It’s creepy, and it’s true …

Wolf Rider: a tale of terror

Sometimes a writer writes a book because its inspiration haunts him. Such was the case with Wolf Rider: a Tale of Terror. Here’s the description for the book, “After receiving an apparent crank call from a man claiming to have committed murder, fifteen-year-old Andy finds his close relationship with his father crumbling as he struggles to make everyone believe him.” 

Strange but true: the opening episode in this book is something that actually happened to me. The telephone call came shortly after I moved into a new apartment and had just received my phone. It was in fact, the first call that came in—on a land line desk phone. The who, the why, and how, I never learned. It was nonetheless, very troubling, very disturbing. I could not get it out of my mind.

The way I worked my way free of the event was by writing about it—something writers sometimes do—inventing a who, a why, and how. Some of my readers tell me Wolf Rider is the scariest book I have ever written. Perhaps it is. It surely is creepy. And . . . it did really happen. At least the beginning.

Disbelief

Midnight MagicA magician who doesn’t believe in magic? That’s the premise of Murder at Midnight and Midnight Magic, two books about Fabrizio and Mangus the Magician which are also mysteries. Two more good books for holiday reading.

Here’s what I have to say about Midnight Magic on my website: “I know where the setting for this book entered my imagination—Naples, Italy, which I once visited. But the book came about because I wanted to write a scary book that wasn’t really scary, a ghost story, that may or may not have ghosts, and a tale of magic, that might, or might not have magic. But what really makes the book fun is the relationship between Mangus the magician, who does not believe in magic, and his servant boy, Fabrizio, who does believes in magic a great deal. The prequel to this book, which tells how the two came together, is called Murder at Midnight.”

A ghost in the house

ghostI’m deep into my next book, a ghost story. “Do you believe in ghosts?” I can hear someone asking. No, I don’t, but I believe in ghost stories. I have written a few, such as Something Upstairs, Book without Words, and  Seer of Shadows. There are a couple of short ghost stories, too. 

I find ghost stories interesting, and a challenge to write, making what I don’t believe believable. Along the way I’ve learned that a lot of young readers like to be scared. I often ask them why and. although I don’t get exact answers, I get the impression that young people enjoy the intense emotions such stories generate, emotions, moreover, wrapped in the safe blanket of a book. Ghost stories are a reminder that not knowing everything means that there is much in the world and beyond that has yet to be discovered. For young people who have not taught themselves (or who have been taught) to be completely rational, ghosts hover on the fuzzy edge of reality, a place of endless possibilities. 

Avi's ghost stories