Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: Amber Hollow by Edgar Swamp @RABTBookTours

Horror

(with elements of suspense, mystery, and fantasy)

On July 15, 1991, an isolated village in Northern Wisconsin is ground zero for an unprecedented, fiery tragedy. Of the community's 600 residents, there are only five survivors. Detailed accounts by the victims contradict each other; the only link is a man named Anthony Guntram, but because he is presumed to be dead, this claim can't be verified. Further investigations reveal a culture enshrouded in mystery. What are the survivors hiding? Only the villagers know the secret of Amber Hollow, a place where sanity is checked at the town line and the parameters of reality become blurred. An unconventional horror story by design, Edgar Swamp delivers an action-driven page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the calamitous ending.

An Interview with

Edgar Swamp

1.   “Amber Hollow” is the first mystery you’ve written. What drew you to the genre, and how does this novel push the boundaries of typical mysteries?

        I’ve always been a fan of Whodunits (game of Clue, anyone?) but even more so “The Twilight Zone.” I’d watch it as a kid and try to guess the ending, and I’d actually get a bit disappointed if I did. “Amber Hollow” at heart is a Whodunit, however, what it really is, is my stab at a “Twilight Zone” episode in which I invite the reader to try and guess what’s really going on within the realm of a horrific situation. If the reader guesses the ending, I failed (you’ll never guess the ending)!

2.   How did growing up in Wisconsin influence the setting for the book?

I grew up in East DePere, Wisconsin, and as an adult who has moved away, I remember it as a town straight out of a Stephen King novel — a creepy, rural denizen populated by strange folks who may or may not want to harm you (just kidding family, friends and neighboreenos!). Amber Hollow is a tribute to Wisconsin as both a state as well as a launching pad for some of the world’s most notorious serial killers (eat your heart out John Wayne Gacy!). The novel is full of “Wisconsinisms” as well as being a period piece with respect to the year it takes place in, 1991. And Northern Wisconsin is scary! Take a vacation at Crystal Lake if you don’t believe me (no relation to Camp Crystal Lake or the “Friday the 13th” franchise!).

3.   In the town of Amber Hollow, history tends to repeat itself. Do you see that in your own life, and where did that idea come from?

We are all doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again if we don’t eventually learn a lesson and move on. But sometimes you only get one chance, and if you screw it up, the lessons you learn from that mistake come back to haunt you again and again with disastrous results. Yes, that is like my life, one where everything was learned “the hard way,” and only drastic measures could intervene to prevent an imminent trainwreck, like taking up guided meditation and voting “yes” on California proposition 64. Parallels abound!

4.   You’ve said that the #MeToo movement inspired certain themes in “Amber Hollow.” Can you comment on how this inspiration plays a role in a novel that is so action-packed?

I consider “Amber Hollow” a contemporary fairy tale (hence my allusion to fantasy) in which I can air out subject matter that is presently in our collective social conscience, popularized (hopefully stigmatized) in both our entertainment and political climate. That said, this novel shares no political views nor do I alienate anyone’s opinions; it’s as ambiguous as a David Bowie impersonator. But the novel deals with themes such as women being treated unfairly or as unequal to their male counterparts, and I confess that the movement helped inspire some of the ideas in this novel. It’s about women’s empowerment!

5.   In college, you dropped out after a few semesters to sing in a metal band. What did you learn from that experience, and how did it ultimately allow you to pursue your passion for writing?

First of all, stay in school, kids; dropouts are losers and drugs are bad, m’kay? Singing in a DIY touring metal band taught me that after three days without eating, you’ll consider almost anything food. Eventually, you need a real job, so I learned a lot by interacting with society’s outcasts: the Minimum Wage Worker. If you sit at one of those break room tables and encourage anyone to tell you something they keep secret, some belief they have holed up in their head, you’re going to hear something so crazy you’ll wonder how they put their pants on in the morning. Writing became my way of expressing myself because human beings and their paranoid fantasies are just so freakin’ strange! I still sing, though, and am available for bar mitzvahs and weddings.

About the Author

Edgar Swamp is the author of the “Gyre Mission,” “Glitch in the Machine,” and “Blackout.” His short stories have appeared in Alienskin, Macabre Cadaver, and Urban Reinventors. When he isn’t holed up in his office playing online poker, he likes to dig up the recently deceased and make furniture out of their skin. He lives and works in San Diego, California.

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