Thursday, April 4, 2024

INTERVIEW WITH MARK TOWSE (Chasing the Dragon)

 


Today we're welcoming author Mark Towse to the page. Welcome, Mark! Let's look at our three quick and easy questions.

Supernatural Central Short and Quick Interview


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

2. Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?

3. What titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?


1.

It’s me on the pages of this book: the same upbringing as Simon, the same claustrophobic and uncomfortable environment, all dictated by my iron-fisted mother. If I left crumbs on the counter or a cup next to the sink without washing it, my life would not be worth living. And God forbid if someone parked outside our house or started playing loud music. In those cases, the day, possibly week, would be ruined. My mother even uttered the words, "When will the chaos end?" at one point, thus the multiple references in the story. The Reformo connection is all about the fantasy world I often escaped to. 

Writing this was incredibly cathartic and therapeutic. At its most basic, this is a story about someone trying to escape trauma. Even when Simon’s mother is dead, her voice lives on in his head. He just wants to be free of it, free of the baggage, and to live a normal life. Whatever that means. The only way he believes he can finally escape her hold is to have a cape made by the local chain-smoking seamstress, Janice and take to the streets to “End the chaos.”

Life is imperfect and so are we.


2.

I’m not sure one would class it as a paranormal experience, but I have a memory forever burned in my mind from a visit to Scotland. There were four of us. Kids. No more than twelve. While our parents rested from the long drive, we ventured into the woods, promising we would not go too far. That was often enough reassurance in those days.

The sun was on its way down, creating all sorts of skeletal displays on the forest carpet. Hide and seek was our go-to in those days. Always a winner. I recall finding a good spot behind this massive tree. Oak, I think it was. A shudder just ran down my spine when I think back now. Anyhow, I heard breathing coming from behind. I closed my eyes and pinned myself against the tree, hoping I might get away with it. The breathing got louder. And louder. I closed my eyes tighter still. I was sure I would be found, but I felt no tap on my shoulder. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw my three friends in the distance, searching high and low in the bushes and trees. 

It was just me and that—breathing?

I turned but couldn’t see anything. I’m not sure what possessed me, but I followed the sound, my heart jumping in my mouth when I reached the clearing. It was almost mechanical in nature, a living, breathing patch of earth that opened and closed like a mouth. Wisps of mist expelled from the darkness. I froze. I tried to cry out to my friends, but the scream lodged in my throat. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was David. When he saw the ‘mouth,’ the blood ran from his head. My other friends arrived then, and we all stared into the darkness. Then we ran like the wind.

To this day, I have no idea what it could have been. Part of me doesn’t want to know… the part that still holds on for dear life to the awe and wonder we often felt as children.


3.

I have a book coming out from Wicked House Publishing in January 2025 called 'The Sound of Suffering." It's a much more serious piece of work. Once again, as a lifelong tinnitus sufferer, it's loosely based on my own experiences. Only there are more sinister undertones at play with our protagonist. Every reader on the submission board confirmed the book as the best manuscript they'd seen to date. I'm a little excited about that one.

I'm currently working on two projects: a collaboration with Daemon Manx called 'Try Not to Die in Arcranium,' a spin-off from our very successful novella, 'Arcranium,' and a solo horror novel set in a small British seaside town. Both should do well. Hopefully.




Thanks so much for joining us. Let's take a look at your book now!



Chasing The Dragon
Mark Towse

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Crime, Fantasy, Romance, Comedy

Publisher: Eerie River Publishing
Date of Publication: 23rd March 2024
ISBN: 1998112268
ASIN: B0CR6PNZLQ
Number of pages: 234
Word Count: 68,650

Cover Artist: Tom Brown

Tagline: The town needed a hero… it got Reformo.

Book Description: 

A town on its knees, dread's bony fingers wrapping around its throat and squeezing, death rattles soon to follow.

Drugs, filth, and a lack of human decency are starving it of hope.

Introducing Simon Dooley, our trauma-driven wannabe superhero, the relentless voice of his dead mother pleading with him to "end the chaos." Dressed in a leotard and armed only with a dozen dog poop bags, Simon's plight will find him falling in love and going head to head with the seediest characters walking the streets.

The town needed a hero... it got Reformo.



About the Author: 

Mark Towse is an English horror writer living in Australia. He would sell his soul to the devil or anyone buying if it meant he could write full-time. Alas, he left it very late to begin this journey, penning his first story since primary school at the ripe old age of forty-five. Since then, he's been published in over two hundred journals and anthologies, had his work made into full theatrical productions for shows such as The No Sleep Podcast and Tales to Terrify, and has penned fourteen novellas, including Nana, Gone to the Dogs, 3:33, and Crows. Chasing The Dragon is his debut novel.









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