My guest today is Shawna Romkey, author of best selling Young Adult paranormal novels that deal with angels and demons and the devil himself... scary stuff, with adventure and a dash of romance. Since she likes to write scary scenes, I asked her to share some of the stories that send a chill up her spine. Welcome, Shawna!
Thanks for having me, Katie!
I’m a young adult, paranormal author of two books featuring
angels and demons. Speak of the Devil
and The Devil Made Me Do It. Book
three is due out soon, and I’m just finishing up a new story, called Crow Moon featuring witches that I’m
hoping to release before Christmas!
I’ve always been attracted to the odd, dark and the gothic,
so I’m hoping some of that comes out in my books. Katie has invited me to talk
about some of my favorite spooky stories.
In thinking about this, I realized, I don’t read many horror
novels. Other than Stephen King’s On Writing, the only other novel of his I’ve
read is Cujo. I’m a dog person. :p I love scary movies and shows though.
American Horror Story is my favorite!
I have read some great scary short stories, though. So of course, Edgar Allan Poe came to mind. I
taught American literature at the high school level, so I’ve gone through my
fair share of his stories. Then there’s
Shakespeare, and my favorite of his work is MacBeth. Anyway, I came up with a list and thought I’d
share during this spooky month of October and All Hallow’s Eve.
1.
“The Tell Tale Heart” by Poe.
Creepy, murder, guilt, dark and spooky.
2. “The Cask of Amontialldo” by Poe again. Creepy,
first person point of view contemplating a premeditated act of vengeance. The
Scorpio in my loves that.
3. “The Raven” by Poe. A dark, twisted, descent
into grief and madness.
4. "My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. For a
romantic poet, he sure has a few doozies that score high in the creep factor.
5.
“Porphyria’s Lover” by Browning. Again,
strangled with her own hair. “And yet God has not said a word.” Yikes.
6. "Young Goodman Brown” by Hawthorne. Witches and
dancing in the forest with the devil. Good stuff.
7. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins
Gillman. Crazy first person narrator, but it takes you a while to get the image
of what’s happening.
8. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. It’s been a
while since I’ve read this one, but I think it’s much more frightening than the
Hunger Games.
9. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Amelas” by Ursula
LeGuin. Again, a frightening short story that makes you think about what you
would do for the greater good.
10. And
Shakesepeare’s MacBeth. Witches,
murder, madness… what more could you want?
Those are some quick reads to get
you in the mood for Halloween, and if you’re up for a dark but quirky and
romantic story about saving the world and falling in love, check out the
excerpt below of the first book in my series, Speak of the Devil. I’ll
give away an eBook of Speak of the Devil to one lucky commenter below! Good luck!
About the Book:
When falling in love and falling from grace collide...
High
school junior Lily Tyler dies along with her two best friends in a car
accident, but miraculously she comes back to life several minutes later.
Unable to deal with her loss and her survivor's guilt, she moves to her
dad's. While there trying to heal from this tragedy and come to terms
with the event, she meets some people at her new school who are all too
eager to help her. Struggling to fight her feelings for two of these
strange new acquaintances, Luc and Mo, she finds out their true
identities.
Lily must move on from the past, reconcile her
feelings for Luc, and find a way to stop a divine war with the fallen
angels, all while trying to pass the eleventh grade.
EXCERPT from Speak of the Devil:
Rain fell, not uncommon for late spring in
Missouri. “If you don’t like the weather here,” my grandfather would say, “wait
five minutes.” Of course, I’d visited distant relatives in Maine once before,
and they said the same thing.
Julie
fumbled with the wipers while I pulled the sun visor down to check my face in
its little rectangular mirror, even though I’d only left my vanity like five
minutes ago. The lights on either side lit up the interior of the car. I
reached into my tiny party purse to find my lip gloss, which was easy to locate
since I’d only packed the essentials in my bag: phone, some cash, and make-up.
As I glanced at myself, I saw Mike in the reflection, smiling at me from the
back seat. I stuck my tongue out at him, making him laugh, and put on the
lip-gloss, fully aware of how flirty I acted.
The
windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with the sudden downpour. The pitter-patter
turned to thumping. Hail came down in gumball-sized pellets. “Damn.” Julie
jerked the steering wheel to keep The Whale off the curb.
“Slow
down, Jules.” Mike gripped Julie’s headrest. “We can pull over until it
passes.”
“Yeah.”
She squinted to see the road before her.
I
pressed my lips together to smooth out the gloss. “Damn is right. I didn’t
bring a jacket.”
The
Whale swerved to the right crunching along the gravel on the side of the road.
I braced myself in my seat. Julie leaned up to the steering wheel and peered
over it as my grandmother sometimes did when she drove. I squinted because of
the stupid light up visor mirror. I slammed it shut, but Julie panicked and
over corrected, pulling The Whale to the left and careening over the yellow
dotted line in the middle of the street.
“Julie!”
Mike shouted.
Time
slowed and ticked out in heartbeats.
Ba bum.
Julie
cringed, her hands moving up to shield her face. Her head turned away from the
highway.
Ba bum.
Mike
reached protectively from the back seat.
Ba bum.
The
headlights illuminated the rail of the overpass.
Ba bum.
The car
hit the rail on the opposite side of the road with a hard thud.
Ba bum.
Crap.
We’re going over the bridge.
Ba bum.
The
Whale’s nose pointed down toward the water.
Ba bum.
A jolt
forward and my forehead slammed into the dashboard.
Ba bum.
The
Whale flipped in the air. I’m upside down.
Ba bum.
Pain.
Ba bum.
Did my
mom say good-bye when I left?
Ba bum.
Cold
water rushed into the car.
Ba bum.
Is this
it?
Ba bum.
I can’t
breathe. Oh my God, I can’t breathe. I can’t see or breathe!
My
heart quickened. It pounded. The Whale leaned on its side under the surface of
the water which rushed in fast, and I couldn’t see a damn thing.
Calm,
stay calm. Don’t panic. They say when you’re drowning not to panic because you
use up your air faster.
Dammit, am I drowning?
I tried
to get myself upright and jerked out of my seatbelt. Luckily, it gave way. I
fought the latch to open the door facing up, but the pressure of the water from
Black Water River held it closed, trapping me inside.
Jesus.
I know this river. It’s more of a creek. It can’t be more than fifteen feet
across and ten feet deep.
I pushed at the door. Opening my mouth to scream, I swallowed water.
I
couldn’t see or hear Julie or Mike. My watch ticked. Or was it my heart
beating?
Ba bum.
Ba bum. Ba bum.
Darkness.
Silence.
Cold.
Wet.
Defying
gravity.
Nothing.
The
dreams came. Like a good sleep you don’t want to wake up from. I felt heavy and
floaty. I wore this long white gauzy gown and the wind blew my dress and my
hair like in some feminine hygiene commercial. I could breathe slowly and
deeply. Completely relaxed and at peace, but I was alone.
I
floated along in a white space for a while. Drifting. Breathing. Relaxing. Had
I gone to a spa? After an immeasurable amount of time, others appeared. They
wore white clothing, too, and they floated like me, reaching out. They opened
their arms as if to welcome me to them.
I
stopped and frowned. I heard no sound, and I didn’t know who these white floaty
people were or why they welcomed me. They smiled, genuinely happy, and held
their arms out to me. I panicked.
Where’s
my mom? My family? Wait, Mike and Julie were just with me, where are they? Are
those wings?
I noticed the others floating with me had white feathery wings.
“Lily,”
one of them called out.
Holy hell. I’m dead.
...and don't forget to check out the sequel, just out earlier this year!
About The Devil Made Me Do It:
Lily is working with the angels to stifle the last of the demon
outbreaks and to figure out how to stop the Silence of God, so life can
get back to boring normality. But all hell breaks loose when she's
stolen from school and brought face to face with the devil himself. Lily
has to find her way back home to Luc, crack the prophecy that breaks
the curse silencing God, and figure out how she and Luc can ever really
be together; but Lucifer has other plans for her that don't include her
ever getting out of Hell intact.
