UFI welcomes Author Brantwijn Serrah. Thanks for Joining us!!
What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from
looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
I am an avid convention attendee and a little bit of an autograph hound. But
I usually collect signatures on unique items instead of photographs: I have
created fan art for The Dresden Files signed by Jim Butcher, and for Torchwood
signed by John Barrowman. I have custom My Little Ponies of Invader Zim and Gir,
both signed by the show creator and voice actors, a custom Weird Al pony signed
by the man himself, custom Hermes from Futurama, Penny from Dr. Horrible, and—my
personal pride and joy—I have a custom My Little Pony Demona, signed by Marina
Sirtis.
What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
It's probably no surprise I like to create Custom My Little Ponies.
What is your Favorite part of writing?
The characters. I love it when they really take off and start exhibiting
their own personalities, tone, and habits. I sometimes envision this big, wide,
old-west style saloon in my head where my mains hang out after hours and talk
about their lives (and fight over whose story gets my attention next).
Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
If I have a case of writer's block, I pause to listen to an audiobook or some
usic, or I draw. Sometimes if the writing is there but its stubborn or sluggish,
I find myself retreating to my fortress of solitude (a.k.a. my master bedroom,
where I cuddle with my cat, turn off the lights and lie on my stomach to clack
away on my laptop). That helps me focus in a bit.
What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/
Paranormal Genres?
Jim Butcher is probably my favorite in the genre, followed by Kresley Cole.
Stephen King is an old favorite from my high school and college days. I'm
picking up a lot more Indie authors lately, too, and I'm quite fond of Rebekah
Lewis, Torie James and Decadent Kane, as series writers.
How would you pitch Bad Dreams to someone who has not heard of it before?
The story is a delicious twisted erotic short about a woman suddenly unable
to sleep, because each night a dark stranger appears to her, to feast on her
greediest, most sinful desires.
Can you tell us a little bit about the world that Bad Dreams is set in?
Bad Dreams is a short story within my Blood and Fire series (it is a
stand-alone, however, so readers can read it with or without knowing any of the
other books or characters).
The Blood and Fire world provides the setting for most—though not all—of my
vampire, werewolf and demon stories, including Bad Dreams and my full-length
novel, Lotus Petals. The defining characteristic of this world is the existence
of The Blood Circle: a collection of five demon races, led by their respective
Councilmen, in service to a king called the Drogh Lord. Demons in this world
worship strength, and demons who are born into it—literally born, as in, from a
demon womb—represent a lower caste shunned by others of their kind.
Do you have a favorite scene in Bad Dreams?
I've suffered "sleep paralysis", an occurrence described in this book, and
tried to channel much of what I felt and learned about it into the story. My
favorite part comes where Priya, the main character, gives in to the dream
entirely, willingly embracing the experience.
Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to
write about?
It was a lot of fun to conceptualize and write about the unnamed stranger
preying on Priya. The character does have a name and he appears in some of my
other stories, but for Bad Dreams, he's exactly that: a bad dream. I enjoyed
imagining how he would appear to his human prey, and how he would appeal to her
deepest greeds.
As for the hardest...I think Priya's husband, who plays an exceptionally
small role anyway, was most hard to connect with.
What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
At the end of October I've got a book coming out which I am very excited to
released! The book is His Cemetery Doll, taking place in post-World War II
Europe, and following the story of a graveyard keeper haunted by an intruder to
his cemetery: a life-like, beautiful living doll.
__________________________________
When she isn't visiting the worlds of immortals, demons, dragons and goblins,
Brantwijn fills her time with artistic endeavors: sketching, painting,
customizing My Little Ponies and sewing plushies for friends. She can't handle
coffee unless there's enough cream and sugar to make it a milkshake, but try and
sweeten her tea and she will never forgive you. She moonlights as a futon for
four lazy cats, loves tabletop role-play games, and can spend hours watching
Futurama, Claymore or Buffy the Vampire Slayer while she writes or draws.
In addition to her novels, Brantwijn has had several stories published in
anthologies by Breathless Press, including the 2013 Crimson Anthology and 2014
Ravaged Anthology. She's also had a short story published in the Cleiss Press
Big Book of Orgasm and the anthology Coming Together Through The Storm. She
hopes to have several more tales to tell as time goes on. She has author pages
on GoodReads and Amazon, and loves to see reader comments on her work. Her short
stories occasionally pop up at Foreplay and Fangs, her blog at
http://brantwijn.blogspot.com.
__________________________________
Bad Dreams
A Blood and Fire Short
Buy Link
Priya can't sleep, but that's not the worst of her troubles. She's starting to hallucinate, and every night she's seeing a very wicked male...
The doctor calls it "sleep paralysis." Her husband doesn't realize
anything's wrong. But night after night, Priya finds herself stuck
between sleep and waking, perfectly aware and perfectly helpless, as a
looming dark creature hovers over her. He promises pleasure so sinful,
Priya can't resist. Bound in his coils, she's starting to lose
herself...
__________________________________
Excerpt:
Dreary and exhausted, Priya couldn't find the energy to do anything besides
plod off to bed. She crawled under the covers on her belly, praying there would
be no delirious, dark imaginings when she closed her eyes.
Then—seemingly immediately—the paralysis took her. It replaced her weary,
aching fatigue with a rabid, feverish, and animal need. Her body thrilled in
madly constrained helplessness; she flushed hot under the weight of gleaming,
glinting eyes.
She found it difficult to breathe. A heavy, winding coil, serpentine, wrapped
around her throat, and more twisted around her wrists, pinning them behind her
back. Priya wanted to scream, her higher brain waking into a red panic. Deeper
inside, though, like a naughty child set loose to misbehave, the primal Priya,
the visceral, hungry, and joyous Priya needed it, fighting to move if only so
she could squirm happily against her restraints.
The fear and the pleasure were hard to separate. The world of the dream
flooded her mind, dark and vague. Her thoughts and will were tugged down and
down, while the shadows of her bedroom swam above her.
A body lay on top of hers, felt more than seen. Those silvery eyes locked
with hers, like a hypnotist entrancing her as prey, a python with a bird. Her
nakedness was all she could think about, vulnerable and open to the thing
pinning her down. As the strange presence caressed her, she remembered...she'd
wanted this. She'd asked Ron to blindfold and bind her, and now she was bound
quite tightly, powerless as the demanding malevolence took everything he
hungered for.
__________________________________
