Horror Aficionados discussion

This is the thread for the August 2023 Group Read with Guest Author, Elizabeth J. Brown. This month, Elizabeth will join us as we read her supernatural dark fantasy, The Laughing Policeman. Grab your copy at the link below and please help me welcome to HA, Elizabeth J. Brown!

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Elizabe...

This sounds great! Welcome Elizabeth, and thank you for joining us here!

Count me in.

Woohoo!

Fortunately for me, I own this (and its terrifying cover). Looks like a very....Spooky August. 😃
Welcome!

Hi Elizabeth ! Welcome can’t wait to dive into this book! Kenneth, amazing job with the moderator skills !

I have this book and I’m excited to use this as an opportunity to read it!

Purchased!

Welcome, Elizabeth! Thanks for dropping by. 😎

Perfect time for me to start reading. Awesome!

Awesome. Welcome aboard.

Thanks for joining us Elizabeth!

Kenneth wrote: "This is the thread for the August 2023 Group Read with Guest Author, Elizabeth J. Brown. This month, Elizabeth will join us as we read her supernatural dark fantasy, The Laughing Policeman. Grab yo..."

Thank you so much for having me! :)

Kimberly wrote: "This sounds great! Welcome Elizabeth, and thank you for joining us here!"

Thank you :)

Thank you everyone! I'm excited to be here! I can't wait to discuss The Laughing Policeman with you all. Feel free to ask me whatever you want (unless you need directions somewhere... I'm terrible at directions).

That looks like a good one. Just placed my order.

Michael wrote: "That looks like a good one. Just placed my order."

Thank you, I hope you enjoy it!

Ooooo, this cover got me. Bought and excited to read in August. Thank you for joining us, Elizabeth!!

Elizabeth. Your cover is a thing of beauty and I would dare guess that it’s pulled in more than myself to purchase the book. Can you tell us a little about it and the artist who did it?

Thank you Kenneth! The artist's name is Ben Baldwin, he's based in the UK (like me).

He was suggested to me by a friend who is very good friends with his sister. I found his Facebook page and immediately knew I wanted him to create my covers, I also discovered that he'd created some of the covers for Richard Chizmar's Gwendy series.

I contacted Ben and gave him a rough idea of what I wanted for The Laughing Policeman cover (a close-up view of a policeman in full uniform, a slashed face and piercing blue eyes) and he came back to me with a concept sketch. Even the sketch was brilliant! It was Ben who added in the reaching hand, for a little extra drama, and I think it definitely takes the cover up a notch.

He paints everything digitally within Photoshop, which I think must be some kind of witchcraft... Not only is he extremely talented but he's really lovely too. AND he can decipher my garbled emails, which is an added bonus! :)

Thank you megs_bookrack, I hope you enjoy it! 😊

This was already on my to read list. I wanted to read it on the train to Berlin, but things went a little different then I thought. So I will be joining this.

Welcome Elizabeth!

Corina Freekina wrote: "This was already on my to read list. I wanted to read it on the train to Berlin, but things went a little different then I thought. So I will be joining this.

Welcome Elizabeth!"

Sorry your train journey to Berlin didn't go as planned! Thank you for the welcome, I'm glad you're able to join in with the discussion :)

Just got my copy, excited to dive in!

Thank you so much Jayda! I hope you enjoy it ☺️

Welcome and I already read the book and loved it!

Thank you Chiara! I'm happy to be here 😊

Awesome! I'm getting ready to read this one for the Books of Horror Indie Brawl, so joining this discussion will be fun! Thanks for this opportunity.

How far through the brawl are you Nickie? I'm lagging behind 😅

Elizabeth, I’ve read 17/32. Getting there!

Hey, Elizabeth! Your book sounds really interesting and I’m thinking about buying it! I’m curious what horror elements are incorporated in your book? Is it about possession and/or witches?

I'm waiting until August to officially start, but this one really does sound amazing!

Nickie wrote: "Elizabeth, I’ve read 17/32. Getting there!"

That's brilliant!

slumpeer wrote: "Hey, Elizabeth! Your book sounds really interesting and I’m thinking about buying it! I’m curious what horror elements are incorporated in your book? Is it about possession and/or witches?"

Thank you!

The Laughing Policeman has a strong revenge theme running through it. Horror element wise, there's demonic possession, mysterious ancient artifacts, witches and secret organisations.

Obviously, I don't want to give too much away, but hopefully that answers the question without any spoilers.

Kimberly wrote: "I'm waiting until August to officially start, but this one really does sound amazing!"

Thank you :)

I can't believe it's August in a week!

i've had the book for ages...........I'm in!

Thank you Larry! 😊

I was happy this one made it into the brawl. I’m excited to check it out.

Thank you Lance. I was delighted to get voted in! I think the Indie Author Brawl has been a brilliant way of introducing more indie authors to readers. Hopefully it will become an annual event 😊

Elizabeth wrote: "Thank you Lance. I was delighted to get voted in! I think the Indie Author Brawl has been a brilliant way of introducing more indie authors to readers. Hopefully it will become an annual event 😊"

I'm glad to see more indie authors getting exposure lately, and hope this trend keeps up!

Kimberly wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Thank you Lance. I was delighted to get voted in! I think the Indie Author Brawl has been a brilliant way of introducing more indie authors to readers. Hopefully it will become an..."

Me too! I'm sure it will, the support for indie authors (especially within the horror community) has been absolutely phenomenal.

Elizabeth, who would you say are your writing influences?

It’s going to be an annual event. We’re already discussing how we’re going to set it up next year :)

Kenneth wrote: "Elizabeth, who would you say are your writing influences?"

Controversially, it wasn't until the last couple of years that I got back into reading horror. As an adult, I read fantasy first and foremost. Don't ask me why, because I loved reading horror as a child and even got begged by my English teachers to broaden my reading genre after almost every homework assignment I turned in was about werewolves or vampires (and we're not talking the cute, fluffy or sparkly kind). I still watched a lot of horror, I still loved everything gothic and spooky, I just didn't read it.

Because of that, my writing influences might not be what people expect. I think possibly the reason I got so heavily into fantasy was because I discovered Terry Pratchett. My all-time favourite character is Death (even in fantasy I kept it morbid). Terry Pratchett is definitely a writing influence, as are Neil Gaiman, Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence and many, many others. I think it was because of Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy and Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy that I fell in love with the idea of antiheroes.

Even though I read a LOT of fantasy, it’s mainly dark, brutal fantasy, which makes sense really…

Obviously, I read quite a bit of indie horror now. The indie horror authors out there are amazing. Not only have I found countless new books that now rank among my favourites, I’ve made some wonderful friends along the way.

Lance wrote: "It’s going to be an annual event. We’re already discussing how we’re going to set it up next year :)"

That's fantastic! I can't wait! My TBR pile might not thank you though... *nervously side-eyes the 200+ books silently waiting to be picked up*

Count me in! Thank you and welcome Elizabeth!!

Thank you Janette, I'm glad to be here 😊

It's officially August! 😁 Thank you to everyone who's picked up a copy of The Laughing Policeman, I'm excited for you to read it, and to answer any questions you might have!

I've got my copy loaded onto my kindle. I'll be starting later today (maybe at the pool during swim lessons!). Just have to finish up this massive Justin Cronin novel first!

I have my copy ready to go after the reads I just started!