With the launch of my second book just one week away, here are the 10 things you need to know about The Seventh Day prior to the release.

1. Can you give a brief description of your book?

After awaking from a nightmare, Matt Bishop learns that his father has suddenly passed away. Much to his hesitation, Matt and his long-term girlfriend Taylor make the drive from Boston to Redport, a small town on the Massachusettes coast. Returning home to bury a parent is difficult enough. For Matt, things are even worse. Not only has he kept his past from Taylor for the past three years, which she is anxious to learn, but Matt must also endure the torment from his older brother Johnathan on why he fled home after graduation, never to step foot back in Redport. No one knows why Matt left home suddenly with no explanation—after all, it isn’t that easy to tell his friends and family that he moved away because he couldn’t stand the demonic being coming into his room every night. Throughout Matt’s stay in Redport, the hauntings return tenfold. Not only is Matt forced to relive his traumatic past, he learns more about himself and his past.

2. What inspired you to write the book?

A lot of my inspiration for The Seventh Day comes from both my own experiences and works that came before me. After reading the book, I’m sure you can pick up some strong Stephen King elements, such as IT and Stand By Me. The inspiration stemmed from the strong friendship bond in both stories. Another influence was A Nightmare of Elm Street. It all stood out to me early on when I was outlining.

3. What does the title mean?

The title has two meanings. The first, which is much simpler, is that Matt remains in Redport for seven days. The bigger meaning of the title is a play on Christianity and the passage from the Bible saying, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” A modified version of the line was my original last line in the novel. Taylor was going to ask Livvy, Matt’s younger sister, what happened after a storm cleared, to which Livvy would simply say, “On the seventh day he rested.”

4. What’s your favorite passage from the book?

This passage, which I’ve shared a bunch of times already, is by far my favorite. I feel like it’s a great vivid scene that gives a glimpse into the drama to come in the rest of the book.

“The four took turns placing their fingers on the piece. Matt was the last to put his fingers on the planchette. His fingers hovered above it for a moment. His body begged him not to do this. Even his brain was telling him this wouldn’t work out in his favor, but it was like he was no longer in control of his body. It was like he was cosmically drawn to the planchette and nothing or no one could change that fact. Finally, like a drawn out, dramatic scene of a movie, Matt rested the fingertips of either index finger gingerly on the piece. A surge of electricity blew through the forest like the aftershock of a nuclear weapon. It pulled the breath from Matt’s lungs and fed into the energy that flowed around them. The rustling of dying leaves clung to their last bit of hope as their silhouettes danced against the black sky. Zack, Chip, and Taylor’s expressions fell flat while they absorbed the coincidence of the sudden windstorm as soon as Matt, the World’s Most Haunted Man as Zack and Chip called him, touched the very same Ouija Board that ruined Matt and his friends’ lives years ago. Matt was frozen without an ounce of emotion like he had died and his upright corpse was all that was left to join his friends.”

5. What style/genre is this book?

This is a horror book with the main element being ghost/demon hauntings. Like you can see with the passage above I use a lot a vivid description in my writing. I feel like that’s the best way to immerse the reader into this world that I’ve created.

6. Is this part of a series?

I’m not planning on creating a series from this book. I’d say if anything I’d make related short stories or novellas based on other characters, but I have no plans of writing another full-length novel with these characters.

7. Why/how did you choose the setting of Redport, a fictional town in Massachusettes?

I’ve always been fascinated with the workings of a small town and how that can play a role in families and their lives. I chose Massachusettes as the state because of the state’s history, particularly in Salem, which is referenced briefly in my book.

8. What aspects from your own life helped to inspire this book?

My past experiences acted as inspiration for this novel. My past and present relationships can be found throughout. More specifically, my experiences with the paranormal are heavily sprinkled on each page. Wow. I know. Shockingly, I believe in ghosts. Who would’ve guessed? A lost of my paranormal experiences growing up can be found throughout the book.

One quote from the book is pulled directly from my life.

Earlier this week I shared this on my Facebook page and explained that I did this with a little variation. When I was in middle school I was at home one day in October with the stomach bug and stumbled on the show “Scariest Places on Earth,” which used to air on ABC Family back in the early 2000s. I binged-watched that show all day and loved it so much that I pretended to still be sick the next day so I could watch it again. But there’s a lot of little things like this that are pulled directly from my childhood.

9. What can readers expect from this book?

Readers can expect a dramatic, scary story rooted in family and friends. You’ll be able to quickly identify with many of the characters because of the wide variety of situations they’ve all experienced. You can also expect, with the help of my vivid storytelling abilities, to get a front-row seat to the horrors Matt, his friends, and his family will endure over the course of seven days.

10. Why should someone read this?

I wrote this novel with people like me in mind- the person who’s been an outsider their entire life. The person who simultaneously does and doesn’t scare easily. There’s never been much need to go to haunted attractions to get scared because you’ve seen and experienced the real horror of life. You’re the kind of person who doesn’t need to pay someone to get scared because your mind can scare the living shit out of you at any given moment for no reason.

But even after spending years trying to internalize our own horrors we still seek an escape from what’s really keeping us up at night, so we turn to books. But aren’t you tired of these escapes being stuff with BFF’s, simplified romance, and never having time or money be an issue? That’s not the way life works. It’s hard to identify with these characters because most of the time it’s just too hard to relate to their easy lives. It’s time to escape to a world where you root for the characters because they’re facing similar, isolating experiences that you’ve dealt with in your own life.

With escalating situations that’ll make you reading long into the night, you’ll want to know what happens next to Matt and the rest of his family. As an added plus, any horror lover will joyfully pick up on the Easter eggs of previous works such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, IT, and more sprinkled throughout the book. Let The Seventh Day take you to a world where things aren’t always what they appear, just as with life, where you question everyone’s motives and your own family history. And, you might even question your own existence.