Blog Tour – The House by The Cemetery

Today I am delighted to take part in the Blog Tour for The House By The Cemetery by John Everson. Many thanks to Anne for inviting me to be part of the tour, and to Flame Tree Press and the author for creating a guest post, which you can see below.

The house by the cemetery is released through Flame Tree Press on October 6th and can be pre ordered on Amazon HERE.

Before we get to the business of the guest post, let’s have a look at the Blurb for the book.

Rumor has it that the abandoned house by the cemetery is haunted by the ghost of a
witch. But rumors won’t stop carpenter Mike Kostner from rehabbing the place as a haunted
house attraction. Soon he’ll learn that fresh wood and nails can’t keep decades of rumors down.
There are noises in the walls, and fresh blood on the floor: secrets that would be better not to
discover. And behind the rumors is a real ghost who will do whatever it takes to ensure the
house reopens. She needs people to fill her house on Halloween. There’s a dark, horrible ritual
to fulfill. Because while the witch may have been dead… she doesn’t intend to stay that way.

The Ghost In You… and other invigorating thoughts of Horror

John Everson

There’s really nothing that makes you feel more alive than being scared to death. That sounds a little crazy on the surface of it, but it’s true. It’s why we love rollercoasters (well, some of us anyway). And it’s a big part of the longstanding appeal of horror books and films.

In a slow-building horror story, your fingers and toes slowly clench, and your heart begins to beat a little faster. You hold your breath, anxious to know what happens next. Afraid to find out.

In a story with fast shocks, the threats jump out at you unexpectedly and you get the same effect, only intensified. You jump. You scream. Your heart pounds like a jack hammer.

In both situations, your body exhibits the signs of run-for-your-life fear – and reacts with chemical processes designed to assist in making sure that you can move fast and not die. Your blood pumps faster through your veins, and adrenaline pumps into your blood. You suddenly have a surplus of nervous energy. Your hypothalamus is working to try to ensure that you can fight or give flight to whatever the danger is.

Horror: The Natural High

Horror – or more exactly, the fear created by horror – generates a chemical stew from the backbrain that makes us feel energized and alive when we reach the end of the fictional story, even if we were just lolling back on the couch with a Kindle. And how many times while watching a horror movie have you found your fingers literally clutching at the couch arm?

But why are you scared to death while sitting perfectly safe in your living room? You know in your head that there are no zombies shambling in the room next door. There are no demons waiting for the toll of midnight to slip out of the clock above your fireplace and drag you to the ninth circle of hell.

The imagination is a powerful thing. Especially when it plays off our deepest fears. You know you’re just reading a book or watching a movie but… your body sometimes still reacts as if you’re facing the threats yourself. Horror movie jump scares are the worst – and the easiest to garner a strong reaction, if set up properly. Our mind (and nerves) hate the completely unexpected threat.

That’s why horror movies and haunted houses can be so effective at getting the heart pounding, even though we know that something is probably going to jump out of a dark corner – it’s the nature of the things and we intentionally put ourselves in the position of experiencing it! But it’s one thing for the brain to be afraid of killers lunging from the darkness with knives and axes. Those at least seem like a real potential threat to your corporeal well-being.

The Deepest Horror is The Ghost in You

It’s one thing to be afraid of killers with manic machetes. But why are we afraid of ghosts?

Think about it – humans have spent much of their existence on this earth theorizing about life after death and praying for various permutations of heaven.

So then… seeing a ghost should be the most positive experience in the world. We’re seeing an actual soul that has left the body and gone on to continued existence. It’s the miracle proof that hundreds of generations have wished for.

And yet… cemeteries are places that brook fear into the hearts of millions. Why? Because there might be ghosts there. We desperately want to live on after death… but we apparently don’t want to see the evidence that anyone else has!

My favorite kind of horror fiction deals with the supernatural. The stuff that shouldn’t really be able to hurt us because it has no physical substance.

Demons. Ghosts.

I love the idea that ghosts might exist, just out of the corner of your eye. Move fast, and you might see one.

I read and write horror partly because of that hope that something exists, usually unseen, just past the range of vision. A glimmer of that hope can expose the mundane trials of everyday life as the petty dramas they are… things that shouldn’t be allowed the emotion to ruin our days. The potential of “the unseen” can sometimes make the heart beat faster at night. Sometimes in a paralyzing way it can be so strong.

Maybe it doesn’t make logical sense that proof of “the ghost in you” is scary. But then again… maybe only nasty people have enough stamina to survive the grave.

Thank Ghosts, it’s October

Give me that blast of adrenaline, that desperate energy. Give me that hope that there is more to this mortal coil than meaningless daily deadlines, monthly mortgages, car insurance payments and credit card bills.

Give me ghouls and ghosts and horror.

At the end of the day, despite its fascination with death, Horror is what makes me feel alive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Everson is a staunch advocate for the culinary joys of the jalapeno and an unabashed fan of 1970s European horror cinema. He is also the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of ten novels, including his latest ghost-driven tale, The House By The Cemetery, which takes place at a real haunted cemetery — Bachelor’s Grove — in the south suburbs of Chicago. His first novel Covenant, was a winner of the Bram Stoker Award and his sixth, NightWhere, was a finalist for the award. Other novels include Redemption, the conclusion to the trilogy begun in Covenant, as well as Violet Eyes, The Pumpkin Man, Siren and The 13th. Over the past 20 years, his short stories have appeared in more than 75 magazines and anthologies. He is the founder of the independent press Dark Arts Books and has written novelettes for The Vampire Diaries and Jonathan Maberry’s V-Wars universe (Books 1 and 3), the latter of which is currently being developed for NetFlix. He’s also written stories for The Green Hornet and Kolchak, The Night Stalker anthologies. He has had several short fiction collections, including Needles & Sins, Vigilantes of Love, Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions and most recently, Sacrificing Virgins.

For more on his obsession with jalapenos and 1970s European horror cinema, as well as information on his fiction, art and music, visit www.johneverson.com.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnEverson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johneverson

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/John-Everson/e/B002BMHL52