Trail Rule #5: Let Sleeping Gods lie…
Sitka’s Quay appears to be like every other coastal tourist town on Highway 101, but lurking below its southern grove of ancient spruce are three sleeping primordial gods. For an eon, their bloodthirsty dreams have radiated into the ground and restore anyone who walks within the Grove. The Keeper, Dayla Fischer, must remain in control of her magical abilities or fall into sickening madness, but lives a relatively quiet life with her husband, Oliver. That is, until the delusional, but charming Jonah Leifson comes to town with a plan to awaken the Three. Soon, children begin disappearing. With powerful suggestion spells and mind reading abilities, Jonah wins over other sorcerers, meth users, the police, and eventually even her husband. Though no one believes her and she doubts her own sanity, she must stop Jonah, before he wakes the Three and brings about the end of the world.
What is the
hardest part of writing your books?
Every
book is different, but I struggle with pacing since I want to create characters
and settings so authentic and tangible that the reader believes they are real.
With
The Grove, specifically, I wasn’t
trying to add so many current issues. I planned on the antagonist Jonah being a
veteran suffering from PSTD from the Iraqi Conflict, yet more of the world’s
problem leaked into my book: mass shootings, gun control, domestic violence,
and drug abuse. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, after all Jonah wants to
wake the Gods in order to save humanity from ourselves. With all of that, I
still wanted it to have a touch of zany fun. Hopefully I accomplished it.
What songs are most played on
your Ipod?
I mostly listen to The Bravery station on Pandora.
I like music to be effortless. But when I was illustrating monsters for the
coloring book that I created for The
Grove I listened to a lot of Amy
McDonald.
Do you have critique partners
or beta readers?
I
used two beta readers to help me find plot holes in The Grove. I also belong to two writer’s groups. One is more of a
writer’s support group, the other is an open mic group which I use to get
audience reactions. The person I listen to most is my editor.
What book are you reading
now?
I
just finished Joe Dacy’s The Last
Reunion: An Ageless Comedy which is a funny dystopian novella set in 2040.
The book follows a retired comedian in a world where social security and
medicare have run out of money, but lifespans are longer.
How did you start your
writing career?
In
my twenties, I worked as an artist creating baby room murals and I had my first
awesome idea for a story that I knew I would finish: Mercenary Elves. I was
right. This became my first graphic novel, Faminelands.
Working with my best friend and partner-in-comics, I wrote and illustrated
three more graphic novels and a comic book series. Eventually Maria took took
family leave and unsure what to do with myself, I wrote my first novel: Other Systems which was published by
48Fourteen. The Grove is my third
novel which I self-published, because I wanted the experience of
self-publishing.
(I wasn’t sure if you meant this
project or my next project. So I’m
answering it both ways.)
The Grove is a standalone dark-fantasy/cosmic
horror thriller set in contemporary Oregon. Sitka’s
Quay appears to be like every other coastal tourist town on Highway 101, but
lurking below its southern grove of ancient spruce are three sleeping
primordial gods. The Keeper, Dayla Fischer, must remain in control of her
magical abilities or fall into sickening madness, but lives a relatively quiet
life with her husband, Oliver, their cat and two garden gnomes.
That is, until the delusional, but
charming Jonah Leifson comes to town with a plan to awaken the Three. Soon,
children begin disappearing. With powerful suggestion spells and mind reading
abilities, Jonah wins over other sorcerers, meth users, the police, and
eventually even her husband. Though no one believes her and she doubts her own
sanity, she must stop Jonah, before he brings about the end of the world.
The Grove touches on rural
methamphetamine abuse, a tourist-based economy and how magic can lower one’s
quality of life. With this book, I wanted to
play with a few genre tropes, mix it with fantastical elements and a sense of
humor.
As for my next project, I’m heading
back to science fiction with Alien Double
Feature which explore the hilarity of first contact situations.
In the short story: For The Love of Pancakes, an alien needs
a cup of sugar and knocks on a science fiction fan’s window...
In the novelette, Percentage of The Saved, aliens are trying to save all intelligent
life before the universe grows cold. They come to Earth and try to save us, but
end up confused by societal issues and cat videos.
The stories are written and edited, I
still need to hire a proofreader, do the illustrations and book layout, but I
am on track for a Spring 2017 release.
Thanks so much for having me!
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