About the book:
When Cassie buys an antique compact, little does she know it can foretell the future--her future. Marjorie, a Florida girl unwillingly transplanted to Vermont, learns there's more to fear from the alien snowfall than just the cold. Neil Dallas's jagged descent from rock and roll singer to drug-addicted has-been is unstoppable . . . or is it?Travel deep into unknown territory, where life and death are not as they seem; where you have to be careful what you ask for, because you might get it. These stories will take you beyond the realm of the solid and real, into the deepest, darkest corner of your imagination. Don't forget to bring your flashlight . . .
Interview with Elizabeth
Elizabeth how did you come up with the title The Midnight Zone? The stories in the collection have a “Twilight Zone” quality to them, so I wanted to evoke that kind of spooky mystery and chose “The Midnight Zone.”
Do you have another job outside of writing?
I also teach writing courses online at Writer’s Digest University.
Do you outline, write by the seat of your pants, or let your characters tell you what to write?
Definitely, I’m an outliner. I feel lost without some idea of where the story is going. An outline is like a backup, there if you need it.
What books have you read more than once or want to read again?
Two favorite books I’ve read more than a dozen times are Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, and The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas.
What’s your favorite line from a book?
“The birds had awakened her early. She was not yet used to their flutterings and twitterings, Spring having arrived and unpacked before February’s lease was up.” From The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas.
When you start a new book, do you know what the entire cast will be?
I know the major characters, at least. Sometimes a minor character makes a surprise appearance.
Probably Lottie Baldwin from Fatal Fortune. She’s brave and brash and isn’t afraid to be different.
With which of your characters would you most like to be stuck on a deserted island?
Probably Harlan Erikson from Fatal Fortune. He’d figure out how to get us rescued!
What song would you pick to go with your book?
The Twilight Zone theme, definitely.
How do you handle criticism of your work?
I cry, I pout, I eat lots of chocolate. After a while, I get over it and move on. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.
Tell us one weird thing, one nice thing, and one fact about where you live.
Weird: “The Old Man in the Mountain,” the symbol of New Hampshire, fell down and was destroyed not long before we moved here.
Nice: New Hampshire has gorgeous fall foliage.
Fact: New Hampshire has a higher percentage of wooded land than any other state.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Read, knit, watch movies, play on my Kindle.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
On our little piece of land in the White Mountains, where we intend to build and live someday.
If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Egypt, definitely, to see all the temples, tombs, and museums.
What are you working on now?
The sequel to Fatal Fortune, called Perilous Prediction.
Excerpt from Mirror, Mirror in The Midnight Zone
Cassie opened her compact and peered into the round mirror. Her nose looked a little shiny. As she reached for the powder puff, a movement in the mirror caught her eye. She saw the waiter bringing a drink to the woman at the table in back of her. Served in a pineapple, it had two gaudy red paper parasols and a large pink straw sticking out of the top. Cassie watched, amused, the puff arrested in its journey to her nose.Suddenly, the waiter tripped. The pineapple slid down the length of the steeply-tilting tray to land, upside-down, in the woman’s lap.
“Oh!” Cassie gasped.
“What?” Laura asked.
“Did you see the waiter spill a drink all over that poor woman?”
Laura twisted in her chair. “No. Where?”
“Right behind me.” Cassie turned around. The table was empty. “I guess she already left. Maybe she went to the ladies’ room to clean up.”
“I didn’t see any woman at that table,” Laura said. “Are you sure?”
“I saw it in my mirror.” Cassie held up her compact.
“Ooh, let me see!” Laura reached for it. “This is lovely! Where did you get it?”
“I found it last week in an antique store on the Cape,” Cassie said. “It was a funny little shop, full of all sorts of peculiar things. I liked the compact so much that I went back the next day to look for another one; but I couldn’t find the place again.” She shrugged.
Laura rubbed her fingers over the engraved gold case, then opened it. “Here’s your problem. This old mirror is so cloudy, it’s no wonder you’re seeing things.” She snapped it shut and handed it back.
“Here comes our lunch.” Laura pointed to a waiter carrying a full tray. Diverted, Cassie forgot all about what she’d seen in the mirror.
An hour later, the two friends finished their meal. On her way out, absorbed in paying the check, Cassie didn’t notice a waiter spilling an entire pineapple full of liquor on a woman who had just been seated.
About the author:
Elizabeth is a multi-published, award-winning author of romance, mystery and suspense. Her time-travel romance set in ancient Egypt, Lady of the Two Lands, won a Bloody Dagger Award and was a Golden Rose Award nominee. Her romantic suspense novel, Since All is Passing, was an EPPIE Award finalist and Bloody Dagger Award finalist. Her paranormal mystery, Fatal Fortune, was a Word Museum Reviewer’s Choice Masterpiece. Elizabeth is also an instructor for Writer’s Digest University. She is currently at work on Deadly Destiny and Perilous Prediction, the sequels to Fatal Fortune, and Knit A Spell, a paranormal romance. Elizabeth lives in New Hampshire with her husband and feisty parakeet. She invites her readers to check out her website.
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