Author interview- Bethany Griffin

It's coming up kind of late...oops. Anyway, today, Bethany Griffin, author or Masque of the Red Death, reviewed here, is answering our Halloween questions!

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-Why do you read scary things?

 I don't actually think I seek out scary things, but I seek out real things and reality can be very scary. I like the way normal people become heroes and villains under duress.

-What flavour of scary do you like reading about-paranormal creatures, serial killers, chill up your spine hauntings, or something different? 

 I think I like quests for survival (I don't love zombies, but I like the scope of a lot of zombie stories) another good example of the kind of horror I love is Stephen King's It. I like a combination of discovering what is going on and the quest to fight the horror. I really like darkness--dark settings, dark characters, etc. 

  

-Out of everything in the world, what do you find scary?

 Snakes, alligators/crocodiles/ serial killers/ being trapped in some way. 

-If you could insert yourself into any horror novel, which would it be, who would you be, and why?

 I don't think I would want to be in a horror novel? But I guess (if you count it as horror, Frannie from the Stand by Stephen King. 

  

-Classic (pre-1970s) or modern horror-which do you prefer and why?

  I think that overall I like more modern horror, because it's what I'm more familiar with. (Anything Poe is obviously an exception). 

-What's the scariest thing you've read to this day?

 The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It is just so bleak, and so hopeless, and it shows the darkest depths that people are capable of. Certain scenes still haunt me. 

-What books scared you most as a child?

 I read The Exorcist in middle school. I don't think I slept for several weeks. 

-What do you do to celebrate Halloween? 

Well, this year I'm co-hosting a Poe-inspired Masquerade ball with author Kelly Creagh (Nevermore) but usually I take my kids trick or treating and also go to a costume party with some of my best friends. I imagine we'll do the same thing this year. 

-Any fun Halloween stories you have to tell us? 

Three years ago I cut off all my hair, and dressed as Harry Potter for Halloween. It was a pretty darn good costume, if I do say so myself. I still have the stuffed Hedwig l (for some reason it wouldn't attach to my robes so I had to sort of carry him under my arm, which wasn't very dignified for him). I had a light up wand that my kids promptly "borrowed" and never returned. I attached a picture. 

-Why did you choose to write a horror novel? 

I think for the same reason that I like horror, I like to explore heroism and the nature of evil. I like to imagine how characters would handle extraordinary (and horrific) circumstances. 

-What's the scariest thing you'd write about? 

There is a suggestion in Masque that people might have been sacrificed to crocodiles. I remember reading a horrific news story about someone who fed a mother and a child to alligators in Florida. The thought completely horrified me in every way. But it came out in Masque as just a rumour, nothing detailed. I think those are the sorts of human possibilities that haunt me and those things are the scariest things I'd consider writing about. 

-How much inspiration do you take from other horror writers? 

 I think Stephen King shaped certain perceptions about characters for me, and I read his books repeatedly at a fairly impressionable age. Other than that, if you consider Anne Rice horror, I am very inspired by her. 

-Why were you attracted to The Masque of the Red Death in particular, as opposed to any of the other Poe stories? 

I think because Masque seemed a timely story to retell because of the state of the world, and because the themes seemed fresh, and because I felt it had a lot of possibility since the story had no antagonist, to create my own antagonist in Poe's world. 

-Kind of similar to what we had earlier, but if you could put yourself into any of Poe's stories or poems, which would it be and why? 

I don't think it's a very good idea to put yourself into ANY of Poe's stories or poems. I wouldn't mind a quick tour of The House of Usher, as long as I didn't get trapped there! 

-Any other spooky books you want to share? 

 My favourite horror book is Shadowland by Peter Straub, Another favourite is It by Stephen King, I recently really enjoyed Ashes by Ilsa Bick, and I really liked the Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy. 

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 Bethany can be found at her website, twitter and facebook. Masque can be found at Amazon and both Masque and Dance are on Goodreads.

Guest Post- Bethany Griffin on Creating the World of Masque of the Red Death for a Modern Audience.

I'm pleased to welcome Bethany Griffin to Death Books and Tea today! I really enjoyed Masque of the Red Death (review can be found here) and this is a great post on reimagining Eggy Ally's story for readers of today.



Creating the World of Masque for a Modern Audience

I love creepy gothic literature and I love modern YA literature, and I love doing what I can to combine the two. The world of Masque, (both mine and the Poe short story) is VERY dark. I don’t think anyone would want to live there, but there’s also a faded romantic beauty to it (I mean, once you get past the corpses in the street).  I like accessible literature, so while I love Poe,I do think that sometimes modern audiences struggle with his work…and my goal was to expand his very short story, to add characters the reader could sympathize with and to make the story move fast and have some action and adventure.

In Masque I created a world that had not just been devastated by plague, but was still in the grips of it. Characters have to wear masks everywhere they go. Death is always a possibility. I tried to paint that bleak world as realistically as possible because history was bleak and this book is, at heart, speculative history.

A huge theme in Poe’s story was the division between the rich and the poor during a time of plague, the idea that the rich would try to escape from the horrors. In my story there is definitely a separation between the rich and the poor—they live in different parts of the city, the poor cannot afford the protective masks, and in book 2 the poor will not be invited to the great masked ball to forget about the ugliness outside. One of the main setting of the book is a gentleman’s club called the Debauchery Club. It’s been opened to girls since most of the original members died, but it’s that classic upper class club, very exclusive, but with teens who are trying to forget the horror of the outside world.

Masque’s setting is inherent to the story, they are completely inseparable, this story couldn’t take place anywhere else, so as I decided what type of story I wanted to tell the world was always in my mind. I think this sort of bleak world is fascinating to modern audiences. So many great stories focus on bleak futures…and I love reading those, but for this particular story I was captivated by the idea of creating a bleak alternative past.

I think it’s definitely a world with appeal to modern readers. At least I hope so :D

Book Review- Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Title:Nevermore

 Author: Kelly Creagh

Series:  Nevermore #1

Published:  2010 by Athenum (Simon & Schuster)

Length: 543 pages

Warnings: mild profanity, semi-graphic gore, kissing

Other info: The sequel, Enshadowed, is due out next year.

Summary : Cheerleader Isobel Lanely is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due –so unfair- on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tounged, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, he can’t help but give the enigmatic boy with piercing eyes another look.
Soon Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen, Steadily pulled away from her friends and possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm there the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.
As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares. His life depends on it,

Review : Isobel is paired with Varen for a school project in which they have to research an American author. She really doesn't want to do it with him, mainly because of the rumours surrounding him and his attitude. And because it's coming up to Halloween, the teacher decides that they have to be dead. Varen decides himself that they are going to do theirs on Edgar Allan Poe. And so they work on it together and so on. Meanwhile Isobel is lying to her friends in order to spend time with Varen, who isn't as horrible and scary as she thought he was. She also ventures into his journal, in which there are strange drawings and words where Edgar Allan's stories are brought to life. Finally, guided by Reynolds, she learns about dreams having power and so on and ends up with the task of getting to Varen before he goes insane/dies. Because that's how every cheerleader's life plans out, right?

The concept of this I love. Edgar Allan Poe, stories of which come to life, dreams? Great by me.

The story was good, with various different plots weaving together. One of them being Isobel's relationships with friends/boyfriends and the way she treats them and gets treated back etc, and then making friends with the slightly weird girl who she's never really noticed before. Another one being her relationship with Varen which involves her realising that despite rumours of his sleeping in a coffin and drinking blood that he's not too bad. And then there's the main story in that he leaves, because his dreams/realities may drive him to insanity,  and Isobel is determined to get him back despite the  Nocs(the creatures). The way they fit together worked well for the story.

The characters were slightly stereotypical: the amazing cheerleader, her friends, her possessive boyfriend, the quiet and tormented goth, and so on. However they were believable and worked well in the story.

The romance was only subtle, which is suprising considering the blurb. I'm glad it didn't completely take over the story, instead just being a reason to do things underneath the story.

I liked the writing style. There's nothing particularly that makes it stand out, but it was easy to get through. I'm not sure if a first person perspective would have worked better, but the third person view worked ok, even if it did make me feel slightly detached from what was going on. However it was easy to read and I got through the full book in a few hours as I was reading it without stopping. 

I love the way the chapter titles, most of them anyway, are related to Edgar Allan Poe. I also like the cliffhanger ending, which does make you want to read the sequel, if only to fully understand what is going on at the end, as the storyline becomes a bit hard too complicated to follow at the end. 

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to this original book with Edgar Allan Poe, a good story and a lot more.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Thank you very much to Emilie at A Beautiful Madness who sent me this book cos I won her 100 followers giveaway!