An avid reader of suspense, paranormal, and true crime, Stacy’s first novel, INTO THE DARK, will be released from MuseItUp Publishing in November. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her precocious six-year-old daughter, her supportive husband, and the family’s three obnoxious dogs. For more true crime and paranormal posts, check out Stacy’s Thriller Thursday feature on her blog.

Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

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Some of you may know about the storm drains of Las Vegas–an underground labyrinth of dark, dank flood channels doubling as housing for the city’s homeless population. The infamous tunnels play an important role in my debut novel INTO THE DARK. While the Vegas drains are terrifying, there are no scarier–or more fascinating–tunnels than the Catacombs of Paris. Spanning more than 180 miles, the catacombs date back to the twelfth century and are literally filled with the dead.

18^th Century Paris was at the heart of the enlightenment, but it was also filthy and overrun with disease. Imagine a bustling culture of the world’s greatest thinkers and artists walking amid garbage, open sewers, and overflowing cemeteries. One of the most affected areas was the Les Halles district, particularly the Saints Innocents Cemetery, known as Les Innocents (the same one Anne Rice used in The Vampire Lestat). Used for nearly ten centuries, improper burial techniques in Les Innocents led to contamination of Les Halles’s ground water and surrounding land.

Victims of the black plaque, epidemics, starvations, of all the wars since the Middle Ages rest in the city’s 200 cemeteries, piled up on several levels in the mass graves of the churches. Every day, new cadavers join the previous ones. Paris is flooded by the dead, the odor is unbearable. — The Paris Catacombs

Paris’s dead were pushing out the living, and officials made a bold decision. Paris is built over large gypsum and limestone quarries mined in the 12^th century. Notre Dame and the Louvre are just two of the famous monuments built from the quarries. Over time, the quarries became unstable, and in 1770s, they were repaired to make room for the dead.

In an effort to stop the spread of disease, Paris’s overflowing cemeteries were cleared out and the bones interred within the quarries. Beginning in 1785, work was done under the cover of night and chanting priests accompanied the procession. The quarries house the bones from all the cemeteries of Paris up through the mid 1800s (although some accounts have the transfer stopping as early as 1814).

The catacombs have long been the stuff of legends. A tourist attraction since the 1860s, they were used as mini concert halls and later by members of the French Resistance during World War II. In the rebellious 1980s, young Parisians used the crypts as a place for parties, sneaking into the tunnels through various unmonitored entrances. Over the years, the Catacombs were fortified and areas were sanctioned off for tourists. Only a small part of the tunnels is open to the public, and the main entrances are now guarded, but the enterprising explorer can still sneak their way in via the sewers, metro, and manholes.

The underground labyrinth is complex and confusing. Imagine being deep underground, surrounded by centuries-old bones, with only the tiniest of lights to guide you. Even an accomplished navigator could lose his way, and there are countless stories about people getting lost in the catacombs. Some, like the explorer who claimed he was attacked and dragged off by some sort of monster, are likely the delusions of a man trapped in a terrifying underground dark maze full of bones.

But people have disappeared in the tunnels. Last July, three people were part of a group partying in the crypts. They became separated from their friends and instead of finding their way out wound up going deeper into the maze. They spent two days lost in the dark before they were found and fined for trespassing.

National Geographic writer Neil Shea spent time researching the tunnels with the cataphiles, the people who love to roam the underground world. Shea described the cataphiles as “a loose and leaderless community whose members sometimes spend days and nights below the city.” One cataphile told Shea he came down to the crypts for the freedom. “No boss, no master. Many people come down here to party, some people to paint. Some people to destroy or to create or to explore. We do what we want here. We don’t have rules.”

Could you be a cataphile, spending hours among centuries worth of bones, with your only light source a candle or flashlight? Would you emerge from the Catacombs feeling empowered and alive, or shaken and traumatized like so many others who’ve been lost below?

SOURCE    SOURCE

For more information on the Paris Catacombs, including booking a tour and some excellent pictures, visit Why Go Paris.

Wow! Thanks, Stacy! Creeeepy!

Don’t forget to check out the giveaways this week!

Spencer Brokaw’s The Impenetrable Spy
Nova Ren Suma’s Imaginary Girls (paperback)
Cindy M. Hogan’s Watched 

What’s the creepiest place you’ve been?

Today we have Nova Ren Suma with us. She’s the author of Fade Out and Imaginary Girls. Both will be released in paperback in June with new covers! I read this book called Imaginary Girls and ended up loving it! The mythical relationship between sisters is not easy to show and having an older sister, I related. So I asked Nova to talk to us about mysterious girls.

Nova has run some incredible blog series about Turning Points and authors of upcoming releases. Check them out if you haven’t yet.

Blog ~ Website ~ Twitter

Mysterious Girls

I’m drawn to mysterious characters. The characters who give you pause, who make you question. The ones you need to know more about… And then you discover that the more you know, the more mystery there is to unravel. They’re complex. They’re flawed. They’re impossible to truly know, which to my mind makes them all the more real. I think that’s why I created Ruby, the larger-than-life older sister in my novel Imaginary Girls, or, really, why Ruby found me and forced me to sit down and write about her. I wanted to know who she was, and she wanted to play a cruel little game with me to keep me guessing.

It’s the mystery of Ruby that propels that novel—and so much of that comes from telling the story in the voice, and through the lens, of Chloe, the younger sister who idolizes every single thing Ruby does and yet still doesn’t fully understand her. She can’t. I admit I loved telling Ruby’s story through those eyes. I never want a mysterious girl to be stripped of all her mystery.

I wonder where this fascination came from. Even in my first published novel—originally titled Dani Noir, but you’ll see a new version of it on shelves this June called Fade Out—my narrator, Dani, goes searching for a mysterious femme fatale in her small sleepy town, even if there’s no true “femme fatale” to be found for miles. There are the secrets. The lies told behind closed doors. And how Dani idolizes a true mystery girl on-screen, none other than Rita Hayworth, star of glamorous noir movies like Gilda.

Even my upcoming book, 17 & Gone—which is such a mystery I haven’t revealed the summary yet!—is peopled with a whole cast of mysterious girls. You might just say the book wouldn’t exist without them.

I’m simply intrigued by a girl who inspires questions. And I don’t want easy answers.

So who are some mysterious girls from books I’ve read that catch my imagination?

Hannah in 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher: The whole story is set up to unravel Hannah and reveal why she chose to take her own life. Once the truth is exposed, it’s heartbreaking.

Bev in The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour: Colby can’t keep his eyes off Bev, and neither can we. Why does Bev do what she doe—say one thing and then change her mind and do another?

Mandarin in Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard: I remember being drawn to girls like this when I was in high school, wanting to be their friend, never at first realizing what dark, unruly secrets they kept hidden.

Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote: I know this one isn’t YA, but I can’t help but be obsessed with the mysterious, fascinating figure who makes this novel what it is. We only see her through the eyes of another, and we never quite catch up to her.

Francie in The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison: In this novel, Val tries to be like her gorgeous, exciting new friend Francie, but who is Francie, really? And what does becoming like Francie really entail?

Margo Roth Spiegelman in Paper Towns by John Green: It’s an obsession with the girl next door that drives this mystery and the ensuing adventure adventure. We want to climb out the window and follow her into the night.

Who are some mysterious girls you find yourself drawn to in books?

Comment to win a pre-order of the Imaginary Girls paperback or a signed copy when Nova receives her author copies. Your choice! And please tweet with @laurapauling. Thanks!

Comment on yesterday’s post for a chance to win Spencer Brokaw’s The Impenetrable Spy!

Thanks everyone!

Stripping your date down to his underwear has never been so dangerous.

And I wanted to celebrate by hosting authors in my genre.

So welcome!

When I heard about this kid who published his work I was curious. Then when I learned he wrote a spy novel – I had to contact him for this blog series. You might’ve heard about him before. Spencer Brokaw author of The Impenetrable Spy. He just started a new grog called Inkslingers Press dedicated to supporting Indies. And he likes to write about spies!

Curious about what his friends and family think? And when he finds the time to write? Read on!

blog ~ twitter

Where do you find the time to write?

Finding the time to write can be very hard, between schoolwork, socializing with friends, and spending time with my family. I normally get to my writing on the weekend or in the summer. Sometimes I squeeze some writing into the week, but normally don’t have enough time. In the summer, I finish most of my novels, and end up starting new ones with the abundance of time, and there is no homework or projects to worry about.

 What do all your friends, family, and teachers think?

They are very proud of me, and are very interested in my writing. My friends think it’s cool, but don’t bug me about it much, mostly because they know it’s an odd topic for me to discuss. Writing is like my separate life, but I’ll mention something to my friends if I think they’ll be interested. My family has gotten very interested, and likes to stay up to date on my writing, and my publishing process, as do my teachers.

 What do you like best about your spy stories?

What’s not to like about a world that you have complete control over? Writing is a way to express yourself, but also to entertain yourself in the process. Sharing it with others is amazing, and is really fun for me to hear feedback, whether it is good or bad. Spy stories are the best. They involve high-speed chases, secret missions, stealthy agents, awesome weaponry, futuristic technology, stealth tactics, sports cars, and bad guys that will always get in the way of your protagonist. Writing a spy story is like playing a video game, only you control the plot. I love writing, and don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

Purchase Links: Amazon ~ Smashwords

Thanks, Spencer!

Love it. And that’s what it’s all about. Having complete control over our world and loving what we write. Some might say that thirteen is too young to publish – I think it’s awesome! There’s no better way to improve than feedback from readers and going through the fire of publishing. So kudos to you, Spencer. And best of luck!

Spencer will be offering one ebook of The Impenetrable Spy to one person in the comments. Please tweet! 

Thanks for stopping by everyone! What do you like the best about the genre you write?

And now onto the winners:

Gemma Halliday’s Hollywood Scandals goes to Janet Johnson!

Anne R. Allen’s The Gatsby Game goes to Natalie Aguirre!

Elisa Ludwig’s Pretty Crooked goes to Donna K. Weaver!

Elena Andrew’s Run Like Hell goes to Creepy Query Girl!

Instructions:

Please use my contact form up on the menu bar and leave me your email address and which version of the ebook you’d like: Nook, Kindle, or PDF. Donna, please leave your mailing address.

Coming up this week!

We’ll be hearing from five more amazing bloggers and authors!

S.R. Johannes     Nova Ren Suma

Cindy M. Hogan    Stacy Green

And….Elizabeth Spann Craig

Of course, there will be more giveaways! Yay!

Have a terrific weekend! Hope you found some new novels to enjoy!