I have met author Gary Vincent on several occasions (usually when
we are appearing at the same event). On one of these occasions, I picked up his
work, Darkened Hills, the first book in his series Darkened. While
I have interviewed him before for my official blog, the fact that this
particular book series takes place in a setting inspired by actual towns in West
Virginia (one of which seems to have a real haunted history), I wanted to
discuss the Darkened series on The Parting of Veils as well. Read on and
check out his books and where he might be next. :)
TA: For those unfamiliar with the Darkened series, tell us a
little of it and what inspired the story.
GLV: The Darkened series is based upon the book Darkened
Hills. Darkened Hills was written in 2010 and originally intended to
be a stand-alone book. The months leading up to and during the writing of
the novel, I experienced several 'dark' episodes in my life: my mother was
battling life-threating Stage IV cancer and we were traveling back and forth to
the Cancer Treatment Centers of America almost every three weeks for months
while they treated her, my beloved 8-year-old dog Roger died of cancer during
this time, and a musical album that I had just completed 'died' because I could
not promote it because as I was taking care of my mother and holding down a
full time job. I attempted to use the album as a fund raiser for my mom's
medical expenses and ended up selling one copy. My daughter Amber was also born
the same year during the apex of all this stress and ultimately, I fell into
depression.
My friend and co-worker Rich Bottles Jr. had suggested we both try
writing a horror novel set in West Virginia. His book ultimately became Lumberjacked
and mine became Darkened Hills. Both were completed in the fall of
2010.
At the time, my life was turning into a collection of real-life
'horror stories' and I thought it might be interesting to create a new
horror story set in today's world with characters, plot mixes and settings from
classic tales. For example, what would happen if you took Vincent Price's
character from The House on Haunted Hill and mixed with Dr.
Frankenstein, but made him a modern-day vampire embodiment from Dracula?
That persona in my book became Victor Rothenstein. Similarly, what if you
took Jonathan Harker as himself from Dracula, but instead of a
socially-adept lawyer of the Victorian era and made him a common truck
driver, blue collar worker from West Virginia. Also, what if the world of
'salems Lot played out in Salem, West Virginia with new characters, new
drama and new horror that pushed the envelope? What would happen?
When looking into a mirror, a word held to the mirror is seen in
reverse. Much like a 'magic mirror' that looked into an alternate world,
Salem, WV's evil twin Melas was born. In this magical land, all elements
of horror seep through into the real world of today's West Virginia. It
is also a play on the word 'malice,' because bad things happen here. Very
bad things.
So with that premise, I began writing Darkened Hills as a
way to channel my depression (and love and knowledge of horror stories) out
onto paper and see what I could come up with. It first came out as a
stand-alone novel and got the attention of the world when it won the
prestigious Book of the Year award by ForeWord Reviews Magazine
as the top (might I say scariest) horror novel of 2010.
In essence, the formula worked! For me on a personal level, I
could write as therapy for my depression and push my pain onto the paper.
For the readers, they got a new horror story with just enough of the familiar
to not be totally lost in the wilderness of backwoods West Virginia.
In later years, I saw ABC do something similar with their series Once
Upon A Time, where they took characters from fairy tales and set them in
modern-day town of Storybrooke, Maine without a memory of their past life.
In Darkened, it is characters from horror stories set in
modern-day Salem, West Virginia. Some love this approach and others,
well, let's just say are 'misguided.' (**grinning**)
TA: Now, the town of Melas, WV was named after Salem, WV and
according to the intro in Darkened Hills, Melas shares many locations with the
real Salem. Care to elaborate?
GLV: The town of Melas and the town of Salem are perfect copies of each
other and many locations are real. The difference is in the topography,
or layout of where these locations are. In the real town of Salem – just
as in Melas – it lies deep in a valley and secluded from the main highway (U.S.
Route 50.) Melas, however, is different in the sense that it is more 'open'
and some locations can be seen from far away. For example, in Salem, the
Cecil Randolph house is located in downtown next to the college. You
really can't see it from far away unless you are close to it. That
house's counterpart in Melas – the infamous Madison House – is perched up on a
hill and can be seen from all over. This technique is used in a lot of
horror stories – a scary house on the hill – and although I risked being cliché
and drawing scorn from rabid horror fans for 'copying' this good ole standard,
it really fit having it remote and isolated rather than downtown. Haunted
houses are best when they are isolated and mysterious, am I right?
Another topographical change was moving the location of real life
Lake Floyd (just to the east of Salem) to a position closer to the Madison
house and elevated upstream from the city. This tactic proves very well
by book three and I'll not spoil it here for the readers.
Many other locations, such as the youth home, the Dairy Queen, the
college, and the barn/church are in the same place in Melas as in its Salem
counterpart.
TA: What is the creepiest location used in the book series and are
there any real life stories or legends behind it?
GLV: The creepiest place in the entire series, in my opinion, is the
Runners Ridge mine. Bad things happen there – really bad things – deep in the
cold, wet dark.
TA: In the Darkened series, the Madison house was named after
Madison, WV. According to your book intro (as well as my own perusal of the internet),
Madison seems to have its own haunted history. What are some stories behind
that town and are there any good resources (books, etc) to check out on the
subject?
GLV: I would say that the best thing a person could do is visit Madison
around October and find a haunted house attraction to attend. After all, the
best way to experience it is to, well, experience it.
TA: Growing up in and around these areas, did you ever have any
creepy experiences?
GLV: I have had quite a few. When I was a boy, a guy named Jimbo
was my neighbor. We were friends and played quite a bit of sandlot football and
baseball together. In real life, Jimbo became a serial killer that burnt his
house down in our neighborhood, confessed to the crimes on a tape and killed himself
in the Town House West motel. This was fodder for both books one and two
of the series.
Another odd thing I had happen as a child – when I was about five
or six, I was with family in the town of West Union (the next town from Salem
heading west). I was with my cousin walking in the woods and we got separated
from each other and I got lost. At one point, I became entangled in dense
briers to the point I couldn't pull free. I described a similar scene
when Ralphie and his brother were in the woods in Darkened Hills and the
vampire attacks them. Luckily in my case, my cousin finds me. Hard
to tell what would have happened had I been left out there overnight.
Another very creepy thing happened when I was sixteen. In addition
to literature, I am also into music and my friend Paul and I needed to find a
place to record a song I had written called Unsolid Ground. We learned
of a guy's home studio and the man lived out near Salem off of Route 50.
To get there, you had to drive down Tarklin Run Road. It was late
afternoon when we got there, however a vicious electrical storm hit the area
and fried some of the equipment, including an electric slide guitar that Paul
brought with him.
The storm was incredible and lasted deep into the night.
There were downed power lines, flash flooding covering the road and trees
branches everywhere, making the path driving back on Trarklin Run Road
treacherous. It was incredibly dark. Shortly after, I wrote a song called
Darkness, and thought about that crazy night and coming home.
Eventually when the single was released, Darkness was the
"A" side and Unsolid Ground was the "B" side.
As I discuss this now and look back, it is of unique coincidence
and remark that the song Darkness and the series Darkened, although
separated by almost twenty years from when one was created to when the other
was, share a common connection with Salem, WV, and an element of the macabre.
TA: Do you ever revisit these areas?
GLV: Not very often. Although I do drive through the region on
occasion – usually when I am with someone – and point out some of the landmarks
that are in the series to them.
TA: What's coming up for the Darkened series and where can
potential readers check it out?
GLV: Currently there are four books in the Darkened Series:
Darkened Hills, Darkened Hollows, Darkened Waters and Darkened Souls.
I recommend reading them in that order.
A fifth book – Darkened Minds – is in the works. By
now, a vampire queen rises to power channeling the full forces of darkness and
the alliances of good and evil may have to combine to stand against her.
All of these can be purchased at amazon via the series website www.DarkenedHills.com. Also, you
can meet me and grab one (or all) in person at one of my book signings.
To find out where I may be at next, visit www.GaryVincent.com and click
"News & Events." Please note that this is a shared calendar
with my publisher, Burning Bulb Publishing, so some events may be for other
guests, so please read the description to make sure I will be at an event you
are interested in.
Tiffany Apan is a
critically acclaimed independent recording artist, a stage/film actress,
author, and award-winning producer/writer. You can find more about her at her Official
Website, Blog, Twitter,
Facebook,
and her production company website. She can
also be found on IMDb and her music releases on CDBaby
along with iTunes, Amazon, and other digital retailers. She also does
freelance writing, and editing. Her own stories are available at Smashwords, Barnesand Noble NOOK, Amazon,
and other retailers. Her novel series, The Birthrite Series, is also available
in both ebook and paperback form. In addition, she is a contributor to Ravenous
Monster Webzine.
