Paranormal Party Guest – Erica O’Rourke
I’m still celebrating my debut. (Hey, I’ve waited almost 20 years for this!) I am so lucky to have incredible writer friends who’ve each supported me during my writing apprenticeship. I hope you’ll stick around for the whole party season. Mingle with my friends! We’ve got prizes up for grabs, and there’s always virtual cake to feast on.
Today’s very special guest is Erica O’Rourke, author of Dissonance (book 1 of a new series from Simon & Schuster) and the Torn Trilogy (K Teen/Kensington).
I’ve always been in complete awe of Erica. We first met as YA Golden Heart finalists in 2010, and I was impressed by her kindness and wise counsel. She went on to win the golden necklace as well as a fetching fluorescent crown the rest of us YA ‘losers’ gave her. We share a love of cats, driving stick shift, and sushi. (Though, I’m still trying to get her to try the raw stuff just once***! Will you try sashimi if I hit the bestseller list, Erica???).
I’m so excited to have her with us today. Her latest series is about a rare ‘Walker’ who has the ability to cross the multiverses. You’ll find Erica at the following locations in this universe:
***Correction: Erica assures me she does like sashimi! I don’t know I thought otherwise all this time. Perhaps an Erica O’Rourke in an alternate universe isn’t a sashimi fan!
Erica O’Rourke
Having spent time around people who are avid fans of horror, I have come to the conclusion that some people enjoy the adrenaline rush that accompanies mortal terror.
I, however, am not one of those people. Faced with a trailer for a scary movie, I do not feel an adrenaline rush. I feel overcome with with the urge to curl into a little ball and weep uncontrollably. On Halloween, I openly scowl at the houses with the rotting corpses in the yard. When I drive by a haunted house, I hit the gas.
I am a scaredy-cat, and I am totally okay with everyone knowing it.
What terrifies me the most? Scary books. Books stay with you. Books are magical. Books have power. A well-written horror novel seeps into your brain and takes up residence there, hiding until you think the fear has dissipated. You feel confident, like you’ve finally a grown-up and Can Handle This.
Spoiler: I can’t.
Growing up, the children’s section of our library was tiny, but it had a healthy selection of Christopher Pike and Fear Street. Desperate for new material, I went ahead and read them, and regretted it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Eventually, my book-induced insomnia forced me to create a new rule: No scary stories after 4pm. The hope was that I would forget the book in the hours between four and bedtime, allowing me to fall asleep without assuming a vengeful ghost was coming to slit my throat with a dull butter knife.
Spoiler: It didn’t work.
Finally I gave up reading horror novels. I was safe. All was well. And then I went to see Silence of The Lambs. Crime is different than horror, I told myself. Hannibal Lecter might be evil, but he was still a man, not a demon or an evil spirit. To my surprise, I liked the movie very much.
I liked it so much, I decided to read the book. Crime is different than horror, you see. Everything would be fine.
Spoiler: Everything was not fine.
Not only could I not sleep, I couldn’t stay in the house by myself. I was utterly convinced that Hannibal Lecter was going to come to life while my back was turned, climb out of the book, kill me in my sleep, and bust out the chianti.
But I had to finish the book, because that’s how my brain is wired. So I went with the only reasonable alternative:
I hid the book in the basement. Every night. And the minute I finished it, I returned it to the library and swore off scary books entirely.
Since then, I’ve read a few truly excellent-yet-terrifying, but nothing else has ever been relegated to the basement. Which is good, because in our current house, my bedroom is in the basement.
I’m an easy target.
Thanks so much, Erica! I had to keep my copy of The Amityville Horror out of my sight too!
Paranormal party people, there are two prizes to win today!
For your chance to win a $50 Amazon e-card and a Kindle copy of This Is Your Afterlife, give my Rafflecopter a shot. Click HERE.
Leave a comment below for your chance to win a copy of Erica’s Dissonance! Are you a scaredy-cat? Can you read scary books after 4pm?
See you back here tomorrow, when magical realism author Elizabeth Langston makes her grand entrance!
~ Vanessa
