Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

By: Jonathan Maberry

Welcome back to the Horror Writers Association’s new blog on scary fiction for teens. This week we chat with dynamic newcomer Victoria Schwab, who has been turning out an impressive number of works in a short time –and gathering critical and commercial acclaim with every step.

Victoria is the author of THE NEAR WITCH–which Kirkus Book Review praised for its “shivery horror tang”–as well as THE ARCHIVED, and several upcoming novels. Victoria suffers from a wicked case of wanderlust, but when she’s not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she can usually be found tucked in the corner of a coffee shop in Nashville, sipping tea and dreaming up monsters.

Jonathan Maberry: Let’s talk about being scared.  Are you scared of the same things now as you were as a kid?

Victoria Schwab: Not…as a teen I was scared of monsters. As an adult, I’m far more scared of humans.

Jonathan Maberry: Does that mean you’ve completely left the childhood fears behind?

Victoria Schwab: No, it’s not because I’ve stopped believing in beasts and things that go bump.

Jonathan Maberry: Really?

Victoria Schwab:  I guess my default is to believe in something until it’s proven to be fake.

Jonathan Maberry: But as an adult the focus of your fear has changed?

Victoria Schwab:  Sure. I find people, and what they’re capable of, to be more terrifying. I’ll always be a sucker for ghosts and urban myths.

Jonathan Maberry: Such as…?

Victoria Schwab: You won’t catch me saying “bloody mary” in the mirror at midnight.

Jonathan Maberry: Me, neither. Hard to admit that outside of the horror crowd without people looking at you strangely.  Getting back to humans, though…

Victoria Schwab: Serial killers and crimes–especially senseless or random ones–top my scare list these days.

Jonathan Maberry: Some people have raised arguments against horror, saying that dark content creates a negative influence on kids and that such books should be restricted.

Victoria Schwab: I’m pretty anti-censorship in all forms.

Jonathan Maberry: Does that mean no restrictions?

Victoria Schwab: I think now and then we need to do a better job of letting readers know what a book is and isn’t, but that graying exists more in other genres than in horror, probably due to the more targeted cover designs in this area. It will probably sound trite but the world is filled with horrors, fictional and real, and I don’t see the point in putting blinders on anyone.

Jonathan Maberry: Horror seems to be blossoming in teen fiction, but the definition is becoming fuzzy. How do you define ‘horror fiction’?

Victoria Schwab: Personally I see horror as anything that follows me to bed at night. When I first turn out the lights after reading or watching something scary, I feel that simple, bone-deep fear of what might be out there in the dark. And I don’t think a book has to be overtly or thoroughly grounded in the more classically defined horror genre to have horror elements.

Jonathan Maberry: Is horror, as a concept or a literary theme, different for teens and adults?

Victoria Schwab: I don’t think it is. I think there are different kinds of horror to suit every taste, but I’ve never really delineated them by age. Though teen boys do seem to enjoy gore more than anyone else I know.

Jonathan Maberry: Where do your books fall within that broad definition?

Victoria Schwab: I’d say I fall into that category of books that are not homerun horrors, but have spine-shivery elements. My first novel, THE NEAR WITCH, was primarily a mystery, but it also played heavily on the childlike fear of things that go bump or lurk beyond the window or whisper in the dark. My new book, THE ARCHVED, deals with a library of the dead, and the fear factor comes in in a place called the Narrows, a set of dark corridors where the dead who’ve woken—all restless, some violent—must be hunted down.

Jonathan Maberry: Nice! So…what’s next for you in YA horror?

Victoria Schwab: I’ll be continuing the story of THE ARCHIVED for at least another book, and fear takes a different face in the sequel, where nightmares begin to bleed into reality for my main character. It’s a more psychological horror, and I’m excited to play with that.

Jonathan Maberry: Sounds great. Now, if you had to recommend just three YA horror novels –past or present—which books make your must-read list?

Victoria Schwab: ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake, THE SUMMONING by Kelly Armstrong, THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan.

Jonathan Maberry: Great choices, Victoria.  Thanks for taking time to talk teen horror with us.

Find Victoria online at http://veschwab.wordpress.com or on Twitter at @veschwab.

********

Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and freelancer for Marvel Comics. His novels include EXTINCTION MACHINE, FIRE & ASH, PATIENT ZERO and many others. His award-winning teen novel, ROT & RUIN, is now in development for film. He is the editor of V-WARS, an award-winning vampire anthology. Since 1978 he’s sold more than 1200 magazine feature articles, 3000 columns, plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, and poetry. He is the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, and co-founder of The Liars Club. Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife, Sara Jo. www.jonathanmaberry.com

2011 Bram Stoker Nominee

Kenneth Oppel

Author bio:
Kenneth Oppel is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide, and been adapted as an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn was winner of a Michael L Printz Honor Book Award, and the Canadian Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children’s Novel of the Year by the London Times. His most recent books are THIS DARK ENDEAVOR and SUCH WICKED INTENT, prequels to the gothic classic Frankenstein. Born on Vancouver Island, he has lived in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, England, Ireland, and now lives in Toronto with his wife and children.

Book synopsis:
Victor Frankenstein leads a charmed life. He and his twin brother Konrad and their beautiful cousin Elizabeth take lessons at home and spend their spare time fencing and horseback riding. Along with their friend, Henry, they have explored all the hidden passageways and secret rooms of the palatial Frankenstein chateau. Except one.

The Dark Library contains ancient tomes written in strange languages, and filled with forbidden knowledge. Their father makes them promise never to visit the library again, but when Konrad becomes deathly ill, Victor knows he must find the book that contains the recipe for the legendary Elixir of Life.

The elixir needs only three ingredients. But impossible odds, dangerous alchemy, and a bitter love triangle threaten their quest at every turn.

Victor knows he must not fail. But his success depends on how far he is willing to push the boundaries of nature, science, and love – and how much he is willing to sacrifice.

Buy This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein on Amazon

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, was published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

For more information, please visit:
http://www.kennethoppel.ca/

Or email Kenneth Oppel at Kenneth.Oppel@sympatico.ca

Bram Stoker 2011 Nominee

Patrick Ness

Author bio:
Patrick Ness is the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy. The Knife of Never Letting Go, book one of the trilogy, won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. The Ask and The Answer, the second book in the trilogy won the Costa Children’s Book Award 2009. The third book, Monsters of Men, was released in September 2010.

He has also written a novel (The Crash of Hennington) and a short story collection (Topics About Which I Know Nothing) for adults, has taught Creative Writing at Oxford University, and is a literary critic for the Guardian. Born in Virginia, he lives in London.

Book synopsis:
At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting– he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd– whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself.

Buy A Monster calls on Amazon

A Monster Calls, a Bram Stoker Nominee, was published by Candlewick

For more information, please visit: http://www.patrickness.com

Or contact Patrick Ness at: publicity@candlewick.com

Bram Stoker 2011 Nominee

Daniel Kraus

Author bio:
Daniel Kraus is a Chicago-based writer and filmmaker. His novel THE MONSTER VARIATIONS (Random House, 2009) was selected to New York Public Library’s “100 Best Stuff for Teens.” Fangoria called his acclaimed, Odyssey Award-winning, Bram Stoker-nominated second novel, ROTTERS (Random House, 2011), “a new horror classic.”

Upcoming novels include SCOWLER (Random House, 2013) and TROLLHUNTERS (Hyperion, 2013), co-written with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Kraus has written regularly for such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Playboy, Maxim, and Salon.com. Visit him at www.danielkraus.com.

Book synopsis:
Grave robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It’s true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of nineteenth-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a sixteen-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey’s life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school.

Everything changes when Joey’s mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey’s father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey’s life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating.

Buy Rotter on Amazon

Rotter, a Bram Stoker nominee, was published by Random House

For more information, please visit: http://danielkraus.com/

Or contact Daniel Kraus at: mail@danielkraus.com

2011 Bram Stoker Nominee

J. G. Faherty

Author bio:
A lifelong resident of New York’s highly haunted Hudson Valley region, JG Faherty grew up amid Revolutionary War graveyards, haunted roads, and woods filled with ghostly apparitions. His varied professional career includes working as a resume writer, laboratory manager, accident scene photographer, zoo keeper, scientist, and salesman. He began writing fiction in 2001, and his short stories, poetry, and articles- have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Book Synopsis:
By all accounts, 16-year-old Maya Blair is a typical teen-age high school student. She hangs out with her best friend Lucy, has a turbulent relationship with her ex-boyfriend Stuart, and works at her family’s diner – the main restaurant on the island of Coronado Bay.

But Maya has an extraordinary secret – she can see, hear, and talk to ghosts. And when spirits are near her they revert back to solid form. She is what her deceased grandmother Elsa calls a Seer.

For years, Elsa was the only ghost Maya knew. But that changes when the century-old wreckage of the Black Lady, a ship that capsized in Coronado Bay’s waters, is raised from the ocean floor and placed on display in the local museum. During a school tour of the Black Lady exhibit, Maya meets Blake Hennessy, a young, fair-skinned boy to whom she is instantly attracted. Shortly thereafter, a sensual, gothic young man named Gavin Hamlin crosses her path, and she is equally smitten. Her feelings bloom before she realizes they are both ghosts – Blake, the kind- hearted spirit who cares for Maya’s well being, and Gavin, the dark wizard who thirsts to finish the evil task he longed to complete 100 years before.

To accomplish his nefarious plan, Gavin has to be human again. And for that, he needs the blood of a virgin witch. In his mind, Maya is the perfect candidate. Now it’s up to Maya, Lucy, and Blake to save Coronado Bay and the world from destruction. But time is running out, people are dying, and Gavin’s powers are growing.

Things were so much simpler when all she had to worry about was a date for the dance.

Ghosts of Coronado Bay, A Maya Blair Mystery, was published by Amazon Digital Services

Buy Ghosts of Coronado Bay on Amazon

For more information, please visit:
www.jgfaherty.com

Or contact J. G. Faherty at:
jg@jgfaherty.com

2011 Bram Stoker Winner

Nancy Holder

Author bio:
Nancy Holder is a Los Angeles Times bestselling author and a charter member and Trustee of the Horror Writers Association. A Bram Stoker Award-winner, she has written more than 63 books.

Book synopsis:
The gutsy heroine of Possessions and The Evil Within returns for another year of boarding school at the haunted Marlwood Academy. Lindsay wakes to find herself strapped down in the infirmary. She had a breakdown and might have tried to kill her nemesis Mandy or Mandy’s boyfriend, Troy-or both. The details are hazy, but one thing is certain: she is possessed by a spirit she cannot trust.

Lindsay soon realizes that nowhere on campus is safe. Then, she finds a surprising ally in her former rival. Together, Lindsay and Mandy must figure out who can be trusted-and who wants them dead. But when Lindsay’s ex-boyfriend shows up at Marlwood, she is given a chance to get away and be free of the curse. Will she take Riley’s hand and run, or team up with a new love to save Marlwood from the evil spirits forever?

Buy The Screaming Season on Amazon

The Screaming Season, BRAM STOKER WINNER (TIE), was published by Razorbill

For more information, please visit:
http://nancyholder.com/

Or contact Nancy at:
http://nancyholder.com/contact/

2011 Bram Stoker Winner
Jonathan Maberry

Author bio:
Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and Marvel Comics writer. He’s the author of many novels, including Assassin’s Code,Dead of Night, Patient Zero, and Rot & Ruin. His nonfiction books cover topics ranging from martial arts to zombie pop-culture. Since 1978 he has sold more than 1,200 magazine featurearticles, 3,000 columns, two plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, poetry, and textbooks. Jonathan continues to teach the celebrated Experimental Writing for Teens class, which he created. He founded the Writers Coffeehouse and co-founded The Liars Club, and he is a frequent speaker at schools and libraries, as well as a keynote speaker and guest of honor at major writers’ and genre conferences. Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sara, and their son, Sam. Visit him at JonathanMaberry.com and on Twitter (@jonathanmaberry) and Facebook.

Book synopsis:
Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also been six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny’s zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny’s best friend Lou Chong are going with them.

But before they even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town, and as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers, and the horrors of Gameland—where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all…could the evil Charlie Pink-eye still be alive?

In the great Rot & Ruin, everything wants to kill you. And not everyone in Benny’s small band of travelers will survive….

Buy Dust and Decay on Amazon:

Dust and Decay

Dust and Decay was a Bram Stoker WINNER (TIE) and was published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

For more information, please visit:
http://www.jonathanmaberry.com/

Or contact Jonathan at:
jonathan_maberry@yahoo.com

Here’s the thing about writing YA horror: it’s all about the set up.

Childhood nightmares creep into our teen years (and beyond) in ways we never even expect. I still get the heebie-jeebies every time I need to look under my bed to find
something. In the back of my mind, I am not quite convinced there won’t be a monster lurking in the shadows beneath my Sealy-Serta.

For some people, the idea of a giant spider crawling unhurriedly up the wall is enough to paralyze them with fear. For others, it’s the horror of being buried alive in a close, black coffin, utterly sightless in the dark. Still others fear the darkness. Or heights. Or being abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

To me, conveying fear isn’t just about describing a situation, object, or person that someone might find scary, but giving a blow-by-blow of the event and actually detailing the fear reaction in the characters.

We all know exactly what it feels like to be scared. First you have the anticipation: What’s behind that closed door? What’s making that scratching noise in the attic? What’s lurking in the deep, dark waters? It’s the tensing of muscles like you’re expecting a blow, that stretching of all your senses, trying to see/feel/hear/smell danger before it pounces on you. The higher the tension is pitched, the bigger the wallop.

Next, the reveal. The door opens to expose a dead body that spills out on top of our poor heroine the moment she turns the doorknob. The scratching noise in the attic inexplicably moves through the ceiling, down the stairs and manifests in a dark, demonic entity. The dorsal fin of a great white shark breaks the surface of the water in which you’re swimming. The terror has been revealed in one jarring, scream-inducing moment!

But that’s not scary enough, not for the expectant reader. You need the next step in the process – experiencing the fear through the eyes of the main character. We need to feel their bodies tremble as they break out into a cold sweat. We need to hear the blood- curdling scream that explodes from their mouths. We need to internalize the sick, sinking feeling in their stomachs as death closes in around them.

And lastly, the action. Our heroine’s panicked flee from the house, our hero’s desperate attempt to out maneuver a man-eating shark. Will they survive? Will they escape? Hearts pound in anticipation with every turn of the page!

Broken down, none of these steps in the process seems particularly scream-worthy, but strung together with pacing and tension? WHAM. Horror show.

–

Gretchen McNeil is an opera singer, writer and clown. Her YA horror POSSESS about a teen exorcist debuted with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins in 2011. Her follow up TEN

 – YA horror/suspense about ten teens trapped on a remote island with a serial killer – was released September 18, 2012, and her third novel 3:59 – sci fi doppelganger horror about two girls who are the same girl in parallel dimensions who decide to switch places – is scheduled for Fall 2013. Gretchen’s new YA contemporary series Don’t Get Mad (Revenge meets The Breakfast Club) about four very different girls who form a secret society where they get revenge on bullies and mean girls begins Fall 2014 with GET EVEN, followed by the sequel GET DIRTY in 2015, also with Balzer + Bray.

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4′s Code Monkeys and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and is a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels where she can be seen as “Monday.” She is repped by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

You enter a tangled web of many miles traveled within your Imagination sitting in an apocalyptic timeframe, as a nation of blood thirsty Zombies desire to devour you. The adventure, mystery and horrific happenings seem to slowly play out in a realm of no return. Once bitten, twice shy, you might say! Not for the Vampire enthusiast, who loves the elegance of intrigue – this will surely grab you, plunging your very soul into a lustful heart-pounding adventure of Vampires, who seek out beautiful innocence. The desire of blood-curdling moments seize your interest, you turn page after page, faster and faster, all while being drawn into an illusion of a trance no one can resist. You turn a corner of the unknown that lurks in the dark. It sits quietly waiting, ready to envelope your very being. Paranormal happenings, which stretch the imagination far beyond a mindscape, send chills down your spine. You’re now engulfed within a nightmare, placed on the precipice of the abyss. The climatic venue keeps you glued to every word, creating so much detail within your mind, it drives you to want more, so much more.

The best part of any young adult horror/fantasy reading is that escape: the lure of desire and the yearning to know, to want, or belong in the traumatic splendor it offers. Captivating of course, the craving of words permeates your soul as your eyes peer into the pages seeking the horror it brings. Oh, you can very well see yourself in this role, as you read more into the subject matter of the horror story. It edges you on, leading you on a path to which your curiosity gets the best of you. It holds you completely hostage, while you anxiously continue to read the deepest, darkest secrets it has to offer.

Getting lost in the story is exactly where you want to be while you try to escape the clutches of evil that beckons you into its lair. The seduction becomes overwhelming as the horror that plays out only entices you. You are now part of the characters that are written within the pages. The plague of anxiety is exciting, so-much-so that you can’t put the book down. Welcome to your new found home – the horror realm.

Introductions into the forever seeking mindscape of horror can be exciting and yet a thrill ride you will love to take. As an Author, I love to establish that essential premise, where you, the reader, are not just reading a book, you’re becoming part of the story. My horror trilogy, Parasylum, carries with it a most fascinating spellbound interlude of what lies within its pages. Here is a sneak peek for you horror buffs, which will make you crave to see more:

“A team of inexperienced paranormal investigators find themselves involved in the deepest, darkest recesses of the unknown when they enter into Grandview’s Asylum. The souls of yesteryear seek revenge on whomever enter into the abyss of no return. The horrors are plenty with many twists and turns and an ending that’ll keep you shaking your head. Enter into the mindscape where a dream turns into a nightmare and the nightmare is your reality.

Enter the mindscape that transforms dreams into nightmares and nightmares into reality. The way we perceive life is only a perception with some, who share in the illusion of disillusionment. We create the path in which we walk, yet the trail upon which one steps could very well be a story that is never ending. Welcome to Parasylum, where what may seem impossible is possible and what might seem sinister is just plain evil!

Anchored in the subjective mindset, he relinquishes his will to the inevitable. Everything seems to be of a set memory, glimpses from the past, forged into the now, leaving only the permeated sense of nothingness. Hung like a ragdoll in abject misery, the echoes of many shake the very foundation upon which the hallowed grounds cry. He closes his eyes, only to recount once more, everything over, and over again. There’s no escaping this torture from within, welcome to your Nightmare!”

There you have it horror fans, a glimpse into what awaits for you. Embrace the horror genre, as its fantasy is mixed with so much intrigue, which will keep you on the edge of your seat. Till next time, when you come to visit me in the Asylum, we will be sure to keep a few shock treatments just for YOU!

Author’s Bio:

Robbie Thomas born in Ontario, Canada and has lived in Canada all his life. Along with writing books, he’s a screenwriter and producer. He’s created a new T.V. Series, which he’ll also host that’s in development with Lamport Sheppard Entertainment. Robbie has researched and worked in the Paranormal Field for many years where he’s appeared in two critically acclaimed hit paranormal movies. He’s been on television several times doing interviews and 1 hour specials, been in many magazines and newspapers worldwide. More about Robbie’s work can be found on www.robbiethomas.net

The Horror Writers Association announces that it has appointed one of our members, Cynthia Peylano as the Assistant Editor of its dedicated Young Adult Horror section (http://www.horror.org/yahorror/). Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Cynthia. We are lucky to have her!

Cynthia Pelayo grew up in a haunted house with superstitious parents in Chicago. She holds a Bachelor of Art in Journalism from Columbia College, a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communication from Roosevelt University and a Master of Fine Art in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Pelayo’s short story collection Loteria was released in 2012. Her YA Horror novel Santa Muerte will be published soon by Post Mortem Press. Pelayo is the Publisher/Gravedigger of Burial Day Books, a boutique horror press. She lives with her husband and two angry shih tzus in the very neighborhood she was raised.

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If you have questions, please contact the Editor at: CatherineScully.Writer@gmail.com

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