I have the honor of having Danielle De Vor on my blog this weekend. Not only do we get insight into her latest book, but she was kind enough to do an interview as well. Not All Exorcists are Equal....One is Marked. When defrocked ex-priest, Jimmy Holiday, agrees to help an old friend with his sick daughter, he doesn’t expect the horrors that await him. Blackmoor, his friend’s new residence, rests upon the outskirts of the town of Sorrow’s Point. The mansion’s history of magic, mayhem, and death makes it almost a living thing – a haunted mansion straight out of a Stephen King novel. Jimmy must decide if the young girl, Lucy, is only ill, or if the haunting of the house and her apparent possession are real. After the house appears to affect him as well with colors of magic dancing before his eyes, rooms warded by a witch, and a ring of power in his voice, Jimmy is met by a transient who tells him he has “the Mark”. Whatever being “marked” means, Jimmy doesn’t care. All he wants to do is help Lucy. But, helping Lucy means performing an exorcism. Buy Links: Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Sorrows-Point-Marker-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B0178RT5H6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Barnes/Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sorrows-point-danielle-devor/1117032105?ean=9780986251641 Itunes: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/sorrows-point/id1053219178?mt=11&at=10l6Xd Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/sorrow-s-point-1 Excerpt Jones crept around the side of the massive home. He looked this way and that like they taught him in the academy. This was the first time something serious had gone on in Sorrow’s Point. He set his jaw, bound and determined to do the best damn job he could. The sheriff’s footprints pressed into the tall grass, making it easy for him to know where to look. They led him to the back of the house and stopped as soon as they reached the stone patio. Something smelled sour-sweet. Flies would be swarming along soon. He walked up the steps and across to the door. The smell grew stronger, but he didn’t notice anything else out of the ordinary. Suddenly, his foot slid and he almost fell. His eyes drifted to the patio. A pile of puke almost the same color as the stone coated the bottom of his shoe. “Great.” Backing up a step, he wiped his shoe on the stone as best he could. Then, sidestepped the puddle and peered in the window. Black was there, sitting at a butcher block table, facing the window. His dark hair stood up from his head in all directions. Eyebrows arched like the Devil's own. The deep red blood covered him, almost from head to toe. He took another bite out of the small human leg he held in his large hands, grinding his teeth through the raw flesh. “Oh shit.” Jones shook, unable to release his death grip on the windowsill. Then, the world shifted. Blam! Jones peered down the smoking barrel of his gun, following the path through the broken window. He hadn’t meant for the gun to go off. He didn’t even remember reaching for his weapon. Black’s chin slumped against his chest, the back of his head gone. Bits of gray matter stuck to the wall behind him. Black’s fingers relaxed. The leg fell to the floor. Excerpt #2: “This is Lucy, this morning,” he said. The blond hair hung limp around her face. The blood vessels around the whites of her eyes appeared burst from pressure. Her skin had a strange yellow cast, almost like the color of an old bruise. Her face had thinned from the wallet photo. She looked…sunken. The basic facial features remained, but I could hardly tell it was the same little girl. My body grew cold again, just like it had in the kitchen. This time, though, there was nothing to make a draft. The only window in the living room was the large picture window. It didn’t open. I rubbed my arms. “What the hell happened?” He clasped the phone like a lifeline. “The house.” My brows rose. I tried to think if any abuse could cause what I saw, but I came up short. The blood in her eyes clearly occurred from some sort of internal pressure. Punches to the face could have caused intense bruising outside the eye and around the socket, but that wasn’t what I saw in the picture. Scratches littered her face, but they were thin, as if caused by her own fingernails. I was dumbfounded. What did he expect me to do? My body gradually warmed up again, but I’d had just about all the oddness I could take for one evening. “Are you going to help her?” he asked. Help her? She needed a doctor, not an ex-priest. “Will,” I said. “How can I help her?” “You know what to do.” He sat motionless in that chair. Nothing, no part of his body moved. He didn’t even blink. I stood up and turned away from him. I couldn’t face him to say the next part. I wasn’t even sure he’d listen to reason. “She needs a doctor.” “Goddammit!” He grabbed me from behind and spun me around. His face burned red with intensity. His grip on my shoulder was so tight it hurt. “She’s had a doctor! She’s had twenty fucking doctors. She’s been to internists, psychiatrists, PCP’s, neurologists, and they all keep passing the buck.” I reached over and peeled his fingers from my shoulder. I wanted to beat the shit out of him for grabbing me and maybe knock some sense into him, but the man had clear stability issues. If something didn’t give soon, he was going to have a nervous breakdown. “What do they all say?” He threw himself into the recliner, the rage dissipating with his spirits. I had let the air out of his basketball. “The shrinks aren’t sure what she has, maybe a split personality, or schizophrenia. I took her out of the last hospital because the quacks were considering electroshock therapy. ECT on a six-year-old! Jesus Christ.” He put his head in his hands. I sunk into the sofa. “What makes you think she’s possessed?” His voice came out in nothing but a whisper, yet the words had more impact that a five alarm fire, “Because she’s not my little girl anymore.” Guest Interview Questions
Awesome excerpts, Danielle. I was hooked immediately and cannot wait to read Sorrow's Point. I would be happy to review. As a horror writer myself, it is great to find someone who thinks like me. Well, maybe. Hum. Tell me, what inspired you to write Sorrow’s Point? I was having a conversation with my cousin about how there are no good horror films anymore. And, how it is really easy to come up with a premise. The scenes with Mr. Black came out of that conversation. I can't remember the last time I saw a great horror movie. I'm a black and white fanatic and my favorite book/film is The Haunting. Don’t give away any secrets, but what’s your book about? A defrocked priest ends up doing an exorcism on a six-year-old girl. I bet the research on that was daunting. How did you come up with the title? I knew from the time I started writing that I wanted the title to be the name of the town where the exorcism takes place. One day, I was driving down the road, and Sorrow’s Point popped into my head. I knew I had it then. Do you have plans for a new book and/or is your book part of a series? The plan is for this to be a 5 book series. Books 1-3 have been written. I'm curious. How long does it take you to write a novel? It depends. That’s the easy answer. The Marker Chronicles (Sorrow’s Point is book #1.) are easier for me to write. It is like coming home getting inside Jimmy’s head. What do you think makes a good story? You need something that people can relate to. It has to elicit an emotional response. Without that, readers will ignore you. Do you have a day job? Writing is my day job. That's wonderful. What is your work schedule like when you're writing? I get up early, do my usual morning routine. Then, I grab a soda, turn on my computer, and do all the social media things. After a couple of hours, I will shut down and pick up the steno pad. (I write everything longhand first.) Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? I back myself into corners all the time, then have to spend time figuring out how to rectify the situation. LOL. Do you work from an outline or just write? I am a total pantzer. I figure out what the story is and who the main character is before starting. Me too. I never know how a book will end until I get there. How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre? Mostly, I use twitter for marketing. Dark Fantasy and Horror don’t market the same way that Romance and other genres do. It’s a harder sell, so I have to hunt down specific dark readers. So, now some fun questions: If you were a car, what kind would you be? A construction yellow Shelby Mustang. You know your cars. White wine or red? Red Coffee or tea? Mostly tea, but I do drink Mocha Frappuchinos a lot. Mocha Frappuchinos are my favorite. So, vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate all the way. No sense wasting calories on anything other than chocolate. Dogs or cats? Dogs more than cats. I am less allergic to dogs than I am cats, but I am allergic to breeds of both so I have to be careful. Sleep in or get up early? I wish I could sleep in, but I have lost the ability the last few years. Thanks Danielle for hanging out with me today. I wish you the very best on your new release and like I said, I cannot wait to read it. BIOGRAPHY Named one of the Examiner's 2014 Women in Horror: 93 Horror Authors you Need to Read Right Now, Danielle DeVor has been spinning the spider webs, or rather, the keyboard for more frights and oddities. She spent her early years fantasizing about vampires and watching "Salem's Lot" way too many times. When not writing and reading about weird things, you will find her hanging out at the nearest coffee shop, enjoying a mocha frappuccino. Visit her at http://danielledevor.wordpress.com Links (add more if necessary) Webpage: http://danielledevor.wordpress.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/danielledevorauthor Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sammyig
Louann
3/4/2016 12:18:47 pm
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