Title: Possess
Author: Sarah Dalton
Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult
Note: This book is best suited for children over the age of
15 as it contains some bad language.
Mary Hades is drawn back into the world of the macabre as she
moves with her family into the mysterious old house, Ravenswood. The mere
mention of Ravenswood induces terror among the locals, and when strange things
begin to occur, Mary and Lacey decide to get to the bottom of the secret hidden
in the historic house once and for all.
As a dark power gathers, Mary finds her life becomes interconnected with the disturbing events that transpired in 1847 to eleven year old Liza Blair. The more Mary is drawn into Liza’s story, the more she realises someone close to her is in grave danger from the sinister energy at Ravenswood.
Set in the backdrop of an unsettling forest, and with strange neighbour Emmaline Delacroix obsessed with death and séances, Possess will take you even deeper into the murky depths of Mary Hades’s unusual life.
Book two in the Mary Hades series.
As a dark power gathers, Mary finds her life becomes interconnected with the disturbing events that transpired in 1847 to eleven year old Liza Blair. The more Mary is drawn into Liza’s story, the more she realises someone close to her is in grave danger from the sinister energy at Ravenswood.
Set in the backdrop of an unsettling forest, and with strange neighbour Emmaline Delacroix obsessed with death and séances, Possess will take you even deeper into the murky depths of Mary Hades’s unusual life.
Book two in the Mary Hades series.
Tell
us about the books you enjoyed as a child.
I loved Enid Blyton books,
particularly Mallory Towers, The Secret Seven and the Famous Five. The
mysteries were great, and I loved the action and adventure. It’s a shame that
they are so ‘of their time’ when it comes to gender stereotypes, I would love
to read them again or recommend them to children, but I feel that they are too
old fashioned now.
I
also loved the Little Vampire, the Worst Witch and lots of Point Horror books.
I think that’s where I get my love of the supernatural from. I’m quite a practical
and rational person (and was as a child I think) that I love my escapism to be
completely out of this world.
What
inspired you to become a children’s author?
I
don’t think it’s anything I really planned on becoming. It just happened! I
knew I wanted to do something creative and I had always loved writing, and in
my mid-twenties I just went for it. Hunger Games was a big kick for me. It had
so much emotion and social commentary that I realised teen books are very
different now than they were when I was a teen. It’s okay to be experimental
and hard hitting. Teen books are as important as adult books, just told in a
different style. The books I read as a teenager didn’t have as much to say. It
made me want to write for teenagers.
Describe
your path to publication.
Well,
as a self-published author it is probably a little unconventional! First, I
submitted short stories to publications like Apex Magazine, PANK and some
smaller places. I was surprised to find that quite a few of my stories were
accepted. At the same time, I was writing The Blemished and had high hopes of
finding an agent. But, The Blemished took longer to write than I anticipated,
and by the time I was ready to query, the market had already become saturated.
I didn’t realise how long it took for a book to be published after getting an
agent. It can be years, and I knew the YA dystopia trend meant I needed to
publish my book now. It was the same sort of time that Amanda Hocking had major
success and I began reading the Kindleboards forum, which gave me a ton of
insight into how to release your own book. After a few rejections from agents I
decided to go for it. I found willing beta readers to help me with the editing,
I found an awesome cover designer, the first wave of reviewers loved the book,
and then suddenly I was a published author. A year down the line it was my
career.
Tell
us about your latest book.
Possess
is the second novel in my Mary Hades series. It’s hard to describe this series
as it began from a novella, and I have a habit of writing short stories to fit
into the world. So far there is one novella, two novels and two short stories
in the series. They are all horror books for older teenagers. I wanted to write
something more grown up than the Blemished and White Hart series, I wanted more
scope with language and themes. I like quiet horror and Gothic mysteries, so
these books are scary but not gory. They should make you tense and creeped out,
but not squeamish.
What
are the main themes?
Possession
is about losing control, it’s the fear of being controlled by someone else.
Family
is a huge theme in the book. Mary’s Mum has been sceptical of her abilities and
that has put some strain on their relationship. In this story, we see the two
characters forced to deal with their issues.
Who
or what inspired your story?
Nothing
specific, except that I love to write about issues that affect teenagers in
real life. My Daylight Monsters – the prequel novella – is about mental health
issues amongst teens. Mary Hades is about trust, friendship and that moment
when you learn the world is a dark place. Possess is about the moment when you
realise your parents don’t have all the answers, that they are as vulnerable as
you are.
What
do you like best about your main characters?
Well,
Mina from The Blemished is someone who cannot accept the world as it is, and
someone who needs to fight for the needy and vulnerable. But I think I love her
faults the most. She lets love blind her and leaves herself vulnerable to
manipulation. Some readers disliked her for that, but I loved her all the more.
Mae
from White Hart is a diamond in the rough. She’s a girl who dresses up her
insecurities with arrogance and rudeness. But she has a heart of gold and a
thin skin. I’m looking forward to finishing her story arc because I already see
the woman she is set to become.
Mary
from Mary Hades is brave but scared. Despite her connection to ghosts, she
never stops being afraid of death. Yet she faces death to help others. Being
scared and doing it anyway is the bravest of all actions.
Do
they have any peculiarities?
Mary
sees zombies when something bad is about to happen. They are usually silent and
do nothing except look at her. We don’t know if they are real or are something
her mind conjures to tell her the environment isn’t safe.
How
does your main character evolve?
It
really depends on the story. For The Blemished, Mina has to become someone
physically and mentally stronger. She has to fight her natural instinct to run
away when things get tough. She has to see things through to the end. There is
quite a strong curve for all the characters in the Blemished series because the
storyline is so huge.
But
with a series like Mary Hades, the changes are more subtle. In the first
novella Mary has to face her fears, but as the series goes on, she becomes more
compassionate to ghosts and the dead. It’s a long series, and each book helps
to develop her bit by bit as a character.
What’s
the principal message you want to send to your audience?
Oh,
goodness. So many! I hope to send many messages through my books.
A
huge one for me is about choice. As humans we have rights, and we should live
by standards that do not violate other people’s rights. I don’t mean the right
to have a gun or drive your car really fast, I mean the right to have a voice,
to express ourselves, to love who we want to love and be who we want to be. The
Blemished is all about choice and what happens when it’s taken away.
What’s
the nicest thing anyone has said about your book?
I
love it when people are excited about the next book, or tell me that reading my
books has helped them through something difficult.
One
thing that made me smile, and I see as a big compliment, was when an ARC
reviewer thanked Harper Collins for the copy of the book. I’ve always wanted my
books to be as professional as a publisher, and that mistake had me grinning
for the rest of the day.
Where
can we purchase it?
All
over the place! It might be easiest to check out my website for
all the buy links.
Tell
us about your other children’s books.
The
Blemished series – a YA dystopia series set in the near future. It explores the
‘what ifs’ of genetic engineering without boundaries. Those with faulty genes
are labelled Blemished and live a life of poverty while the GEMs take every
advantage in life.
White
Hart – a fairy-tale-esque story for younger teens. Mae Waylander is forced to
travel through a dark forest, fighting off the monsters that hide amongst the
trees. Mae is the craft-born of her generation, the one true wielder of the
magic of the realm. But she has to keep the secret so that she is not married
off to Prince Casimir, the very same person who ends up on the journey with her…
Do
you have any other children’s books in the works?
The
White Hart series should end next year with the final instalment – Black Crown.
The
Mary Hades series is ongoing, with at least two more books to add to the
series.
What
advice can you offer new writers?
The
best advice is read and write, read and write, keep repeating.
Sarah grew up in the middle of nowhere in the countryside of
Derbyshire and as a result has an over-active imagination.
She has been an avid reader for most of her life, taking
inspiration from the stories she read as a child, and the novels she devoured
as an adult.
Sarah mainly writes speculative fiction for a Young Adult
audience and has had pieces of short fiction published in the Medulla
Literary Review, PANK magazine and the British Fantasy
Society publication Dark Horizons. Her short story ‘Vampires Wear
Chanel’ is featured in the Wyvern Publication Fangtales.
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