Please share a little about
yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.
I grew up half in New Jersey and half in
Southern California. Living my formative
years on different sides of the country I feel has given me a unique
perspective on life and different character traits of people. Coupled with spending an inordinate amount of
time in my parent’s diner in New Jersey, I have developed an interesting sense
of humor, which shows itself from time to time in my writing and my
teaching. (I am a teacher by day and a
writer by night.) Growing up, besides
the beach and various sports, I spent my time reading history and horror
books. Many years later, I have combined
those interests into the paranormal historical based romances I tend to
write. My stories tend to lean more
toward the paranormal and romance side using history as a mere backdrop. There are no history lessons in my books,
only enough to make the scary, or romantic scenes a little more interesting.
Tell us a little about your latest
or upcoming release.
On
the surface, The Beckoning is a story
of a young girl who is forced to move from New Jersey to a remote plantation
house in Virginia. Isolated from her
friends, and ultimately her parents, Marissa (my protagonist) and her dog Max
are left to fend for themselves in a world dominated by a demon hell bent on
killing her family. In addition to the demon, Marissa must deal with a
paranormal town her family frequents that is populated by ghosts. Eventually, Marissa discovers these ghosts
are trying to reach out to her for help, for reasons she doesn’t yet
understand. On the brink of insanity,
Marissa finds the journal of the young man that lived in her room over a
century before. In his journal, the
young man left vital information about the history of the house and how to
survive it. Lonely and scared, Marissa
begins to fall in love with the young man spiritually before he does the
seemingly impossible. He materializes to save her from the demon and show her
the special powers she possesses. The love Marissa feels for him immediately
grows ten fold. While their relationship blossoms, Marissa comes to realize
that Zachary has not come to save her.
Rather he has come to show her how to save the ghosts who are imprisoned
in Mills Run, her family, and possibly the world.
Along with the romance, The Beckoning is packed with action,
horror and the story of a young person finding out who she really is. Above
all, The Beckoning is a story of a young person gaining confidence in herself and
standing strong in the face of overwhelming odds.
If this
book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?
There
will be a sequel to The Beckoning. I will be writing that soon after I finish
the steampunk vampire story I am currently writing that features Billy the
Kid. In the sequel, Marissa will move to
back to New Jersey, but find herself in a secluded Delaware River town. To her dismay the demon would have followed
her and she will start noticing that even though her life is moving forward
time itself is moving backwards a day or sometimes even a few weeks at a
time. In addition to that people around
her are dying incredibly horrible deaths and being replaced by their evil clones. Trying to escape the town Max and Marissa
find out that some kind of powerful force is trapping them with the town’s
limits. Perhaps Zachary can return and help her fight off the
offspring of the original demon.
What is
next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming releases or works in progress?
Besides the project I am
currently writing, I have another one due back from my editor, Neal Hock. That one is called The Daguerreotypist and is about a photographer back in 1842, hence
the title of the book, that goes on a killing rampage in order to “stop”
sinning. He is later forced to enter
into a pact with the devil and gains the ability to time travel between 2012
and 1842. In 2012 he falls in love with
the woman who presently occupies his old studio/apartment. A love triangle quickly ensues between the
two of them and Rachel’s, the woman in 2012, fiancé, complicating matters.
Rachel over time discovers who he is and how he has been time traveling. Torn between what is right and her attraction
for him, she struggles with being the only one who can put an end to the
killing. It will all come down to whether or not Rachel can or will she put an
end to the carnage occurring in two different centuries.
Of all the characters you’ve ever
written, who is your favorite and why?
Although
I am writing a book about Billy the Kid being a vampire slayer right now, and
having a lot of fun doing it, my favorite character is Marissa from The Beckoning. I started off her character being afraid to
stand up to people, talk to guys, or make many friends. She was a shy girl with a hint of a snarky
attitude reserved for her parents only.
As The Beckoning evolves, so
does Marissa. The reader can follow the
change in her from shyness to becoming an extremely strong and fearless
character. This is displayed in the book when she makes friends with the ghost
that eventually ends up being her love interest and with the demon within her
house. With Zachary, she gains the
strength to not only talk to a ghost, but also allow the love interest to
develop. In regards to the demon, the
shy young lady in the beginning of the book comes full circle in battling the
demon and resembles Laura Croft Tomb Raider in her bravery. Creating the character of Marissa was an
enjoyable experience that kept me coming back to my computer keyboard day after
day. I hope the readers have as much fun
reading about her adventures in The
Beckoning as I did creating them.
Are you a mom (or parent)?
I am a proud parent of a 6-year-old daughter
and an 8-year-old son. As I am sure
every parent says, they are the center of my whole world. Often times they ask what I’m writing about
and make suggestions. Well, even though The Beckoning is a YA book suitable for
teenagers on upward, I tend to be vague with them about the content. They usually want to know if I have doggies
or cats in the story. That happens to be
where the idea for Max, Marissa’s dog and at times only confidant, came from.
If yes do you find it hard to
juggle writing and parenting?
Not at
all, I find that getting time to write and juggling parenting is fairly
easy. It’s the writing that is
hard. I have a wonderful wife that gives
me time for my writing if I need it during the day. Most of the time I write after the family has
fallen asleep and before they wake up. I
am one of those people who find it difficult to sleep more than five hours per
night. Actually, my whole family is
asleep as I am answering the questions for this interview.
September 3 Tour Kick Off
Fang-tastic Books
September 4 Promo
Roxanne’s Realm
September 5 Interview
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
September 7 Guest blog
Bending the Spine
September 13 Promo
Andi's Young Adult Books
September 14 Promo
A Bibliophiles Thoughts on Books
September 15 Guest blog and review
Young Adult Book Reviews
September 24 Guest Blog
The Insane Ramblings of a Crazed Writer.
September 25 Guest blog and review
Rute Canhoto
September 25 Review
Darkest Addictions Book Reviews
September 28 Promo
-Nobonita@Daydreaming Bookworm
September 30 Interview
DEB SANDERS
October 1 Promo and review
Stuffed Shelves
The Beckoning
Chris Savio
Genre: Paranormal YA Romance
ISBN: 9781478301936
Number of pages: 273
Word Count: 83,000
Cover Artist: Char Andlesperger
Teenage girls don’t fall in love with ghosts, discover their magical powers or save their families from demons, or they?
Book Description:
Forced to leave the few friends she’s ever had and the only life she’s ever known, snarky fifteen-year-old Marissa arrives at Briar Creek, a remote Virginia plantation house, lonely and unhappy. Immediately upon arrival, she learns that her parents have come under the power of the demon that has dwelled there for over a century and that her very life hangs by a thread. With her life in peril, Marissa makes several discoveries that would turn any teenager’s life upside down.
Finding out that the nearby town of Mills Run is inhabited by the souls of her dead relatives who continually try to communicate with her is terrifying. Knowing her parents are under full control of the demon, who unbeknownst to her wants to father a child and rule the world, is even worse. Realizing that she only has Max, her faithful dog for support, Marissa begins to give up all hope.
That’s until she finds the journal of the long dead boy who used to occupy her room. Reading about his life, Marissa begins to fall in love and fantasizes about the seemingly impossible, meeting him. Her impossible dream miraculously comes true when Zachary materializes to save her life and teach her of the powers she never knew she possessed. Allied with her first love, and more powerful than any teenage girl ever dreamed, Marissa gains confidence and believes she can do anything. Together, can this improbable duo save Marissa’s family and the world from the demon before it’s too late?
Author Bio:
I reside in Northern New Jersey. By day I’m a teacher and family man. At night, the need to write drives me deep into the early hours of the morning. Growing up, my love of history and horror, including Stephen King, greatly shaped my reading and writing interests and style. My debut novel, The Beckoning, is a YA paranormal romance immersed in a historical setting. In additional to the sequel, I have two other YA novels in the publication queue.
@scaryreads
No comments:
Post a Comment