The Beldam's Eye

Please welcome Jennifer Rainey author of The Bedlam's Eye.

Jennifer will provide two $20 Amazon GCs and five copies of Thoroughly Modern Monsters, her short story collection to randomly drawn commenters during the tour. The grand prize to one randomly drawn commenter will be a $25 Amazon Gift card, a copy of These Hellish Happenings (her first novel) and a copy of Thoroughly Modern Monsters.

Make sure you leave a comment. Yup, if you comment, you will be entered to win.

The Bedlam’s Eye

by Jennifer Rainey

INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing? 

I’ve always been a storyteller, and I love creating characters. There’s something about creating out of nothing whole people with complex lives and relationships and stories that appeals to me. That’s really what drove me to start writing. It was a logical progression, I suppose. Also, if I didn’t get these characters and stories down on paper, I’d probably go crazy, which isn’t terribly preferable!

2. What components are necessary for the genre of this novel?

To me, it’s about a balance of creepiness, of fantasy and of real human emotion. I write contemporary fantasy/paranormal stories almost primarily. If it’s too creepy, it’s horror. If it’s got too much fantasy, it can be difficult to relate to and if it’s too normal then you lose the paranormal aspect all together. To really do a paranormal novel justice, it has to have that perfect balance of all three.

3. What expertise did you bring to your writing? 

The Beldam’s Eye features paranormal investigators of sorts, and I am an amateur paranormal investigator myself. Most recently I went to Gettysburg and had some truly eerie and fantastic experiences at the Jennie Wade house. I definitely incorporate my experiences into The Beldam’s Eye, even though the book takes place in an alternate universe where ghosts are acknowledged scientific fact. That was a really fun challenge, taking what I have experienced and modifying it to fit in the universe I’ve created for the book.

4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio? 

5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans? 

Well, the sequel to my first book, These Hellish Happenings, is set to come out in early 2013, and I’m really excited about that. I also have the second book in The Bedbury Series (of which The Beldam’s Eye is the first book) which I’ll start editing soon. For NaNo 2012, I’ll be writing a book about Quinnish Stern, a half-siren who is featured in my short story collection, Thoroughly Modern Monsters.

6. If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why? 

I’d have to say Aletheia Jones from The Beldam’s Eye. She’s witty, talented, strong-willed and she gets to be in a romantic relationship of sorts with the oh-so-intellectual and oh-so-adorable Erasmus Bramble. Seeing as she’s a ghost who died in 1927, she was also able to experience the 1920s first-hand!

7. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I do very vague outlines. If I don’t outline at all, I tend to just wander, but if I outline too much, I lose all interest in the project!

  

8. Do you have an all time favorite book? 

Yes. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I hesitate to call anything perfect, but that book is perfect.

9. Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book? 

The very next book to come out will be When Hell Freezes Over, the sequel to my first book, These Hellish Happenings. The first book follows the misadventures of Jack Bentley, the hapless individual who works at the front desk of Hell. In the second book, Jack and his demon boyfriend Alex are forced to go on a wild goose chase through Hell, Earth and even the river Styx to find Satan, who has flown the coop for reasons unknown and left Hell in quite a state. It has all the humor of the first book, and it was really joy to be able to write these characters again!

10. What is your favorite reality show? 

Ghost Hunters, of course! Haha! I also enjoy American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Oddities… The offbeat reality shows!

11. Who is your favorite actor and actress?

That’s such a hard question. I really love Tim Roth of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Lie to Me fame. I had a massive crush on him in high school, haha! At the moment, I’m going through the filmography of the late, great Anthony Perkins. My favorite actress is definitely Helen Mirren. That woman can do no wrong!

12. If you were a casting director for the film version of your book, who would play your lead roles?

As far as The Beldam’s Eye goes, I would have Benedict Cumberbatch or Tom Hiddleston as Erasmus Bramble, Jeremy Renner as Antony Yeats and Anne Hathaway as Aletheia Jones. Angus Heyer, the other main spirit in the book is a little more difficult. Maybe Jeff Bridges.

The Bedlam’s Eye

by Jennifer Rainey

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BLURB:

When Erasmus Bramble finds the recently-deceased Angus Heyer rummaging through his kitchen cabinets, he knows he has a unique case on his hands. 

As paranormal investigators in rural Ohio, Ras and his business partner Antony Yeats tackle ghostly problems on a daily basis, from poltergeist exterminations to troubled spirits just looking for a shoulder to cry on. Angus isn’t looking for ghost therapy. He needs Ras and Yeats to help him retrieve a pocket watch stolen from him after death, a pocket watch that is said to be cursed: The Beldam’s Eye.

The skeptical Ras and Yeats agree to take Angus’s case, but they soon find themselves in over their heads, facing murder, theft and perilous dark magic. Is it all just backwoods superstition or is the curse of The Beldam’s Eye grisly reality?

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EXCERPT:

A pillow with the words God Bless This Mess stitched across the middle immediately flew at his head. He ducked and charged into the wind tunnel that was supposed to be a guest bedroom. The windows were shut, but curtains billowed into the middle of the room and cutesy Americana-flavored decorations rolled across the floor like tumbleweed.

“Where is she?” Ras yelled over the roar of the wind.

“Over there in the corner!” Betty Ann answered.

Yeats immediately snapped a picture of the corner. The spirit box spat out a photograph, and he waited for the image to develop, throwing one arm up to protect himself from a flying quilt.

“Mrs. Walsh, you might want to wait downstairs,” Ras said. “We don’t want you to get hurt.”

Betty Ann was halfway back down the hall when Yeats yelled, “Ras, we’ve got a rogue here.” A portrait of Jesus Christ, the kind where the eyes were always on you, tumbled to the ground.

Ras dodged a potted plant and examined the image. Something that used to be a young woman in a red dress stood in the corner, her long back hair flying in all directions as though she’d been struck by lightning. The wind spirit’s skin was mostly chalky, save for just around her eyes where the flesh was bloated and black. Her fingers were smeared with dried blood.

She had no pupils, just black marbles where eyes should be, and yet Ras could still tell she was staring straight at the spirit box.

He could also tell she was pretty pissed off.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jennifer Rainey was raised by wolves who later sold her to gypsies. She then joined the circus at the age of ten. There, she was the flower girl in the famed Bearded Bride of Beverly Hills show until the act was discontinued (it was discovered that the bearded lady was actually a man).  From there, she wandered around the country selling novelty trucker hats with vaguely amusing sayings printed on front. Somehow, she made enough money to go to The Ohio State University for a major in English.

Website: http://www.jenniferrainey.com

Blog: http://independentparanormal.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JenniferKRainey

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferRainey