I am thrilled to have Teresa Lo, author of the YA horror Hell's Game, stopping by for an interview today. I have just started to read Hell's Game and will be sharing my review later this month.
Hell's Game by Teresa Lo
Published: April 2012
Published: April 2012
Publisher: Stull Printing
Available: Amazon
Synopsis:
On Halloween night in
Deer Creek, Kansas, Jake Victor, Ashley and Ashton Gemini, and Kristin
Grace convince Ronnie Smalls to meet them at the town cemetery, which
local folklore has always rumored to be the Gateway to Hell. Their
intention was only to scare him, but soon the wicked prank becomes
actual horror as the group learns the Gateway is all too real. After
demons snatch Ronnie and drag him to Hell, the terrified foursome vow to
keep what they had seen a secret.
Two years later, the group receives a mysterious letter, an invite to play a high-stakes game in Hell. If they win, they release Ronnie’s soul as well as their own from eternal damnation. If they lose, they are stuck in Hell forever. Choosing to play, they face nightmare after nightmare as each level escalates in intensity and forces them to face the seven deadly sins.
Inspired by the legends of the Gateway to Hell in Stull, Kansas, Hell’s Game explores the cruelty that teenagers can inflict upon each other as well as the horrors that exist amongst mankind. It is a dark, action-packed young adult novel that will both scare its readers and make them question the true meaning of evil.
Two years later, the group receives a mysterious letter, an invite to play a high-stakes game in Hell. If they win, they release Ronnie’s soul as well as their own from eternal damnation. If they lose, they are stuck in Hell forever. Choosing to play, they face nightmare after nightmare as each level escalates in intensity and forces them to face the seven deadly sins.
Inspired by the legends of the Gateway to Hell in Stull, Kansas, Hell’s Game explores the cruelty that teenagers can inflict upon each other as well as the horrors that exist amongst mankind. It is a dark, action-packed young adult novel that will both scare its readers and make them question the true meaning of evil.
Interview:
Tell us a bit about your novel.
Hell’s Game
follows a group of popular teenagers who are forced to play a high-stakes game
in Hell after they play a horrific prank on the school nerd. As the group moves
from level to level in the game, the settings intensify, and each level is a
manifestation of one of the seven deadly sins. The story was inspired by the
legend of the Gateway to Hell in Stull, Kansas.
What do you hope readers will obtain from your book?
I want my readers to enjoy the
story. I hope they find it entertaining and thrilling, but that they also take
away the message that those who see or know of evil acts and do nothing are
just as guilty as those who committed the crime. All of the characters that
play Hell’s Game are doing so because they are guilty of harming one of their
classmates, and all of the characters must fight actual monsters as well as the
demons within themselves if they want to survive.
What are some of your favorite YA books or authors?
Non-YA?
I’m a big reader of YA
literature. Growing up, I devoured books by Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, L.J. Smith,
and Ellen Raskin, but I also liked non-YA writers such as Stephen King and John
L’Heureux.
Do you have any other works published and how do
they compare genre/style wise with your current work?
My first published
short story was “Letters,” and it was a serial published in my high school
newspaper. It was popular with my peers, and it was about a lonely overweight
high school outcast whose best friend snagged the high school “It” boy and
subsequently abandoned her. In college, I published “Guilt” in The Comma Splice Literary Journal, and
it was much darker than “Letters” but it also focused on a female protagonist.
Those two stories are compiled in Realities,
my first collection of short stories, which is available on Amazon.
My second collection of
short stories, The Other Side, had
fantastical elements and explored loss and death. Hell’s Game extrapolates on some of the themes from those two
collections.
Do you have any current writing projects? Can you
tell us a bit about them?
I’ve been working on
ideas for my next book, but at the moment, I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to
do. However, I am interested in adapting Hell’s
Game into a screenplay, so hopefully something will happen there!
About the Author
Teresa Lo is a writer living in Los Angeles. She
is currently a cast member on Just Seen It,
and she has contributed to Examiner.com, Yahoo.com, The Hollywood Reporter, The
University Daily Kansan, and the USC School of Cinematic Arts website.
She has published two books of short stories, and she has won various
screenwriting awards. Most recently, she released the YA horror e-book, HELL’S
GAME. She is a member of the international Horror Writers
Association, and she is the Social Media Chair of USC’s Women of Cinematic Arts.
Thank you, Teresa, for stopping by!
If you are interested in picking up a copy of Hell's Game you can buy the ebook from Amazon for only $0.99!
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