David W. Connor - The Lawrence Grimes Novels Book One CINDER. (Q/A) > Likes and Comments
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Hi David,Thanks for letting us know you are interested in your book being a BOTM.
1. We are now scheduling BOTMs in 2027. Please let us know what month would work for you. February and March are available as well as July - December.
2. Please respond within 48 hours.
It will be a lot of fun to talk with you and our Members about your thriller and share reviews.
We appreciate your willingness to spend time talking with us.
Your description of Cinder makes the town itself sound complicit. Did you know from the outset how much the townspeople understood, or did that collective silence emerge as you wrote? I’m interested in how you kept the mystery alive once the setting itself became suspect.
Steven wrote: "Your description of Cinder makes the town itself sound complicit. Did you know from the outset how much the townspeople understood, or did that collective silence emerge as you wrote? I’m intereste..."Thank you for the question, Steven. That was actually something I knew pretty early on, although maybe not in full context or knowing exactly the way it appears while you’re reading. A lot of Cinder actually started while I was finishing up my first novel, The Tenth Mark. It started with me asking myself how I could take inspiration from the horror I grew up loving and turn those familiar ingredients into something of my own. I was thinking about movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes, encountering a family that feels completely removed from the normal world, and slowly realizing you've wandered into something much bigger and more dangerous than you understood.
From there, I started mixing in government experimentation, conspiracy, and body horror. Instead of the desert simply being home to this horrifying family, I wanted there to be a reason they existed and a much larger secret buried beneath the town itself. The average person living in Cinder genuinely doesn't know what's happening. They believe they live in this wonderful little place that's been sold to them as "America's best town to live in." Where I had fun with the mystery was making that level of awareness different depending on who Grimes was dealing with. Some people may know more than others, particularly those in positions of authority, but even then I wanted the reader to question how much anyone truly understands.
That allowed the town itself to become suspicious without giving the mystery away. Grimes knows something isn't right, but he can't tell whether someone is hiding something from him or genuinely believes what they're telling him. The deeper he digs, the harder that distinction becomes to make.
So the collective silence was there from fairly early on. I just didn't want it to be as simple as an entire town knowing the truth and agreeing to keep quiet. There's something much stranger happening in Cinder, and figuring out exactly what that is was always meant to be part of the journey.
Hope that helps answer you question :)
PamG wrote: "Hi David,Thanks for letting us know you are interested in your book being a BOTM.
1. We are now scheduling BOTMs in 2027. Please let us know what month would work for you. February and March are..."
If you have February open, I can do that then. I am pretty open for whatever is available.
David wrote: "If you have February open, I can do that then. I am pretty open for whatever is available. ..."Hi David,
We're excited to add you to our BOTM schedule for February Schedule
We've also set up the February BOTM Q&A / Discussion thread. Please make the first comment there and include some details about your book, yourself, etc. Here is the link.
Thanks again. We're looking forward to a thrilling read.
PamG wrote: "David wrote: "If you have February open, I can do that then. I am pretty open for whatever is available. ..."Hi David,
We're excited to add you to our BOTM schedule for February Schedule
We've ..."
Wonderful, thank you! :)
My stories explore psychological dread, unsettling mysteries, isolation, violence, folklore, and the hidden darkness that can take hold of ordinary people and ordinary places. I am drawn to the kind of horror that does not always announce itself immediately. Instead, it builds slowly through strange behavior, unanswered questions, local rumors, missing people, old stories, and the growing certainty that something beneath the surface is not what it seems.
Born and raised in western Massachusetts, I developed an interest in horror and mystery at a young age and was especially drawn to stories that created atmosphere before revealing their monsters. That fascination eventually became the foundation for my own fiction.
I write for readers who enjoy horror with a mystery at its center, stories that favor tension over constant shock, atmosphere over spectacle, and discomfort that continues to build long after the first warning signs appear.
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You can find my book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IngramSpark, or any local bookstore around the world.
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQBNGVHQ
Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
IngramSpark - https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?pa...
Summary of the book: "In 1984, newly promoted homicide detective Lawrence Grimes is quietly transferred from Detroit to the remote desert town of Cinder, Nevada. Officially, it’s a fresh start. Unofficially, it’s exile.
Cinder is immaculate. Streets are clean. Crime is nonexistent. The people are friendly—too friendly. And no one seems concerned that tourists pass through town and are never seen again.
When a decomposed body is discovered just outside the town limits, Grimes is told to keep the investigation quiet. No press. No paperwork. No questions. As more bodies surface—mutilated, partially destroyed, discarded in the desert—Grimes realizes Cinder’s perfection is carefully maintained, and the truth is something the town will kill to protect.
At the center of the mystery lies a sealed-off farm on the outskirts of town and a family warped by decades of secret government experimentation, their existence erased from official records. The townspeople know. The authorities know. And everyone agrees on one thing: silence is survival. "
** Cinder* is a slow-burning crime horror novel about institutional corruption, manufactured normalcy, and the price of uncovering truths meant to stay buried. Gritty, atmospheric, and relentlessly tense, it introduces a detective who learns—too late—that justice has limits, and some towns are built on bodies. **
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Would love to be featured as a future BOTM.
Feel free to ask me any questions about the book, the book series, or my previous work, The Tenth Mark. I would love to answer any and all questions you may have. :)
~ David W. Connor.