October is the month for Halloween and things that go bump in the night, so I’m interviewing authors of paranormal fiction. Today my guest is Jane Toombs, author of Taken In and Tule Witch. Thanks for being here, Jane!
What was your favorite Halloween treat to find in your trick or treat bag?
Butterfinger bar.
What types of treats would your main character hand out to trick or treaters?
Being a Special Op he's into fitness, so probably apples.
Tell us a little about what kind of research you did for your novel.
I researched ghost lore.
What is it about the paranormal that interests you?
I guess it’s really more than an interest--paranormal actually has had a grip on me ever since I found that small volume of E.A. Poe in my folks’ bookcase with print so tiny I doubt if I could read it now. But I was nine and my eyesight was perfect at the time.
I already had been told I could read anything in the bookcase, so I opened the little black book and came face to face with one of the masters of the paranormal. I was immediately entranced by his words. Sentences like: "The
ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir," touched a chord inside me that hadn’t been activated before. The book held a mixture of his poems and short stories and I devoured them all.
Not until, as a teenager, I discovered A. Merritt and his "Burn, Witch, Burn" and "Creep, Shadow, Creep," did I realize that some authors wrote nothing but paranormal. They called what he wrote fantasy and it was hard to find during that time, especially in the small town I lived in, but I persisted.
Finally fantasy came into its own, and I enjoyed it, but sometimes it wasn’t dark enough for me. I began trying to write my own, but was interrupted by WWII and becoming a Cadet Nurse.
Not until I was much older did it occur to me to wonder why I liked the darkness of Poe. I had a perfectly normal, happy childhood in a small town. I finally decided it was the idea of weirdness that appealed to me. Many things can be unusual, but I liked them darkly unusual. At last I began to try to write paranormal stories and found it was harder than I thought.
If any of you pick up Tule Witch--my very first published book, a gothic, when Sanhaim re-releases it as an ebook on October 15 in their Retro line, you’ll see the darkness that runs through the story. All my early gothics had paranormal elements, though I didn’t write a horror story until Hugger Doll.
I’m now 86 and still enjoy reading and writing about the dark paths of life.
Tell us about your latest book in 25 words or less.
I'm working on "Where There's Smoke" the second bookin my paranormal ghost trilogy called Dagon House. The first book, Taken In, is out now: Heroine witnesses a murder and flees from New York City into the Adirondacks. Murderer pursues her. Special Op reaches her first. Involved in an accident at night, they take refuge in Dagon House, which is haunted. . .
THIS or THAT
Ghosts or zombies?
Ghosts. Never saw or felt one, though.
Broomstick or batwings?
I like the idea of witches and bats carry rabies, so broomstick.
Belle or Sukie?
Neither.
Wooden stakes or silver bullets?
Silver bullets.
Where can we find out more about your books?
At my website: www.JaneToombs.com
What was your favorite Halloween treat to find in your trick or treat bag?
Butterfinger bar.
What types of treats would your main character hand out to trick or treaters?
Being a Special Op he's into fitness, so probably apples.
Tell us a little about what kind of research you did for your novel.
I researched ghost lore.
What is it about the paranormal that interests you?
I guess it’s really more than an interest--paranormal actually has had a grip on me ever since I found that small volume of E.A. Poe in my folks’ bookcase with print so tiny I doubt if I could read it now. But I was nine and my eyesight was perfect at the time.
I already had been told I could read anything in the bookcase, so I opened the little black book and came face to face with one of the masters of the paranormal. I was immediately entranced by his words. Sentences like: "The
ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir," touched a chord inside me that hadn’t been activated before. The book held a mixture of his poems and short stories and I devoured them all.
Not until, as a teenager, I discovered A. Merritt and his "Burn, Witch, Burn" and "Creep, Shadow, Creep," did I realize that some authors wrote nothing but paranormal. They called what he wrote fantasy and it was hard to find during that time, especially in the small town I lived in, but I persisted.
Finally fantasy came into its own, and I enjoyed it, but sometimes it wasn’t dark enough for me. I began trying to write my own, but was interrupted by WWII and becoming a Cadet Nurse.
Not until I was much older did it occur to me to wonder why I liked the darkness of Poe. I had a perfectly normal, happy childhood in a small town. I finally decided it was the idea of weirdness that appealed to me. Many things can be unusual, but I liked them darkly unusual. At last I began to try to write paranormal stories and found it was harder than I thought.
If any of you pick up Tule Witch--my very first published book, a gothic, when Sanhaim re-releases it as an ebook on October 15 in their Retro line, you’ll see the darkness that runs through the story. All my early gothics had paranormal elements, though I didn’t write a horror story until Hugger Doll.
I’m now 86 and still enjoy reading and writing about the dark paths of life.
Tell us about your latest book in 25 words or less.
I'm working on "Where There's Smoke" the second bookin my paranormal ghost trilogy called Dagon House. The first book, Taken In, is out now: Heroine witnesses a murder and flees from New York City into the Adirondacks. Murderer pursues her. Special Op reaches her first. Involved in an accident at night, they take refuge in Dagon House, which is haunted. . .
THIS or THAT
Ghosts or zombies?
Ghosts. Never saw or felt one, though.
Broomstick or batwings?
I like the idea of witches and bats carry rabies, so broomstick.
Belle or Sukie?
Neither.
Wooden stakes or silver bullets?
Silver bullets.
Where can we find out more about your books?
At my website: www.JaneToombs.com
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