Interview with RJ Jerome

Welcome to an the eTreasures blog and an interview with our Interview King, RJ Jerome. Welcome back to eTreasures RJ, we are thrilled to have you.

So RJ, how are you today?

RJ: Feeling God Like. I had a great day. I finally located a bottle of Lagavulin 16 after 3 years. Manchester City is number 1 in the British Premier League. And when I arrived home, I received a wrapped up meditation book with a weird note in it. (See pic) My readers are a bit on the crazy side.

So, with an interest in word play, why did you pick the title Pelagius Game for your series? 

RJ: The series is named after the British Monk, Pelagius, who opposed the common belief that God willed all events in the universe. This line of thinking got him branded a heretic. So when I was looking for a title and came across his name, I thought it would work for what I was doing. I actually incorporated him as one of the founders of the secret Order of Pelagius.

Would you say this book is set in this world, or did you bend reality around a little? 

RJ: Both Valstain and Born Villain split time between Earth and the magical realm Valstain. The 3rd book will follow suit, but book 4 will be spent solely in Salem, Massachusetts. (Do you know I can never spell Massachusetts correctly? Thank you spell check.)

Which of your characters would you like to meet in a bar? On the potentially flip side, who is your favorite character to write? 

RJ: Great question. The Scotsman has my blunt personality and sense of humor. He just might be worthy of splitting that $100 bottle of Lagavulin 16 with. However, I really got off on writing for my first evil female character, Seven. I have a thing for bad girls. The first chapter of book 3 opens up with a new villainess. (That’s a word right?)

If you had to pick a character to dress up as for Halloween, who would you pick and how would you dress? 

RJ: One with breasts of course. Seven…just kidding folks. If I have to go full costume, I’d go with Lacroix White. He’s a tall, gaunt albino with log white braids that have tiny razors in them. But it is his eyes, pink spheres devoid of compassion, that mark this man as an instrument of death. Scary right?

Thanks RJ for the interview, and we are happy to have you with us. 

RJ: Thank you for your time and for putting up with me.

Creepy Crawly Stories for the Month of Screams

Welcome one and all to the month of October. This month is many things: the start of fall, the month of horror, time for apple cider, and for Americans it is the month of football. October puts people in the mood to be frightened, and at eTreasures we have enough scary stories to keep you busy until the Halloween.

#1 A Ghost Hunt by Jack Horne

David Andrew reluctantly agrees to accompany his oldest friend, Suzy, an up-and-coming actress, and her fellow actors on a late night ghost hunt at the ruins of Bury Seymour castle, reputedly the most haunted place in England.

Suzy is starring as a ghost in a play at a haunted theatre, where the sinister specter of a hanged actor stalks the building unnerving staff and actors alike. Adding to the mystery, there appears to be some link between the ghosts in both locations.

David refuses to believe in the paranormal, but when he encounters the hostile spirits, he is forced to abandon his lifelong skepticism.

Initial unease soon gives way to fear, and then becomes full blown terror, as David and his friends realize the full extent of the malevolent forces they are up against. When tragedy strikes, they know they must fight to survive, but they are totally unprepared for the battle.

#2 Finding Eden by Pembroke Sinclair

Drunk womanizer Duke, spends his life selfishly taking care of himself and screw the rest of the world. After one particular black-out alcoholic binge, he wakes to find the world changed—the dead are rising from their graves.

Lonely, guilt-ridden Hank is someone who minds his own business, and sympathetic but strong-willed Lana is on the receiving end of harassment by other students.

Forced together for survival, the three misfits must confront their world gone strange. God said the people of Earth would be punished for their sins, and so the end has come. Duke, Hank, and Lana must walk their own paths to salvation, but they also must depend on each other.

#3 Shivers by Robert Freese

Can your mind withstand shock after shock?

Before reading Shivers, the publisher asks that you complete this short psychiatric evaluation to determine the capacity of shock and horror which your mind will resist before crumbling under the fright assault of the ten terror tales presented.

1) I get queasy around sharp objects.
2) Insects frighten me.
3) I truly believe strangers are watching me and want to hurt me.
4) Things I cannot see terrify me.
5) The sight of blood makes me want to faint.
6) I am deathly afraid of hospitals.

If you answered “Yes” to any of the above statements, it may be dangerous to your fragile, mental well being to attempt reading Shivers. These stories may very well drive you to the brink of insanity. You have been warned.

#4 Soylent Red by Jamieson Wolf

Owen is a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder. Inside of him are three other personalities that fill up his waking and dreaming hours.

Residing inside of the Sunny Dale Rest Facility, Owen, at his doctors urging, begins to chronicle the pieces of his past with a black leather journal and a felt tip pen. She believes that through writing, and through movies, memories can be triggered and Owen can be cured.

But then the other personalities within him start writing for themselves.

When people begin to die in the SunnyDale Rest Facility, Dr. Miranda Stapleton knows that Owen may be responsible, but she is willing to do anything to hide Owen’s secret. But it is not Owen who is responsible. It is someone inside of him…

Told entirely in patient assessments, journal entries, poetry, pictures and pop culture references, Soylent Red is a dark descent into a human mind and one personalities quest to live beyond the skin.

After all, what is a little blood and death if you can live forever?

#5 The Ghost Mirror by Jamieson Wolf

After being neglected by her parents for thirteen years, going to live with her Grandmother is like a breath of fresh air. At her Grandmother's, she is not shunned or ignored; instead she is loved for what she is. The Last Witch. 

Following one of the Ghosts that inhabit her Grandmother's house, Mave steps through The Ghost Mirror into a world that is hauntingly like her own. The Town of Elements has many surprises; foremost being the magic that surges through Mave. Another: that something dark is hunting for her.

Mr. Lavender, an eater of souls, knows what Mave is and wants her soul for his own. Mave must learn to use her Magic if she is to succeed. There is more than her life at stake however: If she fails, the entire fabric of Magic will unravel, destroying The Town of Elements and her own world. Mave must fight with all the power she has, if she wants to stay alive.

#6 The Long Hour Before Light by Ronald Joseph Scala

Dare to venture into darkness. Dare to step into the unknown. If you have the courage, you will find horrors beyond your imagination.

In this nightmare world, you will find punishment doled out from the grave, an art gallery whose painted horrors call out to you, and a portal to the fires of perdition.

You will meet Old Gods who crave human flesh and visit terrifying forests where the greenery hungers for flesh and blood and an old barn where people familiar to you by day become monsters at night.

#7 The Spaces Between Your Screams by Christopher Hivner

Real fear lives in the spaces between your screams.

The moment twilight becomes darkness, they are alive again. Whispered doubts, overfed lies, indistinct dreams; these crowd into your mind to create the monsters.

Your fear unleashes demons.

Your desire attracts blood seekers.

Your frailty makes you werewolf prey.

Your trust makes you vulnerable to the obscenity of the human soul.

When you scream we will hear only the silence between your breaths.

And we will know you are doomed.

#8 The Well by Andrew Richardson

When beautiful heiress Connie Straker wakes from a drugged sleep, she has no idea why she is at the bottom of a dry well.

Connie anticipates freedom when her prison floods, but is dismayed to find she remains a captive. If she is going to escape, she must outthink two violent brothers with a grudge against her family, overcome wild animals and find a way through the cage barring her way.

Connie’s best chance of freedom might lie with the college nerd who has had a crush on her for years. But Julian is a creep whom Connie despises, and she has to decide whether to trust him. Can he overcome his fear of the brothers and help her escape? Or will her captors put a violent end to Julian’s efforts? Will Julian take advantage of her desperation and make Connie’s life-or-death situation even worse?

#9 Wait Until Dark by Keith Luethke

Move over Dean Koontz and Stephen King!

The Shambling House of Horrors sits on top of a desolate hill. It’s the place where nightmares walk, and for a nominal fee victims can have their haunted adventure videotaped.

When Erin drags her friends to the haunted house they find the horrors are real. One by one they are hunted down and killed. Only Alicia escapes and the house is closed for business.

Alicia never thought she’d step inside the place again, until a new owner takes over; reopening the House of Shambling Horrors one year later. She contacts her ex and a group of close friends to unravel the mystery behind the previous year’s deaths.

But what she discovers will change her and those around her forever as they wait until dark.

You think there's safety in numbers? Guess again!