Return to Chrysalis [Interview]

CHRYSALIS LIGHTS by Lori Titus is a novella which has references to characters in previous stories by the author. However, this story works fine as a stand-alone. Beginning with a sinister attack on a dirt road, Titus introduces the dark past of Chrysalis, a town with a long history of witchcraft.

The rest of the story shifts focus between Amy, a young woman who has just inherited a haunted house, and Lexi, a high school girl who has been experimenting with her heritage in the forms of spells and rituals. When the two become acquainted, the danger in Chrysalis increases for both.

I enjoyed the suspense and I'd love to see more from this town.

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Since I'm giving away a signed copy of The Bell House (see below), I thought I would invite Lori Titus back to the Lair to discuss the success she has had in the past year or so...

This is your third time in the Lair, and a lot has been happening for you since our last interview. Could you give readers an update?

Thank you for having me again!

It’s been an eventful time. I’ve been busy with a lot of different projects. One way that I’ve been working on getting my name out there is to participate in a few boxed sets. One of the sets I was in, Souls and Shadows, hit the USA Today Bestseller’s list this past July.

I’m also working with fellow author and friend Jonathan Lambert.  I’m his co-editor for a brand-new press called Jolly Horror. The vision of the publishing company is to mix dark humor with horror. We feature short stories from both new and established authors.

I’m also working on several projects: a follow up to Soul Bonded titled Personal Demons is the one I hope to finish soon. There’s also another story (and possibly a series depending on how it works out) about a paranormal investigator and a witch who helps him solve cases. There are also a couple of yet unnamed projects brewing as well. I’d love to do another ghost story soon and perhaps a romance that involves horror in a different way than I’ve done it before.

Chrysalis Lights obviously has the same setting as The Bell House and Blood Relations. Refresh my memory please: how do the characters of your novella tie in with your previous two novels?

Iris, the sheriff’s mother in Blood Relations appears as a character in this book too. It’s fun to use Chrysalis because the mood and setting is already locked in before I begin. If you’ve read my books before you’ll catch the subtle tie-ins, but you won’t feel left out of anything if you haven’t.

Blood Relations involved a mix of monsters, some of the worst were human. Do you have a favorite?

Josiah is probably my favorite from Blood. He’s one of those monsters who is mostly human, though part something else. His way of thinking is what’s probably the most frightening. He finds inspiration in the most heinous dictators and tyrants. On top of that, he uses spirituality to force others to submit to his will. For him, the greatest joy is exercising power over others.

Why do you think so many people are drawn to the horror genre?

I think it provides a safe place to explore all the things we tell ourselves we don’t really fear. It’s also a vicarious thrill. Is the killer hiding behind that door? Can my angry lover haunt me from the grave? Is that person across the street following me? We all have things that we try to run from in life, and horror presents it to us in an entertaining way.

What do you think of Halloween? Does the holiday hold any special meaning for you?

I love Halloween! The costumes and candy are fun. When you think about it, what other holiday allows you to be an entirely different person for a day? I especially love to see the little ones out enjoying themselves.

And of course, for us author types, it’s a great reason to promote our wares.

This has been quite a year for you. What do you think you’ll be doing in 2020? Any chance of a convention appearance?

I’ve already got some releases planned for next year, including one that should be out in January or February. I’m not sure about doing the convention circuit next year, but it’s a possibility. It depends on what I’ve got on my plate around the end of this year. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it.

Where can new readers find out more about your current books and future projects?

Readers can find me on Twitter or Instagram under the handle Loribeth215. I’m on Facebook as well.

My author blog is called The Darkest of Lore, and is here:  https://loribeth215.wordpress.com/

Special thanks to Miss Titus for her time!

If you would like a chance to win an autographed copy of The Bell House by Lori Titus, you can enter by leaving a comment below. A winner will be selected on October 20th.

As always,

AstraDaemon

Lori Titus is Setting Fires [Interview]

Blood Relations by Lori Titus is the author's best work yet. I knew, when I interviewed her in June 2015, she was working on a novel about a cult, but I had no idea how elaborate her creation would be. While fallen angels, religious fanatics and supernatural creatures have been quite common in the horror genre for decades, Titus has found an original way to incorporate these themes into story filled with murder, drama, mythology and the metaphysical.

Set in the fictional town of Chrysalis, South Carolina (a setting used in some of her other stories as well), Titus introduces readers to the Congregates, worshipers of the Goddess Phoenix, and the Vilkas, a biker gang resembling a wolf pack. The two groups have fought with each other for generations upon generations, but somehow come to an understanding to create peace. That agreement is broken when both groups have members murdered. The sheriff and few others soon find themselves pulled into an ancient feud, revealing the ongoing horrors hidden within the town of Chrysalis.

The main storyline follows the investigation of a murder, but the flashbacks move forward and backward on their own timeline, depending on which character is remembering past events. As the pieces are laid out here and there, readers will discover previously unknown connections between the characters. It's an unusual writing style, but it adds layers to the suspense. There is never a moment without drama. I loved the ending.

I've known a lot of authors who write amazing stories in the beginning of their career, only to lose their spark and fizzle out into a hot mess. Lori Titus not only found her inner fire early on, but she has also been blazing from one book to the next. I can't wait to read more of her work!

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I was so impressed with her latest novel, I invited Titus back to the Lair for another interview:

Q. How did you come up with the premise of Blood Relations? Is this the Creed of Cain project you mentioned back in 2015?

A. Yes, with a few changes. The idea of writing about a cult has been with me for a long time. Back in 2015, I was co-writing on a project with another author. One of the back stories was about a cult, and it got me to thinking about a story idea I had put away and never worked on. I already knew that I wanted this group to utilize supernatural powers, and that one of their ways to keep people submissive is to stalk followers and anyone who dares speak against them.

You’ve probably seen some stories in the news where former members of certain religious organizations have been harassed, stalked or black listed from employment. When you add the supernatural component, it adds an extra amount of pressure and creepiness to the mix.

Q. Did you know from the beginning you would incorporate so many different genres into one story?

A. Yes, I knew it would, but I wasn’t really worried about doing that. There’s a crime story component to it which I thought was important to draw the reader in. There needed to be something to start an investigation. In many cases, you’ll find that the intervention of law enforcement is the only thing that really stops these kind of groups because they aren’t questioned about their lifestyle. No one wants to infringe upon anyone’s religious beliefs.

We follow the sheriff on what appears to be a normal murder investigation, but the reader already knows there’s something worse going on. Eventually we see that all the characters in the story are involved in one way or the other. The mythology aspect comes from adding The Phoenix. I didn’t want a god figure that is like anything focused on in popular religion, so that was an easy fix. I have a thing with birds as symbols of evil in my stories, so it works for me.

Q. How did you decide on your timeline structure? Did you have difficulty placing the pieces of all the different storylines?

A. I started off with the Sheriff. I knew the set-up for the murder, and the story actually began with him. As the story expanded I shifted some scenes, allowing the reader to be one step ahead of Evan as his eyes are being opened to what’s going on around him. I had a clear idea of most of the characters, though a few of them really surprised me. Marlene was originally going to be a character who only appeared in one or two scenes, but she chopped her way into a much bigger role.

As far as timelines, I usually imagine stories beginning at a mid-point that I can work both forward and backwards from. In this case the midpoint is the murder of one of the characters, and the story moves forward from the actions (toward consequences) and backwards (to how this all came to be). Each character holds their own piece of the puzzle.

Q. Some of the characters are involved in deeply traumatizing situations. Were any of the scenes more difficult to write than others?

A. Alexis’ scenes were very hard to write. The words flowed but it was painful. I can say the same about some of the scenes including Bonnie and Sara. Anything involving children and their suffering is difficult.

Q. Will readers see any of these characters again in future novels? Do you think you might write some companion short stories for any of the main characters and their backgrounds, such as Beau and Violet?

A. Violet has actually popped up again in another novella. She’s a descendant of Abigail Drake, the child with supernatural powers in Lazarus. I’m open to maybe working with some of the other characters again. I’m pretty sure people are interested to know more about Marlene.

Q. I have to ask, were any of the characters in Blood Relations related to any of the characters in The Bell House?

A. No, but there is mention of some of the same places since they are in the same town. The bar/burger joint, Finny’s is the same place in both stories, though the owner, William Finny, isn’t mentioned in The Bell House. I imagine Marlene brings Jenna and her friend their lunch in one scene.

Q. Do you have plans to keep using Chrysalis, South Carolina as a setting?

A. Yes, I do. You’ll see that setting mentioned in other stories even when it’s not shown. I am working on a story about a group of characters living in Los Angeles, but one of them is from… you guessed it, Chrysalis. The Vampire Diaries novella I did last year, Chrysalis Lights, is also set there.

Q. We’re only two months into 2018 and you’ve already had an incredible year. Would you please share what you’ve accomplished so far?

A. 2018 has been really something! I started off the year with hitting USA Today Bestseller List in January for Sigils and Spells, a boxed set that I headlined with Hunting in Closed Spaces. I can’t even explain how emotional that was for me, since Hunting was my first full length novel. My fellow authors and I are finalists for The Bram Stoker Award for Sycorax’s Daughters. We’ll find out March 3^rd if we actually win it. Linda Addison is the only black woman to ever win a Stoker, so just being a finalist is a huge thing, especially in an anthology with 33 black female authors.

Q. What will the rest of this year bring for you and your fans?

A. Oh, there’s a lot in store this year. I have three releases planned for this Spring/Summer. I am also working on Soul Bonded, a novel that I hope to have out by the end of the year. I am in contract negotiations for another project and I will let everyone know the details of that when I am able.

Thanks for the updates! Always a pleasure chatting with you!

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Readers can find out more about Lori Titus at these links:

Amazon link:   Lori Titus

Twitter:  Lori Titus (@Loribeth215) | Twitter

As always,
AstraDaemon

Tuesday Titus: Hailey's Shadow

Hailey's Shadow by Lori Titus has many unexpected turns and twists, particularly for a short story. We first meet Hailey when she is a little girl, tormented by shadows that speak to her. Time fast forwards to Hailey as a young woman, locked up in an asylum, being interviewed by a man named Adam. He soon realizes there is more to her pyromania than a mental illness, but his epiphany comes at a price.

Titus has this way of frightening readers with monsters, without ever fully revealing the her wicked creations...what she does show you will haunt you long after you finish the story.

You can learn more about this horror master and her terrifying talent in my interview with Lori Titus from June 2015.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Interview With Lori Titus

The Bell House
by Lori Titus
166 pages
$4.99 Kindle version

I thoroughly enjoyed this story...I never knew what to expect at any point and that made it all the more thrilling. This is not your typical haunted house story, and the suspense is incredible. Titus does an excellent job of luring in readers with a love triangle involving brothers. The connections from one generation of the Bell family to the next added fuel to the fire, literally. Families have drama as it is, but when you involve curses and ghosts, you have the seemingly unstoppable force of the Bell house.

The Bell House is full of dark family secrets and angry spirits, pitting the living against the dead…one of the most frightening novels of 2015. Titus has taken the horror genre to a truly terrifying level. After reading her new novel, I invited the author to the Lair:

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Author Lori Titus

Q. Do you feel like you specifically write for the horror genre, or do you just write whatever story is in your head?

It seems that horror is what I have in mind! I can start off with any kind of story, but sooner or later, some kind of paranormal thing creeps in. I think on some level I have a fascination with things that are unexplained. But I also find that I can use it in a way to explain or make people think about real problems that go on in the world. Horror is a safe place to explore topics that would otherwise be taboo or uncomfortable, and I love that aspect of it.

Q. Do you have a specific message that want you want to get across to readers in The Bell House, or do you simply wish to entertain?

Well, my goal is always to entertain, but this one definitely has a moral.

My message in The Bell House was the importance of stories: the things that our loved ones and family say about us, the things we believe about ourselves, and the ideas that we believe about the world around us.  What we believe makes the difference between being a survivor or a victim.
Sometimes the most powerful stories are the ones that remain untold, gathering bitterness and grief under the surface. The inner stories, secrets, and unspoken beliefs we keep in our heads can uplift or destroy.

Diana’s life could have been changed in a positive way by choosing to be open to her son, her sister, and other people in her life. Travis believed that an ability that could have been thought of as a talent or a blessing was a curse. The negative consequences of their choices had a lot to do with perspective and the fact that they believed in the power of curses and negative entities.

Q. Who or what do you see as the influences on your writing?

I have a lot of influences, but as I mature, I realize that it’s not just the authors I read, but things that
I see in the world around me. I am more in tune with what people say, and images that I see in the media.  When you look around, there are horrific happenings going on in the world, and many of these topics can be explored in fiction. The early inspirations: Poe, Rod Sterling, King, Koontz, will always be favorites.

Q. Do you ever come up with anything so wild that you scare yourself that, leaving you to wonder where that came from?

Lazarus was definitely one of those stories that frightened me. That novella might have ended up being a full length novel, but I had started having nightmares by the time I was halfway through. It is still one of my favorites though, and I have plans to revisit that world and those characters again. It was a story idea that came to me fully formed, with plot, names, and atmosphere all intact. I still don’t understand how it happens that way.

Q. What do you think draws people to horror stories?

Horror stories are a thrill. It’s a vicarious way into danger that is still safe. And horror, when it’s done right always includes a bit of mystery too, so that the reader has some surprises in store. It’s all about engaging the reader with one thing while another is also going on, like a shell game. I think readers enjoy stories that pull them into the action.

Q. Do you have any upcoming appearances or other novels that you would like to tell us about?

I am very excited about my upcoming projects. I’m not sure when it will be released, because I’m currently working on the first draft, but the next novel is titled The Creed of Cain. It’s about a different group of people in the fictional town of Chrysalis, South Carolina, the same place that The Bell House occurs in. I can’t say too much about it, but the story deals with religious fanaticism and murder.

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I encourage horror fans to add The Bell House to their reading lists.

As always,
AstraDaemon