Nightmares, Killers and Demons

I'm delighted to welcome author A.F. Stewart to my blog today. The second of her Killers and Demons books is touring the internet, giving everyone nightmares of course, and I asked her if she'd kindly give us her take on where those nightmares feed into an author's writing. So, over to you Anita...


Click on the image above to find the book on Amazon... if you dare!!!!
And don't miss the giveaway, below.


Nightmares, by A. F. Stewart

The essence of writing good horror is to weave fear throughout the pages, to instill anxiety and tension in the reader or viewer; it is literally penning the stuff of nightmares. Horror exists in a fictional world where monsters do live under your bed and in your closet.

And I believe that’s the trick to writing horror. To capture that universal fear we’ve all experienced, that dread and horror of the nightmare.

Over the years, I’ve had a nightmare or two (or three or four…) and so I can relate. Waking up suddenly, your heart racing, fear clawing at your thoughts, well, it’s never an enjoyable thing, but you feel it, that sudden surge of adrenaline racing through you like an electric shock. I used to have a recurring nightmare about continually falling into a black void (which may in part explain my fear of heights) and I remember jolting awake and feeling like every nerve in my body had been zapped. Now, as a writer, I get to take all those requisite bad dreams, all the scary monsters, horrors, and witches, and turn them into fodder for stories. Essentially I’ve become the dream master, putting creepy, nightmare inducing images into poor, unsuspecting minds.

And with two stories from my new book, Killers and Demons II, I specifically play amid the idea of nightmares. In both Up from the Ground, and Shadows, I explore the notion of having a nightmare step into reality and take over your life. Up from the Ground delves into the concept of having a menacing supernatural force invade dreams and slowly take over people until they have no will of their own, corrupting them from the inside out. While Shadows on the other hand deals with silent, accusatory, hallucinatory figures, trying to pull long buried secrets out of a mind that doesn’t want to let them go. While coming at the concept from opposites angles, both stories juxtapose reality and fantasy, blurring the lines to create the ultimate in bad dreams: a nightmare that turns real.

And perhaps that’s what truly links fictional horror with our nightmares, the nagging fear the nightmares can come true…

Thank you Anita! My recurring nightmare as a child involved me as a mouse being chased around the house by a cat. I always woke up just as the cat was about to eat me.

But readers need have no nightmares about failing to find this book, 'cause here are lots of links. 





Come one, come all, to a festival of murder and mayhem.
We have killers, demons, witches and more, with bloody exploits galore.
Evil is back, with a greater appetite for death.
Sample what is offered, but be careful. What you nibble on may turn out to be somebody’s fingers…
 


Meet the author too, and find her on the internet below:



A. F. Stewart was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, and still calls it home.  The youngest in a family of seven children, she has always had an overly creative mind and an active imagination. She is fond of good books (especially science fiction/fantasy), action movies, sword collecting, and oil painting as a hobby.


Ms. Stewart is an indie author with several published novellas and story collections in the dark fantasy or horror genres, with a few side trips into poetry and non-fiction. She has a great interest in history and mythology, often working those themes into her books and stories.
 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afstewartauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scribe77
Or go to her about me page to find lots more: http://about.me/AFStewart
 
Then enter the rafflebopter giveaway

Find out more. Follow the Tour:

October 5:
The Cult of Me - Guest Post: Splatter and Gore vs. Psychological Horror

October 6:
The FlipSide of Julianne - Guest Post: Historic Settings for Horror 
Sheila Deeth's Blog - Guest Post: Nightmares
Dandilyon FluffBook Spotlight and Excerpt

October 7:

October 8:
Ben Ireland's Blog - Interview

October 9:
Spreading the Writer's Word - Book Spotlight

October 10:
Joylene Nowell Butler, author - Guest Post: How to Write a Good Villain

October 11:
The Road to Nowhere... - Guest Post: Exploring the Appeal of Horror

October 12:
Pagan Spirits Book Blog - Guest Post: My Love Affair with Villains

October 13:
The Manicheans - Guest Post: Turning the Sweet, Sour

Comments

A. F. Stewart said…
It looks wonderful, thanks Sheila for hosting.
Unknown said…
This book should be interesting to me as I also have recurring nightmares. Very well presented, Sheila.

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