SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL: INTERVIEW WITH AUDEN JOHNSON (THE UNBURNED ISLAND)

Take some time to relax today. We are. We're sitting down with author Auden Johnson today. Grab a cup of coffee and come join us.

SC: Tell me a little bit about your main character of this book.

AJ: Kiran Ava is an Other. She was born with a magical ability and a certain sensitivity to the paranormal. She can explode certain parts of a person with her eyes. When she was younger, Kiran had to wear protective glasses. If she stared at someone too long, her power thought she wanted to attack them. Kiran has better control now though, she does have issues when she’s annoyed with someone or when her power’s been compromised. She’s now part of a team of Other paranormal investigators.

SC: You had us at paranormal. Perhaps a moot question, but do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?

AJ: I sit in the middle.

SC: WHAT?

AJ: I wouldn’t say I 100% believe in the paranormal but I like the idea that there are things, even in now, that we can’t explain. Stories of supposedly true paranormal encounters and real haunted places like the Hoia Baciu forest are interesting.

SC: What titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?

AJ: Kiran’s returning in Book 2, The Wailing Town. That’s coming out in October. I also have The Jura series which is a fantasy romance story set in apocalyptic world. I’ve released 3 books in the series. I had been working on Book 4 but stopped because life happens. I’m hoping to release that book next year.

Sounds like we should let you go. Thanks for coming over. We'll take a look at your book now.

The Unburned Island
Other Investigator Series
Book One
Auden Johnson

Genre: Dark Fantasy Horror

Publisher: Aubey LLC
Date of Publication: April 2017
ISBN: 9780996423427
ASIN: B06XX2RSBY
Number of pages: 148 pages
Word Count: 30,000
Cover Artist: Auden Johnson

Tagline: A haunted island. An unusual demon. Can this team of magical investigators solve the mystery of the Unburned Island?

Book Description:

The entire island was on fire yet only one schoolhouse burned. Everyone disappeared. Several tried taking it over but were never successful. People no longer talk about Unburned Island. It was left to rot.

Years later, Kiran, En, and a team of magical investigators travel to the island to banish whatever haunts an old building. With En acting strange, they knew this wouldn't be a simple job. Kiran develops a second ability, making their investigation both easier and harder.

It takes them no time to realize the building isn't the problem. The island is. They never anticipated the terrible secrets hidden within the school’s campus. Maybe some of the residents deserved their fate.

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Excerpt 1:

She pulled the band off her wrist and tied back her bushy hair. Of course, it didn’t all fit in the tie.

At least it wasn’t in her way now. Rather than use magic or chemicals to straighten her hair, Kiran usually kept it short. It was time to cut it again. She rarely let it run wild like this but work got in the way. Kiran liked her hair wild and long but it wasn’t practical. She needed to dye it again. The dark blue wasn’t as vibrant.

Why was she the only one drawn to this area? She usually saw more spirits than most but tests showed Kiran wasn’t sensitive. Maybe the other people wandering the grounds were human and she hadn’t paid much attention to that.

A terrible smell rolled in. Like old garbage and rotting corpses. Then the odor was gone.

The smell returned. Then it was gone.

It pulsed like a heartbeat. Kiran followed it.

From the small glances she got through windows, the interior appeared sturdy despite being abandoned. The school was clearly old but not nearly as worn as she had expected. Pieces of the stone exterior were chipped, probably due to age or weather. Thick green vines climbed up the building and through windows. She couldn’t see much of the roof from this angle.

She understood why someone wanted to use this place. The island was a short ferry ride away from the mainland. From Kiran’s first look, it seemed the land was large enough to fit a small village, the perfect location for an experimental campus.

This close, the old school no longer felt like a monster despite the oppressive air. Maybe the building wasn’t the problem.

Maybe it sat between worlds. Most believed Others’ ancestors came from different worlds and settled here. No one knew why they ran away from home.

Grass rustled. Kiran stopped. A figure jerked as though it wasn’t used to its body. The head turned at impossible angles. It twitched like the broken hands of a clock. It clicked as though each step towards her snapped a bone.

Kiran spread her feet shoulder length apart. She made sure all the lines of her body were straight so power could flow freely. She lifted two fingers and drew a level one ward symbol—a circle with a simple X in the middle.

Nothing happened.

She tried level two— an X with a line down the middle, from the sky to the ground.

Nothing.

She hit level five with no results. Symbols at higher levels took longer to create. Knots twisted in her wrist and side. The thing was close now. The smell was so bile she could taste it. She didn’t want to inhale and get more of that stuff in her. Kiran needed to breathe. If she wasn’t calm, the spell wouldn’t do what she wanted.

She stepped back, making sure to keep her body straight. This was taking too long. Hopefully, level ten would work. She made the ward sign. The creature shattered.

Kiran hit the ground. She couldn’t hear the clicking of bones anymore.

Some magic had a strong recoil. Wards were dangerous. You felt the effects only after the enemy was gone. Kiran’s limbs trembled. That was about all the moving she would do for a while.

About the Author:

An artist at heart, Auden Johnson loves photography, graphic design, and writing beautifully dark stories. She has published 13 dark fantasy stories featuring diverse characters with powers and questionable morals. She enjoys taking her camera on a long hike and photographing the scenic views. Most of her landscape photos are on sale online. Auden has a Masters in Publishing: Digital and Print and a Masters in Information and Library Science. She lives in Brooklyn with her writing buddy Oreo.

Website: https://www.audenjohnson.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/audendj

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audenjohnson/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/audendjohnson/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7183504.Auden_Johnson