“Beyond good and evil, Pivot juggles archetypes until you’re not sure which ball is airborne and which is still in the author’s hand. A story about cracking free of your intended role in life, as plot and depth travel at the same exceptional speed.”
– Josh Malerman, NYT Bestselling Author of BIRD BOX
Hey lovely readers! We have a special treat for those of you who like killer chills and thrills with a touch of horror 💀 Lindsey Barlow, who signed a three-book deal with Rare Bird Books, is our spotlight author this week. Her upcoming release is set to publish October 15, 2019, and it’s a Horror-Thriller than promises more than just a few hair-raising screams. So, without further ado, let’s meet the mind behind the story!
WHO IS LINDSEY BARLOW?
Tell us about yourself. What drew you to writing horror/dark fantasy?
I always wanted to write horror. I loved Stephen King and Anne Rice while growing up. My friend handing me a copy of a book from the floorboard of his parents’ car, a book which turned out to be The Vampire Lestat, and telling me to read the first page is a remarkable moment to me. But the turnkey moment was definitely when I went to college and finally decided that I would pursue creative writing. I took a horror writing course by accident. I think everyone in that class had no idea what they had signed up for (there was no detailed class description available for us). But it turned out to be great for me. I was able to tap into my writing in a different way, perhaps more deeply, and, frankly, I never really went back after that. Part of it is likely that horror writing is cathartic. Jonathan Maberry at the most recent Stoker Awards Banquet said it best when he stated, “Horror writers are the kindest people you will ever meet. Because they get it all out on the page. It’s the comedians you have to watch out for. They keep everything inside.” It’s true. The horror writing community has some of the nicest individuals I have ever met, and I have made many friends. In addition, I have somehow been able to make PIVOT come alive in a way I didn’t expect when writing (perhaps because it is horror); likewise, writing it was therapeutic for me in a way I didn’t expect (again, perhaps because it is horror).
I’ll add that working through reality via metaphor – real problems through metaphorical monsters – at times allows one to figure out how to resolve an unsolvable issue in a story, and to do so in a satisfying way. Reality is rarely so satisfying. That’s one of many things so wonderful about horror and fantasy.
What’s your writing style? What kinds of stories have influenced your work?
I like my plot to hum along well – for things to happen – and for my words to have rhythm. One reviewer compared my style to Poppy Z. Brite’s, which is an incredible compliment (and I don’t deserve it). I think my writing is fairly direct, though it often dips into the poetic and visceral. It attempts to style horror beautifully, to bring the reader alive. I also try to dig down into the truths of life with my work. My structure is such that the book is more than the sum of its parts.
WHAT’S HER NOVEL ABOUT?
Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming release? 
PIVOT is the first book of a trilogy I have been working on for about six years. The second and third books, PERISH and PEAK, will be released in 2020 and 2021. PIVOT is about a young girl named Jack Harper who is adopted by the leader of a cult, Cyrus Harper, and turned into an assassin against all who oppose him or blaspheme. As it turns out, Cyrus, the charismatic and maniacal mentor (think Charles Manson meets Lucifer from Supernatural), does indeed have extraordinary powers, as he claims. Half of them come from a creature he has locked in his basement and the other half… well, you will have to read to find out.
Jack’s well-being is precarious in such an environment where ruthlessness is relentlessly required of her, and so she both curiously and desperately pursues the creature in the basement. When they finally meet, her world is turned upside down, as he offers her more than she could have ever expected―the possibility of escape and her own secret, magical power.
You can pre-order PIVOT here:
AMAZON // BARNES & NOBLE // TARGET
What kind of readers will your book appeal to?
Adult readers of supernatural and/or paranormal horror would really enjoy PIVOT. If you’re a fan of Barry Lyga’s I Hunt Killers or Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl I think you would particularly be interested. Fans of Stephen King, Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite, and Laurell K. Hamilton would definitely want to pick this book up.
Question Roulette
More About Lindsey
L.C. Barlow is a writer and professor working primarily in the field of speculative fiction. She has an MA in English from the University of Texas at Arlington and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. She has studied with popular writers, including Nancy Holder, Elizabeth Hand, Ted Deppe, James Patrick Kelly, Elizabeth Searle, David Anthony Durham, and Theodora Goss. Her work has been published in Oak Bend Review, Flash Fiction World, Linguistic Erosion, Flashes in the Dark, Separate Worlds, Every Day Fiction, and Popular Culture Review. Her fiction has reached over sixty-five thousand readers and garnered praise, including a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Awards, a winner of the Indie Reader Discovery Awards, a winner of the eLit Awards, and IndieReader’s Best Books of 2014. Barlow’s horror trilogy – PIVOT, PERISH, and PEAK – was picked up in 2018 by California Coldblood Books, an imprint of Rare Bird Books. The first of the trilogy, PIVOT, will be released in the Fall of 2019. Barlow lives in Dallas, TX with her two cats, Smaug and Dusty.