If there’s one thing we all know about ghosts, it’s that physical contact has no effect on them. You can’t wave a ghost away, or shove them out of your house, while threating them with physical violence falls on deaf ears.
Well, unless you’re Shay from A. Lawrence’s Ghost Punch novels. She can punch them. And she will.
In the following email interview, Lawrence talks about this humorous cozy supernatural horror series, and its newest installment, Night Terrors (Kindle).
For people who didn’t read the first two books, Grim Reflection and That’s The Spirit, what is the Ghost Punch series about, and when and where are they set?
Ghost Punch is the story of a college dropout named Shay and her best friend, Max. They enjoy ghost hunting, until one Friday night Shay discovers that not only are ghosts very real, but she has the ability to touch them.
On top of that, someone has placed haunted mirrors around her town in preparation for something big.
Shay and Max team up with her annoying brother, his ghost hunter crush, an anxious witch, and an amnesiac ghost with a hole where his heart should be, in order to save her town and keep the ghost and living worlds separate.
And that’s just Grim Reflection. That’s The Spirit focuses on another ghost with very similar goals to the first, but he’s quite a bit worse.
But if Shay can touch ghosts, then she can punch them.
It takes place in a tiny (entirely made up) town in southeastern Idaho called Teton Falls in modern day. So we have century old ghosts and smartphones.
And then for people who have read those books, and thus can ignore me writing SPOILER ALERT, what happens in Night Terrors, and when and where does it take place in relation to the previous novel, That’s The Spirit?
Night Terrors takes place a few weeks after That’s The Spirit, with Shay still recovering from her encounter with Archibald at Holt Manor, and still having nightmares about it. But her nightmares end up being something much bigger: the demon Archibald tried to summon is loose in the world and amassing an army of ghosts, attempting to turn Teton Falls into its domain.
All while being followed by a death omen.
The death omen in question is a black dog. Is there a reason why you went with a dog instead of a cat or a crow, and then specifically a black dog as opposed to some other color mutt?
The black dog is based on folklore, such as the church grim, black schuck, or barghest, and is said to be a death omen or at least extremely malevolent. There are so many different tales about a ghostly black dog that I really wanted to include one in Ghost Punch. I had a lot of fun researching for it.
It sounds like Night Terrors is a supernatural thriller, or maybe a horror story, or maybe some combination of the two. How do you describe it, genre-wise, and why that way?
I would describe the Ghost Punch series as supernatural cozy horror with a side of comedy. It has a lot of elements of horror and a lot of high stakes, but in the end the characters are largely okay. I honestly set out to write a supernatural book and sort of tripped into the cozy horror genre when I started writing the first one, and just continued the trend.
And it’s pretty funny.
Speaking of which, why did you make these books comedic as opposed to taking the horror seriously?
Early on I gave Shay a terrible sense of humor (she loves bad puns) and it carried on through the rest of the series.
But to be honest, I also have a terrible sense of humor and the exchanges between Shay and her brother, Duncan, are some of my favorite parts to write.
Besides, the series is called Ghost Punch, it always had to be a little silly.
Night Terrors is obviously not your first book. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Night Terrors but not on anything else you’ve written, and especially not Grim Reflection and That’s The Spirit?
I honestly can’t remember anything specifically, but I do know that [Jonathan Stroud’s book series] Lockwood & Co. was a big influence on me when I started writing the books.
What about non-literary influences; was Night Terrors influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
The Lockwood & Co. TV show. Obviously, I’m a fan. Gravity Falls and The Owl House were big inspirations, too.
I know I did watch The Haunting Of Hill House while I was writing the series, so that probably influenced me quite a bit. I also did a bunch of folklore research for this one. I didn’t end up using a lot of it, but I had a great time with it.
As we’ve been discussing, Night Terrors is the third book in the Ghost Punch series after Grim Reflection and That’s The Spirit. But is Night Terrors the final book of a trilogy, the third book in a four or five book series, or just the third installment in an ongoing series…
It’s definitely not the last book. I have a fourth book I’m working on right now, called Heart Of The Matter, which I plan to release next year, which should wrap up the first part of the series, but I am hoping to do more. I have no idea how many I’ll write, to be honest, but I’m hoping to do at least one more series of 3-4 books.
So, is there anything else a prospective reader might need to know about Night Terrors and the Ghost Punch series?
If you like amnesiac well dressed ghosts, rat kings, funny sibling dynamics, bad puns, slow burn friends to lovers, and found family you are going to love Ghost Punch. It’s funny and spooky, with a fun cast of characters with great relationships.
Finally, if someone enjoys Night Terrors, and they’ve already read Grim Reflection and That’s The Spirit, what novel of someone else’s would you suggest they read while waiting for Heart Of The Matter to come out?
Obviously I’m going to suggest Lockwood & Co. by Jonathon Stroud. If you like spooky funny books, then you’re in for a treat.
