Author Interview: Coral Russell on "Amador Lockdown"

Ana: Today we have Coral Russell introducing their novel, Amador Lockdown. I haven't read this book myself, but Coral Russell was kind enough to agree to guest blog about their book to any readers who might be interested in the subject. Coral, how would you describe your novel to your prospective readers? In broad terms, what is your novel about?

Coral: It is a paranormal/horror story based on a real ghost hunter lockdown I went to with my stepson in the real Amador Hotel. But more than that, it is also a story about a father and son. Hector, the father, tries to keep his personal and professional lives separate, but what is haunting the Amador Hotel has other plans.

Ana: What themes does your novel explore and what do you hope the reader will take away from the experience? Is there a particular feeling or experience that you hope to evoke in the reader? Essentially, do you hope your novel will mean to a reader?

Coral: Family and how a parent attempts to 'make it right' after a messy divorce. I've always believed if you want something bad enough, you'll get it. Of course, that can be carried to extremes and it is for one person in this story.

Ana: What prompted you to write this novel and did you have a specific inspiration in mind? Were you influenced by a certain author or work that inspired you to add your voice to this genre? Besides the boatloads of money and rockstar fame, what motivated you to write this book?

Coral: I love the horror genre. Not only in books, but also movies. I like the anticipation and tension in a horror story, but not necessarily being grossed out. I was introduced to the Ghost Hunter series on TV when they were running a holiday marathon and was hooked. I loved the idea of using scientific equipment to 'find' or 'contact' ghosts. I had plenty of weird experiences myself. When I moved to El Paso to be closer to my family, I was excited to learn about the El Paso Ghost Tours. They offered a lockdown at a supposedly haunted hotel in Las Cruces, the Amador Hotel, and I jumped at the chance. My stepson agreed to go with me. Then I knew that would make a great story if something like that all went horribly wrong.

Ana: If you could compare your novel to any other existing works, which ones would it be and why? If the one thing you could say to a prospective reader was, "If you like X, you'll love my book!", which work would be invoked so that a reader could judge whether or not your novel is their cup of tea?

Coral: Oh that's hard and I've thought about that. But to be honest, I haven't run across a fiction book that deals with ghost hunting. So the most I can say is that if you like Ghost Hunters, Paranormal Activity, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, anything like that, you'll love this book. I did actual ghost hunting research so the details are real. As far as writing style, probably Cory Doctorow, only horror, not science fiction.

Ana: Is this your first or only published work, or have you published other novels? If you have publishedother novels, how do they compare to this one? Do you have any more novels planned, either as a follow-up to this one, or as a completely different novel or genre?

Coral: I wrote non-fiction exclusively before a year ago. I lived in Korea for a year and a half in the 90's. Peace on the Peninsula was written when I won the McCaleb Peace Initiative to study the reunification of North and South Korea. I hope to travel back there in 2013 to continue my 20 years of covering that process. I jumped to fiction (a hard process) with the release of a horror anthology, Playing with Fire. In that anthology, you'll read two ghost hunter stories with the same Paranormal Posse from Amador Lockdown. I also contributed a story to the anthology for charity, Twelve Worlds. Before making the leap to self-published author, I did a ton of research. When a fellow Indie author, Mike Cyra, Emergency Laughter asked for my advice on how to market his book, I put together all my research in a The DIY Guide to Social Media Marketing and eBook Publishing. I thought I would take a small break from writing after finishing Amador Lockdown, but a couple of great ideas came to me and I hope to publish a sequel to Amador Lockdown and a detective story based in El Paso in 2012.

Ana: Where can readers obtain a copy of your novel for them to enjoy? How can they contact you with any thoughts or questions? And do you have a means by which they can "sign up" to be notified when your next novel comes available?

Coral: I put together something I like to call, My Stalker Package. There a reader can connect with me. Also on my blog. My books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords and links to everything are on My Scrawl page on my blog. Everything, including the DIY Guide, is $.99

Ana: Thank you, Coral. I understand you have the first chapter of your novel available as an excerpt for interested readers? And is there anything else you wish to add for our readers?

Coral: More than just the first chapter on the book's website. Of course on Amazon and Smashwords you can download a sample anytime as well.

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