The Complete Hidden Evil Trilogy: 3 Novels and 4 Shorts of Frightening Horror (PLUS Book I of the Portal Arcane Trilogy)

by J. Thorn

  Early readers couldn’t identify with Drew and his self-destructive, somewhat flip attitude. I massaged the character to build a bit more empathy, but not too much. I did not want the reader necessarily rooting for him given the nature of the reveal partway through the book. Drew and Gaki become synonymous. Unlike more traditional dark fiction, I did not want to tell a simple tale where the protagonist “wins”, and therefore I had to sacrifice Drew to do so. For those readers that could not bond with him, I apologize and I hope you read the rest of the trilogy to find out why I couldn’t let that happen.

  Threefold Law

  Heavy metal music and epic storytelling have a long, loving marriage. I grew up in the heyday of Iron Maiden, a band whose imagery, sound, and legend were more than their sum parts. My writing influences my music and my music influences my writing. In many novels, including The Hidden Evil trilogy, Threefold Law makes a cameo appearance.

  For the initial book trailer for Preta’s Realm: The Haunting, I used a Threefold Law song, the first portion of “Rankin” from The Burning Time EP.

  http://www.threefoldlaw.com

  Salem 1692

  I’ve always had an interest in the Salem Witch Hysteria of 1692, and I have studied the event for more than twenty years, beginning with a graduate course in college. The idea that people would turn on those they were closest to left me feeling vulnerable. In many cases, spouses turned each other in, and it was not uncommon for a child to accuse a parent of witchcraft.

  In Before the Realm, I took a few liberties with this well-documented story in regards to the role of Gaki in the witchcraft accusations. However, I took great care to faithfully represent the historical figures even if they aren’t all labeled as such. Girls are living with different families and with different relatives, but those people are in that story.

  In the Devil’s Snare by Mary Beth Norton was fundamental in the way I shaped the vignettes of Before the Realm, and helped to explain behavior that would have seemed otherwise unexplainable.

  Floyd’s Story

  Being a historian, it’s hard for me not to include fascinating tidbits of historical record in my novels. The Floyd Williams story is based upon an actual historical event. The real man’s name was Floyd Allen.

  From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Allen)

  Floyd Allen (July 5, 1856 – March 28, 1913) was an American landowner and patriarch of the Allen clan of Carroll County, Virginia. He was convicted and executed for murder in 1913 after a sensational courthouse shootout that left a judge, prosecutor, sheriff, and two others dead, although doubt has been expressed about the validity of the conviction.[1] He was accused with triggering the shooting at the Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia on March 14, 1912, in which five people were killed and seven wounded. The affair represents one of the rare incidents in American history when a criminal defendant attempted to avoid justice by assassinating the trial judge.

  Read more from the source…

  The tale ran in The Roanoker, and you’ll recognize many elements of his story in Eternal: Blood Curse.

  From Wikipedia The Roanoker (http://theroanoker.com/interests/history/hillsville-massacre)

  Nobody knows who fired the first shot that cold, gray day, but before it was over, four lay dead, one was dying, and Carroll County would never be the same again…Floyd’s biggest fault, said his brother Garland, was his “uncontrollable temper.” Garland said that their mother had more than once been forced to tie Floyd up with rope when he was a child, and by the time he was a grown man his temper was legendary. It wasn’t reserved just for outsiders, either. Floyd and his brother Jack got into a fight once over some barrels of brandy in their father’s estate and shot each other. Jack recovered, but it began to appear as if Floyd had fought his last brawl, and he sent for his brother Jack, “to make his peace with him,” he said, “be-fore crossing the divide.” Jack heeded the pitiful request and sorrowfully approached his brother’s deathbed.

  He should have known better. When Floyd saw the grief-stricken Jack shuffling slowly to his bedside, he grabbed for a revolver he had concealed under his pillow and attempted to give his brother a ticket to cross the “divide” with him. Jack was saved by another brother who grabbed Floyd’s arm before he could squeeze off a shot. Floyd recovered from his own wounds shortly thereafter. “He was too damned mean to die,” said an acquaintance.

  Read more from the source…

  Pine Valley and The Blue Ridge Mountains

  If you’ve ever driven Skyline Drive, you’ve no doubt been awed by the spectacle. It is hard to keep your eyes on the road. Virginia is a beautiful state, and yet, a mysterious one. The Blue Ridge Mountains are one of those places that have kept secrets for thousands of years, and it seemed like a great place for Gaki to open the Portal.

  From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Mountains)

  The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap…The Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for their bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color.

  Read more from the source…

  In addition to its natural mystery, some argue that the Blue Ridge Mountains have unnatural mysteries too. The Blue Ridge Parkway Guide lists some for the bold traveler.

  From Haunted Places, Blue Ridge Parkway Guide (http://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway/special/haunted-places.asp)

  Martha Washington Inn (Abingdon, VA)

  The ghost of a young woman haunts the inn believed to be looking for her lover. Sightings are so common/reliable that they at one time charged extra for her "favorite" room. The workers are very helpful and acknowledge the sightings. No matter how many times they put down new carpet, blood stains reappear from old soldiers who were wounded during the war.

  Avenel House (Bedford, VA)

  Witnesses report seeing "The White Lady" walking around the property, sometimes accompanied with a gentleman (also in white). An apparition of a black man has been reported to be looking out of an upstairs window.

  Read more from the source…

  The Evolution of a Cover

  The original cover concept came from a charcoal drawing by Timothy Wright, an artist in Chicago, Illinois. I purchased the “hungry ghost” from him, and when it arrived I marveled at the grotesque beauty. I incorporated that into a stark white cover long before I understood how to make a book cover. The next version, done by Kate Sterling, looked more like a horror novel, and we kept the hungry ghost as if he was spray-painted at the top of those lonely stairs. But as time wore on, it became clear to me that folks were put off by the visceral imagery, and so I eventually removed the hungry ghost altogether. The most current version of the first book of The Hidden Evil trilogy does not have him on it at all. I still have the original charcoal drawing hanging above my desk.

  The graphic art is presented in a linear fashion from the first charcoal sketch to the current version of the cover.

  Endings

  The original ending left some readers unsettled. When Preta’s Realm: The Haunting was a standalone title, I would imagine the end of it would have been even more frustrating. I relented a bit and once Demons Within: Unholy Fire was released, I altered the end of Preta’s Realm: The Haunting.

  Here’s the original version:

  The doors shut and he felt the elevator pull him up two more floors. His stomach caught up a moment later as the door opened to Ward C. They could call it whatever they wanted; those who worked there or visited knew that Ward C belonged to the most mentally afflicted. A computer could douse the hallways with flame retardant foam or lock every door from the outside with magnets powerful enough to lift trucks.

  He walked down the hall, turned past th
e lobby and its tantalizing vending machines before turning again and stopping in front of room 709. The first few visits left him shaking, fighting to enter the room. He considered running and forsaking the check from the fund until he thought of Mashoka. Ravna could live with the sense of shirked responsibility, but not the guilt that would accompany an abandonment of his pledge to the Hunter. As time and visits passed, the trip to 709 felt like a visit to the room of a family member, one unable to function outside the walls of a hospital but not facing death either. Ravna thought it was how nurses kept their sanity.

  He reached for the handle, placing his thumb on the sensor at the same time. The light turned from red to green, signifying his level of access, granted by the administration. The door swung silently inward. The air felt stifling, even warm, despite the computer-controlled climate system that was probably the envy of NASA scientists.

  “Drew?” Ravna called out.

  No reply.

  He walked forward, the stark white of the room forcing him to squint. Ward C stood in shocking brilliance. The walls, the floors, the bedding, the doors, everything glowed in pure, alabaster white.

  “How ya doin’, Drew?” Ravna asked.

  The door to the bathroom was pinned to the wall with its magnetic latch. The toilet and shower stall were devoid of any inhabitants, not a towel or tissue out of place. Ravna took two steps into the room, the automatic door shutting behind him. He jumped and then laughed, unsure why the sudden bout of paranoia had arrived.

  Drew must be sleeping.

  He walked past the chair and simple chest of drawers that looked the same as they had on all of his previous visits. Never a balloon, card, or basket. He stood at the foot of the bed, staring at the sheets, secured at the corners by the orderly on shift the night before. Ravna felt the moisture from his mouth escape, and his bowels shook with an unnatural rumble. He spun around, half-expecting to be attacked as he was in the cavern, in what felt like another lifetime.

  Nothing.

  The room was completely silent. And empty. Ravna took a step toward the door, his heart racing as he anticipated the lockdown of the floor or possibly the entire facility until the staff could find Drew. He turned to the right and noticed that the door to the small closet was open. Ravna could not remember ever seeing the door open. He moved closer and saw three hangers on the closet rod, dangling in the air. It was the contrast of red on white that caught his attention. A roughly sketched doorway had been painted on the wall of the closet in finger-strokes of blood. Inside the doorway was a message, one that Ravna knew was for him before he even read it.

  And here’s the current version:

  The doors shut and he felt the elevator pull him up two more floors. His stomach caught up a moment later as the door opened to Ward C. They could call it whatever they wanted; those who worked there or visited knew that Ward C belonged to the most mentally afflicted. A computer could douse the hallways with flame retardant foam or lock every door from the outside with magnets powerful enough to lift trucks.

  He walked down the hall and turned past the lobby and its tantalizing vending machines before turning again and stopping in front of room 709. The first few visits had left him shaking, fighting to enter the room. He had considered running and forsaking the check from the fund until he thought of Mashoka. Ravna could live with the sense of shirked responsibility, but not the guilt that would accompany an abandonment of his pledge to the Hunter. As time and visits passed, the trip to 709 felt like a visit to the room of a family member, one unable to function outside the walls of a hospital, but not facing death either. Ravna thought it was how nurses kept their sanity.

  He reached for the handle, placing his thumb on the sensor at the same time. The light turned from red to green, signifying his level of access granted by the administration. The door swung silently inward. The air felt stifling, even warm, despite the computer-controlled climate system that was probably the envy of NASA scientists.

  “Drew?” Ravna called out.

  No reply.

  He walked forward, the stark white of the room forcing him to squint. Ward C stood in shocking brilliance. The walls, the floors, the bedding, the doors, everything glowed in pure, alabaster white.

  “How ya doin’, Drew?” Ravna asked.

  The door to the bathroom was pinned to the wall with its magnetic latch. The toilet and shower stall were devoid of any inhabitants, not a towel or tissue out of place. Ravna took two steps into the room, the automatic door shutting behind him. He jumped and then laughed, unsure why the sudden bout of paranoia had arrived.

  Drew must be sleeping.

  He walked past the chair and simple chest of drawers, which looked the same as they had on all of his previous visits. Never a balloon, card, or basket. He stood at the foot of the bed, staring at the sheets, secured at the corners by the orderly on shift the night before. Ravna felt the moisture from his mouth escape, and his bowels shook with an unnatural rumble. He spun around, half-expecting to be attacked as he was in the cavern, in what felt like another lifetime.

  Nothing.

  The room was completely silent. And empty. Ravna took a step toward the door, his heart racing as he anticipated the lockdown of the floor or possibly the entire facility until the staff could find Drew. He turned to the right and noticed that the door to the small closet was open. Ravna could not remember ever seeing the door open. He moved closer and saw three hangers on the closet rod, dangling in the air. It was the contrast of red on white that caught his attention. A roughly sketched doorway had been painted on the wall of the closet in finger-strokes of blood. Inside the doorway was a name.

  F.A.Q.

  I have collected and aggregated questions from my readers. Below are the answers to questions I can answer. There are some that I can’t, for fear of Gaki.

  Have other stories or authors influenced you when writing the Hidden Evil Trilogy?

  Stephen King is one of my favorite authors of all time. I have to try very hard not to write like he does in order to have my own voice. However, that’s like telling a guitarist not to play the same chords as Jimmy Page so that he doesn’t sound like Led Zeppelin. I don’t have King’s mind (or Page’s fingers), and so I’ll always be me, but I do pay homage to the master. Those of you that have read Gerald’s Game will recognize Kelly Swift’s predicament, albeit under different circumstances.

  Are your stories connected in any way?

  Although the connections are tangential, they are there. The worlds of The Hidden Evil trilogy and the Portal Arcane trilogy overlap. Ideas on multiple universes, time travel, M-theory, string theory, and the afterlife are prevalent in The Hidden Evil trilogy. Some Hunters have the ability to “slip” through “Portals” that lead to alternate universes. Gaki himself has found a way to travel through time using the Portals, although he doesn’t control them, and in fact, seems to be determined to “catch” a Portal opening at the right time and place.

  In the Hidden Evil trilogy, Gaki is the steward and the characters in the Portal Arcane trilogy explore the hidden (to us) multiverse. As of the writing of this, I have not finished the Portal Arcane books and therefore do not want to say too much more about their connection to the Hidden Evil trilogy.

  A brief scene in Preta’s Realm: The Haunting references Sully in The Seventh Seal and gives the reader a glimpse into Father William and his true identity.

  Where are you from, where do you live, and how does that come out in your writing?

  I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and have lived in Cleveland for the past ten years. I love both cities for different reasons but neither more, sort of like my children. Being from the Rust Belt and spending most of my life in it, I can say that the gritty, real, and hard existence of the people in this region of the country is part of everything I write, part of who I am. In the Seventh Seal, I built a composite city (Pittsburgh and Cleveland), although I did use actual locations from both places. In Preta’s Realm: The Haunting, the flashbacks t
o Drew in college take place in a bar I used to frequent in North Oakland near the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It’s still there and proudly listed under “dive bars” on Yelp, and with good reason. For my last two years of school, the men’s room had no toilet, only a hole in the floor and a bullet hole in the wall.

  How did you deal with technology in this trilogy?

  The truth is that I love technology. I’m a nerd and a gadget hog. However, I did not want it to get in the way of the storytelling or to date it horribly. Therefore, I use the most basic technologies and stay away from trendy devices that most likely will not be trendy by the time you read the novel. In Preta’s Realm: The Haunting I did feature e-mail in the beginning of the story, mostly because I hate how much e-mail controls our lives. For that reason, I thought it would be interesting to have Gaki tease Drew through it.

  Were you a firefighter or EMS?

  After reading Demons Within: Unholy Fire, I could understand why a reader would ask this question. I have never been nor do I claim to be a firefighter or EMS of any type. I admire what they do and I interviewed several for Demons Within: Unholy Fire to maintain a sense of authenticity. Anyone that is willing to put their life at risk for a total stranger gets my respect and gratitude.