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Welcome to this week’s installment of The Scariest Part, a recurring feature in which authors, comic book writers, filmmakers, and game creators tell us what scares them in their latest works of horror, dark fantasy, dark science fiction, and suspense. (If you’d like to be featured on The Scariest Part, please review the guidelines here.)

My guest this week is Leanna Renee Hieber, whose latest novel is The Eterna Files. Here is the publisher’s description:

Welcome to The Eterna Files, written by Leanna Renee Hieber, “the brightest new star in literature” (True-Blood.net).

London, 1882: Queen Victoria appoints Harold Spire of the Metropolitan Police to Special Branch Division Omega. Omega is to secretly investigate paranormal and supernatural events and persons. Spire, a skeptic driven to protect the helpless and see justice done, is the perfect man to lead the department, which employs scholars and scientists, assassins and con men, and a traveling circus. Spire’s chief researcher is Rose Everhart, who believes fervently that there is more to the world than can be seen by mortal eyes.

Their first mission: find the Eterna Compound, which grants immortality. Catastrophe destroyed the hidden laboratory in New York City where Eterna was developed, but the Queen is convinced someone escaped — and has a sample of Eterna.

Also searching for Eterna is an American, Clara Templeton, who helped start the project after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln nearly destroyed her nation. Haunted by the ghost of her beloved, she is determined that the Eterna Compound — and the immortality it will convey — will be controlled by the United States, not Great Britain.

And now, let’s hear what the scariest part was for Leanna Renee Hieber:

For me as the author, I find the scariest part of The Eterna Files to be the scene where my heroine Clara Templeton deliberately puts herself ‎into a situation where she knows she’s at certain risk of an epileptic seizure for the sake of her investigation.

When Clara, a Sensitive with empathic gifts and mediumship abilities, is put into close contact with too much negative paranormal energy, the over-stimulation to her sixth sense triggers a seizure. As this condition has been with her since her youth, she knows her body well enough to know there is a distinct countdown to get herself out of the offending situation before, one by one, her senses, then her body fail her. Like lights failing with no generator backup; a fall with no safety net. This countdown, when she’s placed herself in a relative house of horrors to investigate, was, for me, one of the most nerve-wracking scenarios I’ve ever written. Clara narrates this countdown for us as she tears about, seeing very dark clues in an abandoned disaster site. We count down to blackout with her.

I believe in order to write effective horror, the author has to tap into their own worst nightmares, and boy is this one of them.

I am very in tune with my body, health, and brain chemistry that I have to manage with expert care. I am personally leery of heavy medication, one might say I am a control-freak over my body’s systems and precautions. I’ve never done drugs as I don’t want to mess with that particular chemistry (wine and coffee don’t count, kids, come on). I am always striving to learn more about my own mental, spiritual and physiological connections to a healthy and balanced life. This scene is the equivalent of me knowing I’m going to trigger a panic attack in a dangerous place with no one to help find the way out. Slowly losing senses and consciousness, sinking into complete vulnerability in an unsafe setting: true horror.

It’s one thing for a character to be surprised by a horrific turn, it’s another to dwell in that rising, certain tide of dread. Building that tension and allowing myself to channel Clara, in empathy — this is where my being a professional actress as well is part and parcel of my writing process — is critical. While I don’t have Clara’s exact condition, I bring to the “role” as I write it that parallel understanding, making for a more visceral scene in the telling of it.

Good fantasy and horror, no matter how fantastical the setting, should always be rooted in some core truths.

I am thrilled that in working with Tor, grateful to have seven upcoming books in contract with them, I’ve the freedom for more horror genre elements to weave into the core of my Gaslamp Fantasy work. The world of The Eterna Files is a densely spooky haunted house I’m really enjoying exploring; opening doors I have no choice but to open, braced for infinite possibility. I have to be ready for anything, because I’ve a wild imagination and it really loves to confront me with fears and fascinations. I hope it will keep you up at night too.

Leanna Renee Hieber: Website / Twitter / Facebook

The Eterna Files: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Powell’s / IndieBound / signed copies from WORD

‎Actress, playwright and author Leanna Renee Hieber is the award-winning, bestselling author of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels for adults and teens. Her Strangely Beautiful saga won 3 Prism awards for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, hit Barnes and Noble’s and Borders bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. This series will reissue in new, revised editions from Tor and is being adapted into a musical theatre production. Leanna’s Magic Most Foul trilogy began with Darker Still, an Indie Next List pick and a Scholastic Book Club “Highly Recommended” title. Her short fiction appears on Tor.com and in anthologies such as Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells, Willful Impropriety and multiple “Mammoth Book” anthologies. Her fiction has been translated into numerous languages and selected for national book club editions. A proud member of performers unions Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, she works often in film and television on shows like Boardwalk Empire. A perky Goth girl with more corsets than is reasonable, Leanna lives in New York City with her husband and their beloved rescued lab rabbit.

Welcome to this week’s installment of The Scariest Part, a recurring feature in which authors, comic book writers, filmmakers, and game creators tell us what scares them in their latest works of horror, dark fantasy, dark science fiction, and suspense. (If you’d like to be featured on The Scariest Part, please review the guidelines here.)

My guest is Shannon Stoker, whose latest novel is The Alliance, the conclusion of the Registry trilogy. Here is the publisher’s description:

In this deadly endgame, the final move is hers . . .

In America, the Registry weds girls to the highest bidder and raises boys for its army.

Mia Morrissey escaped to make her life her own, and now that she has, she will risk everything so that everyone can be free.

Going undercover as part of a diplomatic mission, Mia returns to America. But life there is more dangerous than ever as the walls grow ever taller, and the forgotten country faces its most ruthless leader yet, Grant Marsden . . . a shadow from Mia’s past. With the help of Andrew, Carter, and other members of the subversive group Affinity, she embarks on a perilous journey to defeat Grant, bring down the government, and destroy the Registry once and for all.

When a terrible betrayal exposes the operation, Mia discovers that her enemies have used her — and so have her friends. Alone and frightened, she’s uncertain who to trust — or whether the mission is worth what she’s sacrificing.

With the fate of her friends and the future of her country on the line, Mia knows that her next step may be the last for her . . . and America.

And now, let’s hear what the scariest part was for Shannon Stoker:

Writing the psychological torture of one of the main characters was the scariest part of writing my novel, The Alliance. Andrew has had a tough life throughout the entire Registry series. In the second book he is kidnapped and has his brain scrambled, in The Alliance he is dealing with the after effects. I’ve never dealt with torture or kidnapping in my life, and I hope the average person hasn’t either, so just doing the research was enough to really freak me out.

The group who was after Andrew wanted him as a blank slate but still physically intact. I spent hours looking up different methods real life groups have used in the past to accomplish this goal. It made me realize just how fragile the human mind is and how capable we are of inflicting lasting pain on each other.

Keeping Andrew sane after this experience was difficult, especially because I didn’t want to just sweep it under the rug. He had already been through a lot of hardships that could have destroyed him, but if the torture had worked he would have transformed into an unsympathetic killing machine. I had to write a fine line keeping him away from this fate but still deeply impacted in a real way by his experience.

In the first installment of the Registry series Andrew’s backstory reveals that he has previously been made to take lives against his will. He was raised with zero compassion and his only goal was to be a soldier. As he progressed, his goals change and he realizes there are good people in the world and he can be one of them. This is a big part of why what happens to him in The Collection so traumatic. He is almost back to square one in The Alliance and has to remind himself that there is good in the world and that humanity is worth fighting for.

I’ve always enjoyed violent stories, whether they are action, horror, or supernaturally-based. I think writing fighting scenes is much easier than romantic ones. But writing about broken bones and blood is a lot simpler than figuring out the ins-and-outs of the human psyche and how to destroy it. One of the great freedoms of writing fictional characters is controlling the outcome. I can’t help but wonder if Andrew were a real person whether his constitution have been strong enough to survive, and that’s the scariest part.

Shannon Stoker: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

The Alliance: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo

Shannon Stoker lives in DeKalb, IL. She received her undergraduate and law degree from Northern Illinois University where she now works as the Research Integrity Coordinator. It’s not a stretch to say she’s a die-hard Huskie fan! When she’s not working or writing Shannon spends the majority of her time playing with her terrier mix Nucky or her husband. She loves watching horror movies, including those straight to DVD classics most people never heard of. If she wasn’t an attorney or an author she would have been a beautician and is constantly bugging her friends to come over and let Shannon play with their hair.

Welcome to this week’s installment of The Scariest Part, a recurring feature in which authors, comic book writers, filmmakers, and game creators tell us what scares them in their latest works of horror, dark fantasy, dark science fiction, and suspense. (If you’d like to be featured on The Scariest Part, please review the guidelines here.)

I’m very pleased to have as my guest my good friend, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner and recent recipient of the World Horror Convention’s Grand Master Award Brian Keene. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Brian for well over a decade, and in that time I’ve roasted him at Necon, been roasted by him at Necon, and shared more than a few evenings full of drinks, laughter, and plans to dominate the genre. But most importantly I’ve seen his career blossom and his popularity as a writer grow with each passing year. It couldn’t have happened for a nicer, more deserving guy. Brian has published over forty novels to date, the most recent of which is The Lost Level. Here is the publisher’s description:

When modern-day occultist Aaron Pace discovers the secrets of inter-dimensional travel via a mystical pathway called The Labyrinth, he wastes no time in exploring a multitude of strange new worlds and alternate realities. But then, Aaron finds himself trapped in the most bizarre dimension of all — a place where dinosaurs coexist with giant robots, where cowboys fight reptilian lizard people, and where even the grass can kill you. This is a world populated by the missing and the disappeared, a world where myth is reality and where the extinct is reborn. Now, side-by-side with his new companions Kasheena and Bloop, Aaron must learn to navigate its dangers and survive long enough to escape…The Lost Level.

And now, let’s hear what the scariest part was for Brian Keene:

For me, the scariest part of The Lost Level was the novel’s central conceit — a character trapped far from home in an increasingly hostile and bizarre environment where everything is trying to kill him.

I’m a country boy, raised by country folks, and have always taken pride in the fact that I’m self-sufficient. These days, it’s trendy to be so. People call it “prepping” and there are books, television shows, websites, and trade shows dedicated to it. Growing up, we didn’t learn such skills because they were trendy, or because my parents and grandparents thought a coronal mass ejection would shut down the power grid and summon the zombie apocalypse. We learned them simply because we needed them. Just as a city kid learns skills which helps them traverse the streets and live in the metropolis, we learned how to field dress a deer or run a trout line across the river (to paraphrase the Hank Williams Jr. song).

As a result, I’ve always been confident of my ability to adapt to and survive any sort of adverse emergency situation. A few years ago, I fell off a cliff while hiking alone, toppled roughly twenty feet into a rain-swollen river, got washed downstream about a mile, escaped drowning and fought my way to shore, and then had to hike three miles out of the woods while bleeding from a gash that ran along the entire underside of my forearm.

In the dark.

This was no problem, nor did I have a problem supergluing the wound shut when I finally reached my home. “I can survive anything,” I said.

Which is why the universe decided to teach me a lesson not too long ago.

Until earlier this year, I lived in a remote cabin atop a small mountain along the Susquehanna River. Author friends who have visited there can attest to how far removed from civilization this home was for me. It was absolutely perfect, and I loved it. I chopped my own firewood, grew my own vegetables, and had a grand old time living as my forefathers did, and teaching my six-year-old some of those skills, as well.

Then the 2014 Polar Vortex hit, bringing hurricane force winds, below-freezing temperatures, and a metric fuck-ton of snow (that’s a valid measurement). In the first twenty-four hours, Central Pennsylvania was turned into a disaster area. Millions lost power — and heat. Roads were impassible. Even the National Guard were having a hard time of it. But not me. I sat on top of my mountain, fire roaring in the wood stove, laptop powered by the emergency generator, and feeling all proud of myself for once again being able to survive anything.

That’s when the Polar Vortex swung around for a second strike, dropping a tree on my generator, and two more through my roof. Not to mention the thirty or so more trees it dropped across the one dirt lane that led from my home down to the main road at the bottom of the mountain. The wood stove was unusable, the kitchen was full of snow, and the pipes quickly froze and burst. Within hours, my cabin was reduced to uninhabitable rubble (and just like health insurance and 401Ks, working writers seldom have homeowners insurance, because that’s something else we can’t afford). And we were trapped, unable to drive out because, even if we made it through the snow, my vehicle wasn’t going to transform into a robot and climb over the fallen trees.

It’s one thing to teach your child the same survival skills you learned from your father and grandfather. It’s another to make him live in a house that suddenly has no plumbing or electricity or heat. So, when the snow melted, we moved to an apartment in town. He is much happier because he has Cartoon Network again, and Minecraft, and doesn’t have to eat freeze-dried rations for dinner. And I’m happy because he is happy. And while, despite all its challenges, I vastly prefer living in the country over living in an apartment in town, I do have to admit I’m learning an entire new set of survival skills — like how to muffle the sounds of police sirens shrieking or the neighbors partying at 3 AM. In the country, I secured my trash cans so bears wouldn’t get into them. Here, we do the same to keep out feral cats.

We’re surviving.

And that’s what Aaron, the main character in The Lost Level, is doing, as well. He’s been transported to an alien dimension full of dinosaurs and robots and cowboys and lizard people. It’s a world where even something as innocuous as the grass can kill you. A world where, instead of him saving the Princess, the Princess repeatedly saves him, because he doesn’t yet possess the skills to survive there. He’s trapped there, with nothing other than what was in his pockets at the time. And he quickly discovers that no amount of readiness or prepping could suffice for what this strange new world has in store.

For me, the scariest part of writing the novel was putting myself in Aaron’s shoes, and remembering what it’s like to have your confidence and self-sufficiency shattered and eroded by helplessness and an all-too-consuming despair.

But you know what? You can survive helplessness and despair, too, as long as you don’t give in to fear.

Brian Keene: Website / Facebook / Twitter

The Lost Level: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Apex Publications

Brian Keene writes novels, comic books, short fiction, and occasional journalism. He is the author of over forty books. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is often credited (along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later film) with inspiring pop culture’s current interest in zombies. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, The X-Files, Hellboy, Masters of the Universe, and Superman. Keene’s work has been praised by Stephen King and in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Fangoria, and Rue Morgue Magazine. He has won numerous awards and honors, including the World Horror Grand Master Award, two Bram Stoker Awards, and a recognition from Whiteman A.F.B. (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber) for his outreach to U.S. troops serving both overseas and abroad. A prolific public speaker, Keene has delivered talks at conventions, college campuses, theaters, and inside Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, VA.

Welcome to this week’s installment of The Scariest Part, a recurring feature in which authors, comic book writers, filmmakers, and game creators tell us what scares them in their latest works of horror, dark fantasy, dark science fiction, and suspense. (If you’d like to be featured on The Scariest Part, please review the guidelines here.)

My guest is Ben Eads, whose latest publication is the novella Cracked Sky. Here is the publisher’s description:

Reeling from the loss of their only child, Stephen and Shelley Morrison learn that her killer has been found dead. What they don’t know is that his agenda goes far deeper than the grave. Beyond the storm, beyond the crack in the sky — where their daughter lies trapped with The Lost Ones — something is using Stephen and Shelley’s agony to fulfill its goals: Terrorize. Consume. Destroy.

And now, let’s hear what the scariest part was for Ben Eads:

Getting into the headspace of the characters in my novella, Cracked Sky, was by far the scariest part. Stephen and Shelley Morrison lost their only child in a car wreck thanks to a drunk driver. I don’t have any children of my own. At best, I could only imagine the pain they carried. Getting into the headspace of these poor souls was depressing and scary. The main theme of the novella is loss. In this case, a horrific loss of the highest magnitude.

So, the only emotion I could use as an anchor was what I felt after losing my job in mid-2008, during the biggest financial crisis we’ve seen since the stock market crash of the 1920s. Unable to find work, I lost both my house and my car. A dear friend committed suicide only a few months later. But there was something deeper, uglier: The antagonist who caused the car crash, Darrell Peakman.

It’s amazing what happens to people when they suffer a tragic loss. Sometimes, it could be something insignificant that sets them on the path to becoming a monster. Sadly, we see this on the news on a weekly basis. Darrell Peakman exemplifies the worst case scenario. He also lost his daughter, and will do whatever it takes to reunite with her, even if that means murdering people — and children — to get there. For him, death is just a barrier to be breached.

I spent a lot more time on Darrell than I did my main characters. To a certain degree, I had to be able to sympathize with Darrell. The last thing I wanted was to shortchange the reader. It got to the point where I had to find a healthy balance. After spending time in Darrell’s head, I would watch a comedy or take a nice jog around my neighborhood. Still, I couldn’t escape how Darrell justified these horrific acts.

Real-life monsters, once they start… just keep getting worse. The wreck and reuniting with Darrell’s daughter was just the beginning. He blames the world for what happened. Darrell feels justified in laying waste to the world — a world that he feels doesn’t deserve love. If you were to ask Darrell if he were evil, his response would be laughter. Hitler, Stalin, and Pot didn’t think they were evil. Quite the opposite. They felt what they were doing was the right thing, the only answer to a “problem” they couldn’t shake.

Darrell found a key, a way to reunite with his daughter in a nightmare world reflecting his worst traits and fears. But was that enough for Darrell to be happy? No. So he finds his anchor, his answer to what he sees as a problem, in Stephen and Shelley Morrison. He uses their grief, pain, and suffering to not only fulfill his goals, but to assure himself he’s not alone. More importantly, Darrell needs to feel — as his plan comes closer to fruition — that he’s morally correct and that his moral compass is working just fine.

For me, supernatural horror that’s driven by deep emotions and infused with real-life horror is the most frightening kind of horror. What Stephen and Shelley Morrison are forced to face is this human being who becomes a monster — literally and figuratively — and that’s the scariest part.

Ben Eads: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Cracked Sky: Amazon / Goodreads

Ben Eads lives within the semi-tropical suburbs of Central Florida. A true horror writer by heart, he wrote his first story at the tender age of ten. The look on the teacher’s face when she read it was priceless. However, his classmates loved it! Ben has had short stories published in various magazines such as Shroud Magazine and The Ashen Eye. He also has a short story appearing in the anthology Tales From The Lake Volume 2, which will be published by Crystal Lake Publishing in mid-2015. When he isn’t writing, he dabbles in martial arts, philosophy and specializes in I.T. security. He’s always looking to find new ways to infect reader’s imaginations. Ben blames Arthur Machen, H.P. Lovecraft, Jorge Luis Borges, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Stephen King for his addiction, and his need to push the envelope of fiction.