LUCIFER’S LITIGATOR
When does paranormal become horror?
I tend to writer darker paranormal romances and urban fantasy. I like angst and making my characters work for their happily ever after. But I have never thought I wrote anything close to horror. I avoid horror films because I scare easy, though like most teens I did go through a (in my case short lived) horror book phase. I always called what I wrote dark and angsty.
But as I was writing Lucifer’s Litigator some of the scenes started to become quite chilling and I wondered where the line between paranormal and horror could be drawn. When does the creepy factor get dialled up too much?
With many paranormal romances we are asked to fall for the monster that we would usually fear—the vampire and werewolf being two obvious examples. While we fall for the monster there is usually some other big bad coming after our heroes.
If the vampires are hunting instead of seducing, things tend to shift and become darker because there is no love interest to filter the paranormal through. Without the paranormal love interest has the story tipped into something closer to horror with the heroes under threat and fighting to survive?
I think it has. Because horror takes a range of forms, from the creepy to the slasher, to the kind designed to make the watcher jump out of their seat. Horror creates a feeling of unsettledness which I think the paranormal creates when it is the enemy.
While I wouldn’t describe Lucifer’s Litigator as horror there are definitely moments where I hope the reader is on the edge of their seat.
Blurb:
To save his soul, he’ll have to fix his one regret—the love that got away.
The summer between the end of school and the start of what came next was full of sun, surf, and sex. For Will McLeod, that meant Tom, his first male lover. He knew the romance had an expiration date and would end when Tom joined the Army, but that didn’t stop Will from falling in love.
Tired of being looked down upon for being poor, Will became a lawyer—but not just any lawyer. He litigates for the gods as they gamble with the lives of those desperate enough to make deals. His job is to make sure they don’t slip free. He has more money than he knows what to do with, but he’s fast running out of soul.
Twenty-five years haven’t dimmed the candle Will holds for Tom, and when they meet again, he has a chance to put things right. Back then, Tom wasn’t ready to fight for them. Now the decorated soldier is willing to get his hands dirty, but will he be a match for the forces trying to keep them apart?
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Bio:
TJ Nichols is an avid runner and martial arts enthusiast who first started writing as child. Many years later while working as a civil designer, TJ decided to pick up a pen and start writing again. Having grown up reading thrillers and fantasy novels, it’s no surprise that mixing danger and magic comes so easily. Writing urban fantasy allows TJ to bring magic to the every day. TJ is the author of the Studies in Demonology series and the Mytho urban fantasy series.
With one cat acting as a supervisor, TJ has gone from designing roads to building worlds and wouldn’t have it any other way. After traveling all over the world TJ now lives in Perth, Western Australia.
You can find TJ at:
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