{"id":2590,"date":"2012-11-30T11:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T03:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/?p=2590"},"modified":"2012-12-03T07:28:19","modified_gmt":"2012-12-02T23:28:19","slug":"a-return-to-the-gothic-for-the-skeleton-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/a-return-to-the-gothic-for-the-skeleton-key\/","title":{"rendered":"A Return to the Gothic for The Skeleton Key"},"content":{"rendered":"

My ninth novel,\u00a0The Skeleton Key<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0officially hits stores today, as the third in my Pandora English paranormal or speculative fiction series. (Or as I prefer to call it, ‘weird fiction’, the term HP Lovecraft<\/a> used.)<\/p>\n

Pandora’s world is set in a contemporary, alternate New York inhabited by all manner of supernatural beings and figures from ancient mythology and folklore. It is a great pleasure to write, not least because it gives me an opportunity to channel my obsession with all things gothic and delightfully macabre into a fantasy world I can thoroughly immerse myself in.<\/p>\n

My fascination with the macabre began as a child when I sat rapt watching Bela Lugosi and his vampire brides in the 1931 black and white classic, Dracula<\/em>, on our TV in the family room. I was perhaps 6. Over the years that fascination was helped along by Mary Shelley, Poe<\/a>, Edward Gorey<\/a>, HP Lovecraft, Stephen King<\/a>,\u00a0Tim Burton<\/a>, Charles Addam’s The Addams Family<\/em> and more recently Joss Whedon<\/a> and Charlaine Harris<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the things I love most about writing this series is the excuse to satisfy my dark fascinations with research into Victorian ghost stories, necromancy, black magic, nineteenth century spiritualism, supernatural folklore and ancient mythology, all of which play strong roles in the series. (As an added bonus, it also gives me an excuse to share the\u00a0peculiar antiques<\/a>\u00a0in my haunted tea room, or dress up in some of my Victoriana, as I did for The Skeleton Key<\/em> inside jacket, above, photographed by\u00a0Elizabeth Allnutt<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0swathed in my\u00a0black brocade Midnight Bustle<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Kambriel<\/a>, wreathed in a Spektor-like mist in my wild backyard. The heavy mists at my mountain home inspired Spektor’s supernatural fog in the series, and they came out again just in time for our shoot. Lucky us.)<\/p>\n

In\u00a0The Skeleton Key,\u00a0<\/em>Pandora sets out to learn more about her great aunt’s haunted mansion in Spektor – the Manhattan suburb that doesn’t appear on maps – and she gets much more than she bargained for. This third novel contains some significant reveals about Pandora’s world:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By day, Pandora English is a lowly fashion assistant. But by night, she is a supernatural scion.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Crow Moon is rising and Pandora has a date with Civil War soldier Lieutenant Luke, who will be flesh-and-blood for one night only. When Lieutenant Luke disappears, Pandora must unlock the mysteries of Number One Addams Avenue with her skeleton key and discover the secrets that lie in the forgotten laboratory of Dr Edmund Barrett.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Pandora has been warned: a powerful force is in the house.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As Friday the Thirteenth looms, Pandora English and the citizens of Spektor are in grave danger. For the dead will rise and terror shall reign.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With the book now on shelves, I am busy researching ancient Egypt for the fourth novel in the series, The Cobra Queen<\/em>, due for publication in Dec 2013.<\/p>\n

Reviews of The Skeleton Key<\/em><\/a> have already started coming in. Here are a few:<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘The Skeleton Key<\/em>\u00a0is the third instalment in the \u2018Pandora English\u2019 series\u2014paranormal adventure stories interwoven with elements of mythology and populated with handsome men, ghosts, witches, vampires and a colourful array of undead folk…\u00a0The series is fun and makes some humorous swipes at the fashion and beauty industries.’\u00a0– Bookseller+Publisher<\/a>\u00a0magazine.<\/p>\n

‘The Skeleton Key<\/em>, the third installment of the series, has more to offer than the first two, and that’s saying something because the first two were a blast… It’s delivered with Moss’ trademark slightly wry style which is both fun and easy to read. The book ends leaving you wanting to cast your own dark spell over Moss to make her hurry up and write the next one. 5 Stars. Hats off!’\u00a0–\u00a0Author SJB Gilmour\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

‘Packed with twists and turns, this book will keep you turning pages long into the night…As the full moon rises, prepare for the ultimate giddying climax.’\u00a0– Maddison Hawkins at SassiSam<\/a><\/p>\n

‘…much more Buffy<\/em> than Twilight<\/em>…Tara Moss creates an interesting world full of all the usual paranormal types, and manages to avoid the same-old-same-old trap. One of the things I liked most about\u00a0The Skeleton Key<\/em>\u00a0was the humour that marked the narrative and the character voice. There’s a healthy sense of irony here, and that makes the occasional genuinely creepy moment stand out even more…\u00a0The Skeleton Key<\/em>\u00a0[is] a light and enjoyable read.’\u00a0– Author\u00a0Tara Calaby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘I enjoyed the notion of obsessive compulsive vampires – that particular piece of folklore is genuine, by the way…There was a gentle humour in this one that I liked very much and it’s not difficult reading for reluctant readers.’\u00a0– \u00a0Author\u00a0Sue Bursztynski<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0<\/strong>The Skeleton Key<\/a><\/em> is now\u00a0available online in all electronic formats including\u00a0iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0Kobo<\/a>, and\u00a0Kindle<\/a>,\u00a0as well as\u00a0audio book<\/a> and, of course, as a beautifully produced print book, complete with skeleton key dinkus, published by Pan Macmillan Aus\/NZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Happy reading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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My fascination with the macabre began as a child when I sat rapt watching Bela Lugosi and his vampire brides in the 1931 black and white classic, Dracula, on our TV in the family room. I was perhaps 6. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[68,67,71,66,70,69,65,72,73,62,64,42,63],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2590"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2645,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590\/revisions\/2645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}