I enjoyed letting my imagination run wild and to push the boundaries of what is considered middle-school literature. I went about as dark as I could and the kids who have read my books haven’t batted an eye. 

Allen Houston –  20 March 2014

The Back Flap

Vain Lily Blackwood and her shy brother Silas wonder if their family will ever settle in one place long enough to lead a normal life. When a mysterious stranger in a wolf-hide cloak arrives claiming to be their uncle, they discover their parents have been hiding a secret that turns their world upside down.

The two are kidnapped and transported to Nightfall Gardens, the family’s ancestral home, a place shrouded in fog and ancient mystery, where they meet their dying grandmother and learn of an age-old curse placed on Blackwood females.

Lily must take over as protector of the house and three haunted gardens that hold mythical beasts, fairy-tale nightmares and far worse. If she doesn’t, the evil trapped there will be unleashed and bring on a new dark age.

While she deals with malevolent ghosts, murderous dolls and killer insects inside the house, Silas is put to work in the gardens, a hothouse of terror, where one wrong step means death.

Along the way, they search to unlock the riddle of the curse and to stop the creatures in the gardens before time runs out and the world is destroyed.

About the book

What is the book about?

The Amazing Blackwood family travels from town to town playing third-rate theaters and never staying long enough to establish roots.

One night while performing, Lily Blackwood, 13, spots a man in a wolf-hide cloak with a scar on his cheek watching her.

The man turns out to be her Uncle Jonquil who she didn’t know existed. He kidnaps her to Nightfall Gardens, the Blackwood ancestral home. Her brother Silas stows away inside of a trunk so that he can protect her.

When they arrive at Nightfall Gardens, Lily meets her Grandmother Deiva, who is dying of a flesh rotting disease. Deiva tells Lily about a curse that was placed on the family and how when the last female in the family dies the creatures contained in the three gardens outside will be free to escape back into a world that has relegated them to fairytales. Lily is the last female Blackwood.

She must accept her duty and try to solve the riddle of the curse before the gardens fall and the world is destroyed, while Silas is sent outside to toil among the evils that exist there.

The three gardens contain every type of creature that has been imagined and many that I’ve made up. The White Garden contains everything related to death, while The Shadow Garden contains fairy tale nightmares and The Labyrinth contains the old gods and other mythological monsters.

Nightfall Manor, the house, grows and breaths, like a living presence and terror lurks in every room.

I set out to write the ultimate fantasy, horror series for pre-teens that didn’t dumb things down and was actually frightening.

When did you start writing the book?

I started writing shortly after my daughter was born. I had a dream about a young girl performing on stage at a rickety theater. There was a man in the front row with a ragged scar across his cheek who was watching her. He wore a wolf-hide cloak. The image stayed with me when I woke up and I began to write.

How long did it take you to write it?

The book took me six months to write and another three to prepare for publication.

Where did you get the idea from?

Ideas can come from anywhere. Dreams are a good one. Snippets of conversation overheard on the subway. I played the “what if” game with my father a lot when I was a kid. I remember asking him once, “What if a werewolf jumped out of the woods while we were walking home?” He responded, “We would run like hell.” He was right on that.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

Honestly, the book came to me as if it were beamed from a place where “Nightfall Gardens” really exists. That was one of the first times that has happened with my writing. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t tons of editing that took place after I finished the first draft.

What came easily?

I enjoyed letting my imagination run wild and to push the boundaries of what is considered middle-school literature. I went about as dark as I could and the kids who have read my books haven’t batted an eye. There are just as many adults reading them as well, which is great. While the book has two young protagonists, I wrote it for adults as well.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

A little of both. The Blackwood family has very real world dynamics. Lily and Silas, the brother and sister, get on each other’s nerves but in the end would do anything for one other. The adults in the books have bleak back stories. Many of them have been maligned by the real world but still want to help save the people there.

Part of the joy for me was imbuing the fantastical characters such as Polly, the slug housekeeper, or Ozi, a mummified butler, with as much humanity and back story as the humans.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

I’ve been a tremendous reader my whole life. I’m not a snob. I’ll devour anything from pulp fiction to “literary fiction.” This book pulls in a little of everything, but in particular I wanted to give a tip of the hat to books of my youth like Treasure Island, Great Expectations, Sherlock Holmes and The Portrait of Dorian Gray” There was something about that Gothic era of fiction that drew me in and excited me as a teenager. I also watched a lot of horror movies back then and that is in there as well.

Do you have a target reader?

Nope. I’ve had 8-year-old kids and 65-year-olds read the books and both send me emails telling me why they liked the series.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

I write every day but alternate the hours when I write. Sometimes I wake up at 5 a.m. and write until 7 a.m. and other times I write from 10 a.m. until noon. It all depends on the mood of my 2-year-old daughter. I don’t work until noon, which frees up mornings when I write best. The most important thing I’ve learned is to write every day and stick as close to that schedule as you can. Sure there will be times where you can’t plant your butt in the seat and that’s fine, but do your best and stick to your schedule. The writing comes more easily if I just stay on track.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

Nope. I free hand.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I start each writing session by editing the work from the day before. I’ve found out that makes the final editing process go faster.

Did you hire a professional editor?

I do. I’m one of those people that won’t put a book out until it’s ready. It goes through a dozen or so initial readers and then comes back to me for another pass. After that I send it to the editor that I’m working with and he gives it a good comb-over, asking the hard questions and helping me clean it up further. I probably do another two or three drafts after that before it gets ready to be published.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

I find that I concentrate better with no music, but there was definitely a lot of music listened to while I was thinking about the series. There was mainly a lot of Cure, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Bauhaus, and a lot of Goth music that painted the background for the story I was trying to write.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

No.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

I mulled it over quite a bit. I was sure that Nightfall Gardens COULD be published by a big publishing company, but the question was, to what end?

I know several published authors here in New York City. I’m drinking friends with them. I hear the complaints about how there was no marketing muscle put into their books or that once their book was in print they felt abandoned.

The deciding factor was talking with my wife’s cousins, Jody and Jayme Morse, they’ve self-published several series including Howl. They make a comfortable living at what they do and publish when they want and are only beholden to themselves and their readers.

When I told them I was mulling over self-publishing, but wasn’t sure. They told me I was thinking of it, “the old way.” Right now, you don’t need to go through a publishing company to reach your fans.

I’ve worked in newspapers for the last 10 years. There is no industry I can think of going through greater upheaval. In a lot of ways, I see the same thing happening in publishing.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t consider a more mainstream approach or that I’m maligning publishing companies. Having worked in media, I know how hard we all work and the belief that we have in what we do. But I didn’t want to give away the rights to Nightfall Gardens unless it was under terms I thought were fair. I care too much about the books.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

I was lucky to have Tony Roberts (blackmindseye.org) illustrate my covers. Tony has a fantastic style. He illustrates everything from heavy metal album covers to Edgar Allan Poe stories. He had the perfect creepy look for the series.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

Like most indie authors I have a small budget, but I’ve done some Facebook ads and have sent a bunch of copies out to reviewers. Viral marketing is still the best word of mouth.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Don’t expect “gold in them their hills” right off the bat. It’s a slow process to build your fan base and get the word out. Nightfall Gardens is still garnering new reviews from book bloggers almost a year after it came out.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Bixby, Oklahoma, just south of Tulsa.

Where do you live now?

I live in New York City.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer since I can remember, but I was a little late to the party. I didn’t publish Nightfall Gardens until I was 40. I spent much of my 20’s and 30’s traveling and moving around the country. I lived in Tokyo, Japan and on Java in Indonesia. In the states I moved from San Francisco to New York City to Dallas and back to New York City again. The whole time I was jotting down notes and I wrote three novels that have yet to see the light of day. When my wife became pregnant I decided it was time to get serious. With Nightfall Gardens I started writing and didn’t stop. The moral is don’t feel discouraged if you’ve been too busy living and gathering experience rather than writing, all of those things will ultimately be useful in your writing.

What are you working on now?

I’m finishing The Labyrinth the last book in the Nightfall Gardens trilogy. That book has taken on epic proportions at this point. I’ve been working on it since the summer of 2013 and am just now starting to see the clearing through the trees. I’m really enjoying myself and am pleased that the first Nightfall Gardens and the second book, The Shadow Garden” are starting to gain traction with readers.

I’m also writing the first novel in a fantasy series for adults, which is not what I’d planned on working on next, but, the idea started taking over the other project I was planning. I work on it every day as I commute back and forth to work on the subway.

End of Interview:

For more, visit Allen’s website,  like his facebook page, or follow him on twitter.

Get your copy of Nightfall Gardens from Amazon US (paper or ebook) or Amazon UK (paper or ebook).