Having been granted permission to come aboard, I would like to wish a hearty ahoy to the crew and visitors of The Whimsical Herald. I’m the harbor master, Elizabeth Fortin, and I’ll be hosting a celebration voyage for your favorite Mistress of Madness, Captain P. Mattern, as she launches The Forest of Bleeding Trees with her son and coauthor, M. Mattern, horrific fun for even the most blood-thirsty pirate among you!
 
Vampires, werewolves, and demi-gods, oh my!
 
Thanks for having me sit at the Captain’s Table, P. Mattern! I have read your exciting tale and have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind enlightening us.
 
1. So Johnny seems pretty uncomplicated for a guy with two hot chicks after him. What do you think it is about Johnny that makes the girls fall for him?

I think Johnny’s ingenuousness is a lure, his sincerity shines through as well as his devotion to his family. Because of these qualities they tend to overlook his shortcomings, e.g., he doesn’t seem to know what birth control is. ;)
 
2. Johnny’s family seems very close. How important do you think this theme is to the storyline?

This theme of family loyalty is key and part of my own frame of reference. I grew up around salt of the earth, nonpretentious folks, fiercely loyal to family, neighbors and friends. Loyalty not only adds to Johnny’s appeal as a character but explains his motivations and is the source of some of his conflicts in the novel.

3. The Forest of Bleeding Trees has several subplots. Did it make the complex world building of your story more difficult to write?

I am a pantser and just the willing scribe to my muses, so characters and subplots just kind of showed up when they were supposed to. In some instances I was kept guessing how they would eventually fit into the main plotline of The Forest of Bleeding Trees.

4. The species in your story are unique, and though they share some resemblance to more traditional creatures from fiction, they have unexpected traits and traditions. How do you come up with such interesting characters?

Thank you! I harvest creatures from nightmares and daymares and strive not to be too ‘trope’. I am always second guessing by asking myself,” Am I buying this? Would a reader buy this?”  Even if a creature is fantastical it has to be believable.

5. Up until the very end, the reader doesn’t know for sure what’s going to happen. Did you know when you started your story how it would end?

Nope. Actually at one point the novel had three different endings. Through working with my incredibly adept Editor at Tell-Tale Publishing E. Fortin The Forest of Bleeding Trees ended up with what I am convinced is the best “knock your socks off’ ending it could possibly have.

6. Obviously this is a horror novel. What make you want to write horror?

I am sure that some of my own life experiences have inspired me to write horror. Life is kind of like a Fun House, only its not really that fun and scary things jump out at us when we least expect it. Fear is a very powerful emotional reaction. Nothing else seems to affect us in the same heart pounding, gut wrenching way. Horror also can include humor and I find that aspect of it very entertaining.

7. Do you prefer psychological scary or gory scary? Why?

Oh wow, psychological hands down. I grew up watching and reading Alfred Hitchcock on TV and in story collections. Sometimes the most subtle nuances can deliver the best terror. I am a big chicken when it comes to gore in horror though I do appreciate it in the writings of others. And I do include it, but I will skip over it when I read it even in my own books. I peek through my fingers when I watch a horror movie!

8. Who is your favorite horror novelist, and why?

Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker are at the top of my list, I love the poetry of Poe, Daphne duMaurier  includes a lot of psychological horror in her novels, Shirley Jackson rocks and Clive Barker is scary. I also enjoy many Indie authors. James Longmore is a favorite as is K.C.Harper and Jay Michael Wright II. My son and cowriter M. Mattern can write a mean horror story too.

9. What do you think every good horror novel MUST have if it’s going to be a GREAT horror novel?

Pacing, clarity and conflict are key. And if I get ‘fooled’ somehow I am delighted!

10. Do you see a sequel in the future for TFOBT?

Absolutely! The area in West Virginia where Johnny lives is honeycombed with underground abandoned mines. Below ground level a new kind of evil is brewing.  

 1.      A family history of Celtic Magic figures prominently in main character Cathleen O’Brien’s background. What drew you to this theme?

As a young Italian girl going to Parochial schools, my head was filled with ceremony, mystery and a litany of the wondrous deeds of every mortal that performed miraculous acts.  St. Patrick was definitely no piker in my eyes when it came to things magical, no matter that his works were deemed sanctified by the good sisters trying to dissuade me from such heretical views. Our school always marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and I wore my green shamrock and green sash as proudly as any red headed lassie! 

I have never lost my affinity for things Irish. I’ve always been charmed by its people’s history and gorgeous countryside. I am especially attracted to an ancient culture that embraces Faeries and naughty Leprechauns, magic and folk tales that Chaucer would love.  The castles that dot this beautiful land add greatly to its mystical and haunting allure.  How could I not love the magic of the Blarney Stone as a writer?

2.      Did  you enjoy the skillful world building in ,’Blood of the Dragon’, and what tips do you have for emerging authors attempting to build their own worlds?
 
 I think I spend a good bit of my life rummaging about inside my head.  When I conceived the third book of my series, “Blood of the Dragon”, I wanted my protagonist, Cathleen O’Brien to find herself in an exotic, unfamiliar place.  Her home in the rugged mountain forests of Appalachia were too much like a fortress to my idea of vulnerability.  Hence, the historic setting replete with a foreign or transplanted culture; China Town, San Francisco.I didn’t think the present day sprawl of China Town would create the shadowy, alien ambience I needed.  I have visited those streets many times and the only scare I ever experienced was the smoke coming off my charge cards.

Cathleen was put deep into the China Town of old, the historic town that teemed with immigrants, bulged at the seams with gambling parlors, brothels, opium dens and the usual assortment of gangs, pimps, pick-pockets and corrupt politicians.  This China Town was buried in 1906 along with unknown, unnamed thousands of people.  For Cathleen, I reinvented that world for her and for my reader. 

I would recommend any emerging author rely on solid research to support your underpinnings of your world-vision.  Then, stretch out the facts like silly putty until they take on the look and feel of your created environment.

3.      At what point in your writing career did you ‘feel’ like an author?
 
Feeling like an author, is a concept I still struggle with as I read some of my favorite writer’s work. I have always been in awe of the perfect choice of a word or phrase.  I am currently writing two books in different genres so I guess I’m either an author, or avoiding housework. 

4.      Attention to detail  and your inclusion of many mysterious cultural elements in   ‘Blood of the Dragon’ engage the reader from the get go—how much research went into your most recent release?

While I don’t totally ascribe to the old adage of writing about what you know, there is definitely some value in the level of comfort it affords the writer.  For me, I am an old and frequent visitor to the City by the Bay, finding San Francisco full of diversity and color.  I have drawn upon personal experience to recapture some of the ambience of the crowded, smelly, noisy streets of China Town and instilled those impressions into my story’s many flavors. By necessity, I did some significant research into the history of the first Chinese dynasty as well as the folklore surrounding Chinese vampires. All research helps with color and helps glue together plot description. 

5.      Just as your own books are inspirational to other authors, what authors have inspired your own writing?
 
Being an eclectic reader opens my imagination like that famous box of candy where you never know what you are going to get!  I love Poe and still cringe.  I read anything by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; together or separately for they are both masters of suspense.  Robert Parker, Cormac McCarty, Wilbur Smith, Amy Tan; each has focused on the human condition more brightly than I could see alone. I believe my love of Sci-fi and fantasy fueled my efforts to move in that direction, but Ann Rice helped “put some teeth” into my work, so to speak! I will always love the Harry Potter series and admire J.K. Rowlings’ well-crafted world-building. 

6.     When did you first begin telling stories? Who encouraged and supported you on your journey to becoming an author?

One of my earliest memories of storytelling is of my dad giving my twin brother and me a bath. He was telling us one of his remarkable stories of the adventures of his invented hero.  This was a tiny Italian boy who was constantly in need of rescuing by his best friend, a giant black bird. I guess at three years of age, my father planted the seeds of storytelling while cleaning behind my hungry ears!   As I grew and bath time became a solo gig, my parents both encouraged me to write. Over the years as I expanded from poetry into articles and essays, their support gave me the courage to peel back my imagination a little more to see what little treasures I could unearth. Naturally, family and friends encourage my work, but it’s still the new Quarto fan that keeps me dedicated to the dream. 

7.      Tell us about your writing process? Any quirks? How often do you write?

I always, always, keep a dictionary on my desk, a notebook on my left, and pens everywhere to hand, before I begin anything.  Discipline of form begins and ends there.  I seldom work directly from an outline; preferring instead to commit my characters to the notepad as they make their appearance in my story.  I also note their characteristics e.g. hair, eyes, mouth.  Important plot shifts are marked down along with page and chapter references to guide me later.  This is a rogue approach to writing, but it works for my brand of thought process.  It has its pitfalls if I’m not alert though.  Plot twists can trip me up when I’m not paying close enough attention to the flow of action.  Guess my approach is quirky come to think about it!   I write every day; starting at 6:00 a.m. until around 7:30 and then off and on as I can make the time. My personal elixir?  Coffee!  I enjoy the solitude of what I call my “Willow Room” where my PC sits humming and ready for a new adventure. 

8.      Is there a certain type of scene that you find more difficult to write? How would you describe  boyfriend Jason and Cathleen’s relationship?

I am comfortable with any scene if it conveys my character’s situation and frame of mind for the reader.  To me, every word needs to be a mirror reflecting the many faces and passions of being human.  I just finished the first draft of a rape scene in a Paranormal Romance Thriller I’m writing.  It felt right to use the words to describe the horror of the experience, especially since I knew this would not be an act of violence that would go unpunished. 

Cathleen and Jason have moved from deeply attracted, to feeling sexy around one another.  I needed to let them grow into that comfortable and romantic state and was reminded by my editor, it was normal for heaven’s sake!  They respect and admire one another as strong individuals.  Cathleen has said that Jason “gets her”.  Jason understands Cathleen is a witch on a mission. He’s ready to let her give an order and man enough to follow it. Strong woman, strong man; perfect partners.

9.      Plotter or pantser?
 
Finding the plot of a story is like kicking up a clod of dirt, and unearthing a diamond.  You know you have something really good in your sights, but it needs refinement, cleaning, weighing and measuring, before it amounts to more than a dirty stone. I like to begin with a title that buzzes me like a mosquito. I think about what that triggers in me when I say it to myself.  If it comes back like an echo loaded with ideas reverberating around my head, I’ll let it take hold.  Guess I drive my books by the seat of my pants; fast, furious, fun and frantic!  The last one’s for my editor! 

10.   What is your best piece of advice for aspiring writers?

No one who ever says, “I want to become a writer” should ever begin the process without first reading everything from the classics to the Bible.  Seriously.  I have personally gone through cycles of reading nothing but Science Fiction, moving on to Romance (a definite correlation there) then on to Paranormal Thrillers, Mysteries, Historic Fiction and so on.  I like to read two books at the same time now, mixing genres for the sake of variety and time.  So many books, so little time!  

Besides reading voraciously, an aspiring writer needs to be patient with her muse and when it comes to the final draft of a work, do one more and be ruthless!  Not every word is sacred, only those that bind and tell the story.  And for the love of the gods, learn from your editor!

11.   What projects are you currently working on? Can we have a teaser quote from one of your current works in progress?
 
I am continuing my “Witch of Appalachia” series with book four, “Bringing Forth the Dead”.  I mentioned I am also working on a Paranormal Romance Thriller to keep my muse busy and out of mischief!  

From “Bringing Forth the Dead”, Book IV
 
     Cathleen and Jason talked in lowered tones even though no one was about.  The fireplace crackled in the background, fragrant smells rising off the burning pine cones Flannery had added earlier.
    They moved onto the oriental hearth rug, sitting close together watching the flames.  Jason shifted onto his back, laying his head in Cathleen’s lap.  She leaned down and they were kissing deeply, his hand gently, but firmly keeping her head in place.
     They were too engrossed in their passionate interlude to notice a dark face beginning to take shape, leering out at them from the swaying flames.
     Jason had bent her back until they were both lying down on the carpet. Cathleen laid her head on Jason’s chest, her arm wrapped around him, a leg flung over his.  The only sounds, their whispered words and the snapping and crackling of the logs as they burned.
     Cathleen had begun to drift off and Jason was already breathing heavily. She moved her foot away from the hearth, feeling the heat had grown too intense.  Somewhere in her floating mind, she realized this wasn’t a natural occurrence and she disengaged herself slowly from Jason’s arms to sit up.
     The soothing scent of the pine cones and firewood was replaced with a heavier, sharper smell that hung in the air around them.  She looked into the stone hearth a few feet away and its dancing fire for an answer.
     The face of the Necromancer smiled back at her through the jagged tongues of fire.

​After learning of the disappearance of an ancient Chinese artifact, “Blood of the Red Dragon”, Cathleen O’Brien accepts her next investigative assignment from the mysterious Dr. Chung Wu.

She must secure the statue that holds the Perverted Blood Magic of the Artist, Feng Xi. If he controls the statue, his power over all natural life in the first realm, would be godlike and unstoppable. 

To complicate her search, Cathleen discovers her family is pledged to render one service upon request, to the beautiful Vampire, Lady Bao. She covets the statue of the Red Dragon to enhance her own powers and to bring about the ultimate destruction of her Master, Feng Xi.
​
If Cathleen can’t discover the hiding place of the deadly statue, this realm will belong to a Vampire or a demented Wizard!  Either way, she’ll first lose two people she loves and probably her own mortal existence.

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