Novel Rocket

We thought this article would be appropriate for Halloween. Seems this week has been ghoulish with this story on demons and Mike's "Good Vampire," and an interview with a well-known horror writer. Did we even pay attention to Halloween on Novel Journey last year? Hmmm, I'll have to check the archives. I can't remember. But since it is Halloween, any there are any true scary stories to share?












HALLOWEEN – AN EERIE READ

Halloween. Time for ghosts, goblins, princesses, pirates, witches, warlocks, and…demons? From a Christian novelist?

Author Tosca Lee says, yes, demons exist. “On the earth. In the air. In the heavens.” It’s that belief that caused Lee to pen the recently released, Demon: A Memoir.

But, just as this holiday itself draws criticism from Christians, Lee has had to handle critical response from the faith-based community questioning her beliefs. Some even wondered if she’d communed with demons to write the eerie manuscript.

“No, I’ve never had a personal experience with an angel or demon,” Lee responds. “Not in the visceral way that others describe. Thank God. I think I would have had a heart attack.”

The surprise success of her novel was enough to get Lee’s heart pumping. Her Amazon rank across all Christian fiction was in the top ten and her writing drew comparisons to the great C.S. Lewis work The Screwtape Letters. The Smith College graduate has criss-crossed the country on a whirlwind book tour in such cities as Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and her home city of Lincoln. Yet time on the road is a welcome respite from the strange encounters Lee suffered during her writing.

“Things broke down in my brand new house. Mice infested it. The water turned blue. Smoke came out of my dishwasher. These were petty and stupid happenings that made me roll my eyes.”

Then, it got even more strange.

“My computer’s motherboard fried—I could smell it burning. I became more prone to anxiety attacks. My new laptop began to blank out in the middle of working on the story before I had saved anything. I was constantly distracted. While all of these events have practical explanations, it was the timing of all of them that made them a bit weird.”

Then came the fear.

“As the things that happened became both more subtle and distracting, I had moments where I actually began to worry about the safety of those around me and, at times, for myself. Yes, I know it may sound superstitious at best to anyone who doesn’t believe in these things. For me, though, I believe I was peering into a realm that should be understood to the best of our ability, but one that consists of opposing forces.”

Whether coincidence or demonic activity, one thing is certain. Tosca Lee is happy to be writing about something else while Demon hits the shelves for Halloween. Her second novel is about Eve.

“At the heart of these books is my desire to more deeply understand this idea of God, of good and evil,” Tosca says. “And of the struggle of the first people to grasp these concepts and deal with their implications. I write foremost to fill in the gaps in my own conceptual understanding of my faith. When a reader writes to me and says, ‘You made me see something in a whole new way,’ or ‘I never thought of that before,’ that is the greatest compliment.”