An Interview ith Lea Ryan, Author of WILD SPIRITS OF THE HOLLOW - An ancient evil is murdering residents in the isolated village of Mistwalk. Can Shannon survive long enough to save them all?
Lea Ryan
Genre: Contemporary fantasy/Supernatural fiction
Publisher: NightLark Publishing
Date of Publication: 08/28/2018
ISBN: 1721041397
ASIN: B07DN3CH9H
Number of pages: 163
Word Count: 43000
Cover Artist: RL Bender
An ancient evil is murdering residents in the isolated village of Mistwalk. Can Shannon survive long enough to save them all?
Shannon lies to almost everyone she meets. When she gets lost and winds up trapped in an Appalachian valley village, her lies don’t get her far.
Mistwalk Vale may look like a fairy tale, but nightmares lurk in the shadows.
Villagers are dying grisly deaths, their bodies reduced to bones and left in the streets for their friends and family to find. Worse, some people suspect that Shannon is involved. They accuse her of coming from the tribe of vicious earth witches down in the hollow.
A man named Owen believes Shannon is innocent. He tries to protect her as best he can, but there’s only so much he can do. She feels herself falling for him, despite her plan to leave as soon as she gets an opportunity.
Caught between angry mobs and an ancient darkness, she will be forced to fight for her survival. Can she save herself and the village before evil consumes them all?
Lea Ryan is the author of several books and stories. She writes about the strange and the dark, as well as the light and love and strives to immerse readers in vivid fictional worlds. She currently lives in Indiana with assorted family members and various pets. Her website and blog can be found at www.LeaRyan.com.
Welcome to JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder.
Tell us about your newest book.
Hi, Brandy! Thank you for having me. My newest book, Wild Spirits of the Hollow, is a short contemporary fantasy about a woman named Shannon, who gets lost in the Appalachian Mountains. The valley and the village in which she finds herself are under some strange magical control. People there are being murdered, and no one can leave because the forest traps them. She encounters all kinds of weirdness there and has to fight to survive.
Writing isn’t easy. What was the most difficult thing you dealt with when writing your newest book?
With everything I write, I always seem to have time issues. I work a full-time day job, and I have a somewhat time-consuming gaming habit, so getting everything together in a timely manner can be a challenge.
Tell us a little bit about your writing career.
I started writing a little over a decade ago, and I have several books out, mostly in the fantasy and horror genres. My first books were longer, but as I wrote, I found that I enjoyed writing shorter books more. I’m impatient, I guess.
Wild Spirits of the Hollow is my 8th book. I also have some novellas and short stories in the mix as well. I hit #11 the free side of the Amazon Bestseller list with my novella, What the Dead Fear. I also have a short story in a collection called Indiana's Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction.
They say Hind-sight is 20/20. If you could give advice to the writer you were the first time you sat down to write, what would it be?
I would definitely tell myself to chill out. I had crazy insecurities when I started writing. My first book took me four years to finish, two to write and two to edit.
I loved the work, but at the same time, I was tormented by it. Sometimes, I would get so frustrated with myself that my negative inner dialog would actually make it onto the margins of my pen-on-paper edits.
I'm happy to say that I'm a lot more chill about my work, now.
Publisher: NightLark Publishing
Date of Publication: 08/28/2018
ISBN: 1721041397
ASIN: B07DN3CH9H
Number of pages: 163
Word Count: 43000
Cover Artist: RL Bender
An ancient evil is murdering residents in the isolated village of Mistwalk. Can Shannon survive long enough to save them all?
Shannon lies to almost everyone she meets. When she gets lost and winds up trapped in an Appalachian valley village, her lies don’t get her far.
Mistwalk Vale may look like a fairy tale, but nightmares lurk in the shadows.
Villagers are dying grisly deaths, their bodies reduced to bones and left in the streets for their friends and family to find. Worse, some people suspect that Shannon is involved. They accuse her of coming from the tribe of vicious earth witches down in the hollow.
A man named Owen believes Shannon is innocent. He tries to protect her as best he can, but there’s only so much he can do. She feels herself falling for him, despite her plan to leave as soon as she gets an opportunity.
Caught between angry mobs and an ancient darkness, she will be forced to fight for her survival. Can she save herself and the village before evil consumes them all?
An Interview with Lea Ryan
About the Author
Lea Ryan is the author of several books and stories. She writes about the strange and the dark, as well as the light and love and strives to immerse readers in vivid fictional worlds. She currently lives in Indiana with assorted family members and various pets. Her website and blog can be found at www.LeaRyan.com.
Welcome to JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder.
Tell us about your newest book.
Hi, Brandy! Thank you for having me. My newest book, Wild Spirits of the Hollow, is a short contemporary fantasy about a woman named Shannon, who gets lost in the Appalachian Mountains. The valley and the village in which she finds herself are under some strange magical control. People there are being murdered, and no one can leave because the forest traps them. She encounters all kinds of weirdness there and has to fight to survive.
Writing isn’t easy. What was the most difficult thing you dealt with when writing your newest book?
With everything I write, I always seem to have time issues. I work a full-time day job, and I have a somewhat time-consuming gaming habit, so getting everything together in a timely manner can be a challenge.
Tell us a little bit about your writing career.
I started writing a little over a decade ago, and I have several books out, mostly in the fantasy and horror genres. My first books were longer, but as I wrote, I found that I enjoyed writing shorter books more. I’m impatient, I guess.
Wild Spirits of the Hollow is my 8th book. I also have some novellas and short stories in the mix as well. I hit #11 the free side of the Amazon Bestseller list with my novella, What the Dead Fear. I also have a short story in a collection called Indiana's Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction.
They say Hind-sight is 20/20. If you could give advice to the writer you were the first time you sat down to write, what would it be?
I would definitely tell myself to chill out. I had crazy insecurities when I started writing. My first book took me four years to finish, two to write and two to edit.
I loved the work, but at the same time, I was tormented by it. Sometimes, I would get so frustrated with myself that my negative inner dialog would actually make it onto the margins of my pen-on-paper edits.
I'm happy to say that I'm a lot more chill about my work, now.
What was your most difficult scene to write?
In Wild Spirits of the Hollow, the most difficult scene was probably the fight scene near the end. It's not a 1 vs 1 deal. Everyone in that scene serves some purpose, so it was a matter of getting everything to flow together and move in one direction.
Are themes a big part of your stories, or not so much?
I’ve never been big on themes. A theme can be a nice way to tie everything together, but I don’t think they’re necessary. When I’m watching a movie or reading a book, that stuff is so far from my mind. I just want to be entertained. I want characters that draw me in, good writing, interesting scenery.
What are you working on now?
Oh my gosh. What am I not working on. I have an audiobook version of one of my middle grade fantasies that has been “in progress” since...January? There has been a HUGE learning curve on that one because I’ve been figuring out how to do everything myself. I actually set up a soundbooth in my basement, so yeah, huge project.
I’m also working on a scifi novel that I had planned to release by the end of the year, but I think it’s going to be a series, so I decided to push the release out.
There are a few other projects that I have in various stages of completion as well, but I won’t bore you with a whole list. Let’s just say: many short stories, some novellas, and a few other audiobooks if I can ever get my act together.
Is there a release date planned?
No release dates for any of the other projects yet, but I do announce my releases on my blog: https://authorlearyan.wordpress.com/.
Who is your favorite character from your own stories, and why?
I don’t think I can pick one. At this point, there have been many. I do have a couple of types that I adore, particularly the strong but flawed female character lead and the snarky villain. In my Fate Binds trilogy, I have a pair of older sisters, who are witches. They have this way of bouncing control of conversations back and forth between them that I just loved.
I also liked that they were powerful. Our society has a tendency to devalue older people, and with those two, I really wanted to work against that cultural devaluation. I made them powerful and deliciously manipulative.
Most writers were readers as children. What was your favorite book in grade school?
I can’t narrow that down! I read like CRAZY. Alice in Wonderland, of course. Harriet the Spy sticks out in my mind, The Secret Garden, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Dr. Seuss everything, a lot of Poe and whatever weird short stories I could scrounge.
What are your plans for future projects?
I'd like to get into more paranormal romance. I've done a couple of those, and I like them. I have a binder of books and notes everywhere, so I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Is there anything you would like to add before we finish?
Sure! I have a mailing list that I'm trying to get together. People who sign up will get book release announcements and free fiction, etc. I haven't quite launched it yet, but I've written 9 short stories that will go out to subscribers, one per month, starting here in the next couple of months or so.
Here’s the link if anyone wants to sign up: http://eepurl.com/dvlSxn
Good luck with your newest release, and thank you for being with us today.
Thank you very much for having me!!
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Thank you for interviewing/hosting me!! :)
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