WW Mortensen on horror, EIGHT & SLITHERS

Today Wayne Mortensen joins us to discuss what sparked his love of the horror/thriller genre and the inspiration behind his bestselling debut novel Eight. 

Plus, to celebrate the recent release of his second novel Slithers, we have an ebook copy of both novels for worldwide giveaway.

I was twelve years old when Jason Voorhees burst from Crystal Lake and scared me senseless. You might know the scene—it occurs at the end of Friday the 13th, where he emerges from the depths and drags the girl from the canoe. There’s no way a bunch of young kids should have ever gotten their hands on that movie, but there were contributing factors: it was a sleepover at a mate’s house, his eighteen year-old brother—who was meant to be keeping an eye on us—was absent, and stacked high on top of the VHS was a pile of horror videos.

I watched some of those movies. For most of them, I simply stared at a corner of the TV screen, pretending to watch. I remember eating chicken-flavoured crisps, but those frightening images did nothing for my appetite. To this day, I still can’t eat them.

And yet oddly, on that night, and as scared as I was, my love affair with horror movies was born. The love of books followed, mainly King and Koontz. After that, it was all things scary. While Halloween isn’t big in Australia, it has a growing foothold here, and personally, I think it’s kind of fun.

Not surprisingly, my first novel, ‘Eight’, draws largely on the horror genre.

Even for a debut novelist, there are the inevitable questions: where do you get your ideas? What inspired you? A story is a combination of elements, and ‘Eight’ is an amalgam of things that have intrigued, excited, and scared me. There’s a kind of mental junkyard, a melting pot somewhere in a writer’s subconscious where collected odds and ends are stored or jumbled together. A better metaphor, perhaps, is to suggest these bits and pieces are like ingredients in a pantry, and it’s the writer’s task to use what’s in there to serve up something palatable… or preferably, tasty.

Tastier, at least, than chicken-flavoured crisps.

For me, the ingredients are usually snippets of information: news items I’ve stumbled across, maybe something I’ve caught on TV. Not always are they horror-related—it might be some new, cutting-edge technology, or a previously unknown species of animal recently uncovered in a far-flung corner of the globe. Or it could be a new scientific theory about how the universe works (quantum physics, in particular, is fascinating, not that I understand it). Invariably, you ask yourself the usual questions: ‘What if this technology was misused?’ ‘What if this new species was dangerous, and escaped?’ ‘What if we could harness Dark Energy?’ Sure, they’ve all been asked before, but these kinds of questions are crucial to the process.

There are a few ‘what-if’ moments that inspired ‘Eight’.

To give it context, my aim was to write a big, fast-paced action-thriller involving a global menace. I wanted there to be a mysterious discovery. And maybe a Special Forces military team. Overarching that, I wanted to write something really scary, with a frightening antagonist. This last thing, perhaps, was the driver.

So what is scary to me?

Well, I’m a minor arachnophobe. Nothing major, but yeah, the sudden appearance of a scurrying huntsman gets my heart racing. I’ve always been hyper-aware of them, and I know I’m not alone. I read that at some point in human evolution, spiders likely posed a genuine threat to humans and their distinctive starburst shape was something to be wary of, something our ancestors learned to be fearful of, and this fear was encoded into us and passed on through the genes. This might explain why today, so many of us are alarmed by them. That caught my attention. An inbuilt fear? What a great thing to exploit! So I threw that into the pantry.

I read elsewhere that at any given moment, there’s always a spider within four feet of you, which is an unpleasant thought for someone who’s not a fan of them. Again, into the pantry.

You can see the ingredients combining. I won’t mention them all because I’m sure you get the picture. But now there are a few things to play around with: mysterious discoveries, terrifying species hidden from science, a fight to save humanity. A good thriller needs a good setting, and for this story, it had to be somewhere remote, where humans don’t commonly tread—a  place where things can remain undiscovered… until now. This was a no-brainer. I’ve always been fascinated with, and in awe of, the Amazon. In an ever-shrinking world, the place is as remote as you can get, it is home to lots of strange and wonderful things, and given what’s happening there with deforestation and loss of habitat, it’s also a pretty significant metaphor for what’s happening to the planet.

So in very general terms, there you have it. While there’s more to throw into the mix, I won’t give too much away. But these are some of the ingredients that have gone into ‘Eight’.

I’ve combined them, stirred them, and now dinner is served. I hope you’re hungry.

I went easy on the chicken-flavour.

Eight Synopsis:

Deep in the Amazon, the solution to the global energy crisis has been found; a mysterious source of power set to end our dependency on oil.

When she receives stunning photographs related to the discovery, entomologist Rebecca Riley finds herself on the next flight to Brazil, heading down to join the team of scientists assembling there.

What she discovers is beyond imagination: strange statues in the jungle… a ruined city built by the refugees of a lost Pacific continent… and a terrifying new species of animal.

Forced to confront a crippling childhood phobia she’d thought long dead and buried, Rebecca realises this new species is no ordinary enemy.

For it is an enemy whose very existence has implications for all of humankind… and the planet itself.

December 2016 – Available from Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N | Indigo

Slithers Synopsis:

On a remote country road, heading out to a weekend party, Tobe West and his friends pick up two hitchhikers. It seems like the right thing to do.

No-one could have predicted the freak car accident that is about to change their lives.

Stranded in the middle of nowhere, Tobe and the others are faced with a landscape suddenly unfamiliar, in a universe that has come loose from its moorings. Strange things slither in the woods, and spectral lights hover just off the road. A petrol station, shining brightly in a world otherwise dark and frightening, promises safe haven, but Tobe learns the biggest threat to their survival lies within the very people he’s trying to protect.

As reality breaks down and dangers multiply, Tobe must uncover the hidden agenda of one of the survivors… and keep the rest of them safe from something lurking in the darkness.

Something that is hunting them all.

If they are to survive the night, Tobe must face the horrifying truth—that nothing is as it seems, and that they are all part of a larger plan, part of someone else’s unfinished business…

August 2017 –  Available from Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N | Indigo

About the Author, WW Mortensen

WW Mortensen lives in Brisbane, Australia. Juggling full-time work, a young family and a passion for writing, he subsists on late nights, early morning and a little too much coffee. A huge fan of horror movies, sci-fi, action and adventure stories, he draws inspiration from a number of genres. He devotes his spare time to honing his writing skills and being with family.

For more information please visit www.wwmortensen.com or connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.

Book Giveaway

We have an ebook copy of the novels Eight and Slithers to giveaway. Simply tell us which title you would most like to win in the form below.

• open worldwide, entries close midnight 17 November 2017
• extra entries for spreading the word via Twitter , Pinterest and Facebook/Google+/Webpage
• the 2 winners will be randomly selected and announced on our Facebook Page

SORRY, ENTRIES CLOSED – See winner announcement.