Welcome back to SCARY OUT THERE, the Horror Writers Association’s new blog on scary fiction for teens.

My guest this week is Holly Black, author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, The Good Neighbors graphic novel trilogy (with Ted Naifeh), the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, and her new dark fantasy novel, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award, a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. She currently lives in New England with her husband, Theo, in a house that (I’m reliably told) has a secret door.

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JONATHAN MABERRY: Holly, thanks so much for swooping by to chat with me. With the blog we’ve been exploring the nature of fear, so let’s jump right in. What scares Holly Black?

HOLLY BLACK: Everything scares me.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Nice. Anything in particular?

HOLLY BLACK: Zombies, especially, but I am very easily frightened.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Do you know why?

HOLLY BLACK: I grew up in a creepy hundred-year-old Victorian house, like the house in the Spiderwick Chronicles, which my mother believed was haunted.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Was it?

HOLLY BLACK: My great grandmother had lived in the house for most of her life and my mom told stories about how she used to play with a ghostly boy in the attic. Whenever she lost something she’d yell for the ghost to bring that thing back. One time, I swear I sat on a sofa for an hour, not moving, because I thought there was a ghost in the other room.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What happened?

HOLLY BLACK: It turned out to be the way a sunbeam lit one of the curtains.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Kind of points to the emergence of a powerful imagination. Apart from the house, what else triggered your childhood fears?

HOLLY BLACK: When I was really little, Mom told me that DRACULA was the most frightening book she’d ever read. She described the way the vampire had crawled down the wall, head first and it creeped me out so much that I turned a bunch of my Barbie and Ken dolls into “good vampires” so they could protect me from the bad ones that I believed were out there.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Smart. I did that with my GI Joes.

HOLLY BLACK: Also, I believed that the trees were going to snatch me up in their long branches like the trees in the Green Knowe books. Remember those?

JONATHAN MABERRY: Oh, yeah. Lucy Boston wrote them and her son, Peter, illustrated them. Very creepy. THE CHIMNEYS OF GREEN KNOWE came out in 1958, the year I was born. My grandmother bought a copy and put it away to give me when I was old enough to read. Scared the hell out of me. So, yes, I remember those.

HOLLY BLACK: Then you remember that rhyme you’re never supposed to say? Green Knowe / Demon tree/ Evil fingers / Can’t catch me.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Um, you aren’t supposed to say that. You just gave me chills.

HOLLY BLACK: Yeah, that scared me too. In fact, I didn’t even have to look that poem up; it is lodged in my brain forever. So yeah, that’s me: easily scared.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Do you think we need to protect our kids from books that are too frightening?

HOLLY BLACK: I don’t think books harm readers.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What’s your take on it?

HOLLY BLACK: I have read some awful books — and sometimes I put them down and sometimes I read them all the way through– but no matter how much they upset me while I was reading them or how much they should have upset me, I was never harmed by the experience. I believe books give us the opportunity to try on someone else’s life, to be someone else, and, ideally, to learn how to empathize with different people in different circumstances than our own.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Is there value, then, in reading horror?

HOLLY BLACK: There are many useful things to take away from horror. We have an intense experience with no risk to ourselves at all. We experience catharsis. We are scared, but we survive being scared. I think those things are good for all of us, but I think they have a special appeal for teenagers.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What is ‘horror’, as you see it?

HOLLY BLACK: I think horror is an exploration of the shadows. And I believe that it creates a visceral feeling, a shivering up the spine, hair standing up along the arms. It gets to the gut as well as the head.

JONATHAN MABERRY: I’ve heard a similar definition used for dark fantasy.

HOLLY BLACK: I’ve heard that the difference between horror and dark fantasy is the difference between fear and awe, but I believe there’s room for both in horror fiction.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Rumor has it you have two teen horror books scheduled for this year. What’s up first?

HOLLY BLACK: The first one is a middle grade, called DOLL BONES about three kids — Jack, Poppy and Alice — who go on a road trip to bury a doll that may or may not be haunted, but definitely needs to be put to rest. It’s half ghost story and half about the time in one’s life when everything and everyone is forcing you to grow up, but you’re not ready to leave everything you loved and everything you were behind. That comes out May 7th.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Creepy. Dolls in general are creepy, and creepy doll stories doubly so. What’s after that?

HOLLY BLACK: The second one is a teen novel. THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is set in a world where monsters, mostly locked away in walled Coldtowns, have become famous via video feeds. One day, Tana Bach wakes up the morning after a party, having passed out in a bathtub while avoiding her charming ex-boyfriend, to find almost all the other partygoers dead, their throats ripped out by monsters. She could be infected herself. She has to go on a road trip through the night with her aforementioned ex, who is raging with infection and thirsty for blood, and one other person — the first monster she’s ever met who hasn’t been on the other side of a TV or computer screen. Tana has had the world presented to her one way, but being among the monsters, is very, very different.

JONATHAN MABERRY: That’s sounds intense.

HOLLY BLACK: THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is full of stuff I love – messy, messed up stuff. But it’s mostly about a girl, who, as the media lays her out before others like a feast of disaster, is discovering her inner monstrousness and learning to appreciate it.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Anything else scheduled after that?

HOLLY BLACK: For me? I’m not sure. I am working on a faerie book called THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST and I am really excited about it.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Is it horror?

HOLLY BLACK: It definitely has horrific elements, but I am still trying to work out more details. And I am co-writing a middle grade with Cassandra Clare. The first book is going to be called THE IRON TRIAL and it’s a magic school book with an extra heaping of darkness. I’m interested in joining horror elements with fantasy ones and I am hoping to push myself to explore all the things that scare me, of which, as we’ve established, there’s a lot.

JONATHAN MABERRY: If you had to recommend just three YA horror novels –past or present—which books make your must-read list?

HOLLY BLACK: My first pick would be Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, which is brilliant and beautifully written and opens from the point of view of a knife. That’s right, a knife! Which is being used to kill people! It’s awesome. I’m a long time fan of Gaiman’s and this might be my favorite of his books.

JONATHAN MABERRY: I talked with Neil about that at the Baker Street Irregulars dinner a year or so ago. He said he wrote that book for his adult readers and was surprised to learn that he’d written a Middle Grade book. What’s your second pick?

HOLLY BLACK: The second would be I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga, in which the teenage son of a serial killer and explores his own inner darkness and uses what his father taught him about “prospecting” to find other killers. Lyga exploits all the holes and contradictions in the research on serial killers to create finely drawn characters that feel shudderingly real.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Agreed. I interviewed Barry a few weeks ago. Heckuva writer, heckuva good guy.  And your other pick?

HOLLY BLACK: And the third would be Robin Wasserman’s forthcoming THE WAKING DARK, which is a bad town novel, a la Stephen King, but also lyrical, adrenaline-soaked and amazing. Wasserman weaves together multiple storylines expertly to create a terrifying portrait of a community falling apart.

JONATHAN MABERRY: I’ll make sure I grab a copy. And thanks for stopping by, Holly. Best of luck with the new books!

Find Holy online at her website at blackholly.com and her tumblr at hollyblack.tumblr.com.

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Tune in next week when my guest will be Charlie Higson, one of the top teen horror writers in the UK. Author of the Young James Bond books as well as the deeply creepy THE ENEMY and its sequels. Until then, don’t forget to say the monster words before you turn off the light. Otherwise they’ll get you while you sleep!

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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 and a fierce little dog named Rosie. www.jonathanmaberry.com Find him on Twitters at @JonathanMaberry and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jonathanmaberry

Welcome back to SCARY OUT THERE, the Horror Writers Association’s new blog on scary fiction for teens.

My guest this week is Rick Yancey, an author who writes powerful novels across genre and age lines. He’s the author of several adult novels and the memoir, CONFESSIONS OF A TAX COLLECTOR. His first young-adult novel, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ALFRED KROPP, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal. In 2010, his novel, THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST, received a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the sequel, THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His latest series, THE 5^TH WAVE, will launch this spring.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Let’s talk fear. What’s the most frightened you’ve ever been?

RICK YANCEY: The most frightened I have ever felt – ever – is when, as an older teen, the idea that life is capricious and the world may not be – in fact, all evidence pointed to the fact that it wasn’t – ruled by a benign and generous intelligence.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What brought you to that point?

RICK YANCEY: I’m not sure when this happened, but it may have been around the time I read THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Why? What did that book do to you?

RICK YANCEY: It was a feeling of hopeless dread, the existential terror of a universe that is neither kind nor malignant, but indifferent.

JONATHAN MABERRY: This was when you were a teen?

RICK YANCEY: Yes, and this shook my worldview to the core. By that age, I’d come to terms with the inevitability of death – intellectually at least – but I hadn’t considered the possibility that my death might be utterly meaningless.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What does that mean to you?

RICK YANCEY: There is the childlike fear of the unknown – and then there is the more mature fear of the unknowable.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Beyond entertainment, what value is there in horror fiction?

RICK YANCEY: Scary stories are popular because they’re a safe way (physically, at least) to confront our deepest fears. I have an unprovable theory that the very first stories were horror stories, told as a way to impose structure on an environment in which we were not the top of the food chain.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Has horror been a part of your reading life?

RICK YANCEY: I haven’t read much horror since I was a teen. I’m very impressionable; horror sticks with me and disrupts my sleep.

JONATHAN MABERRY: And you write it.

RICK YANCEY: When I wrote THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST I didn’t consider it horror – I thought of it as an adventure/thriller, but I never worry too much about classifications and genre (maybe to the detriment of my career).

JONATHAN MABERRY: How do you define ‘horror fiction’?

RICK YANCEY: Oh, the same way most people do, I suppose. Death or some facet thereof confronted.

JONATHAN MABERRY: In what ways does adult horror differ from teen fiction?

RICK YANCEY: Adult horror has more explicit sex and language, superficially. I’m probably the wrong person to ask.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Why so?

RICK YANCEY: Lots of readers have commented that my monstrumologist books are not teen-friendly, based on the sophistication of language and the graphic descriptions of death and the attending mayhem. I think the bigger issue is one of experience. Horror can also described as fiction of loss – the ultimate loss being life itself. You could argue that adults have experienced loss, failure, betrayal, malaise…all the shit that life can ladle out and to a more profound degree, and so-called “adult horror” spends more time addressing this, while “teen horror” dwells on the more primordial stuff – like being eaten alive.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Where’d the Monstrumologist idea come from?

RICK YANCEY: The Monstrumologist series evolved as I wrote it. My original concept was to write a Jaws-like story set in the 19th century, told epistolarily through the journals of an old man. I loved stories from that era, loved the style, loved that time when “there were still dark places in the world and men who dared to delve into them.” The story of the monster-hunter and his apprentice grew in directions unforeseen, putting out roots and branching into places I hadn’t anticipated. This, by the way, is one of the great joys of writing, when your characters take your original idea and do something totally unexpected and wonderful with it. Midway through THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO, the second book, I realized I was writing a love story disguised as a horror story. I remember writing in large letters at the top of the manuscript: LOVE IS THE MONSTER.

By the third book, THE ISLE OF BLOOD, I knew I had something special on my hands. This wasn’t just about hunting monsters or a unique relationship between a driven man and his impressionable apprentice – I had come close to the heart of all fear and horror – or at least felt I had; readers can judge for themselves.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Nice.  So…what’s next on the slab?

RICK YANCEY: The fourth and last book in the series, THE FINAL DESCENT, will be published this fall. It’s gonna be tough to say goodbye to these characters.

JONATHAN MABERRY: I hear you. Just went through that myself with a quadrology.  Okay, let’s wrap it with a key question. If you had to recommend just three YA horror novels –past or present—which books make your must-read list?

RICK YANCEY: Oh boy, that’s always a hard question. Poe blew me away as a kid. I like Daniel Kraus’s stuff. Early Stephen King is great for older teens.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Thanks, Rick. Great stuff.

Find Rick online at www.rickyancey.com or follow him on Facebook (facebook.com/authorrickyancey) and Twitter (@RickYancey).

NEXT TIME: Tune in next week when I sit down to talk with Tonya Hurley, New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult series GHOSTGIRL and THE BLESSED. Until then, don’t let the bedbugs bite!

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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

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.

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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