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| Words from the author. |
Today, I present to you something completely different, not a review and not even a pointless entry. In fact, it’s something special today. So, without further ado, I present to you a guest post from the author of The Artist’s Inheritance, Juli D. Revezzo, on the subject of what scares you. So please, read on…
What do you think of when you think of horror? Most people coming to blogs like this wouldn’t hesitate. They’d name Friday the 13th, The Exorcist, Halloween and others as true horror. Fans of the genre understand it as such. The classic horror might get a nod; Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe might solicit a polite, weak smile.
Do ghosts figure in?
Amazon seems to think so. And they’re not the only ones.
Oh, in some ways I suppose ghosts do count. There are movies out there with some really creepy spirits. The Sixth Sense comes to mind, but are the ghost really so scary, or is it the way they’re presented? Those that flit in and out politely ignoring us, are they scary? Or is it some indication that your imagination is running away with you and all this stuff is in your head?
Despite what my first readers have tended to believe when they’ve encountered the ghosts in my novel The Artist’s Inheritance, I don’t think of most ghosts as scary. Ghosts are just…there and one never thinks about them, until there’s some problem. Or perceived problem. Do ghosts jump out of the woodwork to scare the crap out of us? Do they throw us down stairs and possess us and so forth? Are they out to suck out our souls?
I suppose that’s up for debate. Point is, horror depends on your point of view. What scares you might not scare me, and vice versa.
That’s why my character Caitlin, in The Artist’s Inheritance, is so freaked out when she begins encountering ghosts. The unknown can be scary. Time goes on, she gets used to them flitting through her dreams. It’s all in the perception, it seems. Why, even romance novels include monsters nowadays, don’t they? Zombies and vampires are now adorable. *taps foot* To somebody, anyway.
What about you? If you were faced with some evil standing in the way of you and your family’s safety and sanity, would you give in and let the evil win? Or would you learn what you could and ally with who you had to to save them? Even if the only allies were something so many perceive scary, like ghosts? Maybe if the families in Poltergeist and such movies learned how to meet the fear on its own turf things in those movies would’ve turned out quite differently, huh? After all, Van Helsing and Anne Rice’s David Talbot aren’t afraid of the monsters, are they? 😉
While all these things influenced The Artist’s Inheritance, I don’t really agree that it’s horror, just because of a ghost or three. I tend to think of it more as dark paranormal fantasy. Still, I think everyone should make their own decisions. I hope you’ll check out The Artist’s Inheritance, and see for yourself what it all means. If you’d like to, it’s available at the aforementioned Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.
So I guess the question of the day is what scares you? Do you think it will scare your descendants? 😉
Thanks, Michael, for letting me visit here today!
About The Artist’s Inheritance:
The balance between good and evil can be an art… or a curse.
Trevor and Caitlin were once happy newlyweds, profiting from Trevor’s art. Until Trevor inherits his brother’s house, and with it, his part of a family curse. Now, Caitlin will stop at nothing to save her beloved husband from insanity and suicide, even if it means she must embrace her destiny and become a witch.
About the Author:
Juli D. Revezzo is a Florida girl, with a love of fantasy, science fiction, and Arthurian legend, so much so she gained a B.A. in English and American Literature. She loves writing stories with fantastical elements whether it be a full-on fantasy, or a story set in this world–slightly askew. She has been published in short form in Eternal Haunted Summer, Dark Things II: Cat Crimes (a charity anthology for cat related charities), Luna Station Quarterly, The Scribing Ibis: An Anthology of Pagan Fiction in Honor of Thoth, and Twisted Dreams Magazine. She recently released her debut novel, The Artist’s Inheritance and is working diligently on the next volume in her Antique Magic series.
She also has an article and book review or two out there. But her heart lies in the storytelling. She is a member of the Independent Author Network and the Magic Appreciation Tour. You can find out more about her at: https://julidrevezzo.com and follow her on twitter @julidrevezzo and Facebook.