You can do horror two ways: The long, drawn-out, I'm-never-going-to-sleep-again way Stephen King prefers, or a fast, unsettling creeper that ends before you want it to that Joe DiCicco wrote in his novella Her Final Sleep.
A sleepy New York state town is shaken up by a new, all-female metal band called Her Final Sleep. There's something so alluring and dangerous about the secretive group, and another local band (all male) wants to know what.
But can they try to get on HFS's coattails when they're falling apart before they've begun?
It's a story of hidden, ancient evil and of rock n' roll. Perfect mix!
Horror novels are meant to do one thing: scare us. The good ones do that, but the great ones also drag us in and never let us go.
Like a King novel, HFS is one of those that drags you into its dark parlour and invites you to stay awhile. The characters range from annoying (Jeff Clade) to enticing (Sasha Cody), and each make the novella what it is: a dark masterpiece of death and unnatural hunger.
Why read Her Final Sleep? Because when you mix vampires and rock music, it can't get any better! Because you, reader, will fall under the Sire's spell, too...
5/5--excellent work!
Purchase Her Final Sleep via:
Amazon (KINDLE)
INTERVIEW:
1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?
I didn’t really decide to become a writer, I’ve just sort of always done it, since probably around the second grade.
2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?
Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, E.A. Poe, Lovecraft are all among my favourite authors. I’ve had an interest in horror and science fiction from a young age and those are what I mostly enjoy today.
3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Her Final Sleep?
The inspiration mainly came from my short stint as a struggling musician, as well as my observations of how female musicians are often seem only for their aesthetic value and often times their musical prowess is overlooked. I thought to myself “What if beautiful female musicians were to be hiding something terribly evil?”
4. Why did you choose vampires as your main paranormal focus?
Vampires have been glamourized for the past hundred years or so, and the idea of beautiful vampiric women who victimize people just sort of felt right. As stated above, I feel many female musicians are judged on their looks and not their musical skill and I had the idea that what if that innocence and beauty were hiding something? In the future I may focus more on vampires as they originally were in Eastern European folklore, more like hideous corpses than beautiful creatures.
5. Were any of the characters based on real people? Any real musicians?
None of the characters were based on any one actual person, but many of them were based on amalgamations of several actual people.
6. Are you a fan of rock and metal music like your characters? Who are your favorite artists?
I am. Some of my favourites are Zeppelin, The Doors, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Frank Zappa, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Grateful Dead and Electric Wizard to name a few.
7. Can you tell readers about your previous work?
Well I have a short story available to read for free on innersins.com from the February 2013 issue about a man who lives alone in a ratty little apartment with his cat, who discovers something sinister living just upstairs. I also have two short stories available on Amazon, only $0.99 for both together, about a beautiful, but deeply evil creature that lives in Pine Lake, New York, the same town that Her Final Sleep is set in.
8. What would you do if you found out vampires were real?
In a way it would ruin the whole mystique behind the legend, as there would almost certainly be a medical and scientific explanation behind it.
9. Will we see another book like this from you in the future?
I absolutely want to touch on the subject of vampiric creatures again, though I likely will write them to be much more grotesque and horrific.
10. Would you like to see Her Final Sleep in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?
A movie would be cool, so long as I got to oversee its making lol. I don’t feel television would work at all, as it would completely ruin the atmosphere I have envisioned and attempted to convey in the story. As for actors and actresses, were it up to me, I would definitely opt for lesser-known or even unkown people, as I feel they work much better with the realism of the movie as opposed to well-established actors or actresses.
11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?
I really can’t say at this point. Hopefully still writing what I love.
12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?
I really don’t know. I love writing and have always done it. And so long as I draw breath, I always will.
13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?
I am currently working on another story which will be either a novel or a novella, about a father and son hunting trip that turns into a life or death struggle when they find themselves being hunted by a serial killer deep in the woods.
14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?
Stephen King, of course. P.K. Dick, August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, just to name a few.
15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?
I love to cook and consider myself to be fairly good at it lol.
I am an animal and nature lover and hold a degree in environmental conservation.
I was horrified of all horror movies growing up, but have long since come to love them.
Find Joe DiCicco online via:
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