Interview with a Monster

Thought for the day:  Stowy Jenkins is a deliciously vile character, but thank goodness, we the readers have the good fortune of encountering him from a safe distance. [me]

[image courtesy of morguefile]

A few years ago, as a participant in Yolanda Renee's blog tour to promote her book The Snowman, I had the dubious honor of using my handy-dandy Flight of Fancy gizmo to go to the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska, to interview the creepy-as-hell serial killer Stowie Jenkins, AKA the Snowman. (You can find that earlier interview HERE.)

Well, this time, I didn't sign up to be an official part of her current tour to promote her newest book Murder, Just Because, but it's my pleasure to help her unofficially, because I love HER and I love her book. But ain't no way I'm going back to interview that psycho. Nuh-uh. It was scary enough interviewing that psychopath when he was behind bars, but now, after ten years in the joint, he's escaped, and he's even scarier than before.

[image courtesy of unsplash]

So I did what any reasonable writer would do.

I returned to the handy-dandy Gizmo store and purchased a special attachment for my Flight of Fancy gizmo. It allows me to be... invisible. Ta DA! Pretty smart for an old broad, huh?

Besides,  there was no need for me to do an interview this time, anyway, because professional journalist Denise Cochran already did that in the book. In her family's secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere, Alaska. (Yeah, she's a lot braver than I am.)

But, ya see, the actual give-and-take of the interview isn't included in the book, so I'm gonna take another Flight of Fancy trip just for you guys, so I can observe the interview unseen and tell you all about it. (You're welcome.)

And awaaaaaay we go...

******

Wow! This is some cabin! Cozy and homey, with a nice fire burning in the fireplace. But where the heck is Denise? The creep's over there sitting in a classy-looking wing-backed chair, as if he owned the place... and a number of cameras are pointed in his direction... but no Denise. So what gives? She must be one smart cookie. Obviously smarter than I am...

DENISE'S VOICE: Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you today, Mr. Jenkins, but I'm curious. Would you mind telling our audience why you agreed to it?

ME: (rolling my eyes) Oh puhleeeze. The creep's a publicity slut. Duh.

STOWY:  (grinning into one of the cameras)  You can call me Stowy... or Stone.  Mr. Jenkins was my old man's name.   (He sweeps the room with ice cold blue eyes, pausing for a beat too long as he looks in my direction. The hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention and a chill dances up my spine.  He can't see me, he can't see me, he can't see me... can he? Then he looks back into the camera, allowing me to breathe again.)  Thank you for hosting me,  Ms. Cochran, but I must say, as much as I appreciate being here in your lovely cabin, I'm more than a little disappointed you aren't actually here with me. I’ve always admired your beauty and your honesty. It would've been so nice to see you... (He grins again.) in the... flesh. 

DENISE'S VOICE: Yeah, well, I appreciate that, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. No point in taking any chances. So why did you agree to come? 

STOWY: (shrugging) I suppose I can't blame you for not wanting to entertain the Snowman face-to-face, but like I said, I admire you, so I would never hurt you. (He pauses for a moment before continuing. Then he gazes into a camera with a pseudo sincere aw shucks look on his face.) I agreed to talk to you so I could assure your devoted listeners that I mean them no harm. My only quarrel is with those people who did me wrong.

DENISE'S VOICE: Is that so? And how exactly have any of those people wronged you, Stowy?

STOWY: (eyes widening and voice rising) Are you kidding? They sent me to prison! For ten years of unmitigated hell. No man should have to endure that kind of treatment, especially me!

DENISE'S VOICE:  Wait a second. Let me get this straight. Isn't it an established fact that you killed those women?

STOWY: Well, technically, yes, but my mother tortured and molested me for years, and she's the real murderer here, not me. I think of myself as more of an... artist. 

DENISE'S VOICE: I see. Are you saying your mother controlled you... that she made you kill? 

STOWY: (with a humorless snort) Not at all. The stupid cow wasn't even aware of my hobby, but when I was nine years old, I saw her kill my father. She fed him her special chicken soup, and then she just stood there watching while he convulsed and died. Then she winked at me, tucked him into bed as if he were merely sleeping, and then waited an hour before calling the paramedics.

DENISE'S VOICE: I see...

STOWY: No, you DON'T see! (He leans toward the camera, his eyes wide and unblinking.)  I'm telling you the old bat was a homicidal maniac! She killed Winnie's mother the same way. (He sits back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest.) She's the one who should have been in prison. Not me.    
          

DENISE'S VOICE:   This is all news to me. Did any of this information come out at your trial?

STOWY:  HA! What trial? There was no trial. That was a kangaroo court. A travesty of justice! They put me away for life, and then added ten more life  sentences on top of that. I was railroaded.

DENISE'S VOICE:  But your mother is dead now, right?

STOWY:  (Looking straight at me, he grins broadly, his eyes and white teeth sparkling in the bright lights.) Yesssss, she is.


ME: (With a sudden overpowering urge to run out the door and into the Alaskan wilderness... or at least, back home to do the laundry.) Holy crap.  Can he see me? I hiccup and he furrows his brow in my direction. Shaking, I fumble in my pocket for the gizmo control. Where in the...
                    

STOWY:  And I must say, it was one of my most enjoyable kills. 


ME: I'm outta here!!! (I just remembered... my fella's in desperate need of  clean socks...) Sorry, but if you want to know how the rest of the interview went, you'll have to read the book and figure it out for yourselves.

******************

Murder, Just Because

Short Blurb:

The Snowman is back, and as his bloody rampage continues, terrified Alaskans increasingly doubt Quaid’s abilities. In a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, Jenkins starts picking off the people in Quaid’s life… and drawing closer to the most important person in Quaid’s life...his wife. The Snowman’s cruelty knows no bounds,  but the object of his hate knows no fear!

Tagline:

The Snowman’s cruelty knows no bounds, but the object of his hate knows no fear.

Bio:

Looking for a new adventure, Renee recently moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A storyteller from a very early age, an avid reader, and with an education and background in business and accounting, becoming a writer only made sense. And writing mysteries pure logic.

More titles from Yolanda:

MURDER, JUST BECAUSE

LINKS

Buy Link Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081XHNX69/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Buy Link Smashwords

          https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1008496

Author Links:

          Blog: Defending the Pen

          http://yolandarenee.blogspot.com/

AmazonPage:

https://www.amazon.com/YolandaRenée/e/B008HPQ5PO/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

 Twitter:

https://twitter.com/yolandarenee

 Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Murder-Madness-Love-202510393095051/?ref=hl

 Email: yolandarenee@hotmail.com

******************
If you enjoy chilling thrilling books, look no farther. This one will definitely fill the bill. So, for that matter, will all of Ms. Renee's books. While you're hunkered down during this pandemic, you might as well cower under the covers with a good book or two, eh? (But pssstt! It's best to read them during the day...)

                         Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

P.S. I  hope y'all are doing well. Turns out, I WILL be taking the rest of this month off, and I WILL be writing. After reading my poor neglected manuscript, I decided it's just might be worth finishing, after all. So I'll see you guys next month. Take care, y'all!

Sweating in an Alaskan Cooler

Thought for the day: Books can describe the deepest depths of human depravity, but we the readers have the good fortune to read about them from a safe distance. [me]

In support of the lovely Yolanda Renee's newest book release, The Snowman, I'm taking a flight of fancy to the maximum security prison of the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska, to visit its most notorious inmate, serial killer Stowie Jenkins, AKA the Snowman...

ME: Oops, I must have screwed up. This can't be the right place. My Flight of Fancy gizmo must've slipped a cog again. Maybe if I slap it here and smack these buttons—

SNOWMAN: Don't be stupid, lady. I'm Stone Jenkins. Welcome.

ME: (nervously reaching in pocket to check for Glock) Where are you?

SNOWMAN: Behind you.

ME: (yelping and whipping around way too fast for an old broad) Where are the cells, and why the hell aren't you in one?

SNOWMAN: (shrugging) I'm confined to this area. It isn't great, but it's the best Mommy could do.

ME: (looking around) Holy crap. My first apartment wasn't this big. I guess your mother had something to do with the clothes you're wearing, too?

SNOWMAN: (fingering his silk shirt appreciatively) That's right. I have delicate skin, and she didn't want me to get a rash.

ME: (shaking head) This isn't at all what I expected. I thought you'd be in the deepest darkest bowels of some vile penal hellhole.

SNOWMAN: (laughing) How gauche! As you can see, my mother's money is keeping me quite comfortable. Oh, please forgive my bad manners. Would you care for a glass of wine?

ME: (licking parched lips) I'm not thirsty.

SNOWMAN: (pouring himself a glass of wine) Suit yourself. I trust you have some questions?

ME: A couple. Do you regret killing those women? They were so young—

SNOWMAN: My only regret is not being able to continue with my artwork while I'm in this disgusting place. Those women were blessed to be chosen by me, because we created one-of-a-kind masterpieces together. (sighing) Sketchbooks and oil paint are fine for some artists, but it takes a genius to realize the most exquisite tools are blood and the human body.

ME: (taking a step back) Some people think you're insane. Matter of fact, I expected you to be wearing a strait jacket and padlocked into a chair.

SNOWMAN: (laughing) Like Hannibal Lector? How droll. There's a fine line between insanity and genius, and I'm clearly on the Mensa side of the line. It takes a brilliant mind and a keen sense of beauty to appreciate my work. (cocking his head and looking at me like he's regarding a side of beef) Have you seen any of my photographs?

ME: I prefer the Old Masters.

SNOWMAN: It was too much to hope for that you shared my vision. Your loss. Anything else?

ME: I'm still trying to digest the fact that you don't regret torturing and killing those women.

SNOWMAN: Well, I do have one other regret. I so wanted to make that pain-in-the-ass detective pay. (smiling) But my vision for him is as strong as ever, and I still hope to realize it some day. He's a marvelous specimen. I might even turn his hair into a hat... what do you think? I think his ponytail would look much better on me.

ME: I think you're going to spend the rest of your life in this so-called prison.

SNOWMAN: I wouldn't count on that. Genius cannot be denied. (strokes chin, considering) You look pretty good for an older woman. Much better than Mommy. Maybe my next series of art should focus on older women.

ME: (taking another step backwards) Well, I'd better be going.

SNOWMAN: Do you take a blood thinner? That might change the patterns, but I could make it work. Might create more of a lacy effect...

ME: (frantically punching buttons on the Flight of Fancy gadget) Gotta go!

SNOWMAN: (in a gradually fading voice) If you plan to return, you'd better make it soon, because I don't plan on being here much longer.

ME: Whew! I'm back home now. (looking around) There must be a bottle of wine around here somewhere...

*****************************************

It’s a pleasure to be participating in author Yolanda Renée’s THE SNOWMAN Blog Tour through MC Book Tours today.

This is a prequel to the author’s Detective Steven Quaid Mysteries. This story tells of Steven's first case as a rookie detective. It takes place 10 years before the events in MURDER, MADNESS & LOVE, the first book in the series.

The author is offering a tour-wide giveaway featuring
both print and eBook copies from her series. More information on the giveaway is listed below.

◊ THE SNOWMAN
◊ by Yolanda Renée
◊ Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
◊ Publisher: TRACE Enterprises
◊ Series: Detective Quaid Mystery
◊ Novella
◊ Print & eBooks
◊ Contains explicit sex & violence

It takes a true artist to pursue his victims in the art of seduction, and Stowy Jenkins is no exception, especially with blood as his medium.

          Stowy Jenkins, aka, Stone, and as Alaskans refer to him, the Snowman, is a true artist.
His muse, Gigi, is the ultimate inspiration for his painting. Her rejection inspires him to use a very unusual medium...blood.

          While art may be his passion, the taste for blood is his obsession, and multiple murders, the result.

          Rookie, Detective Steven Quaid, is no fan of the Snowman’s murderous exhibitions. A twisted and deadly relationship bond the two men and neither knows who will come out of it alive.

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The other books in the Detective Quaid Series include:

MURDER, MADNESS & LOVE (Book 1)

          A killer plays cat and mouse with a young widow against the snowy backdrop of an Alaskan winter. Branded a black widow after the suspicious death of her millionaire husband, Sarah Palmer flees Seattle for Anchorage. However, the peace and quiet she hoped to enjoy in her hometown is soon shattered. A killer is murdering Sarah look-alikes on the 14th of each month, taunting Sarah with a valentine of evidence. After her experiences in Seattle, Sarah is slow to go to the police. When she finally does, she finds Detective Steven Quaid—Anchorage P D’s hotshot investigator—has not only heard the rumors, he believes them. Worse, her aloofness and composure only confirm his suspicions. Is Sarah a victim or a very skilled manipulator?

MEMORIES OF MURDER (Book 2)

World damnation is a psychotic man’s goal, but two obstacles stand in his way, greed and a dedicated detective.

Catching Alaska’s most notorious serial killer as a rookie made Detective Steven Quaid a hero, but falling in love with the victim of his last case tarnishes that status. While attempting to repair both his personal and professional life, he stumbles upon an unusual case–and an even more extraordinary foe: a man who believes he is Lucifer. An insidious man who delivers Quaid the ultimate choice: save his fiancée from an assassin’s bullet or stop the sacrifice of a young girl.

MURDER & OBSESSION (Book 3)

Flames
burn between a hardboiled cop and a gifted artist, but soon extinguish as another man’s obsession ignites into an inferno of desire, driving him to destroy the object of his madness.

Detective Steven Quaid is ready for new challenges as Anchorage's top detective, but not until he marries the woman of his dreams on New Year's Eve. Determined to give Sarah the wilderness honeymoon she desires, he turns his grandfather's cabin into the perfect honeymoon retreat. After the final details are complete, Steven treks into the mountains to hunt. On his return to the cottage, instead of Sarah, he is greeted by several police officers and a bloody crime scene. Accusations fly, and Stephen flees into the wilderness, his heart racing and thoughts etching into his soul. The wilderness is unforgiving, but Steven faces it head on: Caught between a massive grizzly and a black bear in a deadly tug of war, he is barely saved from death's door by the fortuitous appearance of his uncle. Despite surviving multiple injuries, Steven continues his investigation as he recovers, but answers don't come quick or easy. Having enlisted the aid of his number one suspect, Steven faces a struggle that has become more than personal. This one just may cost him his heart.

You can find out more about the books and the author by following the tour HERE. You can also include your chances of winning in the giveaway.

This tour-wide giveaway features both print and eBook copies of the four books in the Detective Quaid Series. The giveaway will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, June 6.

The prizes include:

* Grand prize - Winner receives a print copy of all
four books in the Detective Quaid Series (U.S. and Canada only).

* First place - Winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift certificate.

* Second place - Winner will receive eBook copies of all four books in the Detective Quaid Series.

* There will be 3 runner-up winners and each will win an eBook copy of THE SNOWMAN or one of the other books in the series (winner's choice).

To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. If the widget doesn’t show up, just click HERE and you’ll be directed to the widget.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to follow Yolanda on her month-long tour. You never know what you might find out.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


                  If you haven't read any of Yolanda's books yet, what the heck are ya waiting for???

                            Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Imagination Plus Talent Equals Success

Thought for the day:  You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. [Mark Twain]

It doesn't require much imagination to appreciate what an overabundance of imagination our feline friends have. Ever watch 'em stare at a wall? For hours? What do they see...? Or how about when they gaze mesmerized at the ceiling? (Just to make us look up, I suspect.) And then there's the times they suddenly jump up and tear out of the room at top speed, as if they're off on some important mission.

Yep, no doubt about it. A cat's imagination can provide us with great entertainment. Come to think of it, I could say the same thing about writers with great imaginations, too. Imaginative writers who can create a whole new world and transport us there with their words truly have a gift. (And they never jump on your head or lick your face in the middle of the night, either. At least, none of the writers I know do...)

Like this gal. Dianne Salerni. She's a writer with a great nose for a story. That's what led her to research and write two YA historical novels, We Hear the Dead, about the early days of spiritualism, and The Caged Graves, about a couple of, um... caged graves.  A couple of real caged graves she spotted in a Pennsylvania cemetery. It took a lot of digging (HA) to ferret out as many facts as she could for both of those books, and a good deal of imagination to flesh out the bare bones of history to create books as good as those two. But her next book took her imagination to the next level. (Kinda like going from staring at the wall to looking into the future...)

The first book in her imagination-out-the-wazoo MG series the Eighth Day came out last year. Reeeeally good.

And NOW... (ta DA!) the second book in this series is gonna be released on January 27, just a couple short weeks away. I may not be in the MG category... heck, some of my GRANDKIDS are even beyond that... but I WILL be reading this book. Know why? Because good is good, and Dianne's books are... good. And did I mention? Very imaginative.

And now, I'm very pleased to say that the lovely Dianne has agreed to answer some very nosy questions I asked her recently. Hey! Inquiring minds want to know!

So here we go, for your entertainment:





ME:  So how did it go down, Dianne? Were you just sitting back in your easy chair one evening, sipping an adult beverage, and listening to an old Beatles album when they started singing Eight Days a Week, and a light bulb suddenly went off in your head? I mean, what inspired you to come up with such a super cool idea as a secret eighth day of the week?

DIANNE: The idea of a secret day came from a family joke. Whenever my daughters asked my husband when they could do something (go to the beach or to an amusement park, for example) and he didn’t have an answer handy, he’d say, “We’ll do it on Grunsday!”  One night, as this joke was being played out over dinner conversation, I wondered out loud, “What if there really was a Grunsday, but only a few people knew about it?” My family loved the idea, but after that initial thought, it took about 18 months for me to come up with a plot to go along with the premise and start writing.

ME:  It must be fun to write continuing tales about characters you know and love, but how difficult is it to strike a balance, such that you include enough background information to draw and keep the interest of new readers, without annoying your return readers who want to get on with the new story without too much back-pedaling and re-hashing? In other words, is it your goal for each book to stand on its own, or are you primarily trying to develop a returning fan base of readers who will eagerly await each new installment? Yeah, I know... BOTH! (And I hope you get both.)

DIANNE: It’s not impossible to read these books out of order, but readers will probably enjoy the series a lot more if they start with Book 1. The re-hashing thing gave me some trouble when I started drafting Book 2, but I thought I had a clever way to do it. In chapter one, I introduced a new POV character, 12-year-old Dorian Ambrose who, as a member of the nefarious Dulac clan, watches his father interrogate a prisoner about the events that occurred in the climax of Book 1. Doing the recap as a prisoner interrogation? Brilliant, right? My beta readers hated me starting the book this way. HATED IT. But they couldn’t articulate a reason why it didn’t work for them, so I ignored them and sent it to my editor anyway. My editor, being truly brilliant, explained why this didn’t work as an opening. If readers didn’t remember who the Dulacs were and what threat they posed to our heroes, the tension and significance of the scene would be lost. She convinced me that I needed to start the book with my protagonist, Jax, and make sure the reader was re-acquainted with all the characters before throwing the villains at them. She was right, of course, and I wrote a new first chapter that hopefully will serve as that quick re-hash and still keep the reader interested.

The prisoner interrogation comes in chapter two. ;)

ME:  Do you already have a long list of plot ideas for future installments, or do you prefer to operate with more of a one-book-at-a-time mentality?

DIANNE: When HarperCollins signed me for a 3-book contract (with two more optioned books), my editor asked me to plan a 5-book story arc that could end on Book 3 if they decided not to pick up the options.  At that point, I planned out a premise for each of the 5 books.  But I didn’t develop a plot for each one until it was time to write it.

ME:  Are any of your beta readers youngsters? If so, is their input helpful?

DIANNE: My youngest daughter served as the #1 reader for The Eighth Day when I was writing the first draft. (I recall printing out my latest chapter one day, walking into the next room to pick up the pages and discovering they were already gone. She’d been standing next to the printer to collect them as they came out!) Of course, she was 12 back then. Now that she’s 14, she’s far too busy with her social life to read Mom’s work!  However, I still had other young beta readers. Lenny Lee, blogger extraordinaire, read the first and second books, and of course I had my fifth grade students.  Their feedback was immeasurably helpful! I will miss them now that I’m retired.

ME:  I'm way outside the parameters of the target age for your books, but I thoroughly enjoy them. I don't know if that's because you do such a good job tapping into the imagination of my inner child, or if it's something else. I mean, the most successful animated children's films also incorporate some language and humor directed at an adult audience. Is any of that in play in your books? Do you consciously try to appeal to an adult audience, as well?

DIANNE: I do try to appeal to adults, especially by adding a self-aware wink and a nod here and there. A number of adult readers commented that they enjoyed how Jax, the first time he experiences the un-populated eighth day, assumes it’s the zombie apocalypse and stocks up on survival gear just like he’s seen people do on TV. Jax asks his guardian if they (the people who experience the eighth day) are human, and Riley answers: “Of course we’re human! What kind of bad science fiction movies have you been watching?” When Jax learns about his connection to people in Arthurian legends, he does what any of us would do: Googles his famous ancestor – only to find out he was “kind of a jerk.” And anyone who has ever lived with a teenage boy has mentioned to me how much they laughed at Jax and Riley blaming each other for why they were constantly running out of groceries. I guess it’s no coincidence that these are some of my favorite parts of the book too. I’m also way outside the target age!

ME:  What's next for you? Is your focus going to be on writing more Eighth Day books, or do you have another series or more stand-alone books on the horizon?

DIANNE: I recently revised a YA historical mystery that I wrote several years ago and also wrote a brand new kids’ science fiction adventure. Both of these will go to my agent for consideration, and I hope she’ll decide they’re worthy of submission to publishers. In the spring of 2105 I’ll need to expand the premise I have for the optioned Eighth Day books into something resembling a synopsis to submit for consideration.

I also have a few more ideas germinating (2 Middle Grade and 1 Young Adult) that might need that 18-month germination period before they blossom into full plots ready to be drafted.

Publication of any of these books is not guaranteed. Even with two prior YA historicals and this 3-book fantasy series under my belt, every work I write has to go through the same submission process as my first book. Sometimes, the answer will be “no.” All I can do is write as many as I can and hope that some of them get a big “YES!”

ME:  Anything else you'd like to share with us?

DIANNE: Just that I’m ridiculously excited for this release. The Inquisitor’s Mark was probably my favorite book to write in the series so far – and my favorite scenes involve a chase through the Central Park Zoo, a garbage chute and a fire escape ladder, and a monster under a luxury Manhattan apartment building!

***

Plot Summary for The Inquisitor’s Mark:

After the all-out Eighth Day war in Mexico, Jax, Riley, and Evangeline have gone into hiding. There are still rogue Transitioners and evil Kin lords who want to use Riley, a descendant of King Arthur, and Evangeline, a powerful wizard with bloodlines to Merlin, to get control over the Eighth Day.

So when Finn Ambrose, a mysterious stranger, contacts Jax claiming to be his uncle, Jax’s defenses go up—especially when Finn tells Jax that he’s holding Jax’s best friend, Billy, hostage. To rescue Billy and keep Riley and Evangeline out of the fray, Jax sneaks off to New York City on his own. But once there, he discovers a surprising truth: Finn is his uncle and Jax is closely related to the Dulacs—a notoriously corrupt and dangerous Transitioner clan who want Riley dead and Evangeline as their prisoner. And family or not, these people will stop at nothing to get what they want.

****
Thanks, Dianne. I hope you sell a bazillion copies, and kids are lined up outside the book stores to get a copy.

Wow, I'm ridiculously excited about Dianne's new release, too. She isn't just a terrific writer; she's a terrific person. With a great imagination. (Did I happen to mention that?) And now... I hope you're excited about her books, too. 

                               Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Things are definitely looking up. [Morguefile}

P.S. While I have you looking up, how about looking into a nest... an eagle's nest... with two adorable babies in it? This eagle cam is set up in the Fort Myers. Florida area. Really cool