Horror Aficionados discussion

This is the thread for our July 2023 Group Read with Guest Author, John Everson. John is a Bram Stoker Award winning author and this month, we’ll be reading his erotic horror novel, NightWhere. NightWhere was also a Bram Stoker Award finalist, and it’s not for the faint of heart. So grab your steamy copy at the link below and please help me welcome to HA, John Everson!

https://www.amazon.com/NightWhere-Joh...

Hi Kenneth! Welcome John ! I cannot wait to re read Nightwhere it’s such a good book!

Thanks Kenneth! Can't wait to hang out with you guys all next month and talk NightWhere!!! Really looking forward to this.

Hey John, I grabbed a copy and I’m coming along for the ride. Good to have you here. Thanks for your time.

Welcome John!!!

Just grabbed my copy. Looking forward to joining in this read.

Ok, I admit my attention has been peaked. Happy to see it's on Kindle Unlimited, I'll be along for the ride on this one.

Thanks Char, Brennan, Kimberly, Mona & Lindsay! I wish you were all near Chicago, and then I could read you the opening chapters at my booksigning this weekend LOL! Looking forward to discussing your thoughts on the novel!

I couldn't find an audiobook version. Is there one?

This looks and sounds super fun, I am ordering a copy now for the discussion!

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "I couldn't find an audiobook version. Is there one?"

There WILL be... but not until later this fall, I'm afraid!

Hi all, happy to join in 🖤📚

John wrote: "Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "I couldn't find an audiobook version. Is there one?"

There WILL be... but not until later this fall, I'm afraid!"

Thanks for the response. That's great news! I definitely want to listen to your book.

I bought my copy and am ready to dive in

Awesome! NightWhere and its new sequel The Night Mother are both being produced by Fireside Audio. They just started casting so I don't have firm release dates yet.

My absolute favorite thing on Goodreads are the group reads with authors. The last one with John Everson was Violet Eyes, and it was a blast! Welcome back, John!
P.S. to everybody . . . . If you like John's writing, you need to check out Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds - - a wild homage to giallo films.

I’m 15% in and looking forward to more..John did you ever go to a sex club in real life? Curious if this is how they really are as I’ve only heard stories…

Thanks Michael! It's fun to be able to talk to people WHILE they're experiencing the book!

Dawn - full disclosure - No. I've seen some seedy places, and once a very long time ago I wandered into a Bondage-A-Go-Go night at The Cat Club in San Francisco, but that's as close as I've come. I talked to some people who had gone to clubs back when I was writing NightWhere... and Anne Rice's Exit to Eden and Beauty books had some influence. But... it's a lot of imagination!

Ah thanks and well yes you do have quite the imagination, it feels very real! Love that name of your inspiration place and neverwhere too…am intrigued to see how far Rae will go. Did the name neverwhere come to you at the beginning or while you were writing?

I'll be honest... I don't remember WHERE the name NightWhere came from... I do know that my editor wasn't keen on it at first - when I sent him the original outline, he suggested people might think it was about sleepwear LOL!

Just finished reading the prologue. Can't get that imagery/comparison out of my mind. Every time I see a cornfield I'm going to remember this opening chapter. Gives new meaning to creeps who "stalk" their victims.
It's early, but I can tell right away that NIGHTWHERE is not for the squeamish.

Getting ready to start the third book. The first was great. I was yelling at the end telling Mark not to go back.

I read this book in Polish. It was great I got everything what I expected. I enjoyed it - I like the story, sticky, dark atmosphere. I didn't enjoy it - I loved it!

Can you share how you came up with the title, as it's a fairly unusual one?

Hey Hannah - I don't really remember where it came from, but as I think about it more, I have a feeling it was really just an explicit - what it is - kind of name. The club only appears at Night, to address "nighttime" pursuits and Where it is... changes. It is in a different place every month so... the Where is a question....

Thanks Michael and Elizabeth and Monika!

Monika - So cool to see someone on here who read the Polish edition!!! Thanks!

Elizabeth - yelling at Mark is absolutely right, correct, justified! ;-)

Michael - no, definitely not for the squeamish!!!

Mark seems entrapped while Rae is enchanted.
Just finished reading their first visit to NightWhere.
Steamy! I needed to wipe the fog off the Kindle app on my iPad.

Haha Michael, I am finding this very steamy too but feel the dread lurking in the shadows too...

John, did you find this steamy/sexy? Curious if the sex or the horror came up first in your writing!

They're both really part of the same equation! I've almost always included some sexual content in my stories... my first book was a collection of fiction called Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions and that was basically all erotic horror stories that I'd published in magazines in the 90s.

For me, I think sex and horror are intertwined because sex is where you really let down all protections -- bare yourself in more ways than one! And so where better for something horrific to strike? When the guard is completely down and you've given yourself over to... whoever/whatever. But then you discover it's not what it seemed at first.

Sex and the erotic are lures to trap you... and that's when the horror begins....

John, NightWhere has been described as Hellraiser meets 50 Shades of Gray. Can you give us a little backstory on how this all came about?

Hey, John! Thanks for coming to talk with us all about NightWhere!

I devoured all of the books, not just the first. I was thoroughly entertained, while also perfectly grossed out and unsettled during many parts, but I couldn't put it down. The imagery was vivid and visceral (the Field of Flesh was creepy beyond belief), and the worldbuilding was top-notch. It felt like both a cautionary tale but also a tale of the darkest temptations, which makes the story stick around to haunt the reader even longer. I definitely see how Anne Rice's Beauty series was an influence, as I felt many of the same emotions after reading those stories years ago.

The characters were so varied, as well, with some I hated (in the best way!) and some I loved (Sinn-D, ftw!). By the end of the trilogy, I had a new crop of favorite characters which I did not expect when I first started the series. I love when an author can make that happen, and I must tell you well done.

Were there any characters you especially enjoyed writing? And do you have any plans of releasing any more short stories or novels in the NightWhere universe?

Elizabeth wrote: "Getting ready to start the third book. The first was great. I was yelling at the end telling Mark not to go back."

Omg I was too! But I guess it was good he couldn't let it go, otherwise we would not have the fabulous third book to enjoy :)

Kenneth wrote: "John, NightWhere has been described as Hellraiser meets 50 Shades of Gray. Can you give us a little backstory on how this all came about?"

Well, I had first thought of the story idea in the early 2000s, probably somewhat inspired by both Anne Rice's Exit to Eden and Gerard Houarner's Painfreak, along with the influence of Clive Barker's Books of Blood: Volume One and probably some of the twisted stories of Edward Lee and Lucy Taylor. Rice's Eden was about a secret BDSM club that is of this world... while Houarner's Painfreak was an otherworldly kind of sexual torture realm. These stories and authors all were hugely influential on me when I first started writing -- I loved how all of them really pushed the boundaries of sex and horror. But when I first scribbled down the idea for NightWhere, I didn't really believe I was skilled enough as a writer to pull it off. So... the rough plot of NightWhere sat in my idea notebook for years. The thing was, I never forgot about it. The idea called to me.

Finally, after I published five novels with them, Leisure Books imploded and I was without a publisher, so I decided to risk it and give it a go. In 2011, I wrote NightWhere.

Ironically, just before NightWhere came out on Samhain Publishing, the Fifty Shades of Grey novel got picked up by a major publisher after making waves as an indie release, and suddenly everyone was talking about bondage. NightWhere was hardly the quiet, sexy, playful bondage of E.L. James' book, however. It was more like spending a night making out with the Cenobites.

So I have to thank the reader who made that 50 Shades meets Hellraiser quote... it was kind of perfect -- especially in the context of 2012, when 50 Shades was all the rage.

Jennifer wrote: "Were there any characters you especially enjoyed writing? And do you have any plans of releasing any more short stories or novels in the NightWhere universe?"

Thanks Jennifer! I don't have any plan at the moment to do more in the world of NightWhere... but I would definitely not rule it out. I think The Night Mother closes any open doors that NightWhere left open but... I could still see a couple of threads to explore further.

As far as characters... Sin-D was a kick to write. I love her. She's every teenage boy's fantasy kicked up 10 notches. If any of those boys got near her, they'd wilt with fear, because she's not just T&A, she's a total smart ass and she would easily outwit as well as outsex them. And you know that she has seen things and knows secrets that would utterly knock you flat. There's a reason she's in all three NightWhere stories (I think the only character in all three?)

Likewise, I really loved Damia - he/she is such a wild card. One hour a man, the next a woman... which Damia will you be getting? Either way, his/her claws are sharper than any tiger's. Damia offers the ultimate darkly seductive experience because he/she can be anything. Do anything. But would you live to tell about it if you engaged? Damia is the embodiment of the lure and danger of the erotic unknown.

There are certainly other characters I loved writing, including the leads, but those two side characters are probably the most "fun" to write. I also really fell in love with Cassie, a new dominatrix character in The Night Mother... but... that's another story :-)

Wow thanks for all the detail John! Love your thoughts and inspiration and those favorite characters, will definitely keep reading as I can’t resist all your teasing of what is coming up!

Good Morning!
I started my journey into Night Where again ! And It feels like I’m reading it again for the first time

"...Feels like the First time.... feels like the Very first time...." :-)

I'm just starting this one. It's been so long since I read NightWhere. After reading the prologue, it's all coming back to me. Looking forward to this hell again.

Hi everyone! First off this is my first book club with you and I’m so excited to be here, secondly I’m only like 20% done with the book but is it just me or does Mark just deserve so much better in life, it’s sad that he mostly wants to settle down but Rae doesn’t.

Hey Glenn - glad to have you aboard again!

Rosalie - I think my personal sentiment that hopeless romantics always get burned... may be bleeding through there a little!

Finally got a chance to jump in on Nightwhere this morning, and I’ll add my voice to the Poor Mark crowd. Love how it jumps in with both feet and teases the world beneath the surface. I’m excited to see where it goes.

So I'm 17% in as of this afternoon. I was initially a little skeptical but I'm actually finding it quite interesting. Full disclosure: I'm a member of 2 swinger clubs (and attend private parties). I also work for a fetish party as a go-go dancer and hardcore performer (all my shows are XXX), so, the topic is my wheelhouse 😂

Soooo many times in the media both topics are wildly misrepresented (looking at you, crime tv shows) so I was hoping this book would be above that. And it is! It has a good mix of the fantasy aspect, while also having that undercurrent of something sinister happening.
The 80s music is also spot on! Unfortunately, the divide in couples' reactions is also spot on, but appreciated. It adds to the realism.

Ironically, in real life, lifestyle and fetish don't really overlap and are two very separate communities. It's nice to read about them together.

Thanks Lindsay! That was the tricky part of writing NightWhere for me. It's not meant to be an "expose of BDSM or fetish lifestyle." It's not a "here's how this lifestyle works" or "this lifestyle is good or evil" book. The bondage/sex club aspect simply gives the story the right stage to play out on. Hopefully enough details ring true enough that it works for anyone who knows the lifestyle(s) but doesn't irritate them because it's also VERY different. I was hoping people wouldn't read it and shake heads going "oh, no, that's all wrong... we don't play that way....this guy doesn't know anything..." Because... NightWhere is its own horrific place in the end... hopefully one that has some accurate reflections but that DOESN'T look too much like a real adult club! Because... that would really be scary!

I also was wondering how accurate NightWhere could be in comparison to real "lifestyle" clubs, which I believe surely exist in many towns. I can't verify that because I haven't been looking.
So when Lindsay says John is getting some of those details right, that's a great testimonial. John, I think you nailed it!

Just finished NightWhere and WOW!! John, I got so addicted to the story I couldn’t put it down, the last page of the book has me ready to roll right into the next one! I loved it, amazing job!

OMG - thanks so much Rosalie!! That's the impact an author always hopes to make so... really happy to hear it sucked you in so deep!!! Thanks for reading it and so glad you enjoyed it!

Question for you... as you leave NightWhere, are you curious to learn more about Selena?

John, without spoiling too much of the book, YES I’m so curious what happens to Selena (and Mark) and I’m hoping to learn some of her back story, as soon as the next book is delivered I’ll be heading right back to NightWhere.

Awesome... I hoped that would be the case. I was curious myself, which is why I wanted to write The Night Mother. It was actually originally going to be a prequel, to be honest, but the story went in a different direction than I originally planned.

John, out of all the writers I’ve interviewed, you have one of the more interesting places that you utilize to write your books. Can you share that with our readers and how this came about?

I feel like people now are going to expect me to come back with something like "well, I slip inside the drum of our clothes dryer, lay back and close the door and then nobody can find me while I work..."

Not that interesting, I'm afraid!

I do like to write in bars though. Usually Irish bars. It's perfect really - you find a nice private dark wood booth/cubbyhole or a stool at the edge of the bar away from traffic, hole up for 3-4 hours, maybe order some finger food (nachos are perfect) and you write. Someone periodically brings you a pint of beer and otherwise.... you're not bothered. You're surrounded by people but at the same time, completely alone.

The key is, it has to be a bar with comfortable enough seats to hang for a few hours, has to have a good music selection that is loud enough to hear (to drown out side conversations -- you don't want to start hearing those when you write, or you'll focus on that) and has to have a good IPA that I like. There's an Irish bar in Naperville, IL called Quiqley's that I love to work at, and they have a great patio in the summertime too that's perfect to sit out on and work right beneath the speakers. I've closed the place down many times.

I can't afford to write "out" all the time though - Before COVID (ie, before I went to full-time telecommuting), I used to do a "writing night" once a week where instead of going home from work, I'd stop at the pub and focus on the novel at hand from 7-11 p.m. And then on the weekends I write at home.

At home, there are just a lot more distractions between family, pets and "things that need doing" that you don't get at the Irish pub. A few years ago, when our basement flooded, I built my own oak bar with a proper bar rail in my basement, so, in the winter I can work down there "at the bar" and simulate being at an Irish pub... and in the summer, I have a glass patio bar that I work at -- with outdoor speakers so I control the playlist! Watching the hummingbirds and cardinals can be a bit of a distraction there, however pleasant!

All of the bar writing started, I think, because I used to travel a lot for work. I really hated sitting in hotel rooms at night, so I'd find a good bar somewhere, hole up, and work for a few hours on my laptop. Eventually... I started doing that once a week at home when I wasn't traveling because I realized it was a really productive habit for me. A lot of my novels owe many chapters and inspirations from bars!!!