WiHM 9 Presents - Suzi Albracht

Every woman needs a man who will love them to the end of time. A man who puts her needs before his. A man who takes her breath away with a single glance. A man who will do whatever it takes to have a last goodbye kiss.
What happens when a trio of ghosts from the 1800s and a skateboarding angel team up to help a newly-dead young husband spend one final goodbye night with the young wife he left behind? And what if a storm of the century threatens to get in the way? 

1) As a female horror writer, what do you bring to the table in terms of what of you write?

First, I bring a unique spin to my novels. My story lines are fresh and fascinating. I like to take common items and give them new uses. For instance, in A Love Haunting, my ghost can become visible to the living after he sucks up electricity by sticking a straw into an electrical outlet and sucking on it.
Second, I am a writer who likes to surprise. Not only do I want to surprise the reader, I want to surprise myself. I prefer that my characters tell me what is going to happen. While I am responsible for organizing that information, I’m never sure what is going to happen until it does.
Third, I like to delve deep inside my characters and display all their flaws. My preference is to take everyday circumstances and then insert characters who are common, every day people. I want my reader to relate because that guy on the pages is just like their brother. Then, I take that circumstance and twist it inside out, upside down. I find that the right amount of flaws makes the character more relatable and easier to either hate or love.
Fourth, I bring a different perspective to my male characters. I insist they look at things and situations from different angles than they normally would. I’ve been told by my readers that my male characters are realistic and so believable that they have even fallen in love with a few of them. They forget that a female wrote them. I also have a unique take on my bad guys. I feel that almost every bad guy has a soft spot, once I find that spot, I like to exploit it to make them more vulnerable and less predictable. For instance, I have a character – Carl Royce. He is an enforcer for the Devil’s Lieutenant. He is beyond cruel, except when it comes to tiny dogs. He is so obsessed with small dogs that he’ll snatch them right out of yards if he thinks they are not getting the attention they deserve. Carl stalked and tried to kidnap the son of Mikael Ruskoff, who is a homicide detective. Instead, of arresting him, Mikael totally blew my mind when he went to Carl’s house and threatened Carl’s little Yorkie. I won’t tell you the rest but it is shocking and not in Mikael’s character at all… or so I thought until Mikael told me otherwise.
And fifth, I don’t do guts splashing on the floor horror, I do horror that creeps up on you as you climb into bed with nowhere to go. The kind that whispers your name from behind as you double lock the door to keep the boogey-man out. I told you I like surprises.

2) Do you think female authors are underrepresented in the horror genre?

In terms of fame, yes, definitely. I think that many readers feel that a woman isn’t capable of instilling true fear in their reader’s heart without resorting to excessive gore or some other desperate grab at attention. I know they would be surprised if they took a chance and read some female Indie horror authors. I know that I have been told that I changed people’s attitude about horror and females writing it. I’ve even converted people who swore they’d never read a horror novel. That pleases me to no end.

3) Tell us about your book(s)

I have five books on Amazon at the moment. Four are fiction with three Supernatural Horror Crime Fiction novels (in The Devil’s Due Collection) and one Paranormal Romance/Ghosts novel (the first of The OBX Hauntings series). I have several WIPs for both the collection and series.
The Devil’s Due Collection contains Death Most Wicked, The Devil’s Lieutenant, and Scorn Kills.

Death Most Wicked
The Devil’s Due Collection - Book 1
When the King of Hell plays a serial killer like a puppet, bad things happen. Soon the lives of more young girls are at stake, forcing cops to do whatever it takes to save them, even if it means sacrificing their own souls.

The Devil’s Lieutenant
The Devil’s Due Collection - Book 2
This is the tale of two cops who join forces to battle the greatest evil there is. But they are not alone, an angel comes to aid them in the form of a young girl, MaryBeth. As the war escalates, the King of Hell ups his game and sets his sights on their loved ones to force them to back off. Is it even possible to win?

Scorn Kills
The Devil’s Due Collection - Side Book 1
 “Adulterer… debaucher… fornicator,” a menacing voice growled at me from the dark corner of my bedroom. I immediately thought the voice was Mr. Romano’s, but that was impossible. We had buried him six feet under just three weeks ago. Dead men stay dead, don’t they?

In The OBX Hauntings series:
A Love Haunting (Genre: Paranormal Romance/Ghosts)
Every woman needs a man who will love them to the end of time. A man who puts her needs before his. A man who takes her breath away with a single glance. A man who will do whatever it takes to have a last goodbye kiss.
 
What happens when a trio of ghosts from the 1800s and a skateboarding angel team up to help a newly-dead young husband spend one final goodbye night with the wife he left behind? And what if a storm of the century gets in the way?

4) Why is horror writing important to you?

I grew up on horror. My mother took me to the drive-in as a young child for horror marathons. As a result, it runs in my veins. Every weekend, I begged her to take me to another movie. Since she loved the big screen, and I shared her love of horror, she was happy to take me. Others might say she should have been more selective about my viewings but truthfully, I’m glad she took me.
As I grew older, I began to read horror. I can remember hiding in my closet with one of my mother’s true crime magazines, soaking in every word. While they weren’t horror in the true sense of the word, they were close enough. They influenced me to the point that True Crime plays a major part in my horror novels. Then, when I finally got a library card, I moved on to horror books. Ahhhhhh, that was heaven.
And then I began to write, I was under eight when I wrote my first story. I’ve never looked back.
And so, horror writing is important to me because it has been always been a part of my life. No matter what was going on in my life, I could count on horror. It kept me distracted from reality. It kept me interested in every book, movie, magazine, etc. And as I matured, I began to realize that writing horror is no different than writing anything else. If it makes you feel an emotion, it’s a good thing.

5) Is the future of horror female?

I would say female horror writers will be entertaining readers long into the future. We bring a unique twist to the game and I think our characters tend to be more identifiable, as a whole. I think our stories are fresh and exciting. But I also think the horror world is big enough to be ruled by Kings and Queens. I’m the Queen of Scream. How about you?

About the Author:

I love to write horror thrillers with intense personal relationships between characters. I started reading earlier in life than most of my friends and spent many hours hidden in closets and under beds, sneaking in just another ten minutes of whatever book I was reading. As soon as I was old enough, my mother would send me to the library to pick up books for her. This delighted me because it opened up a whole new world of books not available in school. 
I read everything I could get my hands on but was drawn to sci-fi, horror and thrillers. As I matured, I would say my main influences became Stephen King, Dean Koontz and William Faulkner. My writing definitely reflects those influences. 
I can honestly say my twitter bio describes me to a T - Write, scare myself, turn all the lights on, write some more. Take a break, play pool, kick butt/get butt kicked, go write more horror, double lock door. 

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