Welcome to “Three Weeks of Halloween” here at Wisewirx Media.
As some of you might have noticed, many of my fiction books have a horror element though I’ve tried to avoid the excesses of the horror genre overall. At the beginning of each of the “Three Weeks of Halloween,” I’m going to tell you about one of the books. This week’s book is Haunted Summer. I’m going to start with Haunted Summer since it’s set in summer instead of autumn and let it bridge the seasons for us. This book was an attempt to branch out into the thriller genre. Science fiction can be hard to sell, but authors like Dean Koontz and Ted Dekker have done very well with “thrillers” that have elements of science fiction or horror but aren’t clearly classified as either one.
This novel was also my first attempt at writing a novel with a female main character. My Intrepid Force books have had strong female characters, but the “point of view” characters were mainly male. Since I started out targeting the Christian bookstore market with this one, I wrote this one with a female main character.
What was my inspiration for this book? There were a number. When I was a college student, the Baptist Student Union sent students around the country and even around the world to assist churches in those locations. Many of us encountered people and cultures very different from what we were familiar with. I served in Washington D.C. and Hawaii. Others I knew served in places like Colorado, Hong Kong, and Kazakstan. Part of my inspiration came from those experiences. About ten years ago, I went to my brother’s wedding in Washington state and saw the area around Astoria and Cannon Beach. When I saw the rocky beaches, rainforests, lighthouses, and tourist towns, I knew I had a setting for a novel. Washington’s history with Bigfoot and UFOs didn’t hurt either, if the novel was going to be a thriller. So check it out, if you haven’t already. I’ve gotten good response from female readers, but I think my usual Intrepid Force readers will enjoy the X-Files elements as well. This book is available in print and digital form on Amazon. 