I write novels, so I should be accustomed to writing those scary moments that keep the readers on the edge of their seats. But imagine how I felt when I found myself spooked during the middle of the night the other week.

It was during the early hours of the morning when I heard sharp, high pitched scream from outside my bedroom window. My eyes snapped open and I suddenly realized my room was flooded with bright, white light from the motion sensor lights outside. Normally they just flick on and off after a few seconds, but this particular evening they stayed on for at least ten minutes. I could feel my heart begin to pound in my chest. Then my creative mind went into overdrive. Was there something actually in the room? Was there someone in the house? Was there an intruder outside?

I quickly checked on my yellow lab, Lily, who sleeps on her own comfy bed at the foot of mine. When I glanced over, I saw that she was snoring peacefully. How could she have not heard that ear piercing scream?  I looked for Kitty, my feral cat. He wasn’t in his usual place lying next to her. Instead he was silhouetted against the windows, his body stiff as a board. I knew then something was amiss. I called his name quietly, but his eyes stayed firmly fixed between the wooden slats looking downwards, to the outside.

I padded across the room and picked him up gently. At first he was resistant to be drawn away from the window. But I wrapped him in my arms and took him back to bed with me. I stroked him, hoping to calm both our nerves, wishing I could hear his gentle purr, but his body language told me something else. He was still on high alert as his ears flicked back and forth almost as if he could hear something else. I took a long, deep breath then listened for other sounds from around the house. But nothing.

Finally, the motion sensor’s switched off. Left in the dark I switched on my side lamp. It cast warm glow around the room which I found remarkably soothing. But what was that sound I heard? And what was Kitty so frightened of?

I tucked the bedsheets round me then reached for my ipad. My finger tapped the security camera program and within minutes I was able to bring up the visuals on the screen. I saw nothing unusual as I flicked through the different camera views. Then I played them back and waited.

The area I concentrated on first was just outside my room. For a few moments it was in complete darkness…then suddenly a flash of bright white light. And there was the culprit! A large coyote. Long ears, thin face, long snout and a very bushy tail.

It trotted into view…but it was not alone. It was followed by a second…and then a third. I watched mesmerized as they dashed around, playing and jumping over each other. Then they stopped. Their ears pricked up, they raised their noses, catching any scent in the air and ran off.

Relief, I finally felt relief knowing what was going on. What had started off as scary, now turned into a mission filled with curiosity.

I checked the rest of the cameras, and sure enough I was able to track the pack.

They came from the depths of the back garden. Cautiously at first, until they reached the open grassy lawn, they zoomed around at high speed almost as if they were playing “catch.” They stopped only occasionally to sniff at the grass and my flowers, and then to mark their territory. But this wasn’t their territory, this was mine, Lily’s and Kitty’s.

I continued to watch as one sniffed at the side gate and then my garden tools. It looked up at the camera, its eyes glinting, then it crouched down and slid under the wrought iron gate. The motion sensor lit up and I watched the rest follow down the side of the house.

The rest sped back to the driveway, an open area, to continue playing. One hopped up on to the wall. Alert, he padded along the wall then hopped off again.

I continued to watch them for a while until they disappeared into the dark night.

Thankfully there had really been nothing to be scared about at all. It had been a revelation of sorts, a chance to observe a pack of coyotes, investigating and having fun.

When I felt sleepiness overwhelm me, I snuggled back under the covers, this time with Kitty who was purring in my arms.

Since having watched the pack of coyotes play around my home and my garden, it brings home a certain truth; that we are never too far away from the wilds of nature and the nocturnal animals that come with that.

However, now I’m a little more cautious when I let Lily outside at night. I make sure I’m armed with pepper spray, a bright flashlight, and I make sure I’m never two feet away from Lily.

Kitty, the feral loves his outdoor lifestyle during the day, but I make sure he sleeps with me during the night.
 

And here are the actual photos of my Gatekeeper!

Well it seems you can, on eBay.
eBay is where the world goes to shop … and some of the items it sells are out of this world.
Research is the fun part of writing and it can be divided quite neatly into two parts: practical, on the ground research and online noodling. Without a doubt, today’s writers are spoiled with access to the entire world. There are so many interesting sites with a wealth of information. However there is a caveat, and I’m sure all writers have come across this at some time: research can inevitably take you down unintended paths. For instance, whilst I was working on my last novel Mirror Image, and researching various aspects of the paranormal, I often ended up on some odd and wonderful sites. But one of the biggest surprises I discovered was on one of the largest and most popular sites on the internet: eBay. Alongside the clothes and watches, shoes and bags, crafts and tchotchkes, people were actually selling and buying  paranormal items.

I quickly typed in Haunted Objects. First up was an Effanbee doll called “Blythe.” (A haunted doll – and writers love haunted dolls!) I discovered that Blythe is a gentle spirit who winks and constantly opens and closes her eyes. The current owner has communicated with her through dreams.  Having read the complete history behind Blythe I’ll admit, I was tempted, but just before I hit the Make Offer button, I decided to see what else eBay had to offer.  Check out Blythe here.

I then typed in the words “Haunted Dolls.” Up scrolled a fabulous listing ranging anywhere from haunted clown dolls to dolls acting as spirit vessels holding good or even evil spirits.  (Note to self: avoid, because if a lifetime of reading, writing and researching into the occult has taught me anything, it is that odd things lurk in the shadows.) There was Jessica, Emily, Evelyn, Miranda, Blaze, Arlene, Lisa, Angelica, Rose … and, lest you think only female dolls are haunted, there were were also a couple of male offerings.  There is Paul who apparently likes to make his presence known;  Henry, who is a little shy at first but seems to become much more active when he knows he’s at home. I was relieved not to have discovered a haunted Barbie or Ken somewhere in the collection!

Next I moved on to Haunted Jewelry, and was presented with a list of rings, pendants, brooches, necklaces, earrings and more.

Some of the rings were Wiccan which had been infused with magical powers by a Wiccan High Priestesses and her coven. For those of you who may not know, Wicca was developed in England.  This modern day witchcraft dates back to mid 20th Century and is a craft which promotes a peaceful, harmonious and balanced way of life. The roots of Wicca disappear into the mists of history and myth, but it was Gerald Gardner, a British Civil Servant, who revived the religious belief in the 1950’s after the British Government repealed the anti-witchcraft laws. It is now the fastest growing religion in America.

Also on eBay are Voodoo rings. One in particular caught my eye. Handmade and forged by a blacksmith in New Orleans, this unique, one of a kind piece is supposed to be haunted by the spirit of the Voodoo Spirit is was originally crafted for. It is fashioned into a skull with two large teeth which protrude from the base. Apparently the teeth were used to make incisions in the skin for blood rituals. Surprisingly, there are currently no offers. Check it out here.

There were also haunted Djinn rings. Djinn are more commonly known as a genie and the spirits can be good, bad or neutrally benevolent. Renowned author, Graham Masterton, wrote a novel called “The Djinn” in 1977 which went on to become one of his most popular novels. I have read it and it is one of those books that you’ll find yourself reading again and again.

However, I think my best haunted find of the day had to be the Antique Wood Dibbuk Box with the caption Spirit-Buyer Beware! Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is currently priced at $666, and there are 10 buyers keenly watching.  It comes from a very old home in Laurel Canyon, CA. Apparently, the box and its contents has an overwhelming energy and when a medium was called in to do a session on the Dibbuk box, she repeatedly got the messages Very Evil, Beware!
Read more about it here: and this is one of those items where the phrase “buyer beware” really does apply.

I’m always on the lookout for beautiful mirrors and naturally, could not resist the temptation to research Haunted Mirrors.  There is surprisingly little available online, but I did come across this beauty: Antique Empire Era Mercury Wall Mirror Mahogany Wood Frame. I was disappointed to find no history behind the curious object, though there are a lot of photos. And with the current asking price of $2,296 I’d certainly like to know I’m getting something truly haunted.

Of course the mirror in the novel Mirror Image is real. The mirror belonged to Dr. John Dee, a 16th century alchemist, mathematician, geographer, astronomer and astrologer. Dee used his scrying mirror to summon spirits. You can read about him and his mirror on The Truth Behind The Mirror.

So for all you budding ghost enthusiasts looking for the weird and wonderful do check out eBay. However, BEWARE, you will find yourself lost in the selection for hours on end … perhaps never to be seen again.

If you have a haunted object in your home I’d love to hear about it. Find me on twitter @melanieruthrose and let me know about the object.

The horror or fantasy novel which influenced me the most? I grew up in England in the 70’s – when some of the great fantasy and horror novels first appeared. As a teenager, I remember trying to read Stephen King’s The Stand.  (But it was just TOO big, with so many characters, and I think I got lost and gave up.) Stephen King was big in college, so I know I read copies of The Shining and Salem’s Lot, which were passed around. A lot of my friends loved Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, but it was just too studied, too clinical to be really scary. And also, these were all American novels, set in America, so that made them a little more distant and, somehow, a lot less scary.
And then, I stumbled across James Herbert’s The Rats. This is the book which genuinely terrified me, it turned me into a lifelong fan and an avid reader.
The premise of The Rats is very simple: mutated giant rats attack London.
I was born and raised in London, England, so I was easily able to identify with the locations in the cities East End, which made reading the book all the more real. The thought of mutated, diseased rats invading the city was incredibly scary.The moment I saw the cover of a huge black rat leering out of the picture, with crazed eyes and huge incisors, I knew I had to have it.
There’s a true saying in Britain “In the City of London you are never more than five feet away from a rat.” That, in itself, should run a chill up your spine, let alone reading a novel that’s infested with oversized Rattus rattus!
I think I must have been around fourteen years old when I first picked up the book at W.H. Smith in Gatwick Airport, England. The moment I saw the cover of a huge black rat leering out of the picture, with crazed eyes and huge incisors, I knew I had to have it.
We were on our way for a two week family vacation and my mother, always excited to see me read, had given me money to buy any book I wanted. When she asked what book I had purchased, I told her it was a novel by James Herbert. Given the title, Rats and the author, Herbert, she assumed I’d bought a novel by the well-known English author and veterinarian, James Herriot, whose series of humorous and gentle novels were set in the idyllic countryside of Yorkshire. If there were rats in James Herriot’s novels, they were the fluffy, gentle type, who nibbled on a slice of apple; James Herbert’s rats gnawed on your face!
I never let on to my mother that I was reading horror.
The Rats was so very cleverly crafted. They were intense, graphic descriptions of death, mutilation and a little erotica thrown in for good measure: what more does a teenager want?
At sixteen and just about to end the school term, we had just finished our GCSE ‘O’ levels exams (American Diploma) and had a free reading period. I brought my much beloved, battered and well-thumbed copy to college with me. I was already half way through the book when my teacher asked me what I was reading. Clearly it was a mistake to show her the cover. I watched her read the opening paragraphs, saw her eyes widen and knew I was in trouble.  Deemed as inappropriate, my beloved copy was confiscated! Two days later, I bought another copy.
Over the years I’ve devoured all of James Herbert’s novels and it’s interesting to see how his writing evolved and matured.  Although he never lost his visceral punch, he shifted into more psychological and scary stories, but decades later I still return to his first book and the two sequels, Lair and Domain.  I’ve lost count on how many times I have read them.
James Herbert had a wonderfully unique and straightforward style.  He had worked for an advertising agency and I am sure that honed his ability to get his message across and tell the story without any long exposition.  Here were characters you could completely relate to and Herbert always left you wanting to turn the page. Because the writing in The Rats was so straightforward and clear, it sparked that thought which every aspiring writer recognizes: I could do that.  That’s how we all start.  Kudos to James Herbert who certainly encouraged my passion for writing horror.
For me, that is the greatest compliment one could ever give any author.
And, just for the record: The Rats was rejected by five publishers before it finally found a home. It sold 100,000 copies in three weeks – and these were the days long before social media.
Would I ever consider having a rat as a pet? Yes, absolutely, just a long as they are not the variety, size and crazed as depicted in the novel The Rats.
Sadly, James Herbert, OBE died 2013 aged 69.  He had just published his 23rd novel, Ash. I have it here on the shelf above my desk.

It’s said that the books we read in our formative years are the books which shape our reading habits for the rest of our lives.  Over the years I’ve met so many science fiction, fantasy and horror writers who can point – without hesitation – to that one book they read as a child or young adult which set them on a lifelong journey. 
And that’s how it was with me.  I’ve written elsewhere about how I came to horror through James Herbert’s The Rats, and I’ve lost count now just how many horror novels I’ve read over the years.  Horror is a universal genre and I am sure our ancient ancestors huddled in their caves, told one another stories about the monsters which lurked in the darkness outside.  (Of course, in their case, they actually did!) 
Defining my top ten horror novels wasn’t an easy task.  In the end, I narrowed it down to how many times I read and reread the titles. 
So here are my top 10 horror novels. 
Find me on twitter @melanieruthrose and let me know your number one.  I’ll create a new list of fan favorites.

My top 10 list of horror movies are real classics in their genre.  A couple of them are based on true stories – because truth is always far stranger than fiction!
Some of these movies were so successful and popular that they were remade, to greater or lesser success.
So here are my top 10 of scary classics.

TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery. Your new novel Mirror Image was published on August 23rd by Tor Books and is the first time you two collaborated. Michael, please tell us something about Melanie. And Melanie, please tell us something about Michael.

Melanie:
Finding the right collaborator is the key to success and I was very fortunate to find that working with Michael. He is incredibly well read and his knowledge on mythology and history is endless.

When we began writing Mirror Image we had to overcome a few obstacles. Michael resides in Ireland whereas I live in Los Angeles so there is the eight hour time difference to contend with. Thought as time went by we managed to make that work to our advantage. I could write a piece, send it to him and by the time I got up the following morning, an edited version would be waiting for me. Having not just one, but several modes of communication was essential. I was certainly familiar with Skype, but he introduced me to WhatsApp and Facetime, Google Voice and Slack. And then there was Dropbox! Before meeting and working with Michael, I was used to writing on my own and backing up to a local hard drive. Now I backed up to a Dropbox folder. (It’s always a slightly odd experience to watch your dropbox update and suddenly find a new document waiting for you on your hard disk.)

As we worked together, I found I learned several incredibly important writing lessons from Michael Scott: patience, how to plot a story and, I think, how to be a better writer. What more could I have wished for?

Michael:
Here’s what you don’t see when you look at Melanie’s author photo: you don’t see this five foot six bundle of creative energy who looks more or less as she did when she was dancing in musicals on the West End of London. You don’t hear the cut glass British accent which eighteen years of living in LA have not softened. You also don’t realize that she is an extraordinary artist, photographer and an interior designer to some of Hollywood’s top stars.

I have collaborated with writers before. Every experience is different. Ideally you want a collaborator who understands the genre. Melanie has been reading horror since she first discovered James Herbert’s The Rats and she is a huge aficionado of horror movies – especially the bad ones! So, what she brought to the Mirror Image collaboration was not only her incredible creative energy and boundless (and sometimes exhausting) enthusiasm, but also a great knowledge of the horror landscape.

TQ:  What has influenced / influences your writing?

Melanie:
Reading most definitely, along with circumstances in life; personalities/characters I’ve met, places I’ve visited. I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot throughout my life and I still draw on those experiences when I write.

When writing Mirror Image I visited London for a week. It’s changed a lot since I was last there over fifteen years or so ago, but what hasn’t changed are the smells and the appalling weather! It was those memories that added the genuine layers to Mirror Image.

I currently live in Los Angeles so researching Jonathan Frazer’s home in the Hollywood Hills, his store in Beverly Hills the other locations in Mirror Image came quite easily. These are areas that I know well, and was familiar with. It is that familiarity that’s lends itself to authenticity.

Michael:
The short answer is everything influences your writing. Indeed, we live in a world now which is catching up on a lot of horror tropes and that is already changing the nature of the work. What was once fantasy and unimaginable is slowly becoming true and truth is always stranger than fiction.

But I tend to look back for my inspiration, rather than forward. My primary interest is in myth and legend. These stories are universal and filled with some of the most terrifying creatures ever to haunt the human imagination, and I am constantly finding creatures, monsters, beasts, heroes and villains who have not been overused in movies or TV. Although Mirror Image is fiction, it is built on a solid core of truth: there really is a haunted mirror and all of the historical characters mentioned in the book, like Dee and Kelley, lived.

Travel is also an incredibly important part of broadening your writer’s world. Yes, you can read about a place, or drop down in Google Earth, but to really understand a place – the sounds, the smells, the atmosphere – you have go there and be there. As part of the research for Mirror Image, for example, Melanie spent a week visiting the auction houses in London, soaking up the atmosphere (and thankfully, not buying too much!) But that scene in the book is only a couple of pages. All of the LA locations – Frazer’s antique store, his home - also really exist. I spent a month mapping out the lead characters - Frazier, Harren and Talbott’s – LA. Grounding your writing in a reality, especially fantasy or horror writing, gives it an extra layer of authenticity.


TQ:  Describe Mirror Image in 140 characters or less.
An ancient 7ft tall mirror: spill blood on it and you will see the Image within. Spill enough and she will come out. And she’s hungry. (this is 136 characters)

TQ:  Tell us something about Mirror Image that is not found in the book description.
Not mentioned in the book description, but added into the author’s note, is the fact that the Dr John Dee, the 16th alchemist, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, who once owned the mirror, was a real man. He has always existed right at the very edge of European history and yet, played an extraordinarily important role during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was so important to the young princess that he actually chose the date for her coronation. We also have a report that she visited his house in Mortlake to view his famous “shew stone” - the magical mirror, but was so terrified by what she glimpsed in the glass that she actually refused to entered the house.

TQ:  What inspired you to write Mirror Image? What appeals to you about writing horror?
So I’ll answer the easy question first: the inspiration behind Mirror Image.

Mirrors and reflections have always held a special place in legend and they wander in and out of fairy tales the world over and of course the vampire legend is now inextricably tied into mirror lore. The truth behind the inspiration to Mirror Image was far more mundane. Many years ago, I was having lunch in a rather grand restaurant in Dublin. On the back wall was a huge antique mirror, speckled with age, and wrapped around with an appallingly hideous gilt frame. However, as I walked past that mirror, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection - twisted, broken, distorted and monstrous - in the warped glass. I returned to my table and scribbled out the original idea on a napkin. (This was in the days before mobile phones. Nowadays, I would use the writer’s best friend, the phone’s camera, to grab a quick image.) I still have the napkin! However with the single idea of a monster in the glass, the idea of a haunted mirror which held the trapped souls of everything that had been reflected in the glass, was born. Then, I began research to see if there were mythological parallels and that research, in time, led me to Dee and his shew stone and, ultimately, to the real haunted mirror which is at the core of Mirror Image.

The appeal of writing horror? It is so much fun. I think the earliest horror stories were told by our ancestors in caves, listening to the creatures of the night howling and prowling outside. Humans like to be scared in a controlled way. There are so many shades of horror, from scary to outright gory, from psychological to actual monsters. Although horror as a genre gets a very bad press, some of our classic literature is straight up horror: Frankenstein, Dracula, Carmilla, even Alice in Wonderland.

Horror pushes the boundaries of what you can and cannot write to make it believable. Who could resist that?

TQ:  In Mirror Image who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?
Secondary characters are often the easiest to write. The usually have a single role, whereas the heroes and villains can shift and slide and fulfill multiples functions in the novel.

One of the more straightforward characters in Mirror Image is Celia Frazer, Jonathan’s Frazer’s wife. On the surface she appears to have everything; wealth, a devoted husband, a beautiful daughter and a spectacular home. On the surface, everything looks rosy, but we realize that she is spending a lot of time away from her husband and has a number of lovers. This is a woman we understand; we have seen her a hundred times, not only in real life, but on the screen and in novels. So, while it is challenging to make her dislikable and yet sympathetic, she is fairly easy to write.

The hardest was Jonathan Frazer. His character starts off being an average, normal human. Boring, ordinary, with a wife who has little interest in him, he’s focused on his work, not only as an escape, but as a way of funding her lifestyle. And then he buys the mirror and everything changes. As he becomes more corrupted by it, his character begins to change. He makes terrible decisions but for all the right reasons. Creating and building that kind of psychotic fractured personality, then keeping it balanced and real around the other characters in the novel was a challenge.

TQ:  Which question about Mirror Image do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Q. You said the mirror in Mirror Image is real. If you had a chance to look into the glass, would you?

A. And because there are two authors, we can give you two answers:

Melanie – Absolutely! Writers are curious. I don’t think any writer would bypass the chance to look into it.

Michael – Under no circumstances! I know the story of the glass. I know what happens when you look into it. Remember what Nietzsche said: And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.”


TQ:  Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Mirror Image.

• “It had felt these before, but these sensations were stronger, much stronger now. This was no animal. This was a human. A human soul in mortal agony.”
• One death was messy, but two – and obviously connected – meant piles of paperwork. And she hadn’t joined the police force to be a secretary.
• He was doomed never to look upon his own reflection, never to allow himself to be aware of his own image in a mirror.
• One by one, the dogs of Los Angeles began to howl, until the entire city echoed to what sounded like the cries of the damned.
• Feed me. Free me.

TQ:  What's next?
Jointly, we’re completing the sequel to Mirror Image, which picks up the story a few months later. We’re arguing about the title right now. There’s been a lot of movie interest around the novel, (horror never goes out of fashion), and we’ve been approached to write the script, so that might be the next project.

Separately, Melanie has just completed the first novel in her new trilogy and the script for the television series. Michael is deep into a new young adult series

Authors Michael Scott and Melanie Ruth Rose applied the Page 69 Test to Mirror Image, their first collaboration with each other, and reported the following:

Mirror Image is a horror novel about a seven foot tall, four foot wide slab of polished glass. When blood is spilled on the glass, images and scenes which have been reflected in the mirror over its long existence are revealed. So too is the figure which is trapped within, a creature which, in the grand tradition of all horror novels, wants out!

However – none of this appears on page 69!

At this stage in the novel, all of the main players are coming together, and this entire chapter – Chapter Fourteen – gives us the backstory to one of the novel’s great tragic characters: Edmund Talbott. When we first meet him, we are presented with a huge hulking figure, his face crisscrossed with countless scars. He looks, and acts, like the villain of the piece. And, make no mistake, he is not a particularly nice man, but on page 69, we discover how and why he ended up so horribly disfigured and suddenly his actions should start to make sense.

Like several of the characters in the novel, Talbott is based on a real historical character. His namesake and ancestor was one of the many owners of the glass and as the novel progresses, that story is slowly revealed until, ultimately, we discover the genesis of the mirror.

A version of the mirror actually exists. The real mirror weaves in and out of myth and legend for centuries. It was owned by some of the most extraordinary men and women in history, many of whom reported seeing or hearing remarkably things in the glass. Even to this day its face is kept perpetually covered behind a thick black cloth.

--Marshal Zeringue