Babel Clash

Thanks, Morgan!  I’d love to!  ;-)  Once Dead, Twice Shy centers around a high school girl who finds herself dead on her Junior prom.  Using her wits, she manages to side-step the reapers who have come to escort her, and she has to learn how to live with being un-living.  But because I think young adults like the same things that adults do, it goes deeper than that.  In truth, it is a story about the dilemma of having to do something you morally disagree with in order to survive, and finding the courage to fight to change a system that no one but you and perhaps a light reaper might disagree with.

It’s targeting 12-19 year olds, but I’ve not cut out any of the complexity for them, so it should still be entertaining to adults.  In fact, I’m concerned that I’m going to get a lot of flack for not pulling any punches and posing a question to young readers that might actually make them think.  But hey, this is what I do.  ;-)  –Kim

Oh!  And some good news.  I just found out a few days ago that it will be breaking into the New York Times Bestseller Children list at a very respectable #5.  Whoo-hoo!

Okay, this is going to be a little selfish, but since I don’t write horror, but am often shelved in horror, I think I might need to brush up on what scares people.  Me, I don’t like elevators.  It’s not a phobia, because I will use them, (maybe I’m too lazy to take the stairs.) But when I’m stressed, I will dream about malfunctioning elevators.  (Sad, but true)  Ghosts, too, are another big shudder factory in me.  So give it up.  Consider it you helping me be more “scary” in my writing.  What makes you shiver.  Blood? Missing body parts?  An old girl/boy friend knocking on your door with a bassinette?  Physical or mental torture? Real stuff, or things you can’t see.  –Kim

For me, horror is the creepy feeling you get that something is behind you, something you are helpless against that has malevolent intent.  Blood splatters, screams, and psychological catch-22 figures into it.  So now I’m wondering, what makes up horror for you?  The physical or the mental?  –Kim

Dane asked me what I’m looking forward to, and I’ve got a couple beyond the usual suspects.  I don’t have a lot of time to read, so I tend to read for cover quotes within the urban fantasy genre.  My favorte authors here are Jocelynn Drake (bad vampires, no sparkles here) and Vicki Pettersson (bad-ass superheros in Vegas) but I had the chance to read Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey.  (anti-hero from hell)  It’s due out late July, and I can’t wait.  –Kim

Sad, but true, I can’t stomach horror in movies and books, and I avoid them like the plague, which some people find funny since I write about vampires, but really, that stuff scares the peas out of me.  I think the last horror film I saw was Poltergeist. Yup, the one where the little girl says “They’re back-k-k-k.”  It’s what, twenty years old, and I still can’t watch it.  I know it’s tame to what’s out there now, but I still give oddly shaped trees a wide birth. And yet, in LOTR, I could happily watch a hobbit being eaten by one.  (Maybe I just don’t like hobbits.) What keeps you up at night?  Man eating trees?  Hobbits?  –Kim

I got to looking at what’s coming this summer, and though I think Trasformers is going to make a bang, I really think that Harry Potter is going to be the big earner here.  Dudes, I’m living with a 50+ HP fan who has got all the movies on BlueRay.  You know we’re going to see it.  Live it.  (grin)  But what’s not to love here.  We’ve watched little Harry grow up, and I’m ready to see him kick some Mr. V butt.   –Kim

Transformers? I liked the first one, and I’ll probably go see the next, but there’s something about robots that I’ve never quiet trusted. I’m a child of the 80s, so right off, Short Circuit comes to mind. That scene where Ally Sheedy dances with the robot kind of freaked me out. A.I. hit my creepy meter, too. I think Terminator had it right. (Run, ’cause he’ll be back.) Oh, and I Robot? Dude, he had it right. (shudder) Tell me again why we are giving robots free will? Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely adored the movie(s), but I just don’t trust the robot.