Uncaged: Can you tell us more about your book, Slasher Crasher? Is this your debut novel?
Yes, this is my debut novel and I’m beyond ecstatic. SLASHER CRASHER is a love letter to my high school friends and eighties slashers. A mix of MEAN GIRLS and HALLOWEEN, it is a dark comedic take on horror films and the “final girl” character. Carol J. Clover in the feminist film theory novel, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, coined the term the “final girl.” She described “final girls” as sweet, virginal characters in horror films and novels who transform into testosterone-fueled warriors that must take down the killers or monsters who have been stalking them. Typically these “final girls” kill the killers/monsters and the story ends. However, I thought: What would happen if the “final girl” wasn’t so nice? What if she kind of had a thing for the killer/monster? SLASHER CRASHER was born.
Uncaged: What inspired you to write in the horror genre?
I received a film education–specifically a horror one– at a young age from my father. By the time I was nine years old I’d seen most of the classics: THE EXORCIST, ROSEMARY’S BABY, JAWS. Although I was terrified of these films in the beginning, I slowly fell in love with the genre venturing out to the world of horror literature. I was so enthralled by the GOOSEBUMPS and SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK series that I thought, ‘Hey. Maybe I could try this whole writing thing.’
Uncaged: What are you working on now that you can tell us about?
I’m starting my next novel and I felt like switching things up. A total 180. Instead of horror I wanted to try something more soft, sweet. I also wanted to try my hand at alternative stories in existing fictional universes like WICKED. I don’t want to give it away but I hope it’ll be extra sweet.
Read the rest of this interview in Uncaged Book Reviews, October 2019 issue – link below.
Born in Syracuse, NY, David Nora was a normal child until he saw THE EXORCIST at the age of seven. Sleeping with an actual vile of holy water, he finally recovered with his first viewing of the meta-slasher comedy, SCREAM. Since then he has been devouring everything horror related— except the CHILD’S PLAY movies. He wants nothing to do with that devil doll. Currently, he lives in New York City working as a teacher of the visually impaired and blind.
Slasher Crasher
David Nora
Horror/Humor
It’s Halloween. Nick Roesch, a towering figure of evil and stupidity, escapes from the upstate New York mental hospital he’s been committed to for the past five years. Planning to return to his childhood home, where he brutally murdered his babysitter’s boyfriend, his plans are halted when he crosses paths with an even more terrifying beast—two high school friends with some serious beef. Caught in a battle of loyalty that has been brewing for ten years of their friendship, the two girls, Kathleen Strife and Betsy Coleman, force the feud into a savage showdown, pitting the escaped monster against each other. Who will survive this epic deathmatch, and is it totally wrong to fall in love with the murderous lunatic who just tried to kill your ex-best friend with a machete?
Excerpt
Nick Roesch, 5:00 a.m.
It started like an ‘80s slasher film. Not John Carpenter’s Halloween, the classic of suburban horror, but the countless, mostly Canadian copycats that emulated its simple-but-effective formula of the escaped mental patient who [choose one: had been burnt in a high school prank, buried in your runof-the-mill mining accident, and/or mentally abused by Santa Claus] and picks off a sexy group of no-good teenagers on [a beloved American holiday].
In this crude rip-off, it was Halloween, and Nick Roesch, a massive, pineapple-shaped teen wearing an oversized gray sweater and blue scrubs, was running through the vast wooded area surrounding Summer Hill House, the psychiatric hospital in Hannibal, New York, where he’d spent the last five years. After a window dive from the hospital’s second floor, he was following the early-morning light that trickled through the pines, hoping it would lead him to a house or road.
Read the rest of the excerpt from the issue below:
Dr. Randy Overbeck is a veteran educator who has served children for more than three decades as a teacher and school leader, winning national recognition for his work. Over that time, he has performed many of the roles depicted in his fiction, with responsibilities ranging from coach and yearbook advisor to principal and superintendent. An accomplished writer, he has been published in academia, the popular press and, more recently, in better bookstores. His first novel, Leave No Child Behind, won the 2011 Silver Award for Thriller of the Year from ReadersFavorite.com. His second novel, Blood on the Chesapeake, a ghost story/mystery released this year by the Wild Rose Press, has earned 5 STAR REVIEWS from RaeadersFavorite.com, Long and Short Reviews and Literary Titan. It also garnered a national Award, the GOLD AWARD from Literary Titan. Blood is the first in a new series called the “Haunted Shores Mysteries.” Dr. Overbeck is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and an active member of the literary community. Dr. Overbeck has also been a much soughtafter speaker, with speaking experiences ranging from a keynote speaker at a national conference to sharing engaging programs with more than 150 clubs and organizations across the country. He’s currently sharing his newest presentation, “Things That Go Bump in the Night” with clubs and organizations across the Midwest. 
Kerry Blaisdell is the awardwinning author of The Dead Series, including DEBRIEFING THE DEAD—2019 HOLT Medallion Literary Contest double winner for Best Paranormal & Best First Book, Romance Writers of America RITA® Award finalist, and Royal Palm Literary Award finalist— and its sequel, WAKING THE DEAD, which InD’tale Magazine recommends for “fans of television shows like ‘Constantine’ or ‘Supernatural.’” She also writes Romantic Suspense and Historical Mystery. She has a Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley in Comparative Literature (French/ Medieval English), and a Master’s in Teaching English and Advanced Mathematics from the University of Portland. Kerry lives in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest with her husband, two (mostly) adult “kids,” assorted cats and dogs, and more hot pepper plants than anyone could reasonably consume. 