Something Wicked Strikes: Seth Skorkowsky, Damoren + Giveaway

Hello everyone!

Today I am honored to welcome author Seth Skorkowsky to The Nocturnal Library. Seth's debut novel Damoren is the first in a new urban fantasy series. Seth combined urban fantasy and horror, with elements of thriller thrown in for good measure. The result is a debut unlike anything we've ever read before. Thank you for stopping by to read Seth's post and make sure to enter to win a copy of Damoren below. 

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday.  When I was young, preparations usually began somewhere around August. I'd get so excited when the stores would pull out their Halloween inventory, and I'd scour through all the awesome latex masks and horror props. 

The holiday's appeals have changed for me over the years. Once, I looked forward to all the free candy my mother normally wouldn't allow me to have.  As I grew older, my big focus shifted to going out with my friends for high jinks, and Halloween parties.  My love of dressing in costumes has spilled into other activities such as renaissance fairs, conventions, or any other excuse I can find. I even had a masquerade ball wedding.  But through all those years, my fundamental love of Halloween has never changed, and that is that for one night we can allow ourselves to believe that the fantastic is real.  On that night, monsters walk among us, haunted houses reside on every corner, and secret cults summon Elder Gods.

Urban Fantasy appeals to me for the same reasons. Unlike Historic Fantasy or Sci-Fi, the world depicted is our own.  The monsters aren't lurking in some ancient castle or alien world, they're walking down our streets, they live next door, they're hiding in our closets. Sometimes the world is one where supernatural creatures are out in the open, such as Anita Blake or Sookie Stackhouse.  And while it can be fun to show vampires and ghouls fighting for equal rights, I prefer my monsters secretly living in the shadows, plotting their nefarious plans while the outside world is blissfully unaware of their existence. 

My novel, Dämoren, is set in a modern world where no one believes in monsters, save the few brave enough to face them.  For them, vampires, wendigos, and forbidden cults don't just exist on one night a year. For them, Halloween is eternal. 

While the monsters and magic might have a unique spin, I wanted it feel real.  The more grounded everything is to reality, the easier it allows me (and hopefully my readers) to pretend that it's true.  I researched different folklores to find creatures that many people might not know much about (at least those of us in the Western World) and blended them in alongside some of my own.  Because the order that my monster hunters belong to has a rich history that spans to the Crusades, I wanted their history to match reality enough that it pulls the reader in deeper. Suspension of disbelief is a finite thing and extremely valuable. We want to enjoy stories by using as little of it as possible. So by grounding as much of Dämoren's world as I could in reality, a reader can let themselves believe the fantasy even better.

The scariest stories are the ones that begin with, "Based on a True Story."  The reason for that is that even if we know it's not true, it helps that little part of our brains that doesn't want to believe in Halloween to sit back and say, "OK, I'm listening," and that's when we can really enjoy it.

About the author:

Seth Skorkowsky was born in Texas in 1978. He currently lives in Denton, Texas, with his wife, and works for the University of North Texas. His short story "The Mist of Lichthafen" was nominated for a British Fantasy Award (long list) in 2009. Dämoren is Seth's debut novel. He recently signed a two-book deal with Rogue Blades Entertainment for his "Black Raven" sword-and-sorcery collection.

When not writing, Seth enjoys travel, shooting, and tabletop gaming.

Visit his website at skorkowsky.com.

Thanks, Seth, and a huge thank you to Feri from Le Non Design for the banner above. Please visit her at http://www.le-non.com.

Fill the Rafflecopter below to win an e-copy of Damoren. The contest is international. Thank you to Ragnarok Publications for providing the giveaway copy. 

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