It is my honor to welcome author and fellow Fangirl, Pippa Jay to share what inspired her new YA supernatural novella, Restless In Peaceville, from Lycaon Press.
Two Teen Paranormal Inspirations – Why Kids’ TV Rocks
I often quote Warm Bodies as being responsible for my story inspiration for Restless In Peaceville, closely followed by the zombies in books by Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony. But there’s another inspiration, and it’s down to my kids.
I’m mum to three adorable little monsters, so over the last decade I’ve watched a lot of kids’ TV, and more lately young adult programs and films. Two shows on the popular CBBC channel (the BBC’s channel dedicated to older children) have drawn me into supernatural and paranormal stories in a way Twilight hasn’t (I’ve never read the books, never seen the films, though I did watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in the 90s) Sorry, I never really got into the whole Twilight thing. But in 2006, the BBC started showing a series for teenagers called Young Dracula. It started off as a bit of a modern day spoof about Count Dracula and his family, mostly centred around his son Vlad who determined to fit in with normal people rather than become a blood-sucking fiend. But in series three, it got more serious – perhaps this was the influence of Twilight, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries, and the sudden media passion for all things vamp. And this is the point where I actually got addicted to the show, probably more than my daughter event though we watched it together. It could be dark, scary, tragic, but they still kept a bit of tongue in cheek humour. Imagine dealing with all the normal teenage angst AND being the son of the most infamous vampire ever and trying to avoid becoming just like him. It even had a wonderful romance woven through it, with Vlad falling for a Breather (human) while trying to evade his destiny as the Chosen One of vampire legend. I’m not embarrassed to admit I thought it was awesome. (I’ll admit I didn’t like the final series so much, which ended in March 2014, but for two series I hung on every episode). I loved Vlad’s struggles to avoid not only becoming a typical vampire, but stuck with the expectation of being the Chosen One–the ultimate leader of the vampire clans.
Video link – http://youtu.be/4VWyAE2Ogf0
The second paranormal series run by the BBC was Wolfblood. As can probably be guessed from the title, this featured werewolves instead of vampires (I’m still waiting to see if they’ll do a cross-over at some point, but I doubt it). Again, it centred around a couple of teenage Wolfbloods having to deal with not only their physical changes in terms of changing into a wolf but being teens as well. It followed the lives of two teenangers – Maddie, who lived with her parents and was approaching her first transformation, and Rhydian, a care kid brought up by a couple of foster parents who have no idea about his true identity.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/clips/p01gw631
While I wasn’t so keen on the werewolf mythology, I have to admit that Rhydian (played by Bobby Lockwood) was a huge influence on the character of Luke in Restless In Peaceville. While they may be very different types of supernatural beings, and Rhydian revels in his transformation and abilities compared to Luke, the same kind of resentment at the unfariness of life troubles them both. In fact, before Restless had a contract, I picked up a book cover that I thought might work for the story, and that bore a striking resemblance to Rhydian.
Of course, the wording on it is more appropriate to a werewolf than a zombie, but the cover just grabbed me. But then Restless got a contract and I got an official cover…and I love it!
So there you go. Two more things that influenced Restless In Peaceville and my love for teenage zombies. I just hope you’ll love them too!
You have a chance to own this special zombie inspired heart necklace by clicking here!
Thank you Pippa for sharing with us!
For a taste of Restless in Peaceville check out this cool trailer and read the excerpt below!
Welcome to Peaceville, population 2067 and rising…from the grave…
Luke Chester has had enough. He’s the school geek, the girls laugh at him, he’s lost his dead-end job at the pizza place, and in the midst of the world’s messiest divorce his parents don’t even know he exists. An overdose of his mom’s tranquilizers and a stomach full of whiskey should solve all his problems…
But they don’t. Instead, Luke finds himself booted out of the afterlife for not dying a natural death, with nowhere to go but back to his recently vacated corpse and reality. How the hell is he going to pass for one of the living without someone trying to blow his brains out for being one of the undead?
And it just gets worse. He’s got to fight his own desperate craving to consume the living, evade the weird supernatural hunter who’s having a field day with the new undeads rising, and there’s this creepy black shadow following him around. Add to that the distraction of female fellow undead Annabelle burning to avenge her own murder, and clearly there’s no rest for the wicked. Jeez, all he wanted to do was R.I.P.
Excerpt:
Then something bangs a door downstairs and Annabelle grabs me hard. “Luke?”
“Shh.” I push away from her and roll myself out of bed. My feet thump onto the floorboards, but any sound I’m making is drowned out by another crash down below. “Stay here. I’m gonna check.”
“Luke, no…”
I wave her back. There’s no sense of it being the Peacemaker, not like before, and I can’t smell vampire. If this is another undead looking for refuge, I can warn them off. If it’s something else—
A creak is all the warning I’m given before the floor gives way and I plummet through the rotten woodwork like a kingfisher diving through the water. I can’t see a thing for dust and chunks of wood, but I know I’ve gone through the ground floor of the house when I break through a second layer of wood and hit earth. Damn, how long will this body hold up if I keep crashing like this?
I lever myself up, and find my head just above ground floor level while more dust and splinters shower down around me. I turn, looking for some way to pull myself back up…and find myself being stared at by three kids.
Oh, shit. For a moment we all just gaze at each other, no one sure what to do or who’s going to do it first. Then one of the boys, maybe eight or nine and his mouth hanging open points at me and screams, “Zombie!”
What else can I do? I yank myself out of the hole and lurch at him, moaning fit to scare them to death. They don’t hesitate. Each of them competing for the most piercing holler, they scarper out of the house so fast I expect to see scorch marks from the acceleration.
I laugh. Seriously, it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen since I died. Maybe I could get to enjoy this.
You can add Restless In Peaceville to your Goodreads shelf HERE. You can also sign up to her no-spam newsletter HERE to get spam free, early sneak peeks at covers, and news of the latest releases, giveaways and contest.
Pippa Jay’s bio:
After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.
Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, like I am, she blogs at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include a YA science fiction novel—Gethyon—published through BURST (Champagne Books), two self-published short stories (Terms & Conditions Apply and The Bones of the Sea), and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2nd place).
You can stalk her at her website http://pippajay.co.uk, or at her blog http://pippajay.blogspot.co.uk, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.
