Steve Stred's Blog, page 78

Book Review: The Original’s Return by David Watkins

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Title: The Original’s Return

Author: David Watkins

Release date: June 3rd, 2013

I kind of ended up going into this book backwards. You see, I connected some time ago with Watkins on one of the various social media platforms and grabbed a few of his books.

Recently, I read his outstanding story in ‘Leaders of the Pack: A Werewolf Anthology’ and knew I needed to get to this sooner than later. Being a massive werewolf fan, I was doing myself a disservice by not reading it.

Diving in, I wasn’t sure where this would go, especially from the cover blurb.

What I liked: Meet Jack. Jack goes for a morning run every day. One day, his beloved pooch veers off the trail. Jack searches. Finds the dog who isn’t very happy, and as he attempts to get his companion to come to him… he falls down a massive hole.

From that simple opening, Watkins leads us along a break neck story that weaves between the real world stuff – being a dad, husband etc, and the lycanthrope stuff – farmer down the way has his animals picked off.

Watkins planted some little snippets of humor throughout and when things get bloody you better be wearing some protective clothing.

What I love most about werewolf stories are when they are almost timeless. You get a nod to the yesteryear as well as the present and David ensured that he took the care to craft a story that does just that.

What I didn’t like: While I did love the opening, I wasn’t a big fan of how fast things seemed to blow over at the beginning. I don’t want to spoil it, but the opening, I thought at least, was about to expand massively upon a few things and instead it kind of just happens and we move on.

Why you should buy this: Well, obviously you can never have too many werewolf books, so add this to the pile of fun reads. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a great story with a bit of ‘Dog Soldiers’ feel to it, this’ll be right up your alley.

4/5

Book Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

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Title: Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2)

Author: Seanan McGuire

Release date: June 13, 2017

Back in 2012 or 2013, I was going through a reading crisis. A voracious reader, it got to the point that even my wife noticed I wasn’t reading any of the half dozen books I had sitting beside the bed. I just couldn’t find something that stuck and drew me in. Then one day, at the power lifting gym I trained at, my friend John Wesley Cummings aka “Beardo” and I got to talking. He asked what I was reading and I shared my struggles. He told me about a book that was guaranteed to break that issue. He suggested ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. I was hooked. Rothfuss’ book was pure bliss. Sublime writing and great storytelling.

Why am I sharing that? Well, I may not be in any sort of reading slump, but not since discovering Patrick Rothfuss have I found a writer who has such an easy storytelling approach, set in a fantastical setting, until now. Seanan McGuire’s “Wayward Children” series has absolutely captivated me over these first two books. I really owe this series suggestion to Jen, aka @BookDen, who insisted I read them.

What I liked: Where Book One ‘Every Heart a Doorway’ introduced us to a group of characters at the School for Wayward Children, Book Two is a prequel, telling the story of how Jacqueline and Jillian became who they are. We discover the basis of their nicknames Jack and Jill and what happened when they found the door to The Moors.

McGuire deftly crafted a stand alone book, that also slots in nicely as the prequel. If you were to pick this one up with no prior knowledge, you’d have absolutely no issues reading the story and understanding the implied connectivity.

I really can’t gush about McGuire’s writing. The words leap off the page and I galloped through this one. 

For me, the most fascinating aspect was learning more about the Master and Dr. Bleak. We get a brief mention of them in Book One, but here we learn so much more and the relationship that we see Jack develop with Alexis was really well done and added an extra layer of emotional depth.

What I didn’t like: Typically, in this section, I try to say why a reader might be turned off of a book. In this case, I’m going to pivot and say that I truly HATED Jack and Jill’s parents in the real world. I see these types each day my son and I go to the park right now and it takes everything in me not to punch them. McGuire really crafted a couple of horrendous humans.

Why you should buy this: ‘Down Among the Sticks and Bones’ is a decidedly darker story than ‘Every Heart a Doorway,’ but don’t think of that as a negative or a detriment. McGuire stays true to the two characters at the center of this story and the reader is better off. This book has really elevated the series for me, personally, and now I’m going to have to beg and plead with my AMAZING wife to let me snag Book Three asap and dive in.

Can’t recommend these first two books enough.

5/5

Those Who Came Before

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Title: Those Who Came Before

Release date: October 10, 2019

Here we are. The last day of Moncrieff-Mania and we’ll finish off with a bang!

There was a point where coincidentally, J.H. and myself were writing books at the same time based around Indigenous back story’s. I was working on ‘The Stranger,’ she on this stunning release – ‘Those Who Came Before.’

When it was first announced that ‘Those…’ was being released through Flame Tree Press, I was over the moon excited. The next step, the next level as Moncrieff worked towards world domination.

‘Those Who Came Before’ is not an easy read. Between the present day story of an officer trying to find out what happened to some campers and the historical elements of what happened in that area many years before, Moncrieff decided to tackle them head on and the book is elevated because of that.

For me, this was such a stunning read, that it’s worked it’s way into my all-time favorite books list. Moncrieff is a truly amazing writer and this combined so many of the elements that she excels at to combine and create an emotionally driven, carnage filled, gorefest.

Here is my 5 star review (which may contain a tiny spoiler (so sorry!)) that was featured on Kendall Reviews;

“This land is your land, This land is my land,

This land was made for you and me.”

Throughout this read, these two lines and most of the ‘This Land is Your Land,’ song played throughout my head. Originally written by Woody Guthrie, this was a rebuttal at the time to the frequent playing/airing of ‘God Bless America.’

Whether J.H. Moncrieff had this tune in the back of her mind while writing this story isn’t known, but the lyrics (and in my case the modified Canadian lyrics I grew up hearing) were synonymous with what played out.

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of ‘Those Who Came Before,’ shall we?

Strong Lake.

Reece, his girlfriend Jess as well as her friend Kira and boyfriend Dan, head to Strong Lake to go camping during the long weekend. Unfortunately the campground is closed, but that doesn’t stop them. They bust in, find a site and decide to have some fun. A discovery of an odd tree begins a horrific story and a sprint through Native American lore. Then after the other three go to bed, Reece hears a voice, so close you’d think it was directly behind him; “You’re not welcome here.”

J.H. Moncrieff has returned with a stunning, new tale of supernatural horror wrapped in a small town’s history of bigotry and racism.

“As I went walking that ribbon of highway,

I saw above me that endless skyway;

I saw below me that golden valley

This land was made for you and me.”

I became a huge fan of J.H.’s previous work, loving ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass,’ ‘The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave,’ and most recently ‘Monsters In Our Wake.’ J.H. creates startling tales filled with characters that feel real. I love how much depth she gives even to the smallest of characters and in this story that character building shines. Sometimes to the detriment of the reader. In this case, I really couldn’t stand Reece at the beginning. He comes off as uncaring towards his girlfriend and simply staying with her because they have great sex. Same with Detective Greyeyes husband, Ben. Couldn’t stand the character. I didn’t like how flippant he felt towards their marriage or towards Greyeyes job. If you’ve married a professional athlete, you know what to expect. Same with a police officer or detective. I’d like to believe Moncrieff made those two like this purposefully, but as it played out they did their jobs effectively.

“I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps,

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;

While all around me a voice was sounding,

Saying this land was made for you and me.”

The real gem of this story is the Native American folklore that this story is based on. The forgotten tribe and the story behind them was fantastic. I enjoyed learning more and more about Little Dove, Lone Wolf and then Little Bear. As we found out more about what became of them as well as the connection to the modern day portion of the story, it was really well done. The present day Chief, Kinew was a great character and Moncrieff used his storyline to the absolute limit, pushing how he interacted with Maria and then with Reece to the max and it created a great push and pull dynamic.

By adding in the arrowhead and the visions associated with it, it was a fantastic way to connect the two time lines.

Moncrieff also does a great job working in historical facts. One of the most hideous things that has come to light over the course of indigenous history is the introduction of small pox through infected blankest given as gifts. This is a book that will make you do some research after you are done reading. For me it was done before and during, due to a book release on my end, but also wanting to do some due diligence of my own. One of the most shocking statistics I found, which J.H. herself relays in the afterword, is that the last residential school in Canada closed in 1996. I always thought this was something that only occurred back in the 60’s and 70’s. How wrong was I?

“The sun came shining, and I was strolling,

And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling;

As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting,

This land was made for you and me.”

Of course, no Native American tale like this wouldn’t be complete without the usage of a demon from their tales, and in this case the Wendigo is paramount. There was a reason for Reece going through a transformation throughout this story and with it the use of the Wendigo was a great way to create a monster that is able to move through the forests at will, but also can think and react as a human does.

Recently, when watching the movie The Ritual, based on Adam Nevill’s book (which I still have to read) the ‘monster’ character that was featured was outstanding. Moncrieff, with the description used to introduce us to the Wendigo has created a creature to rival Nevill’s. I would absolutely love to see this story be told on the big screen.

At the end of all of this, the climax and the epilogue were outstanding ways to tie it all together. Moncrieff absolutely delivers on the bigotry narrative, the interpersonal dynamics that occur between Native people working a ‘Caucasian’ job who have to then interact with Native’s. Reece’s parents were done well as were a few others, who I won’t describe to avoid spoilers. But from page one to THE END this book delivers time and time again.

Moncrieff continues to elevate her writing game and I hope this book takes everything to the next deserved level. She dedicates this book to Tina Fontaine and the book unravels from there. I’ve included a few links at the end here if you’re interested in reading a bit more on a few things alluded too throughout. At the end of the day, we need to do more and we need to be better.

While Moncrieff has already released a number of outstanding works (I still need to read The Ghost Writer series) this is her masterpiece. In this case though, I have no doubt Moncrieff will continue to churn out stunning releases. She’s one of the BEST authors out there.

Such an amazing book by an amazing author.

Have I convinced you yet to go read Moncrieff’s work? Please, seriously, go snag one of her books.

You can grab a copy of ‘Those Who Came Before’ here;

GhostWriters Series Books 1 and 2!

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Title: City of Ghosts (GhostsWriters Series Book One)

Release date: April 15, 2017

*Winner of the 2018 Kindle Book Review Award for best Horror/Suspense*

During the time of my discovery of Moncrieff’s work, we’d began corresponding through Twitter and Facebook. We developed an initial acquaintance that worked into a friendship through a number of shared experiences and love of literature.

Through these correspondences, J.H. told me time and time again that ‘City of Ghosts’ and the GhostWriters series itself was the writing that was closest to her heart.

The GhostWriters series has now spawned five releases and I can’t see Moncrieff slowing down.

These are supernatural/paranormal stories based around mystery and action/adventure. Book 1 – ‘City of Ghosts’ brings us to China where we are introduced to Jackson, a young man who is trying to go viral by documenting ghosts in an old temple.

From here Moncrieff delivers a fantastic historical-fiction piece while also giving us a ghostly ‘who-done-it’ story.

I finished this back in January of 2020, with my review going live today, and still think about a number of scenes in this book.

If you head to Moncrieff’s website, which I said before – you absolutely should – she has a lot of different posts about haunted places. Not only does she do the non-fiction posts amazing, but the fiction writing side of it is top notch as well. The characters are great and as Jackson and Kate become closer, we get to see a really well done character driven arc.

I started reading Book Two just last night (September 17th) which is called ‘The Girl Who Talks To Ghosts’ and we get to see more of Kate’s story. Very excited to see where the next four books take me!

To start your own trip into the mysterious;

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Title: The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts (GhostWriters Series Book Two)

Release date: April 22, 2017

Shortly after finishing ‘City of Ghosts’ I dove into Book Two of The GhostWriters Series. Picking up some time after the events in book one, we find Kate as our main character and she needs to help track down the soul of a girl snatched away from her body and taken to Poveglia, the most haunted island in the world!

This was a great follow up. We get to learn bits and pieces about the island as well as Moncrieff gives us a really well laid out psychological thriller. 

I personally loved the sleight of hand used for Maria! Just you wait.

One thing I’ve really come to love about J.H.’s work, is that whether it is dialog driven or action driven, the story always gallops along!

There’s not a lot I can really add to this without sounding like a broken record from my review that is launching today as well!

Just go snag these!

I’ll be diving into book three soon!

 

Book Review: City of Ghosts by J.H. Moncrieff

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Title: City of Ghosts (GhostWriters Series Book 1)

Author: J.H. Moncrieff

Release date: April 15, 2017

If you’ve followed along with me on social media or with any of my reviews, you know how much I love J.H. Moncrieff and her writing. From ‘The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave,’ to ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass,’ and over to ‘Those Who Came Before,’ Moncrieff has crafted some of the best and creepiest horror/thrillers out there.

Through chatting with her, she herself had said she wasn’t sure if I’d like her GhostWriters Series, as it’s not as horror and gore as the others, but she said these were the books closest to her heart.

When the Ladies of Horror Fiction announced their ‘Read Ladies First’ in 2020, I decided to jump on that and make ‘City of Ghosts’ as my #LadiesFirst2020 read.

‘City of Ghosts’ follows Jackson, as he travels in China on a holiday tour. He’s booked this trip to experience a country that has always fascinated him and he’s excited to see some of the tourist spots. We pick up in the fictional Hensu – a ghost city that the tour attendees are told used to be a town, but when the dam was put in, the village was relocated.

Here Jackson decides he wants to try and write a book about ghosts and decides to sneak away from the group and spend the night in Hensu, hoping to have a paranormal experience.

From here, Moncrieff crafts a fast moving thriller. Once that has as much mystery in it as ghostly happenings and she uses the country of China as a fantastic character all on its own. Things are different than in North America over there and this creates added issues, which I loved.

Along the way, Jackson meets Kate, a gorgeous red-head who he is quickly smitten with, but who he holds back his feelings about as she keeps helping him as things unravel. Normally, I wouldn’t mention any of this – but I simply need to make a point here. One of the best things that happen throughout, is that even though Jackson and Kate get closer and closer and there is some distinct chemistry between the two – Moncrieff purposefully holds off on them becoming intimate. While most authors would have these two shack up and use both the pros and cons of that as story fodder, by having them remain respectful of each other’s space and having some really meaningful conversations around the expectations put on men and women, I found the characters became elevated and I really wanted to root for them to become a couple.

I have the other books in the series and I’ve heard from a very reliable source that another book is in the works, so I’m excited to jump into Book 2 ‘The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts,’ soon.

As for those who haven’t read Moncrieff before, this is a great spot to start, but as mentioned, don’t expect too much gore, creatures or dark, dark horror. This book doesn’t suffer because of that. No, in a way, not having those features made it all that more enjoyable.

5/5

Book Review: The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts by J.H. Moncrieff

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Title: The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts (GhostWriters Series Book Two)

Author: J.H. Moncrieff

Release date: April 22, 2017

Here we are! Book Two in Moncrieff’s absolutely fantastic GhostWriters Series!

‘The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts’ picks up sometime after the events of Book One.

This one is focused more on Kate and her role as a medium. Since Book One has ended, she has worked on building a career out of helping people with issues regarding spiritual contact.

It’s through this that she is contacted to help out a mother, desperate to find a solution to what is afflicting her daughter.

What I Liked: As with all Moncrieff books, J.H. creates characters with amazing depth but also settings that play an important role. Here, Poveglia itself is a setting that brings a lot of different elements to the table.

I won’t spend much time going into Poveglia and it’s history itself, but a lot of bad things have happened there throughout history. J.H. touches on a few of them and the amazing aspect here is that the descriptions come from her own journey to visiting the island itself.

This has elements of a psychological thriller, supernatural adventure, as well as character driven drama. J.H. really crafted a fun read, one that brought another element to Kate and Jackson’s relationship.

What I didn’t like: Minor things, but I really wished we would’ve dived even deeper into the doctor’s back story and life on the island.

As well, at the beginning, I wasn’t a fan of Kate being so jealous of Jackson and a perceived relationship. Felt a bit too high-schoolish.

Why you should buy this: Well, A – Poveglia. I mean, any book set there is a must read. B – a further entry into the ongoing adventures of Kate and Jackson is always a cause for celebration! With a bunch more books already out in this series, the GhostWriters group of stories may just be the perfect thing for those looking for spooky October reads!

4.5/5

Monsters In Our Wake

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Title: Monsters In Our Wake

Release date: February 15, 2017

So, after reading ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ and ‘The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave,’ I knew I needed more Moncrieff. ‘Monsters In Our Wake’ intrigued me, but truthfully also worried me. I personally, am not always a fan of water based horror. Not sure why, or what it is, but a big part of it I think, is due to the limited scope the stories often follow.

Don’t get me wrong – authors do some amazing work with water – but at times it can feel all the same. Crew on a ship or in a research vessel/lab. Creature attacks. They try to escape/survive. Some do, some don’t.

And while ‘Monsters In Our Wake’ does have that aspect, Moncrieff added some truly great plot points. We have a very strong female protagonist. We get a great environmental narrative and in a very appealing turn – we get an entire story arc weaved throughout from the monsters POV. It worked magically.

Here is my 5 star Goodreads review, posted April 14, 2019:

“I first discovered Moncrieff’s work through Return to Dyatlov Pass. That book was being praised in the online book community and having loved the movie Devil’s Pass, also based on the incident, I jumped on it. I had a great time with it and really enjoyed the companion piece that Moncrieff had in the Hellhole Anthology last year.

I’m a proud Canadian and when I find out an author is Canadian, I always prioritize their works. So once I found out Moncrieff was a fellow Canuck living in Winnipeg, I also snagged The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave as well as the first few books in the Ghost Writer’s series. I loved The Bear, but haven’t managed to get to the series yet.

At the time I also snagged this book, Monsters in Our Wake. On a recent trip out west for a professional conference, I decided to have a bit of a creature-feature theme for my reads and this was third up, after Master of the Forest and Antarctic Ice Beasts.

When I read Return to Dyatlov Pass, I loved Moncrieff’s character development and ease of creating tension and stress. I ultimately ended up giving it a 4 star rating because I found a few areas felt stunted and wished the book was longer. Not the case here. I message with J.H. a bit, picking her brain about some things and just generally chatting about life. When I mentioned this one was on my docket, she replied that she hoped I enjoyed because it was a bit ‘different.’ After having read it, I know what she meant!

This story takes place entirely at sea, on The Cormorant, a prototype drilling vessel. We are introduced to Flora, an oceanographer who’s been hired on to ensure ideal drilling locations. We meet the Greek Captain, the engineers Thor and Liam and then a small supporting cast of ship crew; Frank and George.

The ‘different’ part of the book is Moncrieff telling a large portion of the tale through the eyes of one of the sea creatures, named Nokken. We meet his wife and son (who reminded me of Joffrey from GOT) and learn a bit of the creatures back story.

Moncrieff does a fantastic job of stacking the odds against Flora as well as the humans in general. The crew themselves are a misogynistic bunch, quickly laying the blame on everything that goes wrong on Flora. “Its bad luck to have a girl on board,” is a tried and true sailor theme, but in this story, that’s probably the ‘nicest’ statement directed towards her. Time and time again, Flora responds and works hard to earn the respect she deserves. I enjoyed the sprinkling of back story for Flora and her son, giving her the much needed ‘why’ for her survival.

And while I found Dyatlov had a few stunted portions that detracted a bit from the flow, Moncrieff delivers here, letting every scenario play out, sometimes in all its magnificent gore-filled glory.

Moncrieff has catapulted herself into one of my “must-read” authors and has planted herself firmly behind Andrew Pyper in my favourite Canadian Author list. I can’t wait for her first release from Flame Tree Press in October, but in the meantime, I’ll be catching up by reading her Ghost Writers Series.”

Sounds good yeah?

Moncrieff delivered such a strong story that I was chomping at the bit to dive into her other releases.

Which is exactly what I did!

If you want to check out ‘Monsters In Our Wake’ you can find a copy here;

The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave

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Title: The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave

Release date: May 5th, 2015

After devouring through ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ I knew I needed to scope out some more Moncrieff and read her work.

When I searched out her other work, this cover jumped out immediately. Look at it! How simple, yet how absolutely petrifying.

A bear, stairs and a child peaking down at it.

The story that unfolded was dread filled.

Here’s my 5-star Goodreads review, posted August 10, 2018;

“Riveting Novella!

I have previously read Return to Dyatlov Pass by J.H. Moncrieff, and after reading the blurb on this book, I couldn’t resist.

This is a creepy throw back tale, reminding you that sometimes your stuffed animals were watching you, plotting against you.

This story will make you feel helpless, unnerved, angry and unsettled; all in a fantastic way!

Highly recommend!”

There is a lot to unpack in this story. I remember just how emotional it made me. Between our young child struggling with a jerk stepfather, to the bear itself.

The possessed toy narrative is always a plot point that’ll make each and every reader feel unnerved. Growing up we all had times where a noise in the dark scared us, kept us awake. A strange shadow that our night-light illuminated and broadcast in the corners of our rooms. The movie franchise ‘Toy Story’ created a film based around toys coming to life when the humans weren’t around, but deep down, many of us had been believing that was the truth during our youth’s long before Pixar brought it to cinemas.

Such is the case of ‘The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave.’

Growing up, did you have a toy that scared you or frightened you?

I’d love to hear about it!

Otherwise – definitely give this one a read!

Return to Dyatlov Pass

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Title: Return to Dyatlov Pass

Release date: March 12, 2018

In the interview I featured yesterday, I suggested that ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ is the gateway book for many people discovering J.H. Moncrieff. This was the case for me.

I was newer to using Goodreads and interacting with more people on Instagram and Twitter and kept seeing that amazing cover everywhere. So, I snagged it, read it and was blown away.

Of all the reviews I’ve ever posted, this is the only review I regret. Why? I only gave this book four stars and I wasn’t very confident at trying to formulate my thoughts. So, I gave it a ‘negative’ which when I think back on it, it really wasn’t. Here’s my original review posted July 9, 2018;

“Great read!

This was a fun thriller, set in a fantastic place. If you dont know any of the back story of Dyatlov Pass, dont let that prevent you from reading this!

The characters are intriguing and engaging!

My only negative about this story – it felt very rushed in places. I think if it was another 50 pages longer, to allow some of the scenes to play out a bit more, this would be a 5 star read!”

Sigh.

Look, ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ is a book I knew was a five star read. I haven’t stopped talking about it. Hell, I probably recommend this book to someone at least once a week, if not more.

The story follows a podcast host, Nat McPherson who travels back to Dyatlov Pass to try and determine what happened all those years ago. Not familiar with Dyatlov Pass? Well, Google it! There are a number of theories out there over what happened to cause nine Russian students, all very experienced outdoors people, to end up deceased.

Moncrieff has also penned a fantastic story related to ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ which was featured in the amazing anthology ‘Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror.’

I think, at the end of the day, why this one resonates so well is the fascination with Dyatlov Pass coupled with the adventure/survival story that happens with Nat and her crew. This becomes a really fantastic creature-feature, one that will leave a mark and keep you on the edge of your toes. When I think back now on how much fun I had reading this, I wish I would’ve followed my gut and gave it the 5 stars it deserves and not cared what anyone else thought. For me personally, I don’t reserve rating a book 5 stars specifically for books that are revered in classical literary history. I give them for books that had me turning the pages frantically, have me on the edge of my seat or have my legs tucked up and the blankets wrapped around to ward off the monsters.

In this case, ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ is a book that rampages through the frozen wilderness in deepest darkest reaches of the Dead Mountain.

I highly recommend you give it a read and while you’re at it, check out Moncrieff’s great story in the ‘Hellhole’ anthology as well!

Moncrieff-Mania!!!

Hello and welcome!

Much like I have done two years in a row now with Andrew Pyper and Pyper-May-Nia! I decided to reach out to some other authors I love and admire and see if they’d be interested in doing a similar celebration.

My awesome friend, J.H. kindly agreed and so I decided she would be the first ‘other’ author to showcase!

So, just what can you expect?

All this week, I’ll be going through Moncrieff’s awesome bibliography and sharing her phenomenal work. Buckle up, hold on and be ready to discover a fantastic author!

Today, I’m pleased to share an interview J.H. kindly did!

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When you sit down to write do you have a writing process?

I light a scented candle—that’s about it. In the summer, I write outdoors on my deck whenever possible. I recently watched Dan Brown’s Masterclass, and was inspired by his process, so I’m giving it a try for the month of July. He writes from 4 am to 11 am every day. I’m writing from 4 am to 9 am, and then marketing for the final two hours. It’s early days, but so far it’s going really well.

Your GhostWriters series has been a lot of fun! Do you have them planned out as to which places are next, or do you write them based on places that interest you and spark your imagination?

When I wrote the first one, I didn’t know it would become a series. I was touring China, and struggling to come up with an idea for a book set in that country. When the idea of Jackson and his crazy scheme of staying overnight in haunted places and writing books about them came to me, I went with it. An author friend liked Kate, Jackson’s partner in crime, better than Jackson and wanted me to rewrite the entire book from her point of view. I wasn’t willing to do that, but decided to give Kate her own book instead. I’d just visited Poveglia, the world’s most haunted island, so that location was an easy choice. Same with Egypt—I wanted to set a book there soon after I got home, so I wouldn’t forget the details and the feeling of being there. With Forest of Ghosts, I had my readers vote on the location out of a selection of places I’d been. They chose Romania. I’ve traveled to every single GhostWriters location.

You grew up in Northern British Columbia. Did you have a haunted house or spooky myth from that area?

There was a house not far from mine that was rumored to be haunted. People said they saw blue lights in the window. When I was a child, I convinced a friend who was sleeping over to explore it with me. The house was at the top of a huge hill, and we were in the process of climbing the hill when my mom saw us. She’d panicked when she’d discovered we weren’t in the yard, and was freaking out. So that put an end to my early ghost-hunting experience.

Being a Canadian writer can come with its own set of challenges. From your experience have you discovered any advantages of being a Canadian writer?

I don’t identify myself as a Canadian writer per se, even though I am Canadian, and a big reason for that is that most of my readers are American, British, and European. There are a lot of challenges that come with being a Canadian writer—writers of genre or popular fiction are mostly ignored and/or disparaged by the literary establishment. It’s almost impossible to get any funding, mentorships, residencies, awards, or festival slots in Canada if you write popular fiction—those spots are reserved for poets and literary writers, so that can feel devaluing. As for advantages, our tax laws regarding writers are a lot more favorable, and we don’t have the added burden of having to pay for health insurance.

You’ve been to some of the spookiest places on Earth. Is there a place that you would refuse to spend the night at?

If there is, I haven’t encountered it yet. Aokigahara, or Japan’s “suicide forest,” would be emotionally and mentally challenging.

‘Those Who Came Before’ was a truly emotional look at wrongs towards Indigenous people. I remember you and I having some in-depth conversations about writing that book. Now that it’s been out for some time, have the emotions around writing the book increased due to world events?

The plight of Indigenous people has always been close to my heart, so I don’t think my emotions could be any more heightened in that regard. However, during the Wet’suwet’en protests that were happening right before the pandemic, there was so much open racism and hatred toward Indigenous people throughout Canada. This was heartbreaking and enraging, and I ended a few online friendships over some of the horribly insensitive things that were being posted. It’s disheartening to see that we haven’t come very far at all.

I truly loved ‘The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave.’ I think it speaks to that fear we had growing up of when the lights went out and the darkness moves. Did you have a treasured teddy bear or toy who would’ve come to your rescue when you were young?

I’m so glad you enjoyed that book. It was actually inspired by the opposite—this creepy bear that used to be my dad’s when he was a child. It was this stiff, ugly panda bear with beady eyes and a snarl on its face. Very creepy.

Your website and Hidden Library is amazing. Quite possibly the best author site out there. What was the inspiration for putting that together?

Thank you! I worked in marketing for a long time, so I know how important a good website is. I was somewhat inspired by author Toby Neal’s in the beginning, but then Elise Epp, the designer, went a completely different way, and I loved it. The Hidden Library came from wanting to give my readers an incentive for signing up to my email list. Rather than a single free book, I thought, “Why not a library?”

‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ seems to be the book that introduces you to a lot of people. It is an amazing book and the only book I’ve ever read and reviewed that I think I’ve messed up my rating! (Steve’s note – I initially gave it a four star rating and ever since have realized it should’ve been a five star book!) When you wrote it did you expect it to be a book that became a Moncrieff springboard?

No, not at all. I’ve long been fascinated by the unsolved true mystery of Dyatlov Pass, and liked the idea of revisiting it with modern-day characters. The publisher, Severed Press, was the one who decided what the “antagonist” would be, because they know their readers best. I just put my own spin on it. I had no idea it would do as well as it has.

‘Monsters In Our Wake’ was such a unique take on creature-features. I adored that book. Fantastic female main character, water creature POV and environmental message. If you were to tackle another creature-feature which creature would you want to write about?

You are too kind. I’m working on a follow up to Return to Dyatlov Pass that features sasquatches, so I guess that’s your answer. But other than that, I’d love to write about a creature that hasn’t been featured in fiction before, or very often, and there are plenty of those. The Mothman intrigues me, but of course that’s been done.

You had an experience a short time ago in a haunted house in Winnipeg. Did you ever have a ghostly experience before? You mentioned that the incident has inspired your writing for a new book through Flame Tree Press, which is amazing. How is that progressing?

Yes, I’ve had several. My best friend passed away when we were seventeen, and she’s visited me a couple of times in obvious, terrifying ways (though I don’t think she meant to scare me). I also used to work at a haunted museum, and my house is over a hundred years old, so the odd thing happens at home too. My cats certainly think our house is haunted! Thanks to the Dan Brown project, the new novel is progressing very well. If I stick with it, I should finish the first draft by the end of July, if not before.

Dragonfly Summer recently was released through Audible, which is amazing! Has this inspired you to write more Audiobook specific releases?

Thanks. I would like to write some true crime for them, but nothing’s in the works yet.

Any J.H. Moncrieff screenplays in the works?

Sadly, no.

Thank you so much for doing this J.H.!

J.H. Moncrieff’s City of Ghosts won the 2018 Kindle Book Review Award for Best Horror/Suspense.

Reviewers have described her work as early Gillian Flynn with a little Ray Bradbury and Stephen King thrown in for good measure.

She won Harlequin’s international search for “the next Gillian Flynn” in 2016. Monsters in Our Wake, her deep-sea thriller with Severed Press, hit the top of Amazon’s horror bestsellers list, beating King’s re-released It to the top spot. Her supernatural suspense GhostWriters series has earned rave reviews from Kirkus, BlueInk, and Library Journal.

Moncrieff began her writing career as a journalist, tracking down snipers and canoeing through crocodile-infested waters. Her articles have appeared in many publications, including Chatelaine, FLARE, Writer’s Digest, and The Globe and Mail.  She also spent years working in marketing, public relations, and communications, and now teaches workshops all over the world.

When not writing, she loves exploring haunted places, advocating for animal rights, and summoning her inner ninja in muay thai class.

To find out more about J.H. Moncrieff and to visit her amazing site and discovery the Hidden Library, please visit;

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