Thanks
for stopping by Strange Candy reviews on your blog tour, Jeff. Can
you tell us about the blog tour and your book?
Thanks
for having me, Jo-Anne! For the tour, I’m writing about 20 posts
about ghosts for different book blogs around the web. I’m also
giving away The
Haunted Library, an ebook collection of works by
dozens of authors, as well as a Kindle 3 with WiFi and possibly a
Kindle DX (more on that later in the tour…).
The
Haunted E-book is the story of a librarian who discovers a
haunted book, with a ghost that awakens when you read it.
What
inspired The Haunted E-book?
I’ve
been reading and thinking a lot about the evolution of books over
time, from scrolls to codexes, and then mechanical printing
technology, and now ebooks in the 21st century. I’m
interested in how that changes what books are and how we relate to
them, and how people share stories across space and time, even huge
gulfs of space and time.
Also,
I’ve been wanting to write a ghost story, but I wanted to do
something original with ghosts that was at least a little different
from what people have read before.
Have
you visited any haunted houses etc. for research or fun?
I
like the fake haunted houses that lots of people put up around
Halloween. I haven’t gone out of my way to visit haunted houses,
but my wife and I once heard a disembodied voice say “Shoo, shoo,
shoo” right in our ears when we were staying at a friend’s house.
We didn’t mention it to them until they’d moved out of the
house!
Do
you have a favourite ghost story?
That
would be hard to pick! I read “The Red Room” by H.G. Wells when
I was a kid, and I still think it’s one of the best and scariest.
Could
you tell us a little about your main characters?
Dee
is a librarian who’s had a pretty unhappy life and ended up sort of
stuck in this little town for years. Madison is a college student
who has some scars of her own. They’re people trying to escape
their lives through reading lots of fiction. Then the fiction turns
around on them because of Jonah, the ghost who wrote The Haunted
E-book. He essentially comes out of the book and starts haunting
them.
Is
there a specific genre you'd like to try and write?
I’d
like to write some historical fiction, but I’m a stickler about
trying to get details right, and there’s a tremendous amount of
research that goes into good historical fiction.
Was
there a defining moment when you knew you wanted to be a writer?
Basically
as soon as I knew people could do that for a job. I think I was in
first grade when I made that decision.
What
was the last book you read?
Right
now I’m reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David
Sedaris.
Do
you feel that ebooks can reach a wider range of people than
paperback?
Definitely.
E-readers like the Kindle and Nook are still new. Eventually
they’ll be as cheap as cell phones and iPods. Ebooks are also
extremely cheap to distribute, so authors can charge a low price for
their books. Low price and global digital distribution make a book
accessible to many more readers.
(Some
blog tour details)
Commenting
on this interview within seven days enters you for The
Haunted E-book Tour
Grand Prizes, including The Haunted Library and a Kindle (or two!).
Your
comment also enters you to win a pair of ebooks from Jo-Anne (The
Haunted E-book
and Dark
Tomorrows)
according to her usual giveaway rules.
Thanks
for following the tour! And thanks to Jo-Anne for hosting today.
Let's make it interesting. Answer this question: What is your favourite ghost story?
(Don't forget to leave your email in you comment)
J.L.
Bryan
studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at
Oxford, with a focus on the English Renaissance and the Romantic
period. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He is the author of
five novels and one short-story collection. He enjoys remixing
elements of paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, horror and science
fiction into new kinds of stories. His new novel is The
Haunted E-book.
The sequel to his novel Jenny
Pox
will be available by summer 2011.
