The Unwanted (Black Water Tales Book 2)
by Jean Nicole Rivers
by Jean Nicole Rivers
Genre: New Adult Horror & Psychological Thriller
Length: 306
Release Date: OUT NOW (Ebook & Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0692549926
Synopsis: In the remote, eastern European town of Borslav there is St. Sebastian orphanage, a place where people discard their unwanted children. For the American, Blaire Baker, it’s the perfect place to volunteer her services. Paired with a cheerful volunteer nurse, Blaire is enthusiastic about the possibilities, but is quickly discouraged when she encounters the nefarious nature of the staff and the deplorable conditions of the facility and the children.
Your Black Water Tales series operates with two of my beloved literary elements: mystery and the female sleuth. Additionally, you have the two elements soaked in the horror genre. So I have to ask, what spoke to you to take on and blend these specific genres? Also, knowing there’s an interesting history you’ve drawn upon, what were your early writing/book inspirations?
With two books in your Black Water Tales series comes two different female leads. The first Tales follows Regina Dean’s investigation uncovering the death of her best friend. Your second book follows Blaire Baker investigation into an orphanage with a stream of missing children. Both women have their hands full in her respective cases and circumstances. What would you say make the two different, as well as the same? Were there any difficulties expressing the differences in their individual voices? And what would you say is something you have most in common with one of the two?
Synopsis: In the remote, eastern European town of Borslav there is St. Sebastian orphanage, a place where people discard their unwanted children. For the American, Blaire Baker, it’s the perfect place to volunteer her services. Paired with a cheerful volunteer nurse, Blaire is enthusiastic about the possibilities, but is quickly discouraged when she encounters the nefarious nature of the staff and the deplorable conditions of the facility and the children.
Upon arrival, one of the children informs Blaire, “There’s something in the basement.” It isn’t long before strange things begin happening, including Blaire’s flashbacks of the accident that killed her parents. The children soon suffer injuries that Blaire, first, fears may be the deeds of the callous workers but she soon thinks the abuse may originate from a source that is less than human, something unwanted.
The unwanted is coming but in order for Blaire to fight it, she must dig into St. Sebastian and herself in search of truth. Blaire wants nothing more than to help the children, but when she discovers the tragedy that happened in the basement and learns that the same evil forces are still at work, it will be Blaire who needs help…There’s something in the basement.
That fall was one of the coldest Black Water had ever seen. Blaire could not have been more than eleven years old. Sabrina Langford had asked her if she wanted to go walking up to the Grammercy Bridge. Grammercy had once taken trains safely from one side of the river to the other and on through the picturesque town of Black Water, but that was long ago. It was a place of little interest to two young girls and, from what Blaire had known at her innocent age, it was, at most, a place where the older kids went to kiss on Friday nights. When Sabrina suggested it as a play place that day, Blaire wanted to object, but hesitated at the thought of turning off her newfound friend.
Long ago the bridge had become lifeless, but it still gave an endless series of death breaths as the girls walked along it. The water flowed rapidly, and the sound of the swishing and churning made Blaire shiver. After throwing a couple of rocks into the river, a series of familiar faces emerged. Lacey Wright, Sharla Hig, Kiana James, and Elizabeth Morrow claimed territory on the bridge, creating a poignant image that Blaire would never forget. A pang of fear sliced through Blaire’s stomach: seppuku. Nothing involving Lacey, Sharla, Kiana and Elizabeth could be good for her because the Frightening Four were perpetrators of horrendous kiddie crimes. Just the week before they surrounded a girl on the playground, who they teased relentlessly until she cried and admitted she was a “slut” as they kept calling her. It was a word that Blaire knew vaguely from hearing it in R-rated movies that she snuck to catch glimpses of from time to time, although she would have been hard pressed to define the word if asked.
Against her better judgment, Blaire stepped into the circle of doom on the playground and screamed at all of them to leave the helpless girl alone. Within seconds of hearing the commotion, Mrs. Bennett, infiltrated the mob of minors with a series of inquiries and instructions that made Lacey roll her eyes. The kids scattered but not before Blaire received a malevolent glare from the hellion gang’s little hierarch. The four of them were relentlessly brutal BFFs, who stopped at nothing when they craved the blood of another in the form of utter humiliation and in the name of pure adolescent wickedness.
Your Black Water Tales series operates with two of my beloved literary elements: mystery and the female sleuth. Additionally, you have the two elements soaked in the horror genre. So I have to ask, what spoke to you to take on and blend these specific genres? Also, knowing there’s an interesting history you’ve drawn upon, what were your early writing/book inspirations?
Jean Nicole Rivers: Mystery is a natural foundation of most horror genres, therefore, unless you are writing a slasher or something similar, there must be some mystery, that is part of what keeps the audience on edge, they have to be wondering, why? Females are my leads because I am a female, so I know females, I understand them, how they think, what they want and why they want it. Using female heroines is just a matter of “writing what you know”.
As I child I was a voracious reader and soon became a writer. I wrote short stories and poems and I always aspired to write a book, but in my younger years I simply lacked the necessary discipline to complete a novel. A couple of years ago, I found that I was ready and that it was time.
Your setting of the fictional town of Black Water sounds ominous and dark–just from the name alone. Having conceptualized this atmosphere that readers will explore with your sleuths, were there any areas in your personal environment that found itself reflected in Black Water?
Jean Nicole Rivers: Absolutely, I grew up in a small town called Centralia, IL, therefore, once again this was a matter of writing about things I know and understand. In Centralia everyone knew everyone, but with my imagination I always wondered, what if we didn’t know as much about our close neighbors as we thought we knew. What if that banging in Mr. Wilkens’ basement wasn’t just the pipes?
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| Black Water Tales (Book 1) |
Jean Nicole Rivers: Regina and Blaire are similar in that they really want what is best. They are working to an end that they sincerely hope is good, but what makes them different are their histories, their environment (people and setting) and their motivations which are at vastly different ends of the spectrum. To get to where you are going, you have to know where you have been and these two women though they are both Black Water natives have a completely different story to tell. What I have in common with both women is the aspiration to do what is good, but as the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” And it certainly is for these two women.
Let’s talk writing. Do you have any unique or peculiar writing habits? Is there a certain writing space or ritual you find helps give momentum to your writing sessions?
Jean Nicole Rivers: Sure, though I really try not to ritualize or habitualize (yes, I think I just created this word) my writing too much because I feel that if I do that, then when those particular rituals are not in place I will feel that I “can’t” write and I never want to be dependent on habits and rituals in order to be able to perform my craft. With that being said, I like to write in the morning as my brain gets a little mushy after lunch. Usually, all I need is a cup of coffee and I can write anywhere.
Let’s talk future projects. Will there be a third Black Water Tales book coming? And do you have plans on writing outside of the series, or exploring other genres of writing?
Jean Nicole Rivers: I have just started working on what I call the “Master Edit” for my 3rd book which is a Black Water Tale, The Sandman (working title) and I hope to complete it early next year. Right now, horror is at the forefront of my brain though I could see myself writing cozy mysteries later in life.
Tell us one interesting thing you’ve learned stepping into the publishing world? Any surprises or revelations you’d like to share with inspiring writers and the readers of your series?
Jean Nicole Rivers: One of the things that I learned is whether you are with a major publisher or you self-publish, you will be conducting most of the marketing for your book on your own and the creative side of writing a book is a completely different animal than the business side of marketing your book. I have had to learn so much about book marketing and it is an ongoing process.
Jean Nicole Rivers is a great lover of reading and writing. Although she loves varied genres, the horror/thriller genre is her favorite. Jean Nicole has been writing poetry and short stories since she was a child, but has always aspired to master the art of storytelling through novels. The Unwanted is the second story in her series of Black Water Tales, following The Secret Keepers.
Jean Nicole was awarded 3rd place in the National Black Book Festival’s 2013 Best New Author competition and she enjoys the honor of having written featured articles for popular reader websites and blogs, such as Digital Book Today and The Masquerade Crew.
Jean Nicole Rivers graduated from Florida International University with a bachelor of arts in philosophy, and she lives in Houston, Texas.
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