Hemanth Gorur's Blog, page 4

Women Freak Out More Than Men?

Read the previous post in the Behind The Scenes series: Not For The Weak-Hearted

I recently read an article which had apparently done a study on Americans’ belief in the supernatural and their likelihood of getting spooked by hauntings. It went on to claim that one in every five Americans claimed to have seen a ghost, and that more than one in four had “made contact with the dead”.

While these results were certainly intriguing, what actually caught my eye and made me sit up was another bit of information in the report: “Women more likely than men to have seen apparitions and been in touch with the afterlife.” For the record, 20% of women surveyed claimed to have seen a ghost versus 16% of men. As for being in touch with the dead, it was 33% for women versus 26% for men.

For a lark, I jotted a list of possible causes, trying to see where it would take me (mind you, these were purely from a deductive reasoning angle):

Women believed more in psychic occurrences as compared to men (since, the more you believe in something, the more you will want reality to corroborate your belief, and hence are less likely to doubt an occurrence that borders on the psychic)
When compared to men, women are exposed to more of life’s situations that can cause a person to start believing in the supernatural
Women are less likely to probe the scientific angle to the supernatural occurrence
Women tend to believe in God more than men (since, ‘God’ being the ultimate abstract concept, someone disputing the concept of ‘God’ is more than likely to dispute other abstract concepts like ghosts, apparitions and the after-life)

I’d have probably left the above on the piece of paper I’d used to jot down on had it not been for the next piece of information in the report: “Paranormal expert said many apparent hauntings depend on the individual’s psychological state.”

Wait a minute! Did that mean a woman’s psychological state of mind, or broadly ‘psyche’, was more amenable to the notion of ghosts and life after death? That didn’t make sense at first glance. You either believed or you didn’t. How did your gender matter?

On second glance, however, things are not that simple. The human psyche is the sum total of a person’s perceptions, emotions, behaviors, attitudes, cognition and beliefs. Obviously, the psyche is closely related to the physiology of the human brain i.e., how the brain functions.

So, to a large extent, these drivers of a person’s psyche tend to be different for men and women. The brain also functions differently for the two sexes – men are largely left-brain creatures (the “why” approach) while women tend to use the right-brain (the “why not” approach) more, relatively speaking.

I amended my list of possible causes for women believing more in supernatural occurrences:

Predominantly right-brain thinking caused less of logical analysis and a search for facts to back up the belief (in the supernatural)
Higher sensitivity to things and to people around them caused women to more readily accept the notion of an occurrence that had no scientific basis (which was one of the implications of the report)
Higher emotional quotient made women to “think beyond facts” and operate in the realm of the quasi-real
Attitudes of women to “think outside their skin” and their penchant to empathize caused them to more readily relate to happenings that were not of their own (or any human’s) making

So, what do you think? Is there any truth in the report’s findings on women regarding their beliefs in the supernatural? How much of the difference between women and men in this regard is actually provable? Write in.

Coming soon: the next post in the Behind The Scenes series.

Aymaran Shadow: FREE copies on 30-31st Oct

Aymaran Shadow (recently a #12 bestseller on Amazon in the Top 100 Free category of bestselling e-books) is currently running a LIMITED PERIOD PROMOTIONAL OFFER under which the e-book is FREE to download on 30th and 31st Oct 2013. So, add some mystery to your reading and join Sanya as she hunts for her identity in her past life in order to stay alive.

Here is the book on Amazon, which has 10 5-stars! For more information about the book, please visit the “THE BOOK” section on this blog or the official Facebook page. For more information about the author, visit the official website of Hemanth Gorur.

Remember: For customers in the US, the promotion begins 12 AM PST on 30th Oct (Wed) and ends 11:59 PM PST on 31st Oct (Thu). For customers in India, the offer begins 12:30 PM IST on 30th Oct (Wed) and ends 12:29 PM IST on 1st Nov (Fri). So, make sure you download your free copy on those days and not later.

Anything Goes October Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Anything Goes October Giveaway Hop. This event is hosted by The Review Wire and Review Wire Media. This hop is dedicated to . . . anything! All participating blogs have a giveaway of at least $20 so hop down the list to see what they have in store for you. Make sure to also check out the Grand Prize over at The Review Wire and enter to win VTech InnoTab 3s, a retail value of $100!

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Disclaimer: This giveaway ends at 11:59 PM EST on October 31, 2013. The Anything Goes Event Bloggers is not responsible for shipment of the Grand Prize prize or sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes.

Companies and bloggers, if you would like to participate in group giveaway events like this one, sign up to be emailed about future events hosted by The Review Wire.

AYMARAN SHADOW @ AGOG

It’s an eclectic blend of blogs that burn the road between 17th-31st October. Take your pick between horror tales, mommy blogs, pirate stories, and more. Let your hair down right here at Aymaran Shadow – a participating blog at the Anything Goes October Giveaway (AGOG) Hop!

WHAT YOU WIN

Aymaran Shadow giveaway: Review the book, ‘Like’ the Facebook page of Aymaran Shadow, follow or comment on this blog, follow Hemanth Gorur on Twitter, or tweet about this giveaway, and you stand to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card. Book reviews fetch a whopping 10 points!!

And, that’s not all. Every participant of the Aymaran Shadow giveaway is gifted with a FREE ebook copy of Aymaran Shadow, so that you can join Sanya Rawat as she mounts a tense psychological war against two macabre stalkers from her past life!

HOW TO ENTER

You can enter the Aymaran Shadow giveaway by visiting the Aymaran Shadow Rafflecopter giveaway OR by clicking on the Giveaway tab on the book’s Facebook page.

Remember, you can increase your chances of winning that $20 Gift Card by completing multiple activities, or by repeating an activity (eg: tweeting every day). Hashtag: #anythinggoes

NOTE:

FREE ebook copies of Aymaran Shadow will be available to all participants at the end of the giveaway contest. Winners of the Aymaran Shadow giveaway will be announced 10 days after the contest ends in order to allow for participants to read the book and post their reviews. Recipients of free ebook copies of Aymaran Shadow through previous giveaways or review requests are eligible only for the Gift Card, but can post reviews of the book if they already have not done so and will be considered a valid entry.

Souls From Around The World Blog Hop

Get around to the spookiest blog hop this Halloween – the Souls From Around The World (SFATW) Blog Hop – which is going to go ‘bump’ in the night every day during 1st-31st October.

WHAT YOU DO

41 international paranormal authors and bloggers. 31 nights of paralyzing horror. Hop around. Peek and lurk. Watch the creatures of the night creep and crawl. Or, sink a fang or two.

Read the bump-in-the-night post at Aymaran Shadow here to see what macabre entity from Sanya’s gory past enters her mind and plays havoc with her sanity.

Also, participate in the giveaway contests at Aymaran Shadow and SFATW to win fabulous prizes and giveaways.

WHAT YOU WIN

When you enter the Aymaran Shadow giveaway, and review, like, follow, comment, or tweet, you stand to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card.

And, that’s not all. Every participant of the Aymaran Shadow giveaway is gifted with a FREE ebook copy of Aymaran Shadow, so that you can join Sanya Rawat as she mounts a tense psychological war against two macabre stalkers from her past life!

There’s also a Grand Prize by SFATW – a Sony Touch E-Reader pre-loaded with books donated by participating and willing authors – for visitors who like/follow the Facebook and Twitter pages of all participating authors.

HOW TO ENTER

You can enter the Aymaran Shadow giveaway by visiting the Aymaran Shadow Rafflecopter giveaway OR by clicking on the Giveaway tab on the book’s Facebook page.

Remember, you can increase your chances of winning that $20 Gift Card by completing multiple activities, or by repeating an activity (eg: tweeting every day).

You can enter the SFATW Blog Hop contest for the Grand Prize by visiting their Rafflecopter giveaway.

VISIT OTHER BLOGS IN THE HOP

Click on the Linky link below to visit other participating authors’ blogs.

NOTE:

FREE ebook copies of Aymaran Shadow will be available to all participants on the day the giveaway contest ends. Winners of the Aymaran Shadow giveaway will be announced 10 days after the contest ends in order to allow for participants to read the book and post their reviews. Recipients of free ebook copies of Aymaran Shadow through previous giveaways or review requests are eligible only for the Gift Card, but can post reviews of the book if they already have not done so and will be considered a valid entry.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Eight (Snippet 14)

By reading this Sneak Preview, you are hereby agreeing to this blog’s Purpose and Policy.

Read the previous Sneak Preview.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Eight (Snippet 14)

Tossing to her left, Sanya suddenly became aware that she was in fact not asleep. The first sign of that was a sound. It was a creak! A very inaudible one, but there nevertheless. Confusion reigned as Sanya’s mind struggled in the no-man’s land between the powerful but stark state of conscious wakefulness and the peaceful yet impotent state of deep sleep. Was the creak real? Or was she imagining things? Was it her hyperactive subconscious conjuring up things by mish-mashing unconnected happenings in real life and painting a mental picture of things to come?

Sanya thought she ordered her eyes to open, but funnily, her eyes disobeyed her. They were controlled by some unknown force overriding her brain which was usually the master of bodily functions. Try as she might, she could not get her eyelids to part even a bit. Instead the very effort of ordering them to open seemed to tire them out, closing them even harder. Dismissing the sound as the random mischief of a tired mind, Sanya willed herself to plunge deeper into the blissful world of slumber.

A few minutes later, there was another sign that she was not actually asleep. This time the sign felt more real. It was a movement! The sliver of light that fell across Sanya’s face was blocked, if only for a fraction of a second. It was tantalizingly brief, but real. Somebody was in the room! This time Sanya was sure she was awake and tried to open her eyes by a slit. To her horror, again her eyes remained tight shut and refused to comply. All she could ‘see’ was the inky blackness of the internal wall of her own eyelids. Her heart raced as she knew there was another presence in the room.

Sanya did not know when her eyes opened. Suddenly she was confronted by dark nothingness all around her. Realizing she was looking at the room where they were sleeping, she tried to avoid all movement and squinted to see if she could make out anything in the dark. At first, her eyes could not focus – the whole room appeared like a dark void with no sense of direction or dimension. As her retinal cells slowly adjusted to the utter absence of light, she looked around without turning her head. Almost instantly, she froze. A shape was moving in the darkness!

It looked like a dark black oval against a lighter shade of black all around it. Sanya’s heart threatened to explode from her mouth. She tried to get up, but astonishingly, now it was her body’s turn to disobey. She was quite sure she had willed her upper body to rise while trying to use her left elbow to prop herself up. Neither had moved. Was her mind playing tricks on her? The ghostly oval shape shifted to its left and now appeared to be at the foot of the bed.

Sanya wanted to scream but her mouth went dry as the terrifying apparition seemed to be staring at her, almost willing her into silence. The dark nothingness around her dissolved as she suddenly realized that her eyes were no longer open. She was once again looking at the inky blackness of her eyelids. The terrifying and unreal paralysis was complete. Now she could neither move nor see nor shout for help. All she could do was just torment herself with the thought that someone or something was just next to her bed, and it didn’t look like it was from this world.

Coming soon: the next Sneak Preview.

Take Our Poll

Aymaran Shadow: #15 on Amazon’s Top 100 Bestsellers

Aymaran Shadow is capturing the imagination of readers in the paranormal/psychological thriller genre and is currently #15 on Amazon’s list of Top 100 Free Best-sellers, reflecting the popularity of the book just 3 months into its release.

It has also risen to the top of the charts in genre rankings where it is #1 in Amazon’s list of Top 100 Free Best-sellers in Horror and Psychological Fiction categories.

The book is currently on a 2-day promotional offer of free downloads that ends on 11:59 PM PST on 29th Sep. Here is the book on Amazon.

Once the offer ends, the book is identified with an Amazon Prime badge as you search and browse for books on your Kindle device or on Amazon.com. Amazon Prime members can borrow the book for free and read it, while it is also available for sale as usual for non-Amazon Prime members.

Aymaran Shadow: FREE copies on 28-29th Sep

Aymaran Shadow is currently running a LIMITED PERIOD PROMOTIONAL OFFER under which the e-book is FREE to download on 28th and 29th Sep 2013. So, spice up your weekend and join Sanya as she mounts a tense psychological war against two macabre killers.

Here is the book on Amazon. It’s a 4.2-starrer on Amazon, with 70% of all ratings being 5-star. For more information about the book, please visit the “THE BOOK” section on this blog or the official Facebook page. For more information about the author, visit the official website of Hemanth Gorur.

Remember: For customers in the US, the promotion begins 12 AM PST on 28th Sep (Sat) and ends 11:59 PM PST on 29th Sep (Sun). For customers in India, the offer begins 12:30 PM IST on 28th Sep (Sat) and ends 12:29 PM IST on 30th Sep (Mon). So, make sure you download your free copy on those days and not later.

Author interview – by Angel Cox (FWG)

September 2nd, 2013

Aymaran Shadow, a paranormal thriller that essays the chilling story of a woman destined to be violated in every lifetime, has opened to enthusiastic reviews by critics and readers alike. Angel Cox, a writer and book lover, interviews Hemanth Gorur, author of Aymaran Shadow. Angel is a sixth grade English teacher at Watauga Middle School in Watauga, Texas, and is very proud to be a part of the Writers’ Anarchy team, an offshoot of the Fiction Writers Group (FWG) on Facebook. Writing is her passion, but meeting new people and finding out their stories is also something she loves to do. Angel’s hope is to bring some of the best writers together and share their real stories, only as writers can tell them. Angel’s stories can be found at http://www.dayinthedark.com. She can also be found on Facebook.

Angel Cox: Hemanth Gorur, a mysterious man from India, has intrigued us with his in-and-out appearances on Fiction Writers Group. It took a bit, but I have finally wrapped up one of the best interviews I have had the pleasure to be involved with. Pour a cold drink, and let’s take a look into the thoughts of the man behind the mask.

Tell us about India.  It is such a mystery to a lot of us.

Well, India’s right now in the top three fastest growing economies, averaging 8% growth for most of the last decade. So, it’s no mystery that people today the world over want to know about it, and many already do know more about India than Indians themselves! Gone are the days when the country was seen as “Oh yeah, that developing country somewhere in the . . . Indian Ocean?” That “Developing Country” (this term really gets my gut!) is now kicking some major ass like you wouldn’t believe. People come here for “medical tourism”, which is a big thing here.  They come for the topnotch surgery/healthcare and take in the incredible sights to boot.

We’re the de-facto last word in software (read, techies who can speak English) and there’s no shaking us off from that position for SOME time! Foreign Institutional Investment in Indian stocks happens in hundreds of million $ per DAY. Conversely, Indian business groups today are buying out their global counterparts with the ticket sizes easily north of a billion $. We are the oldest civilization ever. Our history and culture predates most, or all, other civilization and races.

Today, there is renewed interest in Indian cinema and music, due to its unique composition and legacy. We have given the world the ‘zero’, Yoga, Ayurveda, the neem, the concept of ‘Prana’, geniuses like Ramanujam, Sir C V Raman, etc, global role models like Mahatma Gandhi, mathematical theorems that were proven long before other scholars even thought about them, astronomical concepts that were conceived long before others, and political strategy (ArthaShastra by Chanakya) long before the political pundits of the world got wind of it.

India has more than 20 (!!) languages spoken across its length and breadth, yet we do not have an official “national language”. The only thing we all agree on is the official second language: English, since we, too, were once under the Brit boot! If you count the dialects spoken in India, they run into thousands or something upwards of that! Yet, we are also the home of the mother of all those languages: beautiful and reticent Sanskrit.

We are also the originating land of three of the world’s major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. We’re also one of the most corrupt countries in the world. But the disgust with the political system that has perpetrated this has gone to boil in recent years, and you might be hearing about this movement or that protest every now and then. I could go on about India, but obviously I’ll stop here. Sorry about that rambling piece!

We can see the passion and pride when you talk about your country.  Thank you for sharing that with us.  Now let’s talk about your stories.  “A Darker Face” is very detailed.  How much research about laws and how courts work did you do for this story?

I did a fair bit of research, to be true. It was fun writing – almost had me wanting to be a lawyer. Yikes!

Does this story have any particular real-life undertones as to the politics in India?

Yes, it does to an extent, but not obviously on the exact theme used in my story (Right to Murder).

Pick up to 50 words from your WA story and tell us why they are meaningful to you.

To me, my writing “makes sense” when it asks questions of the reader.  And when it haunts the reader with “what happened before and after this”. I like to believe the below except from “The Darker Face” does this.

“Easy, cupcake.  It’s just as well they disappear . . .”

“It’s all your fault!  You’re standing there and trying to reason with me instead of scooting down to catch these bastards.  Now we won’t even know who was behind this. Actually, we probably know, but can’t prove it now! I just hate this whole thing!”

This is actually a snatch of a conversation between the MC and a related character.  Each sentence and almost each word screams a question.  Who disappeared?  Whose fault was it and what was (s)he trying to reason with the second character?  Who are those “bastards” and why should they be caught?  Why is it important to know who they are? Why is it important to prove something – is this a legal dispute or conflict?  Why does the second character “hate this whole thing?” and what is (s)he referring to?  What this piece of narrative also does is make me, as a reader, wonder what could possibly have happened before this to elicit these reactions from these two characters, and where is it all going?

You left us with a cliff-hanger.  Will there be any more written to “A Darker Face” to make it more of a novel?

Afraid not. Not in the foreseeable future, at least.

You have been involved in the corporate world in many aspects.  How does this real-life experience help you to write fiction?

One, it helped me be organized about my daily targets, about my thoughts (I know, blasphemy in the writing world, but I get all random as well, at pre-designated points), about the marketing aspect, etc. Two, it gave me a great foot-in-the-door when I started out writing biographies a couple of years back because not only could I write decently well, I also had the domain exposure and knew what would inject realism into the biography I was writing. Three, because I cut my teeth in biographies and got published there first, my outlining skills improved. Four, it helped me wear my businessman’s hat when I needed to take off my author’s hat and look at my book as a product/project and do that selling. Although, I’ll tell you I absolutely hate, revile, loathe, abhor, and dread that last bit.

How hard is it to write non-fiction compared to fiction?  Writing a biography of a company must consist of a lot of research.  Tell us about that.

You’re right on that; it does take a lot out of you in terms of research (both primary and secondary), triangulation, verification, usage permissions for quotes from various publications, magazines, leaders, etc, maintaining references, etc. Primary research (interviews, etc) can get to be a real pain if not coordinated well, but still takes a lot out of you. On the other hand, since you cannot just take off on a tangent and “let your character do whatever he/she wants to do”, a lot of other complications don’t really happen – like tangled plots, plots not moving ahead, character conflict, too many voices/views, wildly swinging plot with no real story, etc.  like it so often happens in fiction.

Did you submit a story for WAII?  If so, please give us a brief summary and tell us why you wrote it.

I had submitted a plot summary initially, but had to later pull out since my book’s promotion and marketing were sucking me dry and I have only so many hands and heads to pass around.

Tell us about writing “Aymaran Shadow.”  How did the story evolve?  It sounds very interesting.

I was always fascinated about reincarnation, so I knew my first book (in fiction) had to be about that. I also didn’t want it to sound very fuddy-duddy with bunkum about chants or black magic or things like that. I wanted it to have a contemporary touch also. So, I decided I’d use Facebook as my prop or platform and get reincarnated souls as Facebook profiles out to spook my MC. I initially thought these profiles would spook my MC whenever she just looked at their profiles online (ha ha) but then later realized it’d sound very OTT. So, I just made Facebook a way of reaching my MC, but in order to spook her, you’ve got to enter her mind. How? Read my book!

Who, real or imaginary, do you bounce your ideas and stories off of?

I don’t.  Writing is like making love – to your ideas.  And I don’t like threesomes.  At least until I get my “first draft” out.

A male model? Nice! How did that work for you?

Well, this was years back. It was the run up to a new year’s party at my condo. There were calls for people (condo residents) to get onto the ramp which was one of the main events. I signed up for a lark. I actually knew there wouldn’t be many takers coz . . . well, you know . . . Indians are shy. What can I say? So, I knew I had a good chance of getting my nose in.

Now the organizers could not turn away the only two men (one more guy had signed up with me) who had showed up for the walk right? RIGHT? A couple of girls too had signed up, and of course the coordinator (a lady) who was also a participant. We did a few takes a few days before D-day and that was it. The coordinator did a great job, I thought, given the short time and given that we were all absolute greenhorns who were as likely to walk off the ramp as walk on it and pirouette around. Although, the coordinator conducted her business all through with a wrinkled nose I thought. Pretty nose, but . . .

On D-day, my partner and I turned up in my best formals – we were corporate honchos too busy to be eyeing babes on that day (ha ha) as the two girls and a couple of other last minute walk-ins gave a semblance of “something happening on the ramp!” I must say we did manage to walk the walk and not skip a beat at that. How ‘bout that? Would I do it again if I had the chance? Oh yes, bet your sweet lily whites, I would.

Have you ever thought about writing a screenplay?

Screenplay? Ha ha, what’s that?

What is the biggest mistake you see beginning writers make?  Give us some good advice.

Asking for too much advice. For Andavan’s sake man, if you’re gonna ask, “Is this how the story should end?” or “Does this line here reflect the suspense better or this one does?”  hell, is this your story or it’s gonna become mine? Buckle up and write. Make love to your plot. Ssssh! Don’t tell anyone. And make her scream!

If you were a psychologist, who would you want to “interview” first?

My god, Angel, you have a way with questions. You remind me of Scarlett Johansson in “The Avengers”. I love this question already. Let’s see . . . that would be Chanakya. Chanakya was a political scholar in the middle ages in India, serving in the courts of emperors of the Maurya Empire. He’s referred to as the “Indian Machiavelli”. He was one bad ass strategist.

Which story, other than yours, is your favorite in WAI?

That’d be “The Bell Tower” and “The Race of the Birdmen.”

How did you get involved with the Fiction Writers’ Group?  What is the best advice you have received from it?

Like I was mentioning on some post, I got in this year around Feb I guess. The first thing I was ambushed by was WAI. Lucky me! Earl Chessher took me in and gave me that “big bro in the frat who always had your back” experience that was unforgettable. Although, he seems a bit preoccupied of late.  From then on, it was a steady stream of backslapping, high-fives, pokes and gouges (jk) along with some serious writey-writey stuff that really gave me lift-off for my 2013 writing calendar. Woohoo! I know I’ve been a bit missing on the scene of late . . . but, well, hey, we authors need our annual menopauses. Meantime, met some amazing writing friends here at FWG . . . Sir Earl, Tokyo, Hayley & Hayley, Renee, Pam, Don, Cathy, Shelly, Kelly, Kellee, Melissa, of late, Annette, Brudie, and I’m sure so many others – you know who you are.  And of course, you, the ever-smiling Angel Cox.

(I’m blushing.) What do you want to be remembered for the most?

Frankly, as the author whose bestseller novel spawned a Hollywood blockbuster that became the biggest grosser of all time.  Or nearly did.

Angel Cox: Hemanth, this has been an interview I have been looking forward to for a while.  Your mix of class, intelligence, and humor makes you fascinating.  I love the passion we hear when you talk about India and your stories.  I’m glad you are still dark and mysterious, giving us just enough to know you are real.  And just think, if the writing doesn’t work for you . . . you always have the runway!!!

Read the full transcript of the interview on the Fiction Writers Group website here: Hemanth Gorur Interview “Who Let the Crazies Out” – Self Titled

Not For The Weak-Hearted

Read the previous post in the Behind The Scenes series: Those Footsteps At 1 AM

“Not for the weak-hearted” – how many times have you not seen this boilerplate In blurbs for spine-chilling movies and stories? There’s nothing like some spine-chilling fare to set the heart pounding. Or better still, slow it down to a pace where it fears to beat.

So, how exactly do you achieve this effect? Long gone are the days when blood and gore used to do the trick. Today, readers and viewers gag at the sight of explicit violence or in-your-face horror. Vampires, ghouls, zombies, all have run their course and outlived their shelf lives. Just don’t work anymore.

I’ve found that keeping it subtle yet on the edge does the job most times. The specter of horror in everyday situations and everyday locations is far more gripping than outlandish locales and characterizations. There are three premises which you can employ to get that “hair-standing-on-end” effect.

First, it is about what “threatens” to happen, than what actually happens. Think of the scariest movie you’ve seen. More often than not, the scene will create a sense of suspense through a prelude of visuals or audio that heighten your expectation that something horrifying is about to happen.

Yet, when the horrifying stuff does happen, the effect is more of relief than horror, because you’re relieved that the prelude (where you were waiting with your heart in your mouth and your imagination was working overtime) to the horrifying scene is over.

Examples of such preludes could be minutes of silence as a character explores a dilapidated church (Angels and Demons), endless tunnels and the sound of something at the far end (The Hills Have Eyes), visuals of dolls rocking, running shot of a character lost in a jungle and the camera always following her at a distance (giving the feeling that someone or something is following her), and so on.

Second, it is about the “unknown” versus the known. The most notorious unknown is the dark. So, we have shadows moving in the darkness or in poorly lighted conditions, completely dark shot with the sound of someone stumbling through an isolated building (I Am Legend), staring down at pitch dark wells (Van Helsing), a pair of slit eyes lighting up in the distance in the dark (Outlander), and so on, pumping up the heart beat a few notches.

Another unknown is space. And you have all manner of aliens, spores, diseases, afflictions, predatory attacks, and outbreaks (The Alien series) making your heart skip a beat.

Strike all that and think about huge, swirling masses of turbulent water, and you have yet another unknown that can strike dread into the most strong-willed folks out there. Picture leviathan walls of water in oceans torn by gale-force winds and storms (Life of Pi, The Perfect Storm). Or, eerily still waters of a desolated lake (Lake Placid). Water is the other suitably scary unknown. What lurks beneath is what gets your bodily pores sweating.

Three, it’s about “little” or “weak” things having incredulously amplified power – physical or psychic. Think bent, old women unleashing hell with brute strength. Think young babies with devilish power. Think frail men able to suck the life force out of living beings.

Do you find there are other phenomena which are equally effective in spooking people and creating that spine-chilling effect? Write in.

Coming soon: the next post in the Behind The Scenes series.

Book Review – by Michelle Hofacker

The best past-life thriller I have read

Aymaran Shadow is hands down the best past-life thriller I have ever read. It is an intensely suspenseful book being the first in a long time that has had me not knowing who the real ‘bad’ guy was. Despite minor translational language/text issues (which did not interfere with the story flow and were easily forgivable) the plot was easy to follow and to get deeply invested in. When I was not reading, I found myself constantly wondering what would be revealed next and anxious to get back to the book. The characters and supporting details are artfully crafted with vividly in-depth, three dimensional precision . . .

Michelle Hofacker

Avid reader

Read the full review here: on Goodreads, on Amazon.