Jason Davis has become a regular here at the Lair. Whether it's spiders, zombies, or a bad case of the runs, he's always managed to take these horror themes to an unimaginable level of terror. When I first read his debut novel, Inside The Mirrors, I had no idea it would become the first novel in a series centered around Chicago cop, Rob Alletto (although I was later informed by Davis that his trilogies are part of the same series).
Inside The Mirrors (The Guardian Book 1) Alletto believes moving to a small town would lead to a safer environment for himself and his family. Before long, he discovers that there are things far worse than street criminals, when an evil spirit attempts to possess Rob's neighbors through their mirrors. At first, my interest in the story would increase and wane in intervals, depending on the chapters, but as the POV switched around between characters, the suspense grew into terrifying levels. As the various POVs converged, Davis orchestrates a thrilling ride through hell for his readers, in the clever disguise of small town drama.
Into Darkness has the same writing style as the first book, but the second installment is full of unexpected situations, some of which left me a bit confused. After what Alletto went through in the first book, I'm surprised his references to the experience are so few and far between, as well as incredibly vague. Granted, at least a year has gone by in the timeline within the series, but Alleto seems to have buried his early memories of his family's troubles in the town of Standard. Readers are almost better off not reading the first novel.
With the second story, the series moves on from a supernatural menace into a theological battle of good versus evil...sort of like The Stand by Stephen King, but on a much smaller scale. There are so many thought monologues by Alletto throughout the storyline, the suspense is constantly disrupted and the action comes in brief spurts with little to no thrill. The ending felt rushed and glossed over. Having read a number of stories by Davis, I feel he could've done better with this novel.
I thought it would be best to bring Davis to the Lair to explain what he's been attempting...
Q. Where are you from? Has that influenced your writing at
all?
A. I’m from the Midwest, central Illinois to be precise. I grew
up in a couple of little towns in the area, but the one that I consider home is
Wenona, IL. Now, has this influenced my writing at all? Definitely. So much of
the world of Inside the Mirrors and Into Darkness is set in a fictionalized
version of Wenona. The slag pile that is referenced in Into Darkness, the coal
dump, is real, and the stories that are told in Into Darkness are the same ones
I parents would always tell me to keep me from playing there. Which of course
never worked.
Q. Why did you choose to be an author? What is it about the
horror genre that appeals to you?
A. I don’t know if I ever chose to be an author, it has just
been a part of me for as long as I can remember. For my tenth or eleventh
birthday, my parents bought me a typewriter. I don’t know why, but I guess if
they bought it for me, I must have been asking for it. I know since I had it, I
would wake up early in the morning and start pounding away stories while
listening to my dad get ready for work.
As to the horror genre itself. My mom would always watch
horror movies when I was growing up and never cared if I was in the room to
watch them or not. I remember when she was watching Aliens I ran out of the
room gagging. I ran all the way out to the front yard and thought I was going
to lose my lunch on the front porch.
I was such a scaredy cat growing up. I was afraid of
everything, wouldn’t walk into a room without the light on and was terrified of
our pantry as I was sure there was a dragon living inside of it. I was an only
child but had bunk beds. At night, I would debate between which bed to sleep
in, if I slept in the top one, I would be eye level when Dracula came to eat
me, but if I slept in the bottom one, then I could bunch myself up in the
corner and he might not even see me sleeping there.
I don’t know when it was, but after a time, I just got tired
of being afraid of the horror genre and of being afraid. At the time, Nightmare
on Elm Street was a big thing and Freddy Kruger was what terrified me the most.
So, I started watching the movies over and over again. I started watching them
in the day, and as I got braver, started watching them at night. I started watching
more horror films. I moved on from reading the Hardy Boys books to reading Fear
Street, and from then to Dean Koontz and Stephen King. I turned my fear into an
obsession to conquer it. Through time, I started to enjoy them, and now the
horror genre has become a part of who I am.
Q. Do you write for entertainment purposes only, or are
there deeper messages within your stories?
A. Both. I write to entertain, but I always try to bury layers
into my work. A strong theme lately has been to battle bullying, but often
times there are other elements dealing with unfairness in the world. When I
first started writing a series of truck driving stories, I did so as a way to
bring awareness to some of the problems I saw in the industry, things like that
as well.
Q. You have more than one series…which one is your favorite
and why?
A. This is complicated. You said I have one series, but that’s
not completely true, at least not yet. I have two trilogies, but both trilogies
are a part of the same series, just their storylines are only barely touching
for now. The third book for both trilogies will work as something that will be
akin to a two part story. When one trilogy ends, it leads into the ending of
the other trilogy, which is the end of the beginning to the Edge of Darkness
series / universe that I am working to build.
Right now, it is complicated to explain, but I hope once the
books are all out there, people will understand and enjoy all the working
elements. I am writing them, and working at the balance of keeping it so each
book compliments the others while not having to rely on any of them for story
elements. It’s tricky, but fun.
Later this year, I do have a young adult series that I am
working on that is called “Dream Chasers” with the first book titled, “Here There
Be Dragons.” I’m having a lot of fun writing it, but it is side project so I am
keeping my focus on my next adult horror novel. Sadly, that book is not a part
of either trilogy as I wanted to take a break before continuing work on
“Tangled Webs.”
Q. Is your experience within the horror community limited to
literature or do you have experiences in other areas, such as film?
A. Well, I went to college for film and video which brought me
initially into the world of independent film-making. I was writing scripts and
directing short films. At the time, I was learning about film festivals and how
they helped independent filmmakers get discovered, but realized quickly that
there weren’t that many of them that showed or featured horror films. So, it
2004, I founded the Chicago Horror Film Festival and directed the festival for
ten years until I stepped down and Willy Adkins took it over. During my tenure,
we expanded, and I founded the Indie Horror Film Festival.
Q. Do you ever imagine yourself as one of your characters?
If so, does that affect how you develop them within the story?
A. I feel a connection with Rob Alletto. I think that is why he
has become the cornerstone to the two trilogies I am currently writing. He is a
good guy, doesn’t drink, smoke, and above all, his driving force is to take
care of his family. He tries to help others whenever he can, and is an overall
good person. He’s someone I strive to be, and while he has his demons, he works
to get through life while dealing with them.
Q. Do you think setting is crucial to a story? Do you have
any difficulty creating new situations within the horror genre?
A. Setting is very crucial depending on the story you want to
tell. Horror can be found anywhere. You give me a character in heaven and I can
give you a horror story with him or her. As to creating new situations, I don’t
feel like I have an issue with that. My biggest issue is finding the time to
write all the stories I want to tell. I have ideas for my next six novels, but
need to complete what I’m working n now to get to them. That is part of why
when I explain my series’, that it gets so complicated, because as I’m thinking
about them, I’m thinking about the next six books and how they are going to
relate and how large of an impact one book will have over the other.
Q. What are you currently working on?
A. My main focus is on “Dead Friends” and “Here There Be
Dragons.” “Dead Friends” is about Lizzie Rogers who just inherited a curse from
her uncle and now anyone close to her dies just to come back and haunt her as a
corpse only she can see and hear.
“Here There Be Dragons” is the first book in a young adult
series about teenagers who go into other’s dreams and keeps the nightmares from
hurting them. HTBD is the first book in the Dream Chasers series.
I’m also writing, but not focused as heavily on it, the
third book in the Invisible Spiders trilogy, “Tangled Webs.” I took some time
off of it as I wanted to do something on a smaller scale with “Dead Friends,”
which is a book that follows just one character rather than a large world book
like TW.
Q. Will you be appearing at any of the conventions this
year?
A. Doubtful. I took last year off as my son was born at the end
of 2016, and I plan on doing much of the same for 2018. I love spending time
with him as much as I can, and I am not ready to split my time between
convention and family. When he gets old enough, I will start doing conventions
again, but for now I’m taking a break. I’ve been so heavily involved in the
convention world since 2004 that it is nice to take a couple of years off.
Q. Where can fans find more information about your stories?
