horror

Hello and happy Spooky Season! I’ve got an exciting post for you today, because my friend and Enchanted Anthologies coauthor, N.D. Testa, has published her debut novel!

Hickory Dickory Death is a collection of short, gaslamp, Victorian era, fantasy horror stories, and it’s perfect Autumnal/Halloween reading.

Blurb

A Soul for A Soul

I am a woman
I am a man
I am the one who seeks revenge

In Victorian Era England, five people come face to face with life’s most feared entity: Death.

During their time of mourning, each is approached by a peddler woman who calls herself Persephone. Surrounded in mystery and magic, she gives the grievers advice and hands them a box which contains an article of jewelry. Beneath the beauty and sparkle, lies a secret that is more than the recipients imagined:

An escape from their sorrow…

A chance for revenge…

A bewitching exchange…

A soul for a soul…

The chosen must come to grips with their own quests in order to right the wrongs that have been inflicted on their spirits.

I was lucky enough to interview N.D. Testa for this blog before release day. Here’s what we chatted about:

Hi Nic, welcome back to my blog! Tell us a little about yourself, for those who haven’t had the pleasure yet.

My name is Nicole. I write under the pennames N.D.T. Casale and N.D. Testa. I live on the East Coast of the United States. I am Italian-American. I am trilingual with aspirations to learn more languages (I speak English, Italian, and Spanish). I love to eat, cook, and experience good food. I am an animal lover. I love to travel and go on adventures. Fitness is a big part of my life. In my free time I lift weights, snowboard, and ride horses. I am a fashionista. I love clothes, shoes, makeup, and skincare.

You’re a multi talented woman! I love how many passions and interests you have, I bet it really helps when it comes to creating characters and fantasy worlds. So, what got you started writing?

I have been writing stories since I was a child. During summer break from school, when I was little, my mom used to give me a notebook to practice my writing. She would give me random topics and challenge me to write stories. My dad and I used to read books together when I was growing up and it drew me into the world of fantasy. When my sister was little, I told my sister stories I created before she went to bed. As I have grown my writing has blossomed into multiple books that I am hoping to publish in the future.

What a dreamy bookish childhood! My dad also got me into reading when I was a kid, he would pick up new books from the library for me every week, asking the librarians what they recommended for an animal loving ten -year-old. And it was actually his mum, my gran, who got me into fantasy when she bought me the first two Harry Potter books. What genres do you like to write? Are they same ones you like to read?

I write fantasy and mystery books. In the coming year, I plan on publishing a few children’s books I have written. I always like to challenge myself and try to write different genres when the inspiration arises. I like to read fantasy books because they allow me to escape reality. I like to read mystery books because I enjoy solving puzzles.

My two favourite genres to read are fantasy and crime/mystery novels, I always think about writing a crime thriller and publishing it under a pen name. Maybe one day! Tell us a little about your debut novel, which comes out today.

My novel Hickory Dickory Death will be available October 13, 2022. It is a gaslamp fantasy/mystery novel with twists and turns, heart-stopping action, and bewitching exchanges.

I can absolutely attest to that, having beta read a few of the stories in the collection! Congratulations again on your debut novel, it’s been an honour publishing our short stories side by side in anthologies, but I’m so excited for everything you have coming up. So, how do you create your characters?

I create my characters based on life experiences. The highs, the lows, the joys, the trials, the tribulations, the people, the feelings, all have a big influence on my writing. I love the quote “what we give power has power,” because being a writer gives us power. In many of my stories, the situations my characters partake in mirror experiences I have gone through and what I have felt.

I create characters of different walks of life, nationalities, races, and backgrounds in my novels because I want everyone to feel welcome in my books. I hope that my stories can help people like myself who have gone through challenging times find hope again. I want readers to know they are not alone. No matter how challenging our lives can be, we can persevere. We can overcome, we are warriors, and we can find happiness again. Lastly, many characters I magically create in my head. I wait for them to talk to me and tell me what to write. 🙂

Real life is such a beautiful and rich source of inspiration for characters and stories, you’ll definitely never run out of ideas! Where do you write? Do you plot extensively or are you a pantser?

I write sitting on my bed. Sometimes I write outside when the weather is nice. I am a plotter. I use notebooks to sketch an outline of how I want the story to go and then I elaborate from there.

I’m a plotter too, I’m in awe of anyone who can pants a whole book and it turns out as a complete story! I need a strict outline that I can veer away from but always come back to. What are you working on as we speak?

I am finalizing my novel Hickory Dickory Death (out now!). I am working on another book titled Sapphora: Shards of Secrecy. It is a fantasy novel that combines Egyptian Mythology and secrecy. I am also working on short stories for the two charity anthologies I am a part of: Enchanted Anthologies Series and What’s in a Name series.

I’m so excited for your fantasy novel, I love mythology and don’t think I’ve read anything based on Egyptian Myths yet! And I really need to start working on my short stories for the anthologies to, the deadline are creeping up! What would your advice be for aspiring authors?

Truthfully I still consider myself to be in the early stages of authorship. I am learning so much yet I still have a lot to learn. Advice I would give to others is write from your heart, believe in yourself, and believe in your writing. Never let anyone try to change your style. Get involved, join groups on social media, and talk to other authors. Lastly, do your research, there are many steps to publishing a book that I never knew existed. Take your time and go at your own pace.

Nic, it has been an absolute pleasure catching up with you. Congratulations on publishing your debut novel today, everybody should go and grab it now! How can we find out more about you and your books?

You can follow my author adventures on Instagram and Tik Tok @ndtcasale!

Newsletter signup: https://gmail.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=07f73c8702d2b351c72884c8b&id=be08135b3e

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ndtcasale/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/NDT-Casale-ND-Testa-101615729259730/?ref=page_internal

TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdVSM9Xt/

Goodreads:

N.D.T. Casale https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21051236.N_D_T_Casale

N.D. Testa https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/153233523-n-d-testa

Thank you so much to Nic for chatting with me, and huge congratulations on your debut novel coming out today!

Don’t forget to get your copy of Hickory Dickory Death on Amazon!

Lyndsey

Good morning (or evening depending on which hemisphere you’re in), and welcome back to my blog. Today I thought I’d delve into my favourite genre of fiction, and one many people don’t fully understand or perhaps haven’t even heard of – speculative fiction.

Broadly speaking, speculative fiction deals with what might be, or what could have been, and encompasses a wide range of genres including science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural and dystopian, as well as alternate histories.

Speculative fiction has been around for centuries, but it’s still often dismissed as ‘genre fiction’. Genre fiction is also known as ‘popular fiction’, and tends to refer to plot-driven books written to fit a particular genre and attract readers who are already familiar with and fans of that specific genre. It’s most common in crime, fantasy, romance, sci-fi, horror and westerns.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with genre fiction, it serves to provide readers with content they want to read, entertainment and escapism, and that’s no bad thing. It’s more or less the opposite of literary fiction, which tends to be less easy to pigeonhole as one genre or another, and provides a means to better understand the real world via direct references, rather than using metaphors and allegories. Some high-brow literary fiction fans turn their nose up at genre fiction, but it boasts just as many brilliant authors (think Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin) and just as many, if not more sales.

But, not all speculative fiction falls into the category of genre fiction.

Let’s have a look at a few examples of speculative fiction novels and how they fit into the genre:

Science Fiction

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for decades, you’ve definitely heard of Jurassic Park, whether that’s due to the blockbuster movies or Michael Crichton’s original novel. The basic premise is “what if dinosaurs could be scientifically engineered today?” and the results are, well, catastrophic to say the least. But the science is credible, Crichton has really put some thought into his story, and that makes the books even scarier and more gripping.

Fantasy

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone JK Rowling Lyndsey's Book Blog

Another one you’ve undoubtedly come across, again possibly because of the movies, but the source material is much deeper and more detailed than the on-screen version. Rowling started with the question “what if magic was real?” and really ran with it, imagining every possible creature, spell and magical object and combining them in an elegant allegory about good and evil.

MARY: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan

We’ve all heard some version of the Blood Mary story, you might even have played the game as a teenager, saying her name into the mirror, scaring yourselves silly for a good laugh. Monahan’s dark YA novel asks “what if the legend of Bloody Mary was real?”. Who was Mary, and why is she out for revenge against teenage girls?

Dystopian

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Dystopian novels often look at a potential, but far-fetched future, focusing on the current day issues we face and asking, ‘what’s the absolute worst case scenario if we continue down this road?’. Atwood’s popular novel has recently been adapted into a brilliantly close-to-the-bone TV series, updated to reflect today’s reality (the original novel was published almost thirty years ago in 1985). The question Atwood focused on is “what if religious fundamentalists took control of the country?”, and her conclusion is equally credible and horrifying.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Written in 1948, Orwell’s novel speculated about a communist future for Britain, setting the story in 1984 (he literally just swapped the digits round to get his time period) and getting so many things scarily right. Whilst he might be partly to blame for Big Brother, his vision of a future dominated by television and surveillance/visibility is shockingly prescient.

Alternate History

And I Darken by Kiersten White

White’s YA historical fantasy novel asks the question, “what if Vlad the Impaler had been female?”, and how would the gender swap impact on the legend we all know? The story highlights the inequalities between men and women in the Ottoman Empire, and imagines what would have happened if a bold, empowered woman like Lada had been the daughter of the Wallachian king.

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Probably one of the most interesting ‘what ifs’ possible: “what if the Nazis had won World War Two?”. Graudin’s novel has Hitler surviving and the combined powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan winning the war. With some fantastical elements thrown in, this is a fascinating glimpse of what might have been if the Allies had lost and Nazism survived.

Supernatural

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

If you haven’t read the books or seen the 2013 movie with Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower, you might have seen the TV series Shadowhunters with Katherine McNamara and Dominic Sherwood. With the sheer number of supernatural creatures involved, and the vastness of Clare’s fictional world, spanning both space and time over the three series so far (with a fourth in the pipeline I believe), the question The Mortal Instruments centres around is, “what if all the myths and legends were true?”. Mixing urban fantasy with classic supernatural elements, Clare looks at the possibilities in a world where demons, angels, vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, and everything in between, exist.

Speculative fiction isn’t reserved for these genres, if your story looks at what could be, what might have been, or what would happen if, then it might just be a piece of speculative fiction.