Days of the Dead blog tour 2014: Gail Z. Martin on Hiding Under the Covers
30th October 2014
Hiding Under the Covers
By Gail Z. Martin
I’ve always liked ghost stories. Well, let’s say that I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with ghost stories. I love them when it’s daylight and the lights are on. I’m not so keen on them in the dark.
As a kid, I remember being scared of some of the oddest stuff. There was a children’s encyclopedia that had an entry on “hallucinations” and the drawing accompanying the definition gave me nightmares for a week—no idea why.
Even so, I kept coming back to re-runs of shows like The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the monster movies that used to run on Saturday afternoon TV. And I loved any book I could get my hands on that included magic, witches, ghosts, and the supernatural. One of my favorite books in middle school was Jane-Emily about a girl being haunted by the ghost of her vindictive cousin.
I remember watching the old monster movie Them about giant radioactive ants destroying the world. I was eating popcorn and watching the movie on TV alone in the dark. All of a sudden, a huge beast with black shaggy fur and a hideous, green-eyed gorilla face jumped out at me from behind the couch. I think in that case, my dad got more than he bargained for because even after he took off the mask and the fur coat, I wouldn’t stop screaming until every light in the house was on. #ParentingFail
As a kid, cemeteries were favorite places. My mom was a teacher and had to stay late at school to grade papers. When I was 10 or 11, she would let me go up the block and wander around the old historic cemetery (times were different then). It’s a beautiful place with a lot of historic graves, and I used to pass the time by reading the epitaphs and making up stories about the people. In high school, I planned the family vacation to make sure we hit Salem, Massachusetts so we could go to all the witch trial museums, and some of the old cemeteries.
Nowadays, I absolutely love going on ghost tours when I visit a city. Rome, London, Dublin, New Orleans, Charleston, and more—it’s always on the itinerary. I’ve dragged my family through the Capuchin crypts in Rome where the monks used human bones for decorating, and on tours of cemeteries in several countries.
I’m more a fan of ghost/suspense types of scary movies. I don’t do slasher/gore flicks. But I do love something like The Woman in Black and Rose Red that have a good, creepy vibe. When it comes to books, quite a bit of what I read includes vampires, magic, ghosts and the supernatural, although it tends to skirt being outright horror. I enjoy Stephen King’s stuff, but I have to admit that after I read IT I kept the lights on!
My Days of the Dead blog tour runs through October 31 with never-before-seen cover art, brand new excerpts from upcoming books and recent short stories, interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and more! Plus, I’ll be including extra excerpt links for stories and books by author friends of mine. And, a special 50% off discount from Double-Dragon ebooks! You’ve got to visit the participating sites to get the goodies, just like Trick or Treat! Details here: www. AscendantKingdoms.com
Trick or Treat: Enjoy an excerpt from Buttons, the short story that led to the Deadly Curiosities book series here.
And a bonus excerpt from Collector, one of my Deadly Curiosities Adventures short stories here.
Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin is available now in the UK, US and as a DRM-free eBook from the Rebellion Store.