I was lucky enough to meet Sèphera Girón many years ago at the first Haunted Mansion Writers Retreat. Spooky things follow her around! I had the pleasure of editing her works for the Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two.  (That book is out of print now, but I still have a couple of copies available for sale. Drop me a note if you’d like one.) I interviewed Seph back in 2013 in conjunction with that book and couldn’t wait to talk to her about her latest work.

Sèphera Girón is the author of over twenty books and numerous short stories. She is the current astrologer for Romance Daily News (https://www.romancedailynews.com/), where she writes weekly horoscopes for all the signs. You can follow her on Patreon and be the first to see and hear about her writing and acting gigs at http://www.patreon.com/sephera. Sèphera is also head of the Ontario Chapter of the Horror Writers Association: http://www.horror-writers.ca/.

About her new book, Captured Souls:

Dr. Miriam Frederick is brilliant but lonely. She is an award-winning scientist and professor at a local University. She uses her grant money to build a secret lab in her basement where she conducts mysterious experiments. Her subjects are the most perfect of humans. An intelligent author, an athlete with great stamina, and a beauty queen. Her dream is to combine all their qualities to create a family that will satisfy her deepest desires. However, the specimens aren’t always willing. And sometimes, secrets are discovered. Will the doctor be successful in her quest for companionship? Find out in the thrilling horror story Captured Souls on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Ncu6kk.

Did something in the real world inspire Captured Souls?

The working title for Captured Souls was The Narcissist’s BLT: The Beauty, the Linguist, and the Triathlete. It was inspired by several real-world ideas: What if an award-winning grant-receiving tenured professor at the University of Toronto had a secret lab in her basement to conduct sex experiments on real humans? In Toronto, at the time I began making notes for the book, swingers/sex clubs were coming aboveground and becoming a way of life for people in alternative scenes.

Back nearly ten years ago, when I first began making notes for the book, narcissism was growing as a societal norm and boy, has it ever exploded. Everyone thinks the world owes them a living these days. That’s partly why there’s so much division in North American societies these days. (I can’t speak for the rest of the world as I don’t know firsthand,)

In real life, almost everyone dreams of romantic love and great sex with someone who looks like their dream preference, so this is an exploration into that fantasy. One step up from robot sex dolls, I guess!

What is your favorite scene in Captured Souls?

Well, spoilers… There’s an “off-camera” shark attack and, well, who doesn’t like shark attacks? There are many scenes in the book I love but they are all spoilers!

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

Captured Souls was my first book after a very traumatic life event that still has me shaken years later. However, I needed to get back into writing again. I began the book as writing from the various Specimens point of view. Then I wrote parts of it in third person. I threw out some of the book and then some of it was reformed into my novella Flesh Failure and set in 1888 instead of modern times.

I ultimately decided on journal format for the book, so we could see the mind of the mad scientist and only her POV to reveal her narcissism. It’s a bit like Mistress of the Dark in that way. I get away from technical this and that by indicating there are two diaries, one for thoughts (which is Captured Souls) and one for the scientific mechanics of how this all goes down, which we don’t see!

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of Captured Souls?

I admit I’ve not been great at promoting this book as it was originally published by Samhain and was my first “e-book only” book. I had no idea how to promote an e-book. My very first ventures onto Instagram (my sons kept telling me to join Instagram to promote my books, so I have to thank them for that plunge) were of me taking tiny videos of myself as Dr. Miriam Frederick in an attempt to drum up interest for the book! It’s so fun to dress up as your own characters and do stuff. The videos are still on Instagram and on my YouTube channel. I read from part of the book at  a Chi Series event and the recording is on my YouTube channel as well.

After Samhain Horror shut down, Scarlett Publishing took over publication and Captured Souls is now available in both print and e-book.

What do you have planned next?

The next book in my erotic horror Witch Upon a Star series is Taurus and that should be done in a couple of months. I’m also working on two horror novels and writing a space opera, which is nearly finished.

Follow Sèphera on Social Media!

Her homepage: http://sepheragiron.ca

Her Amazon page: https://amzn.to/2PXwf27

Twitch TV: https://www.twitch.tv/sephera666

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sephera

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sepheragiron

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sepheragiron/

On the Tarotpaths blog: http://tarotpaths.blogspot.ca

Do you need a freelance editor for your book, story, or website? http://scarlettediting.blogspot.ca