Diana Bennett

One on One with…

Hello all-

It's a great pleasure to be here at the ALL NEW Camp Horror. It wasn't easy getting here, this guy in a hockey mask kept getting in my way, and well, let's just say he found a new place to store his machete when it's not being used.

In honor of the new look and new style of the campgrounds, I am debuting a new column-as the title says, One on One. What I'll be doing is to showcase the work of a particular author through reviews of one or more of their work, and then following up with a one on one interview where I'll be asking the tough questions. Ones that make them think. Ones that show them in a light you may have never seen before, and give you a new appreciation of not only the creator, but their creations as well.

First up is Tamara Thorne-author of Eternity , Moonfall , and her newest, The Sorority Series Trilogy of Eve , Merilyn , and Samantha . We begin with a review of the works, and then my interview with the outspoken and insightful Tamara Thorne. I'll see you again at the end of the interview; I hope you enjoy it.

Sometimes the beliefs of other people can be a touch hard to swallow. The isolated mountain town of Eternity is full of such people and beliefs.

Zach Tully is a broken man looking for a change. After many successes in solving cases involving serial killers, his last case ended in the death of his wife and son. Now he is on his way to the quite tourist based small town of Eternity. Before he even arrives, he is told that the town has a history of unsolved murders. Of course, that bit of truth is nothing compared to what he hears once he arrives. The town is full of eccentric people who believe, or pretend to be famous people from other times. He finds the myths and legends that surround the town to be absurd. However, as he investigates the latest spree of murders, he can't help but see the resemblance of this case and that of the unsolved Ripper case of old.

Even though Tully was asked to come to Eternity and act as sheriff, he finds that when he arrives, the help offered is minimal, and at times, the town's officials seem a hindrance. It seems to him, that they are more concerned with the tourism, which is centered around the little Stonehenge on Ice Mountain. The council is made up of the town lifers and, the even more secret, and protected Brotherhood, who meets at little Stonehenge. As the number of murder victims steadily climbs, no one is free of being a suspect or a target.

In Eternity, Tamara Thorne has again created a wonderfully developed cast of characters sure to amuse and entertain all readers. The history she has created behind the town of Eternity seems as real as any legend I have come across in humanities studies. The unique style that Thorne brings to her writing allows it to be thrilling, make you chuckle at the humor, and then flip back to thrilling again.

This is a cross genre book that I highly recommend to all readers of, mystery, thrillers, horror, suspense, and probably a few I am leaving off. Tamara Thorne continues to impress me with her story telling and, remains on my top five must read list.

All small towns seem to have a secret. Moonfall, a small town in the California mountains, is no different. Not only does Moonfall have a secret, they have a legend shrouded in unexplained deaths and other bizarre events.

The towns' Sheriff, John Lawson, came face to face with that legend twenty-four years ago. It was on Halloween night, while looking for more action than the yearly Halloween Haunt at Parker's Cider Mill, he and his friends decided to look for themselves at St. Gertrude's Home for Girls. Despite it changing his life, he can't recall exactly what did happen.

Mark, John's son, has been hanging out with, Minerva Payne, an old woman who the townsfolk refer to as a witch. She is also someone that he remembers having seen as a child the night he and his friends went out snooping around St. Gertrude's. Somehow John senses that Mark isn't in any danger, in fact she may just be able to help John figure out just what has been going on.

Sara Hawthorne, a new teacher at St. Gertrude's, has returned to do a little more than some teaching. She is doing some investigating of her own. Her roommate from twelve years ago killed herself, but Sara thinks it was not a case of suicide.

The initial questions raised by John and Sara only scratch the surface of the questions that are unanswered regarding St. Gertrude's. Of course the answers found may be more than any person can handle.

Tamara Thorne continues to be one of my favorite authors in the horror field. Her stories are well plotted and utterly fascinating in their detail. The scenery and history she creates in her stories is so lifelike you would almost expect to read about the events in your local paper. With the expert attention she pays to making a story come to life, she continues to raise the bar, for new and old writers, and never fails to meet or surpass that bar in her own works

As with all of the Tamara Thorne novels I have had the pleasure of reading, I must also place my must read stamp on Moonfall .

What is in a dream? Eve Camlan has been plagued by bad dreams since childhood. Those dreams changed after what she sees when her and two friends at cheerleading camp, Merilynn Morris and Samantha Penrose, decide to investigate Applehead Island and the legend of the ghost of Holly Gale.

The event scares Eve so much that she tries to totally block it out; but now as a college freshman, she is drawn to the sorority Gamma Eta Pi at Greenbriar University. The sorority has its own legends and dark secrets which all seem to center around the same island she visited so long ago. There is also another secret society formed of the most powerful and evil sisters in the sorority called the Fata Morgana. As if that was not enough, she sees two familiar faces, faces of old friends that threaten to bring up long suppressed feelings and images.

Of course the bigger question is just why is Eve so drawn to this sorority? There are clearly several things amiss from the very beginning.

The cast of characters is lively and eclectic. Eve is the type person who I would classify as naïve. It is very easy to find yourself wanting to help her, and feeling terrified at what may happen as she is drawn into the arms of her new sisters at Gamma Eta Pi. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the president of the sorority Malory Thomas, a delicious treat and perhaps the darkest most power-driven female character to grace the pages of horror fiction. There is a well-rounded cast of supporting characters who are sure to both delight and horrify all readers.

The writing style is evil yet humorous. Tamara Thorne has created a wonderful, gripping, and deeply disturbing story in The Sorority - Eve . The splendid news is this is but the first part of a trilogy released by Pinnacle Horror this year. It is my recommendation that you set aside a day to enjoy this book as it is a compelling read that will hold you from cover to cover and then be prepared for, The Sorority – Merilynn released July 2003, and The Sorority – Samantha released in August 2003. I'm on my way to get the second and third parts; so should you.

It has been said that some people can sense things around them, or know things before they happen. To some it is a blessing, to others a curse. Merilynn Morris has the gift, and while most people might love to have her abilities, they do come with a cost, tying her to a legacy of death and evil.

In The Sorority – Merilynn , author Tamara Thorne, not only picks up effortlessly where the first book in the series, Eve, ended but adds more character insight and history to Merilynn, who may have just played a supporting role in the first novel, but now takes center stage in her full mysterious glory.

Trying to figure out just what is going on in their new home at Greenbriar University, Meriilynn and her new roommate, a former roommate of Eve, learn they have quite a bit in common. As the friends work hard to put the pieces together, the answers become clear, and there is only one solution. However, it rests on Merilynn to solve it before time runs out.

Again the reader is graced with Malory Thomas, president of the sorority and head of the Fata Morgana. She adds such a graceful, sensual element of evil to the story line, even if the reader doesn't like her character personally, there is no doubt they will love reading about what she does. Brittany, who is Malory's familiar, is such a light spirited, yet still evil character she provides not only a great contrast, but some very humorous situations as well.

Tamara Thorne is a storyteller of the finest quality with her characters realistic and well rounded. The story itself is griping and well paced, making it a one sitting page-turner.

Again and still, I give the series my strongest personal recommendation based on now having read the first two parts, and I know that the third can only be the cherry on top.

Be prepared for a phenomenal conclusion well worth the wait endured. It was a difficult task to review the second part without spoilers but I fear it may be next to impossible here. With that said anyone who has not read the first two in the series, Eve and Merilynn, should be warned there will be spoilers in this review.

*Spoilers*

When Merilynn with the help of the ghost of both Holy Gale and Eve sets out to find the answers that will both destroy the evil sorceress and free the spirits she has collected in Applehead Lake. This leaves her childhood friend Samantha and her new friend Kendra to try to put together the pieces of what lies beneath the dark sisterhood of which they are now a part.

Suspicions are high and the girls must be wary of everything they say and do, since with the disappearance of Merilynn, Malory and her familiar Brittany seem to watch every move they make. There is a battle of grand proportions on the horizon that leaves many questions needing to be answered. Just what is so special about Merilynn? Will her background that has been shroud in secrecy hold the answers needed before it is too late and all is lost?

*End Spoilers*

In the final part of the trilogy author Tamara Thorne sinks her teeth in the meat of the myths surrounding this story. I was totally in awe of the way she tied everything together and weaved a complete background for not only the haunting ghost story, but also the powerful evil that ruled at Greenbriar University, and still took it a step further with the fascinating history of Merilynn and her parents.

I have been so totally engrossed with each part of this series and I may be repeating myself here, but I just feel compelled to say that Tamara Thorne is an excellent storyteller. Her work is griping and entertaining, dark and at times humorous, as well as having just the right amount of sensual tension.

This series has earned a place in my top five must read recommendations and Tamara Thorne is now on my list of authors whose work I must collect.

And now, my Interview With Tamara Thorne:

DB: Where did you grow up, and was reading and writing a part of your life?

TT: I grew up in southern California, in a pleasant suburb outside of Los Angeles.  My mother read to me every morning from infancy on.  I have memories of sitting in her lap at the breakfast table, my legs so short they ended at her knees, and looking at the books as she read.  She went straight for the classics -- all the Oz books, other books along those lines.  I remember early on being fascinated by the Gump -- the creature made out of a couch and a moosehead, among other things, in one of the Oz books. It was marvelously scary.  I'm told I could read at a very early age. I don't know if it's true, but I never remember a time without books.  I loved them.  By early elementary school I was collecting ghost story books, fiction and non-fiction, and digging into folklore.  By second grade, I was into Bradbury, and starting to write stories of my own.  Early on, I'd discovered how much fun it was to scare other kids with stories about local haunted houses, haunted storm drains, haunted trees.  For me, everything was better if it was haunted. 

DB: Who were your earliest influences and why? (By this, I mean non-writing related influences)

TT: Non-writing related influences? There weren't many.  My mother, my brother, Houdini, Daniel Boone. Anyone who'd tell me a ghost story.

DB: Why do you write? More specifically, why horror.

TT: I write because I write. I can't help it. I'd do it whether I was paid to do it or not, and I'd rather not write for income if it meant writing something I wasn't interested in.  Fortunately, I'm paid to write what I love.  Horror is sort of an all-inclusive word. I don't run from it, but I do think of it as frequently more genre-oriented than I am -- werewolves, vampires, and Frankenstein's monster.  My primary interest is the ghost story. It always has been and always will be.  I'm probably more interested in haunting on a scientific level than on a spiritual level.  Someday quantum physics will likely legitimize lots of things today's scientists deny.  That's the problem with science. If it can't be explained, it doesn't exist.  That would make me a Fortean because I think there are things that occur that can't be explained at this point. But they do occur. To deny that is as closed-minded as to say, all creaking steps and cool winds are haunt-related.

Growing up, I wrote lots of science fiction, but in sixth grade, I happened on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. After that, there was no going back.  The eternal search for good ghostly novels had begun.

And I did do lots of satire (very political by high school) and bad punning.  I still do indulge in the bad puns, even in very serious books. They creep in. They make me smile.  I like to smile. 

DB: Who are your favorite writers and why?

TT: Ray Bradbury for writing so vividly that I'm still nostalgic for my imagined boyhood in 1930's Greentown, Illinois.  Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Mark Twain, from the early days, plus a host of science fiction authors. Oh and two huge influences were Arthur Conan Doyle (I nearly had Sherlock Holmes memorized) and H. Rider Haggard -- the Alan Quatermain books.  Later, I discovered a great master of fear: Fritz Leiber. And then came Stephen King.  I think he's wonderful.  Gore Vidal. Nelson DeMille, Jeff Long. Whoever wrote Andersonville. I love Neil Gaiman -- American Gods is on the all-time favorites list. Christopher Lamb and James Blaylock give me great pleasure.

DB: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

TT: Ghost hunting, folklore researching.  I guess it's not truly a hobby, since it's also research for the books I write, and now I'm planning a non-fiction book on hauntings. We like to explore lesser-known haunted places (but will settle for well-known ones) and if we're spending time away from home, we hunt down the best "haunted" hotel room we can find to stay in.  We take lots of photos. Sometimes things happen, sometimes not.  I seek out ghost stories professionally now, but that's been my hobby since I was maybe five years old.

My particular interest is in western and southwestern haunts and folklore, and that takes me into old gold rush areas, mining camps, and things like that.  So that's a special interest.  I'm also a fiend for American music, primarily ragtime, which dates from the late 1890's to about 1930.  I have a 1913 player piano (cut down to have a mirror since it lived in a tavern and the piano player need to keep an eye on drunken patrons) that I restored and play, badly.  But I only restored one piano, so that's not a hobby.  I have a nice collection of rags and early jazz on CD.

I (along with my like-minded husband) collect certain horror movies (ghostly or funny ones, we're not into slashers, unless they're oozing over-the-top goofiness ala Evil Dead II).  We also collect humor -- we're endlessly entertained by movies like Airplane! and Blazing Saddles.

DB: The characters in Sorority seem to jump off the page with realism, are you a follower of the let the charters go where they may method of writing.  Who were your favorite characters and why?

TT: My characters often disagree with what I have planned, and they know best.  Sometimes they do things that blow me away -- things I'd never choose for them.  But they have free will, so I always let them do what they want and develop their own interests, even if I think they're nuts. 

My favorite characters in Sorority are Merilynn and Professor McCobb.  Merilynn fascinates me because she never does what I think she'll do.  Professor Dan S. McCobb is John Houseman, raised from the dead.  He -- or rather his wife, Vera McCobb, originated as a very minor character in THE FORGOTTEN.  I fully expect the McCobbs will be on the road in an RV when I get around to doing the road-trip oriented sequel to CANDLE BAY.  Of course, characters don't do what I expect.  That brings me to a surprise favorite -- Brittany.  I'll refrain from spoilers, but she originated as a jab at a certain similarly named singer.  Then she went and became her own person . . . or something.  What she does in the final half of Samantha, the last book in the trilogy, shocked me so much that I ended up giggling and scratching with glee. I had no idea she was so, uh, clever.

DB: Was there any characters that were not intended to have such a big role but just decided they had more to be said?

TT: I don't think I've ever written a book where minor characters haven't come to the forefront on their own.  Professor Tongue was supposed to be a walk-on, but he became quite the fixture.  And Kendra.  She just appeared in the first few pages. I had no idea she existed, but she's the glue -- the storyteller -- of the trilogy.  The subconscious mind is a lifesaver!

DB: Is the story based on any truth?  If so, did you do hands on research and could you tell me about it?  If not, can you tell me what inspired it?

TT: The lake story -- the vision of the lake containing a long-ago flooded town -- is entirely based on stories my mother told me.  She lived in a town in northern California (not too far from Icehouse Mountain in the book, ETERNITY) as a girl. It was rebuilt on higher ground in order to create a reservoir.  Years later, my parents returned to the dam and swam above the drowned town.  My mother describes the eerie spectacle of the treetops. The sight of the church steeple spooked her so much that she waited on the banks while my father explored some more.  There are hundreds of drowned towns across Northern America.  They're fascinating.

The heavy research was into Skull and Bones type secret societies.  That's something I simply enjoy -- all that New World Order conspiracy stuff.  Both Bushes were in Skull & Bones, as well as other US presidents and many other high-powered types.  Fata Morgana is a feminine Skull & Bones.  The only vaguely overt reference, though, is a story Professor McCobb tells about Shawkinaw, an old tale told by local tribes about a trickster raven that loves to blow things up.  Many other resources added to the fun, not the least of which was the movie Animal House.

The heaviest research was into Arthurian legends.  Lots of them, from various sources, ancient and modern. The epic poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provided me an excuse to go at green man mythology from a new slant. Sir Thomas Malory's L'Morte de Arthur paid off, as did everything from The Once and Future King to movies like Excalibur and Camelot -- and let's not forget Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  I loved the Arthurian myths as a kid, so it was grand to have an excuse to dig back in.

DB: You mentioned that you do research of haunting can you tell me a little about your real beliefs on ghosts and hauntings?

TT: Yep.  It's a case of life-long interest becoming a real part of my work. I love it when that happens.  I began collecting folklore books and books of ghost stories in the early primary grades.  I've never stopped, just expanded my areas of interest.  Next year's THUNDER ROAD takes on the mythology that has evolved into modern myth -- ufology.  I've stayed at the Little Al-ie-Inn (not sure if that's spelled right) by Area 51 in Nevada.  Oh, what a great, Hunter S. Thompson-style adventure.  I explore the vortices and other alleged anomalies, but it's always really been about the ghosts.

Personally, I'm a Fortean.  That's a skeptic, but the word is being abused so much that if I say it people think I mean I'm a debunker.  Not at all.  But I'm not a believer either.  I'm an observer.  You have to rule out all the logical reasons for something strange before you can consider the peculiar.  And I've seen plenty of things that are peculiar. (That doesn't mean some or all don't have rational explanations, just that I'm pleasantly surprised I haven't found some yet.)  I gave David Masters, the ghost-hunting hero of HAUNTED, all my personal opinions.  He really tries to stick to them . . . but he sees too much.  He reappears in THE FORGOTTEN briefly and he's rationalized things down a bit again.  He's also got a part in the book I'm working on now.  We'll see how things work out for him there.

I've never seen anything that leads me to think I'm dealing with a thinking spirit.  I've seen things that I believe to be fueled, even manipulated to some degree, by emotionally upset living humans.  And I've experienced things that are obviously just imprints, reruns.  I don't believe in demons, I've never seen anything that would lead me to believe -- but I do think we create our own realities to some extent and that someone who believes may well encounter something that fits the mold.  I would experience something different.  Priestly exorcisms work if people believe in them and put their intent behind them.  My version -- Rude Sailor -- works just as well to keep leachy anomalies off me when I'm messing with them. Everything is energy. Anomalies are virtually always energy-related. Hauntings take on new life (or death?) under the influence of a sent of mega power lines nearby.  It feeds them. Ores in the earth play a part, especially magnetic ores.  I think quantum physics will legitimize parapsychology to a great extent, but the mystery will always be deliciously lurking in dark corners.  We can never know for certain.   That's what I love.

DB: I notice that you managed to slip humor into the work as well, which definitely added to the compulsive readability, is this generally the case with your works?

TT: I can't help it.  If I try to be dark and serious for long, my inner child (pretty much a rude 10-year-old boy that would love hanging with the South Park kids), gets annoyed.  He starts whispering bad things to me. They get out.  Mostly, the humor is from the characters, not from me.  I just write down what they say.  However, I'll take responsibility for all the horrible pun names (most have to be spoken aloud to be caught, but some are overt) and sleazy street names (see BAD THINGS for the best of those -- they sound so nice in Spanish!), and so forth.  I live for puns.  There aren't so many in SORORITY -- since it's pretty light to begin with, I don't have the urge as strongly as I do in a more serious book like THE FORGOTTEN, BAD THINGS, or ETERNITY.  Oh, those are shameless. No apologies. I love shameless.  Basically, I write to amuse myself.  So I just do what I love to do.

DB: Malory, is my favorite villain in a very long time can you tell me what it was like for you to write her?

TT: Oh, how I love to be in evil minds.  Even though I don't like the word "evil" -- it's too religious.  But then Malory is evil. (You'll find negative and positive things in most of my work -- but when I pull out the supernatural stops, good and evil can exist too.)  My favorite characters are bad guys who have good qualities.  In SORORITY, the Force is nature -- the Forest Knight form of green man.  Nature is neutral.  It can be used for good or ill.  Malory draws on it for evil.  Running around in Malory's -- or any nasty character's head -- is wonderful and freeing.  It's an outlet for all sorts of aggressions.  After maiming and torturing characters all day, I'm relaxed and happy in real life.  Then some bible-thumpers knock on the door, my inner Jack-Nicholson-in-The-Shining comes to life, and must be fed more characters.  If it's not fed, I become incredibly rude to those who dare disrupt me to try to force their beliefs on me. Dammit Jim, I'm a heathen, not a Mormon!

DB: Did you intend the book to have an erotic flare to it?

TT: I wouldn't call it intent, exactly.  It just happens sometimes, especially in the lighter books.  (Serious leads in my books are rarely shown doing anything beyond foreplay -- I feel like I'm intruding on their privacy.) But the baddish people and the light more-supernaturally inclined stories are usually loaded with sex.  I like sex.  It keeps me amused. I love to come up with kinks and try to write them un-obscenely. It's a challenge.  And sex and bad puns, well, that's just about the best thing on earth.  In fiction and in real life!

DB: What are your thoughts on the sub-genre of erotic horror?

TT: Um, fine with me.  What I like to read tends to be massive stuff with lots of elements of all sorts of things in it. I get bored with just romance or just R-rated sex or just cowboys riding the range or just cops patrolling.  I want a little of everything in a big fat novel.  When I read or watch porn, it's seriously dirty stuff, with my honey.  The lightweight stuff, ala Cinemax, just annoys me.  As the great Tom Lehrer wrote in his song, Smut , " I like it more when it's hardcore! " Tom Lehrer is on my most-admired list, along with George Carlin, Jacques Vallee, Roald Dahl, Ray Bradbury, and Carl Sagan. 

DB: What's next?

TT:  In October, Cemetery Dance's Devil's Wine will appear.  It's poetry by horror writers, including King, Straub, and Bradbury, which explains why I decided to write some poetry! (Usually my poetry is of the Nantucket variety.) Next summer THUNDER ROAD appears.  It came out under my previous name, Chris Curry, originally, but hardly anyone saw it.  It's a favorite of mine, definitely doesn't fit the genre. It's a modern-day western with UFOs, serial killers, and an old west touristy ghost town. And religion. It's sort of a mini-apocalypse book and it let me explore modern ufology lore in relation to older folklore. Today's aliens are yesterday's leprechauns. That sort of thing. 

The next new novel is cloaked in secrecy for the moment, but I'm hard at work on it, and there's a lot of reality in the fiction. Yes, ghosts are involved.  The real ghost stories that go with the locale I chose are so good, that they've infiltrated my fictional ones and I'm having a blast writing it.

Well boys and girls, that's it for this go-round. I hope you enjoyed the interview and will check out her books if you haven't already, she is both a remarkable author and person. See you next time when I go One on One with another author from the dark side of the literary world.

Until then and Bestest Always,

Diana