A Word Please

Do you like books that make you gasp and cringe? Do you like an unexpected fright, nightmares that step off the pages? If so, you’ll love my guest today! Author Glen Krisch is an up and coming master of horror and paranormal tales. I recently read two of his books – The Nightmare Within and Where Darkness Dwells – and loved them both. Naturally, I had to harass him with questions. Before we get to that, allow me to introduce Glen:

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

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Now for a look at the books we’ll be discussing:

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

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

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

Mr. Freakshow knows the rules that govern the dreams:
1. A dream-person achieves immortality by killing its dreamer.
2. If a dreamer dies for any other reason, the embodied dream disappears forever.

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

Kevin will do whatever it takes to be free of his nightmare, once and for all.
Maury will do whatever it takes to protect the love of his life.
Mr. Freakshow will do whatever it takes to realize his immortality.

Will Kevin survive his nightmare?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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You can also get both novels combined in one book, which gives you one free!

This omnibus contains the novels WHERE DARKNESS DWELLS and THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN. A monster of a volume, this single ebook is over 195k words (or 700+ pages if in print).

WHERE DARKNESS DWELLS
Summer, 1934. Two boys, searching for a local legend, stumble upon the Underground, a network of uncharted caverns. Time holds no sway there; people no longer age and their wounds heal as if by magic. By morning, one boy is murdered, while the other never returns.
Below a town ravaged by the Great Depression, an immortal society thrives, built on the backs of slavery and pervasive immorality.

THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN
Maury can pull dreams into the waking world, giving them corporeal form. From a boy named Kevin, he removes a nightmare dubbed Mr. Freakshow. Mr. Freakshow knows the rules: a dream becomes immortal by killing its dreamer. When the nightmare escapes his confinement, he has but one goal.

Will Kevin survive his nightmare?

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Ready to learn more? Here’s my chat with Glen:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your method definitely worked. This stands as one of my favorite books.

What draws you to the paranormal/horror genre?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What scares you the most and why?

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

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

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

Thanks for letting me ramble for a bit, Darcia!

Thanks for hanging out with me here, Glen. I would love to visit your organic garden! I hope you plan to share the goods.

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Here’s a look at Glen’s books on Amazon:

You can connect with Glen in the following places:

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/4525598.Glen_Krisch
Facebook: www.facebook.com/glen.krisch
Blog: http://glenkrisch.wordpress.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/glenkrisch or @glenkrisch

I hope you’ll take the time to explore Glen’s writing.

Thanks for reading.

Tags: author interviews, Glen Krisch, horror authors, Horror Books On Kindle, indie authors, Indie Authors On Amazon, Kindle books under $5, paranormal authors, The Nightmare Within, Where Darkness Dwells