I have come to appreciate darker stories over the last few years. They suck me in and put me into survival mode in a way that no other book can. I can feel my adrenaline pumping through my veins as I duck and dodge each scene of prose, trying to solve a mystery in time and stay alive. There’s something deep inside of us, an instinct that keeps us going in even the most hair-raising of situations.

The one book world that I still think about was Dawn Kurtagich’s And the Trees Crept In (spoiler to follow). I was sucked into the world of the main character’s own madness, not realizing it was a world she created within herself until the very end of the book.

I was in awe. It made me want to write my own nightmare world.

I realized that an entire book can take place in the mind of a character, making me want to experiment with my writing. From there I started exploring short fiction (something I’ve never done before) to study the different elements of the world that scare us and the impact they can have in a short piece. I can’t wait to release these stories on the world.

I had already written Summoner Rising, but I was still able to use some of my newfound skills in the edits, bringing more fear and adrenaline to a scene. And though Summoner Rising isn’t necessarily a dark story as much as it is an adventure one, my new writing skills have definitely given it the edge it deserves.

About: SUMMONER RISING

28537447 Law One: A summoner is responsible for all creatures it lets through from the netherworld.

Dacie Cantar wishes someone had explained the Laws of Summoning to her before she watched a shadowy creature crawl out of a painting at the local arcade. At least it explains the strange things she’s witnessed since moving in with her great-aunt, after her mother’s untimely death. But who wants to be followed by shadows the rest of their life? Add that to being stalked by a strange boy at school, who just might be her Tovaros (aka soulmate), it’s about all Dacie can handle in her new life.

As she nears her seventeenth birthday, will she be ready for her new responsibilities, or will the shadows that stalked her mother until her death, finally consume Dacie, too? And then there’s Law Two…

About Melanie:

Whether it’s uncovering the corruption of the future, or traveling to other worlds to save the universe, Melanie McFarlane jumps in with both hands on her keyboard. Though she can be found obsessing over zombies from time to time, Melanie has focused her powers on her YA debut There Once Were Stars, and her YA urban fantasy Summoner Rising.