Horror Aficionados discussion

This is the thread for the Group Read with Guest Author, Allan Leverone, as we read his science gone amuck tale of terror, THE LUPIN PROJECT. Grab yourself a copy at the link below and please help me welcome Allan to HA!

https://www.amazon.com/Lupin-Project-...

omg I JUST finished this one! What a thrill ride! I usually don't read "animals gone wrong" books but man! This was a good one! I gave it 4 stars. Welcome Allan and thank you for joining us.

Welcome Allan! I can't wait to join in for this one!!

I started the book last night. It’s excellent.

Latasha wrote: "omg I JUST finished this one! What a thrill ride! I usually don't read "animals gone wrong" books but man! This was a good one! I gave it 4 stars. Welcome Allan and thank you for joining us."

Hi Latasha, and thanks so much! I'm so glad you liked it, and your review was more than kind :)

Kimberly wrote: "Welcome Allan! I can't wait to join in for this one!!"

Thank you for the very kind welcome, Kimberly!

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I started the book last night. It’s excellent."

Thank you for checking it out, and I hope you enjoy it...

Thanks for joining us here, Allan.
I'll be starting this book on the weekend. Looks good.

WendyB wrote: "Thanks for joining us here, Allan.
I'll be starting this book on the weekend. Looks good."

Thank you for having me, Wendy!

Got both books. If I find time to read, I'll join you guys!

Katy wrote: "Got both books. If I find time to read, I'll join you guys!"

Hi Katy, and if you do find the time, I hope you enjoy it!

So Allan, why wolves? Why not regular dogs?

Just started this and am up to ch. 5. Right off the bat I've getting a Stranger Things/John Saul kinda vibe. Government facility hidden in the woods doing unadvised experiments, before long those experiments come into contact with teens leading to a bad outcome.

Was there any inspiration from along those lines in writing the book?

If I get the time I'll jump in on this one as well, I do have a weakness for creature features!

Latasha wrote: "So Allan, why wolves? Why not regular dogs?"

That's a great question! For me, it was always going to be wolves, for a couple of reasons. The main one is that wolves, rightly or wrongly, raise a level of fear/unease in people that just isn't matched by dogs. When I think of dogs, I think of the tail-wagging fur baby lying at its owner's feet; I don't think of potential menace, which is the kind of response I wanted to engender in the reader, the kind of response anyone who's come face-to-face with a wild wolf has probably felt.

Also, wolves are highly intelligent, highly coordinated pack hunters, which fit the plot of the novel perfectly. Next to sharks, wolves might be the most perfect predators on the planet. That made wolves perfect for the novel as well.

When my oldest daughter was around 10-12, she was obsessed with wolves, so I learned a lot about them, and when I started planning this "science gone amuck" book, I knew immediately that wolves would be the blunt instrument employed by the bad guys...

Alan wrote: "Just started this and am up to ch. 5. Right off the bat I've getting a Stranger Things/John Saul kinda vibe. Government facility hidden in the woods doing unadvised experiments, before long those e..."

Hi Alan, thanks for checking out the book! I try not to model my writing after any specific authors, but can see where the Saul comparison might arise. I would certainly consider it a compliment; thank you.

I never made the connection between Stranger Things and Lupin until just now, reading your question, but I have to admit I kind of love it. The Lupin kids are a few years older than the Stranger Things kids, but other than that there are definitely parallels.

Now that you bring it up, it seems obvious, but I never made the connection. Then again, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer sometimes...

Yep! Wolves scare me!

Allan wrote: "Alan wrote: "Just started this and am up to ch. 5. Right off the bat I've getting a Stranger Things/John Saul kinda vibe. Government facility hidden in the woods doing unadvised experiments, before..."

Haa! I totally get that you didn't have those works in mind when you plotted your book. I know there's a tendency any more to assume when a book or movie comes out with similarities to others that it was influenced by predecessors, but sometimes people actually do come up with an idea on their own that just happens to feel like something else.

Finished the other night. Story didn't go quite how I thought it would. I did appreciate that there wasn't an endless stream of unrealistic chase scenes as these types of stories often end up having, and that the book was no longer than it needed to be.

I was afraid there would be some animal cruelty in this book but I’m really glad there was very little (I’d even say none). So thank you very much for that. Some of the humans were just as scary as the wolves!

Looking forward to starting this after work this evening. I do love a good wolf tale!

Alan wrote: "Finished the other night. Story didn't go quite how I thought it would. I did appreciate that there wasn't an endless stream of unrealistic chase scenes as these types of stories often end up havin..."

I really appreciate you checking it out; thanks so much!

Latasha wrote: "I was afraid there would be some animal cruelty in this book but I’m really glad there was very little (I’d even say none). So thank you very much for that. Some of the humans were just as scary as..."

I love animals, and I wanted to tell the story with as little cruelty to the wolves as I could manage, while still taking it where I felt it needed to go. I was a little concerned about the final scene with the wolves (trying to avoid spoilers here, in case anyone sees this before finishing the book), but hopefully it went as humanely as possible...

Rebeka wrote: "Looking forward to starting this after work this evening. I do love a good wolf tale!"

I'd love to hear your thoughts, Rebeka, good, bad or indifferent!

Thanks for joining us here, Allan!

I'm still reading through one of last month's books, and I wanted to drop in and tell you how much I enjoyed your story in that!

I will try like hell to work in this month.

Latasha wrote: "Yep! Wolves scare me!"

Latasha, when my oldest daughter was around 10-12, she was obsessed with wolves, so when a traveling wolf exhibit came to our local Audubon Society, we brought her. The exhibit included a presentation featuring a live wolf, inside a circle surrounded by all the attendees, no fencing, no leash, nothing. Just a wolf lying next to the presenter in the middle of this circle of strangers.

The first thing the presenter told us was not to lock eyes with the wolf, as that is considered a challenge for dominance. If the wolf looked at us while we were watching him, we were to immediately look away.

I learned a lot during the presentation, but the biggest thing I recall about it (this was a good twenty years ago) was the sense of power these animals exude. They're big and strong and majestic and I love them, the headaches they cause farmers and ranchers notwithstanding...

I thought that last scene was fine. It happened and you didn’t drag it out.
That show must have been amazing. I’ve only seen wolves in cages and I really, really hate that so i no longer go to zoo’s or anything like that. It breaks my heart so, so much.

Char wrote: "Thanks for joining us here, Allan!

I'm still reading through one of last month's books, and I wanted to drop in and tell you how much I enjoyed your..."

Thanks so much for the kind mention of my story! Pentagram is packed full of terrific stories from some really talented authors, so I appreciate the mention :)

Allan, can you describe the research you did to make the story seem so authentic? What did you find that surprised you the most?

Kenneth wrote: "Allan, can you describe the research you did to make the story seem so authentic? What did you find that surprised you the most?"

Honestly, Kenneth, my only research was my personal history dealing with and observing the massive bureaucracy that constitutes the many layers of the federal government.

I've worked as an air traffic controller since I was 22, which gives me almost forty years of observation. I believe it's all those layers of bureaucracy that makes a super-secret project like Lupin not just believable, but likely occurring somewhere in the United States right now.

A certain level of "suspension of disbelief" by the reader is necessary in most fictional tales, particularly in the horror genre, but I think it's perfectly believable that the CIA or NSA or some other alphabet soup agency is developing technology equally or more frightening than that portrayed in The Lupin Project.

Once I'm confident the story is believable within the confines of the genre, my main focus is on developing strong characters. I write in multiple genres, but one thing my novels all have in common - I hope - is a cast of characters that matter to the reader. If you don't care about the people in the story, why would you care what happens to them?

Wow! What an interesting job!

Latasha wrote: "Wow! What an interesting job!"

It's funny you say that, Latasha. About twelve or thirteen years ago, when I was trying to snag an agent, I remember talking to one after he had declined to represent my horror novel, PASKAGANKEE. We were just passing the time, and he asked me what I did for a living in the real world.

When I told him I was an air traffic controller, he did the old "I could have had a V-8" slap to his forehead and looked at me like I was an idiot (he wasn't really all that far off lol). He said something like, "Never mind the horror novels, you need to write an aviation thriller from the perspective of a controller. It's never been done, and you should do it."

I didn't tell him what I really wanted to say, that I'd been doing the job for so long it wasn't anything I found interesting enough to write about, that it was a way to earn a living for me and really nothing more.

But I thought about what he said, and started planning the novel that eventually turned out to be my thriller, FINAL VECTOR, about an air traffic control facility that gets taken over by terrorists intent on blowing up Air Force One.

The book ended up selling pretty well and was well received by readers, so all's well that ends well. Ironically, though, that agent still never ended up representing me...

Which of your books are horror and which one of those do you recommend reading next?

Latasha wrote: "Which of your books are horror and which one of those do you recommend reading next?"

I have a four-book series of horror novels based on supernatural events that occur in a tiny town just south of the Canadian border that might be fun. The titles are Paskagankee, Revenant, Wellspring, and Grimoire. They can all be read as standalones, but they do all feature the same set of characters.

My novel Mr. Midnight was pretty well-received, enough so that I wrote a followup titled After Midnight. Those two books are a little harder-edged and bloody, featuring probably the most evil character I'll ever write, Milo Cain.

A standalone novel titled Covenant could also be considered horror, although - fair warning - I wanted to try something a little different so it's part horror, part noir/crime. I think it came out great, but not everybody gets it, or appreciates the genre mashup!

Ok, I will check these out and add some, if not all, to my TBR!

Latasha wrote: "Ok, I will check these out and add some, if not all, to my TBR!"

I hope you enjoy them, Latasha! If/when you get around to checking any of them out, I would love to hear your thoughts...

Is any of your books available as audio books?

Allan, can you give us a little insight on how you first became published and what changes you’ve seen over the years?

Latasha wrote: "Is any of your books available as audio books?"

Latasha, my only novel currently available on audiobook is The Lonely Mile, a crime novel. I'd like to expand the number of titles available, but just can't take the financial risk with my self-published titles. Yet.

Kenneth wrote: "Allan, can you give us a little insight on how you first became published and what changes you’ve seen over the years?"

I started writing my first novel in the fall of 2006, during that long-ago era known as "Pre-Ebook." In those days, self-publishing was known as vanity publishing and considered a career-killer, Vince Flynn's success doing exactly that notwithstanding. The major publishers would not accept un-agented submissions, so I began researching literary agents and then querying the ones I identified as working in the genre of the book I had written.

Several years and one-hundred-plus rejections later, I set my sights on smaller, Indie publishers, most of whom offered the advantage of accepting queries/submissions directly from authors. In December 2009, I received a contract offer from Medallion Press to publish my debut novel, a thriller titled FINAL VECTOR, with a proposed release date of February 2011.

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Medallion was one of the biggest and most prestigious Indies out there, with a professional editing staff and relationships with amazing authors like Tom Piccirilli and Ron Malfi, two of my favorites.

The plan was to release FV in mass-market paperback format. I thought in early 2011 I would finally achieve my dream of walking into a bookstore and seeing my name on the spine of a novel. I also thought Medallion would become my publisher, that I would write novels and Medallion would publish them and all would be right with the world.

Neither thing eventually happened, but that's probably a story for another time, since my answer has already become lengthy. But that's the quick and dirty version of how I first became published...

Allan wrote: "Kenneth wrote: "Allan, can you give us a little insight on how you first became published and what changes you’ve seen over the years?"

I started writing my first novel in the fall of 2006, during..."

The biggest change I've seen since I started writing my first novel is also the most obvious: the rise to prominence of ebooks and the associated rise in self-publishing.

The self-publishing revolution has allowed authors who otherwise stood virtually zero chance of ever being published the opportunity to get their work into readers hands. The other side of that coin is that the market has become flooded with books, some of which are less than professionally written and edited.

While my quest to achieve literary representation was frustrating and difficult, looking back I'm glad it happened, because I learned a LOT about the writing/publishing business, and I feel I've also gained some perspective that I would not have done if I'd just written a book and self-published it...

I hope everyone is still enjoying the festive period. I've just finished this thrill ride of a book! I really enjoyed it and wish I didn't have to adult so I could have kept reading without putting it down. I'm looking forwarding to reading more of your work, Allan, The Lupin Project is a great read!

Rebeka wrote: "I hope everyone is still enjoying the festive period. I've just finished this thrill ride of a book! I really enjoyed it and wish I didn't have to adult so I could have kept reading without putting..."

Thanks so much, Rebeka, both for giving my novel a chance and for the kind words...I really appreciate both!