Drew Forest's Blog
June 7, 2016
The Release of Reading the Palms of Dolls
Reading the Palms of Dolls is a little bit of a departure from my debut and was in fact first conceived back in 2013, two whole years previous to The Corpse Rooms! When I initially wrote this story, it was imagined as ‘a story about a journey of overcoming fear’. It’s been re-worked and re-edited since and for those of you who have read The Corpse Rooms, you may find some surprising connections… There are a lot of themes here so if you’re brave enough to venture on an expedition involving cannibals, cults, drag queens, junkies, Ouija boards and a hell of a lot more then please feel free to check out the links to the book below.
As always, comments, feedback and questions are always welcome and more importantly - THANK YOU for reading.
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Reading the Palms of Dolls
Ever since he was a young child, Jesse suffered terribly from an anxiety disorder known as Scopophobia; the fear of being looked at or being seen. He was raised by an emotionally unstable mother who kept him locked in a windowless room for the majority of his childhood due to his debilitating condition. Her only means of contact with her son was from behind a grotesque mask and at a considerable distance.
On his sixteenth birthday, Jesse eventually runs away from home and embarks on a surreal and terrifying journey that forces him to face his deepest fears and uncover some of his darkest secrets. Along the way, he meets another teen runaway who calls herself Rabbit, a tattooed, pierced, self-acclaimed 'goth’ with a penchant for getting into trouble. Burdened with her own secrets, the pair become allies and are forced to work together in order to survive the bizarre and disturbing events that unfold in October 1994.
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If you would like a copy please see the links below.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reading-Palms-Dolls-Drew-Forest-ebook/dp/B01GOTXH9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465297604&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+the+palms+of+dolls
US: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Palms-Dolls-Drew-Forest-ebook/dp/B01GOTXH9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465297508&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+the+palms+of+dolls
Follow me on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/D_R_Forest
Check out my Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01BYCRVJK/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Drew+Forest&search-alias=digital-text&text=Drew+Forest&sort=relevancerank
I'm always on the lookout for reviewers so if you are interested in reviewing the book or have any questions please send me a message on any of these platforms.
Thank you once again.
D. R. Forest
As always, comments, feedback and questions are always welcome and more importantly - THANK YOU for reading.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Reading the Palms of Dolls
Ever since he was a young child, Jesse suffered terribly from an anxiety disorder known as Scopophobia; the fear of being looked at or being seen. He was raised by an emotionally unstable mother who kept him locked in a windowless room for the majority of his childhood due to his debilitating condition. Her only means of contact with her son was from behind a grotesque mask and at a considerable distance.
On his sixteenth birthday, Jesse eventually runs away from home and embarks on a surreal and terrifying journey that forces him to face his deepest fears and uncover some of his darkest secrets. Along the way, he meets another teen runaway who calls herself Rabbit, a tattooed, pierced, self-acclaimed 'goth’ with a penchant for getting into trouble. Burdened with her own secrets, the pair become allies and are forced to work together in order to survive the bizarre and disturbing events that unfold in October 1994.
---------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like a copy please see the links below.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reading-Palms-Dolls-Drew-Forest-ebook/dp/B01GOTXH9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465297604&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+the+palms+of+dolls
US: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Palms-Dolls-Drew-Forest-ebook/dp/B01GOTXH9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465297508&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+the+palms+of+dolls
Follow me on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/D_R_Forest
Check out my Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01BYCRVJK/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Drew+Forest&search-alias=digital-text&text=Drew+Forest&sort=relevancerank
I'm always on the lookout for reviewers so if you are interested in reviewing the book or have any questions please send me a message on any of these platforms.
Thank you once again.
D. R. Forest
February 28, 2016
Interview 1.0
Recently I took part in a small interview about my new book which was very exciting! I have been allowed to reveal a small snippet from the proceedings. Big thanks to Ste for the opportunity and allowing me to take part.
An interview With Drew Forest, Author & Creator of the Horror Novel: "The Corpse Rooms."
What inspired you to write 'The Corpse Rooms?'
There was a lot of inspiration taken from lots of different sources. I knew in the summer of 2015 that I was going to write another novel after completing one in the previous year. I was sure that it was going to be a purely horror/supernatural story since this is a genre that I am truly passionate about but I wasn’t intending to go for an ‘all out blood and gore’ story. I wanted to approach it in a different way. While those elements are certainly present, I wanted to genuinely creep readers out. Something that always got under my skin, was the fear of the unknown. Whether that is an unknown predator or being genuinely unnerved by a situation you may find yourself in. Films like 'The Blair Witch Project' and novels like 'The Shining' by Stephen King and 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks certainly influenced the atmosphere of the book. The sense of building dread and the feeling that something isn’t quite right can be truly terrifying and I wanted to play on that and keep the reader guessing until the revelation at the end.
There seems to be an underlying theme of ‘secrets and lies’ in the novel, was that intentional?
Certainly. I knew that each of the main characters were going to be hiding something and that their secrets would be pivotal in bringing the plot together. The main theme I wanted to suggest was the idea of madness. I wanted the reader to get sucked into Theo’s world and begin to question everything. Is he a reliable protagonist? How many of the events taking place are actually happening and how many of them are purely figments of his imagination or the result of him being intoxicated most of the time? I wanted the paranoia to run throughout and act as a catalyst for the plot. I wanted the reader to be faced with trying to connect the dots and figure out the truth once they discover the secrets that each of the main characters are hiding.
Theo, in a lot of ways comes across as something of an anti-hero. Was it difficult to write a main character that some readers might not like?
I personally didn’t find it difficult. I find it more difficult to write a character that doesn’t have at least one or two flaws. For me as a reader and a writer it’s these flaws and imperfections that make characters interesting. I was worried that readers would be put off by some of the revelations, but I didn’t want them to feel tricked or duped so I made it one of my priorities to ensure that there are enough clues scattered throughout. I hope that people may be able to relate to Theo, even if they don’t necessarily agree with all of his choices.
Horror as a genre can be a difficult to market to a mass audience particularly in the publishing industry. Did this concern you when you started the book?
To be honest, there were no plans from the onset to publish the story. I completed it as part of NaNoWriMo 2015 after finishing another story the previous year so it was written purely for my own entertainment. From a young age I had always written stories and never allowed myself to finish them. There was always the voice in the back of my mind telling me that they were not worth finishing and I know now that I was a fool to listen to it. When I turned thirty, I made an oath to myself that I was going to write a novel through to completion even if it killed me. Luckily for me, I managed to live up to my oath! I would love nothing more than for people to read my work and enjoy it but marketing it in terms of making a profit was never my intention and never will be. Obviously it would be great to make a living from writing but not many people achieve that level of success. I am more than happy to have just one person read the book and take pleasure in undertaking that journey. Investing in a story is quite a commitment so to have another person invest their time in my novel and having them enjoy it is worth more than all the money in the world to me.
What are your future plans?
More books! I am currently revising the next book which I expect to release in the summer, potentially sooner. I won’t say too much about it now but it’s certainly very different to The Corpse Rooms. I’m going to be starting work on the next one in the next few months, hopefully with a release at the end of the year! Stay tuned!
Reproduced with kind permission. Excerpt taken from ’An interview With Drew Forest, Author & Creator of the Horror Novel: The Corpse Rooms.“ S.H.P © 2016
The Corpse Rooms
An interview With Drew Forest, Author & Creator of the Horror Novel: "The Corpse Rooms."
What inspired you to write 'The Corpse Rooms?'
There was a lot of inspiration taken from lots of different sources. I knew in the summer of 2015 that I was going to write another novel after completing one in the previous year. I was sure that it was going to be a purely horror/supernatural story since this is a genre that I am truly passionate about but I wasn’t intending to go for an ‘all out blood and gore’ story. I wanted to approach it in a different way. While those elements are certainly present, I wanted to genuinely creep readers out. Something that always got under my skin, was the fear of the unknown. Whether that is an unknown predator or being genuinely unnerved by a situation you may find yourself in. Films like 'The Blair Witch Project' and novels like 'The Shining' by Stephen King and 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks certainly influenced the atmosphere of the book. The sense of building dread and the feeling that something isn’t quite right can be truly terrifying and I wanted to play on that and keep the reader guessing until the revelation at the end.
There seems to be an underlying theme of ‘secrets and lies’ in the novel, was that intentional?
Certainly. I knew that each of the main characters were going to be hiding something and that their secrets would be pivotal in bringing the plot together. The main theme I wanted to suggest was the idea of madness. I wanted the reader to get sucked into Theo’s world and begin to question everything. Is he a reliable protagonist? How many of the events taking place are actually happening and how many of them are purely figments of his imagination or the result of him being intoxicated most of the time? I wanted the paranoia to run throughout and act as a catalyst for the plot. I wanted the reader to be faced with trying to connect the dots and figure out the truth once they discover the secrets that each of the main characters are hiding.
Theo, in a lot of ways comes across as something of an anti-hero. Was it difficult to write a main character that some readers might not like?
I personally didn’t find it difficult. I find it more difficult to write a character that doesn’t have at least one or two flaws. For me as a reader and a writer it’s these flaws and imperfections that make characters interesting. I was worried that readers would be put off by some of the revelations, but I didn’t want them to feel tricked or duped so I made it one of my priorities to ensure that there are enough clues scattered throughout. I hope that people may be able to relate to Theo, even if they don’t necessarily agree with all of his choices.
Horror as a genre can be a difficult to market to a mass audience particularly in the publishing industry. Did this concern you when you started the book?
To be honest, there were no plans from the onset to publish the story. I completed it as part of NaNoWriMo 2015 after finishing another story the previous year so it was written purely for my own entertainment. From a young age I had always written stories and never allowed myself to finish them. There was always the voice in the back of my mind telling me that they were not worth finishing and I know now that I was a fool to listen to it. When I turned thirty, I made an oath to myself that I was going to write a novel through to completion even if it killed me. Luckily for me, I managed to live up to my oath! I would love nothing more than for people to read my work and enjoy it but marketing it in terms of making a profit was never my intention and never will be. Obviously it would be great to make a living from writing but not many people achieve that level of success. I am more than happy to have just one person read the book and take pleasure in undertaking that journey. Investing in a story is quite a commitment so to have another person invest their time in my novel and having them enjoy it is worth more than all the money in the world to me.
What are your future plans?
More books! I am currently revising the next book which I expect to release in the summer, potentially sooner. I won’t say too much about it now but it’s certainly very different to The Corpse Rooms. I’m going to be starting work on the next one in the next few months, hopefully with a release at the end of the year! Stay tuned!
Reproduced with kind permission. Excerpt taken from ’An interview With Drew Forest, Author & Creator of the Horror Novel: The Corpse Rooms.“ S.H.P © 2016
The Corpse Rooms
