Horror Aficionados discussion
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Violet Eyes
Group Reads: Guest Author Invite
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March 2018 Group Read with Guest Author John Everson
message 51:
by
Jason
(new)
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 10, 2018 05:33PM
Ha, Somehow had missed this post. Glad to see Violet Eyes as the group read.
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Ken wrote: "John. Some authors make their bread and butter from creature features. Hunter Shea comes to mind. Is this something you’d like to do more of or was Violet Eyes a side dish you wanted to try once?"Hey Ken - probably a side dish. Never say never but... my "bread and butter" has always been demons. Seven of my 10 novels deal with demons, witches and the occult and the book I just started working on now does as well... so, the supernatural is really my main interest from a horror standpoint. But it was fun to take a left turn and write a "Creature Feature"!
Thanks Glenn! And "hi" Jason - cool to see you here!
John wrote: "But it was fun to take a left turn and write a "Creature Feature"! "Glad you did that! I started with the book yesterday, about 15% in now.
I think it was a great idea to introduce us to the creepy crawlies right at the beginning and give us a taste of them. Now that the 'real' introduction of the characters take place, I am totally on alert about when and where and how they will have their first encounter with the bugs... When I read where Rachel moved, I already had several scenarios playing in my mind, like some spiders escaping the island and reaching her backyard... Or maybe Billy brought a secret passenger back with him...
I can't wait to continue!
Halfway through, and wondering how messed up it can still get...the most disturbing scene so far was the one with Blinky...I hate it when animals also become victims. Now I‘m afraid to continue and find out what happened to Feral :( ...please tell me he is a survivor (no don‘t tell, that would spoil the reading)
Having just lost one of our pets last night (our 7-year-old parakeet, who was my son's best friend), I hear you. But for this story... I thought we needed to see what was going on with people and pets... Not scenes that were "easy" to write, for sure.
John wrote: "Having just lost one of our pets last night (our 7-year-old parakeet, who was my son's best friend), I hear you. But for this story... I thought we needed to see what was going on with people and p..."OMG so sorry to hear that!
Thanks, Elke... hasn't been the happiest past couple days! :-(
John! So sorry to hear about your pet! I hope you get another parakeet when the time is right. I am a true bird lover and have always had parakeets as pets, not a year without one since childhood. I know how special (he or she was to your son). I have a few parakeets that lived until 12 and 13 years of age. Hopefully he will get another soon and believe me it will help him with his heartache, watching and playing with a new baby bird to learn to love. As you can tell, my heart goes out to your son!
Thanks! We've been bird people always -- I'm allergic to any animal with fur, so... we have had a cockatoo and cockatiel for nearly 30 years. And our "baby" cockatiel who will be four is currently enjoying the freedom she suddenly has (the parakeet used to harrass her so much she was always in her cage if she was in the family room. She got out to come to my office with me). I suspect we will eventually get another 'keet though... there's something about their constant cheerful warbling that just makes a house feel like home!
Completely agree! They are the happiest little buggers and bring great joy and they love (children). I have baby cockatielwho turned 4 also in January. She is my baby! 30 year old birds, wow! They are happy and healthy and very loved to have such long lives although I am aware a cockatoo does have a long life span.
Nice to know that one of my favorite authors is a bird lover as well! It was sad about Blinky in "Violet Eyes" but it was very fitting to the story! Hoping you take another left turn and write another creature feature because this one was great!
I finished Violet Eyes over the weekend and here is my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks to the HA mods and John Everson for offering this group read!
March was such a great month with two outstanding novels about my favorite creature :) I especially liked that the stories were completely different from each other despite both of them featuring spiders.
Hey John, just saw a clip on the freeform channel promoting a new series called, Siren.... hmmm, just wondering if this has anything to do with your book, Siren?? Or made you can sue for copyright infringement lol.
Elke wrote: "I finished Violet Eyes over the weekend and here is my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks for such an awesome review, Elke! So glad you enjoyed the read! It was a lot of fun to write a "creature feature"!
Joe wrote: "Hey John, just saw a clip on the freeform channel promoting a new series called, Siren.... hmmm, just wondering if this has anything to do with your book, Siren?? Or made you can sue for copyright ..."Hey Joe - sadly, this series is not connected with my novel Siren. I saw when they first announced the series and sighed -- because my novel was up for consideration to be produced for SyFy/Chiller back when they were adapting books. It was in the top 3 contenders two years in a row. And then... Sharknado happened, and that kinda killed that...
John wrote: "Joe wrote: "Hey John, just saw a clip on the freeform channel promoting a new series called, Siren.... hmmm, just wondering if this has anything to do with your book, Siren?? Or made you can sue fo..."Well, Sharknado is a masterpiece. You can't compete with that kind of talent and writing. Syfy channel is way ahead of its time. Maybe you should try a smaller venue like HBO or Showtime. And maybe cast a different cast member from 90210. Good luck and I will be keeping my eyes open and fingers crossed for you.
Hey, John. Finished this one tonight. Great job, brother.Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wonderful job with the characters in here. You had me wanting to kill people, had me confused, had me heartbroken, and on the edge of my seat. Hitting all the right buttons!
And that ending...glad you went the way you did. I couldn't put it down.
Glenn - thanks so much for that awesome review! So glad you enjoyed the book... especially after a three-year wait LOL! Also glad you dug the end... some people have been split on that based on some of the Amazon reviews, but I think it was the right way for it to end.
Thanks Ken! Appreciate that review and I'd love to discuss an aspect of it with the group if anyone's interested. We're now in the final week, so hopefully everyone who's reading it is... done or nearly? I was hoping maybe if anyone had questions about specific things or whatnot, we could get into it a little in these last few days!To that end... I'm personally curious about something. What I love about books is that the stories are somehow different for everyone. Everyone has their own worldview and personal experience and imagination that they bring to it. So what impacts one person, goes right on by another. That's why you see a 1-star review right next to a 5-star review. I'm kind of fascinated by that at this point in my career.
In Ken's review, he noted that while he enjoyed the book a lot, he felt "...the constant obesession with sex by pretty much every adult character was the part that was hard for me to get over."
To me, Violet Eyes and The Pumpkin Man actually have the least amount of sexual content in them out of all my books, so I'm always a little surprised when I see the "this book had too much sex in it for its own good" critique leveled at either of them. That said, I know there are two scenes in particular in Violet Eyes that can "overdo it" for people: the backstory abusive relationship scene of Rachel and Anders (meant to quickly show how abusive the marriage was) and the oral sex "gross out" scene. Which... to me was actually one of the most "fun" parts of the horror in the book. But that's me.
A couple days ago on Amazon someone reviewed the book with two stars and leveled a related but different critique at it which I thought was also interesting:
More domestic violence story than creature feature.
If you are looking for a rather well written book about the vagaries of domestic violence told from a woman victim's perspective, then this is your book. If you were looking for a creature feature, that is the secondary story.
Did anyone in this group feel that way? To me, the domestic violence element was backstory and didn't really take up that many pages of the narrative, though it gives us a reason for the final quarter of the book when Anders "comes to town"... but even when he does, the bulk of that section relates to the "how do we get out of this" aspect of the plot vs. the relationship of Rachel and Anders. At least in my mind.
So... I'm curious how everyone who's read the book feels about these things. Let's talk about it!
Hey John! I hear you on the point of your spoilers here and in your note above, but I think it is pretty safe to say (and not a spoiler) that cautious, hyper alert people don't tend to become the characters in a horror novel... because those people won't tread where the horror lies! They're gone before the "story" begins. In this case, too, (view spoiler)
Mod
I definitely think that domestic violence was a backstory and didn't take away from the read. That part of it was fine and made for Rachel's character to be more three-dimensional.
The sex part of it, for me, (view spoiler)
That totally makes sense, Ken. I hadn't thought of it from the Billy perspective before. I could probably have focused on his POV a bit more and perhaps his feelings and actions might have been more relatable to readers then. (view spoiler)
Mod
Mod
THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is my 10th novel, and it will be released by Flame Tree Press on October 4th. It will be issued in hardcover, trade paperback and e-book formats, and they actually put the hardcover up for pre-order on Amazon this week. There's an info page on the book on my website here: http://www.johneverson.com/books/the-... which includes links to the Amazon pre-order, Flame Tree Press info page and a blog with the cover reveal and information about the genesis of the book. It was almost two years ago when I wrote the first couple chapters of this novel, so I'm really looking forward to this release!
Ken wrote: "I did like the "oral" scene in the book. I didn't know whether to laugh or gag at that!"I couldn't resist that one! :-)
Mod
This looks great! Pre-ordering...
I'm late getting started on this, but have a feeling i'm not going to take long to get through this. The first 20 pages are quite the introduction! Already feeling squeamish.
Up to page 71 now. i'm enjoying this, especially the scenes of characters trying to have normal relationships as I realize something horrible is brewing. The lone survivor of the opening flies and spiders disaster most likely and unknowingly brought a souvenir back to his Everglades home. One particular scene convinces me I'm right. (No spoilers).
Mod
LOL... this could be fun, reading over your shoulder, Michael!
At page 76. Just finished reading Chapter 12, a particular disturbing chapter, as the threat emerges. I've a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg. John, your ability to choose the right words and descriptive scenes to unsettle the reader is extremely effective. Poor Billy, fell down. We know why. At least he was able to get up. This time. I feel like I need to take a shower after reading this. A cleansing is in order before the itches start to bother me.
Thanks Michael - so glad you are finding it effective! And you've given me a new tagline:VIOLET EYES - a shower won't be enough to wash away its bite!
John wrote: "Thanks Michael - so glad you are finding it effective! And you've given me a new tagline:VIOLET EYES - a shower won't be enough to wash away its bite!"
Awesome tag. Glad I was able to assist.
Page 98 now. Wow. John, you have a real cinematic sense for the written word -- vivid descriptions. Poor Billy. I've a new one-word image that pops into my brain now whenever I hear the words "The Amazing Spider-Man", and it's not 'comics' - - - it's 'incubator!' The retired couple are a hoot. Too bad they will go silent before this is all over.
Thanks Michael! All I can say is... we all will go silent before this is all over!
Unfortunately, I'm not going to finish the book by March 31. Too much travel this week and not much time to read. I'll keep posting my thoughts here until the link disappears, and post a review when I finish up. Happy Easter.
Happy garishly colored egg day! Just wanted to say thanks for everyone who checked out VIOLET EYES last month, and it was fun to chat with you all! I'll continue to watch this thread, if anyone has any more questions about the book. Always happy to answer/discuss!
Yours in Dark Arts,
John
Happy Easter Egg Day, John!Hoping you bring your "Dark Arts" back to HA soon!!
Had a busy week+ where reading wasn't an option, but I'm back at it now. Up to page 124. Had to stop because I just felt too damn itchy while reading this. Poor exterminator. Poor cocker spaniel. Poor teenage couple, worst bj ever. Ugh.John, you're gross . . . . and thank you.
Michael wrote: "Had a busy week+ where reading wasn't an option, but I'm back at it now. Up to page 124. Had to stop because I just felt too damn itchy while reading this. Poor exterminator. Poor cocker spaniel. P..."Poor cocker spaniel? :(
Poor teenage couple, worst bj ever. Ugh.LOL There's the thing I want to be remembered for! The ultimate cautionary tale for teens...
Yes, that's right. Even dogs aren't safe. If you love dogs you might have trouble reading how the cocker spaniel went down. Too much detail. I could visualize the whole thing, thanks to John's descriptive skills.
Up to page 152 now, where Part 2 begins. I need to sit a bit, soak it in, and take some deep breaths before getting back to this. I can't read more than two chapters before something along my back, under the shirt, starts to itch. Or I scratch my bald head when the overhead air moves across. Showers only help a little bit. Just one of the hazards of reading this book. The upside is it's a damn good story.
Michael that description is probably more effective than the descriptions in the book!
Up to page 192 now, hope to finish sometime tonight. I can't imagine anyone attempting to enter a house where they need to break through a barrier of spiderwebs. But there are some brave and determined characters in this book. Some that I grew fond of, and fear they won't survive before the ending. Glad that Eric lived through the search for his dog. That was a nail-biter! Looks like one of my preferred female characters, the kind one, isn't going to be so lucky.
Mod
I thought for sure that when the cocker spaniel became a feast, that Feral would survive the book. O..."
LMAO, John! (view spoiler)
Sometimes you just gotta have some fun and break all the rules!(Don't tell my son I said that!)
Mod
(Don't tell my son I said that!)"
I don't want MINE to hear that!
