ABOUT THE BOOK
As paranormal investigators in rural Ohio, Ras and his business partner Antony Yeats tackle ghostly problems on a daily basis, from poltergeist exterminations to troubled spirits just looking for a shoulder to cry on. Angus isn’t looking for ghost therapy. He needs Ras and Yeats to help him retrieve a pocket watch stolen from him after death, a pocket watch that is said to be cursed: The Beldam’s Eye.
The skeptical Ras and Yeats agree to take Angus’s case, but they soon find themselves in over their heads, facing murder, theft and perilous dark magic. Is it all just backwoods superstition or is the curse of The Beldam’s Eye grisly reality?
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR
1. When did you begin to write? What prompted you to write your first book?
I’ve been writing since I can remember! I wrote fanfiction when I was a young teen for various fandoms (The Beatles, included!) and once I got a little older, I started focusing more on original fiction. I started and didn’t finish and/or edit many books before I finished and edited and polished my first novel, These Hellish Happenings; what kept me going was an absolute love for the protagonist. He’s still one of my favorites, and I just cared too much about him to let his story go untold.
2. Why did you choose your particular genre?
Oh, the paranormal and contemporary fantasy genres chose me! I never had a say in the matter! I’ve loved the spooky side of things since I was very young; one of my earliest crushes as a child was Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. That should say something about me. Every time I try to write something that doesn’t have some kind of spooky or fantasy element, it gets thrown aside. I never finish it (or I finish it, but only after adding vampires or ghosts or something).
3. What do you like to read? Favorite authors/ books?
I read a lot of what I write. I like paranormal lit, horror and fantasy, but I also love classic literature. I majored in English lit at university, and some of my favorites are Fitzgerald, Huxley, Conrad… The list goes on and on. I’m awful at choosing a favorite author!
4. How do you develop your characters?
They develop themselves. I wish I had that much control over them. I really just let them reveal themselves to me as I write. I have a vague understanding of them in the very beginning of a project, and then I just set them loose.
5. How did you get the plot idea for your book?
The inspiration for The Beldam’s Eye came from all over the place. I wanted to write something that was as much about these characters from all walks of life crashing into each other as it was about paranormal elements. It was about the human and the paranormal element. So I had this cursed pocket watch be the paranormal element that brought them all together. Mass chaos ensues!
6. What's next for you?
Well, I’m working on getting the sequel to These Hellish Happenings ready for publication, as well as the second book in the Bedbury series. This November, I’m writing a novel about a male siren who I introduced in my collection of short stories, Thoroughly Modern Monsters. How I’m going to balance all this and not go mad, I can’t say.
7. What's one thing you'd like fans to know about you that they may not already know?
I never take myself too seriously. The day I do is the day I’ll stop writing. I promise.
AN EXCERPT
A pillow with the words God Bless This Mess stitched across the middle immediately flew at his head. He ducked and charged into the wind tunnel that was supposed to be a guest bedroom. The windows were shut, but curtains billowed into the middle of the room and cutesy Americana-flavored decorations rolled across the floor like tumbleweed.
“Where is she?” Ras yelled over the roar of the wind.
“Over there in the corner!” Betty Ann answered.
Yeats immediately snapped a picture of the corner. The spirit box spat out a photograph, and he waited for the image to develop, throwing one arm up to protect himself from a flying quilt.
“Mrs. Walsh, you might want to wait downstairs,” Ras said. “We don’t want you to get hurt.”
Betty Ann was halfway back down the hall when Yeats yelled, “Ras, we’ve got a rogue here.” A portrait of Jesus Christ, the kind where the eyes were always on you, tumbled to the ground.
Ras dodged a potted plant and examined the image. Something that used to be a young woman in a red dress stood in the corner, her long black hair flying in all directions as though she’d been struck by lightning. The wind spirit’s skin was mostly chalky, save for just around her eyes where the flesh was bloated and black. Her fingers were smeared with dried blood.
She had no pupils, just black marbles where eyes should be, and yet Ras could still tell she was staring straight at the spirit box.
WIN A PRIZE!
Jennifer will provide two $20 Amazon GCs and five copies of Thoroughly Modern Monsters, her short story collection to randomly drawn commenters during the tour. The grand prize to one randomly drawn commenter will be a $25 Amazon Gift card, a copy of These Hellish Happenings (her first novel) and a copy of Thoroughly Modern Monsters.
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/virtual-book-tour-bedlams-eye-by.html
Visit Jennifer at these websites:
Website: http://www.jenniferrainey.com
