Author Guest Post With Allison Karras

Allison Karras has kindly agreed to visit the blog to discuss her work and inspiration for becoming a writer.

 About The Author:

Allison Karras writes Young Adult Paranormal fiction and lives in a dusty mountain town in the heart of Oregon. She works by the light of day as a reporter. When the darkness comes, she writes about zombies, sirens, murder, and oh yeah… love (most difficult of the four.) She loves traveling, sitting in airports waiting for the next plane, listening to The Replacements and The Pogues, and watching film noir movies.

She dreams of becoming a full-time YA fiction writer, and becoming a surfing beach-bum in Maui. She is currently working hard on her vision board.

Drowning in the Dark II will be released in October, followed by a new series called All of Our Tomorrows. Keep an eye out for them at all fine e-book establishments near you.

Visit Allison Karras’ blog at http://allisonkarras.blogspot.com/

Follow Allison Karras on Twitter at @AllisonKarras

Find Allison Karras on the Web:

 Official Website | Twitter | Goodreads

 Guest Post:

One of my first memories of Oregon was a giant wooden bunny named Harvey.

You saw Harvey as you drove into town. He had to be at least over 30 feet tall. Just this towering rabbit made out of wood, with these huge buckteeth, and big hollow eyes.

Harvey was some sort of mascot for a motor boat lot, and for some reason, the image of his big goofy and somewhat creepy smile has always stayed with me.

What does Harvey, the creepy, far-too-happy-looking bunny have to do with why I became a writer? Well, I guess it would have to go back to setting. Because the setting is always where the story starts. Before characters, or plot, or motivations, or love triangles, the setting is where it all begins. The bones of the story. From there, you can build almost anything.

I was born in Los Angeles and moved to a small town in Oregon when I was about seven years old. It was right around the time when the Pacific Northwest was having its hayday of grunge music, coffee culture, and a slew of TV shows set in its cold, pine-tree laden landscapes. Twin peaks, a lot of X-File episodes, Frasier… just to name a few.

But moving to a small town in Oregon from sunny Northridge, California didn’t feel like we were moving to a cool, hip-happening, up-and-coming region of the country. No. My new hometown felt more akin to Sleepy Hollow. A place where our first Halloween there was ruined by ceaseless buckets of rain, soaking our costumes clear through to our bones. To a place where everyone was a little odd – a little small-town and rural in a way. To a place that had only one movie theater – and it was one of those old ones with plush velvet carpets and red curtains, and limited showings that had probably been there from the very beginning.

That was the place where I grew up. And that was the place that probably had the biggest impact on me as a writer. Had I not been uprooted to that sleepy, strange and somewhat odd town, I don’t think I would have had the same feeling of being an outsider that I did had we stayed in Los Angeles. I probably wouldn’t have been driven to write so much if not for the gray, rainy days. I probably wouldn’t have been so interested in the paranormal had it not been for that place, with its spacious fields full of fog. Its old pioneer cemetery. Its old, dilapidated houses.

Now, I no longer live in that town. Besides, it’s a lot different these days. It started changing after I got out of elementary school. It’s become a suburb of Portland. There’s a big tech company there now, and it’s hard to recognize as the place I grew up in.

But I still think Harvey’s there. One last holdout of a time almost forgotten now, buried under everything that’s new.

When I was writing my book, Drowning in the Dark, I took some of those elements – some of those memories I had of a sleepy Oregon town – and turned it into the story’s setting. Much like me, my main character, Samantha, is a transplant to a small Oregon town. Her new home is located on the coast, but it has some of the same elements to it as the town I grew up in. A strangeness. An oddness. An inexplicable sadness to it that can’t quite be expressed or understood.

But unlike me, Samantha realizes what a good place her new town is. She’s seen a lot of the world – and what she’s seen isn’t pretty. She knows that sometimes, a small, innocent town is a good hideout from the things haunting you. It’s a good place to forget. To leave behind the burden of the terrible secret she carries.

And of course, Samantha makes her best friend in this place –  Terry. As the series goes on, we begin to see just how important he is to her. Terry almost becomes a sort of metaphor for the town in Sam’s eyes. Both of them she loves. And both of them she feels she must protect from the evil that’s following her.

But, Sam learns that you can’t run from your problems forever. And that they can come find you. Even in a quiet and peaceful town like Freeport.

I can’t say I was ever mature enough to appreciate the Oregon valley town I grew up in. I never loved it. Like most kids living in a town that size, all I wanted was out. I couldn’t appreciate what it was.

When I left, I was so happy to get away from it. But a few years down the road, I look at it with a tiny bit of nostalgia, and a feeling that’s something similar to appreciation. Because I know that it’s the place that made me what I am today. It’s the place that started my fascination with the paranormal, and the darker things in life. It’s the place that to this day, has given me a jumping off point for much of what I write. It’s given me a setting.

It’s the place that put the pen in my hand, and whispered into my ear… write.

 Drowning In The Dark:

 

Title: Drowning In The Dark

Author: Allison Karras

Publishing Date: February 11, 2011

There’s a demon walking the streets of Freeport. And only teenager Samantha Carver can stop it.

It’s hard to outrun your past. But that’s what Sam thought she could do. After moving to a sleepy town on the Oregon coast to live with relatives, she thought she was safe. She thought she could be someone different. She thought she could be a normal teenage girl.

However, the quiet coastal town of Freeport is no refuge. After a girl at the high school is brutally murdered, the police believe Samantha’s cousin and best friend, Terry, is responsible.

But Samantha knows what her friends, teachers, and the police don’t. The murderer isn’t human. Samantha has seen this before. Too many times. She has witnessed the dead rise from their graves and do unspeakable things. She carries the scars on her skin and the sorrow in her soul to prove it.

The evil that she thought she had left behind in the rotting graveyards of her past is still stalking her.

Will Samantha be able to save Terry, Freeport, and herself from the malevolent power that threatens to rip her world apart? Or will she succumb under a surging tide of evil and drown in the growing darkness that surrounds her?

In the tradition of Amanda Hocking and Charlaine Harris comes a paranormal romantic thriller with more chills than a cold and windblown night on the Oregon coast.

Find Drowning In The Dark Online:  

Goodreads | Amazon

 Blurbs:

Allison Karras is a strong, inventive writer… I will be reading the next book for sure - especially after the MAJOR cliffhanger this one ended on.

-- Andrea at Reading Lark

Karras’s debut novel is a wonderful display of her talent that promises more to come.

-- Jackie at Bookwhisperer

The fast pace of the book will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time while reading it, making it a quick read and making you hunger for a sequel!
--Avery at Avery’s Book Nook

 Happy reading until next time!