writes fantasy and horror. His style has been likened to Stephen King with the snarkiness of David Sedaris and Lovecraft utilizing Neil Gaiman's imagination. Immolation is his first book.

Links:

Author Blog: http://samueladamreese.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Reese-Author-and-Adventurer/140116649427941?ref=hl

1) Immolation is the story of a girl who discovers she can wield pyrokenesis, where did the idea come from?

I honestly can’t remember where the idea for the pyrokinesis came from. It’s likely influenced by all the comic books I read as a kid and young adult combined with a fascination I’ve always held towards fire in general. Fire is a destructive force that also cleanses and purifies when wielded properly. I wanted to tell the story of a girl who was abused and mistreated by those who should have protected her, and the idea of Lydia came from there and sort of grew into this monster if you will. Stephen King says that when he writes, he feels like the driver of a car and that the characters are the navigators telling him where to go. I write like that, and once Lydia started telling her story through me, the pyrokinesis just sort of became part of who she was.

2) Lydia is no Charlie McGee, can you tell us a little bit about her powers and the darkness that causes them to awaken?

As stated above, Lydia is pyrokinetic which means she has the ability to control fire with her mind. She can shape it into creatures of flame, wield it as a weapon, envelop herself within a cocoon of it, and even cause herself to levitate by using her own thermals. Think the Human Torch and you have a decent idea, except that she has to have fire present, not just yell “FLAME ON!” and hope for the best. The powers come from a family curse that was placed on a distant relative during the American Civil War. Every woman on her father’s side of the family has had the ability to control fire, though not every one of them used it. The ability itself only manifests under extreme circumstances, and is a catalyst for revenge for those who feel they have been wronged. Unfortunately, most of them find that revenge ends up with results far different than originally envisioned.

3) The story is a powerful one about a victim facing their abuser and the darkness that inspired the abuse. What did you want to say to readers about those facing these sort of situations and the choice between embodying that darkness and choosing to forgive?

First off, I wanted to tell a decent story. But I won’t sit here and lie by saying I didn’t have some kind of an agenda. The story of Lydia is unfortunately the story of too many people-male and female-who are abused and neglected by those who are supposed to be their shelter and protector. Many of these people don’t feel as if they have a way out and wind up either becoming abusers themselves, taking their own lives, or simply not living their own lives. Lydia has the ability to destroy all those who have ever harmed her, and the power is seductive. But I want my readers to understand that many times the greatest revenge is being a better person than your tormentors and that forgiveness is not always about the ones that have wronged you, but rather about beginning the healing process internally. The only one who can begin to heal yourself is yourself, and oftentimes forgiveness is the first step towards healing.
I also hoped to show through Frank, Lydia’s father, that those who abuse are often battling their own demons as well. It’s easy to see abusive people as monsters who deserve a bullet to the head and a shallow grave, but human beings tend to be much more complex than that.

4) There's some really beautiful imagery in Immolation, even in some of the darker sequences. Are there any scenes you're fond of from the book? What makes it stand out to you.

My favorite scenes to write are the ones with Lydia and Michael and the ones where Lydia goes to her happy place with various figures from literature. I really like the simple scenes, the ones that make her seem like a normal girl just trying to make sense of the world. Visually though, I think my favorite scene is a tie between the very first time she uses her powers and the final confrontation with her father.

5) How do you feel about going from indie publishing to being an author at a traditional publishing house J Ellington Ashton Press?

I’m pretty excited honestly. It feels good to know that someone other than my mom, my wife, and my best friend think I have potential. Being a writer is a lonely and oftentimes disheartening thing, because writers write alone and tend to think everything they do sucks cheese through a straw. To know that people who have no real reason to tell me my work is good actually tell me that not only boosts my own self-esteem, but it inspires me to write more. It’s difficult to be self-motivated. Having people tell you, “Hey, we like this and we want to publish it” goes a long way towards making you feel like you might actually have something that resembles talent.

6) Could you tell us a little about other projects you might be working on or some ideas that you were thinking of starting?

I write like I read: Too many things at a time. Currently, I’m working on a young adult story about Dwarves and a human prince with a friend of mine. I’m also working on a haunted house novel (my absolute favorite horror genre), a crazed story about a guy who meets an imp and his mute muse and sets off to stop Loki and Lucifer from doing something pretty awful alongside his dead grandmother, Odin, Thor, and Tyr. Titania and Oberon get thrown in there as well, along with Frigga, Sif, a few of Frigga’s handmaidens, and some other people from various mythologies. I lovingly refer to it as Neil Gaiman with a meth problem. I’m also working on a collection of short stories that take place in Sherman’s March, Georgia, the fictional town that Lydia resides in. There’s also another YA book that I’m co-authoring with a lady about twin girls, a prophecy, and demons. It’s kind of like “Twilight” with demons, but hopefully better written and less romantic. Other than that, not too much, but you never know what I’ll wind up running into.

Immolation is coming soon from J Ellington Ashton Press. Here's an early look at the cover!

March 27th, 2014

3/27/2014

AUTHOR BIO:
Born and bred in the West Midlands, Martin writes under the pen name of Peter Martin. Against Her Will is his debut novel, and is the story of one young woman's fight to lead a normal life after a horrific rape.
Martin's interests lie mainly in crime, suspense and thrillers. His favorite authors are diverse, including Robert Goddard, R J Ellory, Kate Mosse,Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Diane Chamberlain, Harper Lee,Wilbur Smith.
For more info martinperks.weebly.com

LINKS:
WEBSITE: hpps://martinperks.weebly.com
AMAZON LINK : http://bookShow.me/B00D50BFGK
FACEBOOK: hpps://facebook.com mart.perks
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/pmartinauthor
GOOD READS : https://www.goodreads.com/Martinperks

1) What inspired you to write Against Her Will?

I've always felt strongly about how rape affects women, and how few of these women ever report these crimes to the police. Of those reported, many never come to trial and if they do conviction rates are low. Therefore I wanted to write a book from the victim's perspective, to give an idea what she has to go through, and show how it can destroy lives.

2) Is it challenging to promote a book with tough subject matter?

Yes, it can be challenging, but I believe in my characters and the subject matter. It has been difficult to promote, but I feel if people read the book, they will see I have written the book in a sensitive and compassionate way that highlights what a woman has to go through and how it can affect and blight their lives forever.

3) Do you feel Donna is a character who reacts realistically to her plight?

Donna had problems before she was attacked. She found it difficult to deal with the way she looks, having been pushed into the spotlight from an early age, against her wishes. Having overcome this in later life, the rape became a catalyst that brought all her other problems back to the fore again.

4) Do you feel that books which tackle this issue in the way you have will bring light to women facing the same struggles after an attack?

I hope so. More women need to be strong to bring these men to justice. They must be made to realise these attacks will not be tolerated and only way to do that is for more women to come forward. I feel the sentences should be longer to ensure for certain they will be deterred from committing these acts. At present these people will only spend a short amount of time in jail, in comparison with the victim, who may not ever fully recover from what has happened to her.

5) Do you feel that women who deal with issues related to assault both sexual and/or physical get enough care and understanding after such traumatic events?

No, I don’t. Whilst I agree that the police in the main do deal with these crimes in a sympathetic way, what victims have to go through at trials, can be as difficult as the crime itself. There is always the feeling that the victim asked for it, by the way she dresses or acts.

6) Do you think you'll keep writing suspense novels of this type or will you tackle other subjects as you continue writing?

I will continue to write novels like this if I feel strongly about a subject as in this novel. My next novel is about a young boy who runs away from home and goes missing, and how it affects his family.