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Exclusive Interview: “Blind Devotion” Author Ty Drago

 

In the Systema Paradoxa series, various writers have told their own stories about “real life” cryptids, i.e. animals whose existence is unconfirmed by science. Y’know, Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, etc.

But in Ty Drago’s new Systema Paradoxa novella Blind Devotion (paperback, Kindle), he instead tells the fictionalized story of a “real life” interaction people had with a cryptid.

In the following email interview, Drago talks about why he took this approach to this sci-fi novella, as well as what else influenced this story.

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Exclusive Interview: “Mother’s Instinct” Author Sherri Cook Woosley

 

We all love dogs, and we all love watching videos of otters.

But a seven foot tall otter dog with a taste for human flesh…not something I’d want to see on TikTok. Or in my backyard.

In my new interview with author Sherri Cook Woosley about her urban fantasy / horror novella Mother’s Instinct (paperback, Kindle) — the latest installment of eSpec Book’s Systema Paradoxa series — she discusses why she decided to get up close and personal with the Dobhar-chu, the 7-foot-long, human eating, dog / otter hybrid from Irish folklore.

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Exclusive Interview: “Daylight Comes” Author John L. French

 

Two years after he kicked off eSpec Book’s Systema Paradoxa series — in which different writers pen novellas about different cryptids — writer John L. French is bringing his time with this series to a close with Daylight Comes (paperback, Kindle), his third and final contribution.

In the following email interview, he discusses how he picked the last cryptid to write about, as well as why it’s the final time he’ll be writing about these mysterious monsters.

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Exclusive Interview: “Crimson Whisper” Author Ken Schrader

 

In eSpec Books’ Systema Paradoxa series, writers tell stories about different cryptids that exist in myths and legends and maybe your backyard. But unlike some of them, the cryptids in Ken Schrader’s contribution, Crimson Whisper (paperback, Kindle), are not the monsters they might seem to be. I’ll let Schrader explain in the following email interview.

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Exclusive Interview: “Out For Blood” Author Jorie Rao

 

In eSpec Book’s Systema Paradoxa series, different writers have told stories about a wide variety of cryptids. But while I’ve interviewed many of these authors — including, but not limited to, Sean Patrick Hazlett, Mary Fan, and Keith R.A. DeCandido — few seem as tailor made for this series as writer Jorie Rao who admits that “Cryptids are a special interest of mine” in the following email interview about her urban fantasy novella Out For Blood (paperback, Kindle).

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Exclusive Interview: “Hell’s Well” Author Sean Patrick Hazlett

 

For the latest novella in their ongoing Systema Paradoxa series about cryptids, eSpec Books have enlisted author Sean Patrick Hazlett to write Hell’s Well (paperback, Kindle). Which, as you’ll quickly realize from reading the following email interview he and I did about this science fiction / borderline cosmic horror story, may have been a mistake…for him.

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Exclusive Interview: “Eyes Of The Wolf” Author Robert E. Waters

 

In eSpec Books’ Systema Paradoxa series, writers tell stories about cryptids, mysterious creatures like Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, and Mothman. But most cryptids don’t come with a backstory / origin story as intricate as El Cadejo, the one at the center of Robert E. Water’s Systema Paradoxa novella Eyes Of The Wolf (paperback, Kindle). In the following email interview, Waters discusses what influenced both this story and his decision to tell it with El Cadejo.

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Exclusive Interview: “Forget Me Not” Author Carol Gyzander

 

Like other writers who’ve penned novellas for eSpec Books’ Systema Paradoxa series, writer Carol Gyzander chose to make hers about the cryptid that lives near where she grew up. But as she explains in the following email interview, her book, Forget Me Not (paperback, Kindle), wasn’t just inspired by her local monster, but where it lives as well.

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Exclusive Interview: “Found Footage” Author Mary Fan

 

For the latest installment of their Systema Paradoxa series of novellas about cryptids, the good people of eSpec Books have enlisted Mary Fan…who used this opportunity to reminisce about her childhood. At least that’s the impression I got from the following email interview about her installment, Found Footage (paperback, Kindle).