Deadly Rising
A Booke of the Hidden Novel #2
by Jeri Westerson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pub Date: 10/23/18
Things were quiet in Strange Herbs & Teas. For about a week.
Our crossbow slinging hero and her ragtag gang of Wiccans tuned in to the
paranormal have earned some rest. But when Kylie learns that the
Booke may have released not one, but two creatures of horror out into
the world, it’s up to her to save Moody Bog. Again.
Calling upon the devilishly handsome demon Erasmus once more for help,
Kylie’s determined to handle the mischief of the Booke and go back
to a normal life. But when digging through Moody Bog’s history
leads her to the ghost of her grandfather, the past she once knew is
turned upside down.
Can Kylie save the town and her grandfather, or will the horrors of the
Booke be too much to handle?
Booke of the Hidden
A Booke of the Hidden Novel #1
“Westerson creates an utterly believable history of witches, demons, and magic
for her claustrophobic New England village including a heroine with
enough spark, smarts, and stubbornness to keep both the bad guys and
the deliciously dangerous love-interest on their toes.” —Kat
Richardson, author of the Greywalker series
To get a fresh start away from a bad relationship, Kylie Strange moves
across the country to open a shop in a seemingly quiet town in rural
Maine. During renovations on Strange Herbs & Teas, she discovers
a peculiar and ancient codex, The Booke of the Hidden,
bricked into the wall. Every small town has its legends and unusual
histories, and this artifact sends Kylie right into the center of
Moody Bog’s biggest secret.
While puzzling over the tome’s oddly blank pages, Kylie gets an
unexpected visitor—Erasmus Dark, an inscrutable stranger who claims
to be a demon, knows she has the book, and warns her that she has
opened a portal to the netherworld. Kylie brushes off this nonsense,
until a series of bizarre murders put her, the newcomer, at the
center. With the help of the demon and a coven of witches she
befriends while dodging the handsome but sharp-eyed sheriff, Kylie
hunts for a killer—that might not be human.
1. What makes this particular genre you are involved in so special?
Because you're bringing in magic and fantasy and danger and romance. It's almost a whole shelf of books rolled into one genre. I like that you can spin a tale in any time period, with any creature, and make it your own by tweaking this or that and giving it your own history and backstory. Fantasy and sci fi have always played a big role in what I have loved to read, and now that I've given myself permission to write in this genre, the sky is the limit.
2. How important is research to you when writing a book?
It's always important. I started out writing medieval mysteries, and if there was any one thing a reader expects, it is that the author gets the history right. In that genre, you never changed the history to suit the plot, and that is very good training for writing anything. In other words, be true to the world you've built. When something is set in our era, it's still vitally important to get the facts right--the town, the police force, the names being used, and a myriad of other things--because once the foundation is established, you can build whatever fantasy world on top of it you like. The reader needs that foundation so they can relate to those inhabiting that world. It becomes a jumping off point for the reader to fly with you on whatever whirlwind you take them.
3. When did it dawn upon you that you wanted to be a writer?/What inspires you to write?
I've been a writer since I could pick up a crayon, illustrating stories I wanted to tell. But I never pursued it as a career choice until much later in life. I always wrote in the background just for fun, even though no one else knew I was still doing it. I wanted to go into acting, but doing auditions in the real world convinced me I didn't want to participate in that process the rest of my life. So I turned another hobby into a career; art. I was a graphic artist in Los Angeles working in-studio as well as freelancing for some fifteen years. When I paused my career to have a baby and then tried to get back into it when he was a toddler, I found that the whole industry had turned to computers, and I knew nothing about them. I wanted to do something where I could stay at home and raise my kid, so I decided to buckle down and become a novelist. How hard could it be? Plenty hard, I discovered, but after a decade of writing many different books and after several agents, I finally landed a contract with a big New York publisher for my medieval mystery. Though I'm still writing and finishing up a long time series in that genre, I've turned to writing paranormals. It's a LOT of fun.
4. Do you set a plot or prefer going wherever an idea takes you? - Plotter or pantser?
I started off as a pantser, then got down to business and had to be a plotter for two reasons. One, I was writing several books a year on deadline and had to know what I was writing every day, and two, I was getting to the point where I was forgetting what I had wanted to write in each story. But after years of that, I suddenly couldn't outline anymore. And so I've become a pantser again, and it feels great. I always know how the book begins and how it ends, and I keep copious notes and research as well as scenes and bits of dialog in a spiral bound notebook for each book, but it's pretty much a new thing each day.
5. Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?
I read a LOT. Anyone who wants to write should read piles of books in all sorts of genres, including non-fiction. It helps you build a vocabulary and opens you up to new styles of writing and new adventures. I've loved older mysteries from Dorothy Sayers, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammet, as well as classics like Dickens and Shakespeare (I'm a bit of a Shakespeare groupie, actually), and lots of contemporary authors like Larry Niven, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkein, Alan Moore, Charlaine Harris, as well as lots of mangas. My advice to young writers is to read the classics and be open to any and all literature. A lot of contemporary authors reach back to the classics to get their plots and themes. Steal from the best, I always say.
Los Angeles native and award-winning author Jeri Westerson writes
the critically acclaimed Crispin Guest Medieval Mysteries, historical
novels, paranormal novels, and LGBT mysteries. To date, her medieval
mysteries have garnered twelve industry award nominations, from the
Agatha to the Shamus. Kirkus Review said of her latest Crispin Guest
Medieval Mystery A MAIDEN WEEPING, “Once again Guest’s past
misdeeds actually help him in the present in a case that includes
plenty of red herrings and an interesting look at medieval
jurisprudence.” Jeri is former president of the SoCal chapter of
Mystery Writers of America and frequently guest lectures on medieval
history at local colleges and museums. She lives in southern
California with her home-brewing husband, a complacent tortoise, and
40,000 bees.
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