I'm really happy to be hosting my friend Cherie Reich today as part of her blog tour to promote her newest release, The Nightmare Collection. I was lucky enough to get a review copy of The Nightmare Collection and I can tell you that it's a great (and creepy!) read. Cherie is here today to talk about origin stories and, more specifically, the origin story she wrote for the monster who terrorizes the people in The Nightmare Collection.
Take it away, Cherie!
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Origin Stories: Every Good Monster Has One
Thank you so much for having me today on your blog, Julie!
The monster in horror movies is mysterious and scarier for its mystery, but people want to know what made the monster a monster. We like to think something happened to them to make them what they are. We need to the explanation to understand. People have created theories about the monsters in literature and in movies ... an origin story, so to speak.
For example, Gaston Leroux wrote The Phantom of the Opera, but Susan Kay told Erik the Opera Ghost’s story from birth until the end in Phantom. Remakes of movies often try to explain why a monster is how he is, such as in the remake of Halloween. True, fans might not always like the explanation, but it’s what people need to know.
In The Nightmare Collection, I decided my monster should have an origin story. I imagined the monster as a child. I knew the creature had longevity, since he once attacked Confederate soldiers almost 150 years earlier, but it wasn’t his origin. And then I saw him in a cage, a sideshow act, a freak show in the late 1840s. A young boy, not yet a teen, getting his first taste of friendship and blood ... hate and love. How a build-up of hatred for his master and an accident culminated in destroying his last visages of humanity.
This origin story is the short story “Nightmare at the Freak Show.”
Do you like reading origin stories?
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The Nightmare Collection Information
Book Description:
A legend is hungry tonight.
A child monster will get its first taste of blood in Nightmare at the Freak Show. Four friend will enter the forest on December night, but only one can survive in Once Upon a December Nightmare. Almost ten years after Cassie's December nightmare, the monster awakens to hunt again in Nightmare Ever After.
Publication Date: November 17, 2012
Add to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16089321-the-nightmare-collection
Cover art by Nicemonkey at
Dreamstime.com. Cover design by Aubrie Dionne. Bookworm logo for Surrounded by
Books Publishing created by Cherie Reich.
Purchase Links for the ebook:
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/256004
Amazon US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A93EMNE
Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-nightmare-collection-cherie-reich/1113808878?ean=2940015726503
Purchase Links for the print book:
Createspace https://www.createspace.com/4043291
Author Bio:
A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her e-books include the horror series Nightmare, a short story collection with authors Aubrie Dionne and Lisa Rusczyk titled The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk, the futuristic space fantasy novelette trilogy Gravity, and The Foxwick Chronicles, a series of fantasy stories. She is a member of Valley Writers and the Virginia Writers Club.
Author Links:
Website: http://cheriereich.webs.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookworm0753
Rafflecopter Giveaway:
Cherie is giving away prizes to two lucky people. The prize packages are open internationally and include: a signed copy of The Nightmare Collection, a signed copy of Gravity: The Complete Trilogy, and a $10 Amazon Gift Card. Enter to win below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Origins of a monster. Interesting concept. I like it. For example, you just know Cookie or Elmo had great upbringings --lots of love and positive affirmations. But the blood-thirsty variety probably suffered from dysfunctional parenting. They're not evil, just misunderstood!
ReplyDeleteYour book sounds creepy and intriguing.
ReplyDeleteKind of neat to focus on an origin story for a monster. That really is the heart of the matter -- how'd they begin or get that way? Very cool.
An act in a freak show? Yeah, that would twist anyone's mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Julie Luek! And yes, good monsters would likely have better upbringings. Of course, monsters can be complex creatures and be good or bad despite their circumstances. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, L.G. It was fun creating the monster's origin story!
It definitely did this monster's, Alex. :)
Thank you so much for hosting me today, Julie!! I appreciate it!
This is a great premise for a book. I always like to know the backstory.
ReplyDeleteJulie
Thank you, Julie (Empty Nest Insider)!
ReplyDeletei like the idea of knowing the monster's back story! makes him more real! cherie is amazing =)
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you, Tara! And knowing the monster's backstory really did help to make him more real. :)
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