Freaky Franky
by William Blackwell
Date of Publication: December 3rd 2017
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Cover Artist: Johnny Breeze
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Santa Muerte followers
discover the horrifying consequences of worshipping with evil intentions.
BLURB
When an
enigmatic town doctor saves the life of Anisa Worthington’s dying son, she
abandons Christianity in favor of devotion to the cult of Santa Muerte or Saint
Death. Some believe the mysterious skeleton saint will protect your loved ones;
help in matters of the heart; provide abundant happiness, health, wealth and
justice. But others, including the Catholic Church, call it blasphemous, evil
and satanic.
Anisa
introduces Saint Death to troubled Catholic friend Helen Randon and strange
things begin happening. One of Helen’s enemies is brutally murdered and
residents of Montague, a peaceful little town in Prince Edward Island, begin
plotting to rid the Bible belt of apostates.
Anisa
suspects Helen is perverting the good tenets of Santa Muerte but, before she
can act, a terrible nightmare propels her to the Dominican Republic in search
of Freaky Franky, her long-lost and unstable brother, who mysteriously
disappeared without a trace twenty years ago.
To her
horror, Anisa learns Freaky Franky is also worshiping Santa Muerte with evil
intentions. As a fanatical and hell-bent lynch mob tightens the noose,
mysterious murders begin occurring all around Anisa. Unsure about who’s an
enemy and who’s an ally, she’s thrust into a violent battle to save her life as
well as the lives of her unpredictable friends and brother.
Author
Info
William
Blackwell studied journalism at Calgary’s Mount Royal University and English
literature at Vancouver’s University of British Columbia. He worked as a print
journalist for many years before becoming an author. He has written over
seventeen novels, mainly in the horror genre. Currently living on an acreage in
Prince Edward Island, Blackwell loves to travel and write dark fiction.
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with
William Blackwell . . .
How would you
describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
Raw and graphic, clear and concise. Trained as a
journalist, I’m not a fan of overly descriptive, verbose or flowery prose.
Before sending a manuscript to my editor, I edit my own words ad nauseam for
clarity and brevity. I love Earnest Hemingway’s simple writing style; it
communicates to audiences from all walks of life—from elementary school
children to scholarly doctorate degree holders.
What mindset or
routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether
you are working on a project or just free writing)?
Whether I’m working on a project or just scribbling
ideas, I need to have a clear head. This means little partying, lots of sleep
and a healthy diet. Once I set a schedule, I’m very disciplined. First thing in
the morning, I check emails, phone and social media messages. I respond to the
important ones and then turn the phone and all social media off. I don’t like
being interrupted when I work. With a hot coffee at my side, I get started. If
I’m working on a novel, I knock out at least 2000 words before leaving the
office—whether it takes two or twelve hours. I used to write at night but found
I couldn’t turn my head off when it came time for bed.
Do you take your
character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the
way through to the page? Do you people-watch to help with development? Or do
you build upon your character during story creation?
I definitely strive for multi-dimensional characters.
Before I read Stephen King’s On Writing,
I cranked out three or four novels without a lot of backstory to my characters.
King says everyone has a story, a past that shapes their personalities, but
there is a fine line between boring the readers with it, and expertly weaving
it into the narrative to help readers identify with the characters. With the
main characters, I try to weave their stories into the novel to incorporate
shades of gray. The trick is to be able to do this without being accused of
info dump. While I do build upon my characters as the story progresses, at
least with lead protagonists, I try to get their backstories dispensed with
early, so readers can understand and identify with their motivations. Many of
my characters contain elements of real-life people.
Have you found
yourself bonding with any particular character? If so which one(s)?
In my new horror novel Freaky Franky, Franklin Reiger is one of my favorite characters. Freaky
Franky is more than an evil character. He’s multi-dimensional. As a child, he
witnesses the deaths of many close family members, and eventually believes he’s
cursed. Everyone around him dies and perhaps reluctantly he decides to give a
few of them a little nudge. But, guild-ridden and regretful, he embarks down a
landmine-laced path for redemption and rebirth. I found myself feeling sorry
for him toward the end of the novel.
Do you have a
character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of research and writing a
lot of blog posts on sleep disorders, including lucid dreaming, sleep
paralysis, sleepwalking, night terrors, even sexsomnia, where a person has sex,
sometimes with an unwilling partner, during sleep and wakes up with absolutely
no recollection of it. In my mind’s eye, I envision a down-on-his-luck male
protagonist whose life is unravelling because he suffers from one—if not all—of
these disorders.
Have you ever felt
that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what?
If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
The something inside me that I can’t control is my
creativity. And my nightmares. If I go
too long between novels, I start feeling a little jittery and unsatisfied.
Almost like withdrawal symptoms. Out of nowhere, story ideas and characters
spring up in my head, demanding to be born. Many of my novels are inspired by
my nightmares. Sometimes I wake up with a complete story outline in mind and
quickly write it down before it disappears. The way I see it, the only cure for
my writing addiction is to put pen to paper, create another novel, give birth
to and immortalize a cast of interesting and often horrifying characters. I
don’t think I chose the horror genre. It chose me. I guess there are worse
things to be addicted to.
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