Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Kevin Moore, whose novel The Book of Demons has its debut on October 11.
The Book of Demons is the sequel to your first book, The Book of Souls. Before we discuss the new book, can you tell us about your protagonist Jack Kelly and what happens to him in the first book?
We meet Jack as a forty something year old man with a wife and kids having a very happy, full life -- that is, until he gets a call from his wife that his son, Stevie is very sick. While in the hospital, supernatural events begin including the presence of shadow people that are trying to take Stevie. While Jack is trying to keep the shadows from getting his son, he suddenly wakes up in the hospital as his 13-year-old self-coming out of a coma caused by a near death experience. The doctors tell him his wife and children are a false memory caused by the brain injury. Jack discovers that the shadows and demons are after him and the ghost across the street seems to be waiting for him. He has to navigate the shadows, ghosts and doctors to find out whether or not his family is real or imagined.
Is it true that the idea for the two books was based on real events, and can you tell us about them? Who is Jack Kelly?
I am a lucid dreamer and in those dreams the shadow people came and were trying to take my son, Matthew. A few weeks later, Matthew ended up in intensive care fighting for his life. During our stay in the hospital, I was told by a nurse that one of the rooms we were staying in had a ghost!
Who is Jack? He’s just a kid who can communicate with the spirit world and ghosts. And some of them are not friendly.
How important was your own childhood and upbringing in Manhattan to creating Jack’s character?
Very! Manhattan, like most cities, has many ghosts and it is where I came of age. I attended Epiphany elementary school which is also where Jack first meets the ghost of Kasper Greenstreet. I grew up in the hustle and bustle of the same NYC as Jack. It is a great place to create an urban fantasy and the city is an amazing character.
The Book of Demons has been described as “Harry Potter meets The Exorcist”. What does that mean to you?
Jack, like Harry Potter, has extraordinary and powerful gifts and like Harry, Jack’s innocence and purity meet darkness and evil.
What can you tell us about lucid dreaming and the part it played in creating the book?
Two major scenes and a main character in The Book of Demons came right out of those dreams, including the scene in the basement and the book’s ending!
Why are dreams, particularly lucid dreams, important to you and what is the significance of this?
I have been fortunate to have many family members and friends who have passed on visit me in my dreams where I have had full conversations with them. For example, I’ve had multiple dreams where they have acknowledged that they knew they were dead but it was ok. One family member told me that she was not yet finished on this side. Another told me that he visits his family regularly but didn’t want them to know that he visited because he didn’t want to scare them.
Do you believe in the existence of ghosts and how has this affected the writing of The Book of Demons? What are ghosts?
The Book of Souls is about ghosts. The Book of Demons is about evil and power and the lengths people will go to get it and how badly they will wield that power.
What are ghosts? Mis-understood spirits.
Jack Kelly has various friends - and antagonists. What can you tell us about artist Kasper Greenstreet and his paintings?
Kasper was a marginal painter who took a chance and began painting mystical portraits and images of Pandora’s Box with people’s demons in them. He felt invisible in life - when he died, he found that invisibility was power!
Tell us about Mr Philips, the antagonist in The Book of Demons. Who is he and what is he after?
Mr Philips - did not always go by that name – before he was a shapeshifter, he was Seymore Hunter. He is after the Kasper Greenstreet painting with the moving shadows – he knows he can use them for nefarious things.
How do you dramatize the conflict between good and evil in the external world of the story but also within the characters themselves?
Mr Philips wants the painting for nefarious reasons. He knows his intentions are wicked, but power and getting what he wants is a drug. Jack wants to prevent him from getting the painting because he knows the power of the shadows in the painting and has seen the evil they can do.
What sort of readers will enjoy this book? How do you imagine your audience?
I’ve been attending book clubs as a guest author all around the country and have spoken with many readers in those clubs that have said this was not their typical genre. Those are the readers that I want. The readers who wouldn’t typically pick up a paranormal urban fantasy but take a chance and surprise themselves by really enjoying it. I also think this is a coming of age story where the main character is a teenager which is why I think that the YA audience would love these books.
How do you differentiate between spirituality and religion, and how far does this tension appear in the book?
Religion is man made and not always of God. Spirituality is the opening of one’s heart to a higher being, consciousness and loving your fellow man. The tension between these two is something that Jack must navigate throughout both books.
Why did you want to write a fictional account of the events you describe?
I let the characters lead the way.
Why does the fascination with Fantasy and the fight between good and evil continue to fascinate us?
I believe it is because life can be completely unfair, that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. We all want to believe that sometimes the good guy wins.
What is the particular power of stories of magic?
The definition of magic is “the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” Who doesn’t want the little girl from Kansas to be able to get rid of the Wicked Witch with just some water and pure intent?
What novels and other books do you enjoy reading?
I’m reading The Goldfinch right now. I love biographies, mysteries and non-fiction spiritual books. And of course, a good scary story.
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About Kevin Moore:
Kevin Moore is the author of The Book of Souls, a mystical ghost story, it is his first novel and the first book in the series featuring Jack Kelly and his paranormal abilities. The Book of Demons (think Harry Potter meets The Exorcist) is the sequel to The Book Of Souls. Moore also wrote Christmas Stories: 7 Original Short Stories which is available everywhere. His play Conversations From The Sports Arena was performed at the HBO Theater in Hollywood. He also had his first children's picture book Me and My Shadow released in 2021. Moore hopes to continue the Jack Kelly paranormal saga in a third book which he is currently working on. Moore practices Lucid Dreaming which has helped him with his writing. He is a Yogi and an Advanced Reiki Practitioner—most importantly he is Matthew and Madison's father. You can find out more about Kevin at his website: https://kevinmoorepublishing.com
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