Day 280 - Q&A with Author Lee Moylan (& GIVEAWAY!)

Please welcome author Lee Moylan to mis(h)takes!! She's agreed to answer a few questions about her book ONCE UPON A NIGHTMARE, which I reviewed yesterday.

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A little background info before we go on:


Lee Moylan is a fiction writer with a BS degree in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She lives outside of Chicago in the Northwest suburbs with her three children.

Besides a fascination with biology and chemistry, she has a passion for the art of forensics. She has studied many books on the subject as well as those on serial killers. Instead of pursuing a career in forensic chemistry, she decided to raise a family and turn her intellectual and creative talents to the writing of haunting fiction.

Her desire to comprehend the almost incomprehensible has driven her to create a frighteningly believable tale that explores the depths a deranged mind can go. The murderer of Once Upon a Nightmare combines elements of actual criminals.

She has completed her second novel, Fatal Charade, and is currently working on her third.


You can visit her website here.

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Me: Can you describe what ONCE UPON A NIGHTMARE is about?

Lee: Once Upon a Nightmare is a graphic and disturbing story about two women who share a kind of psychic bond and the sadistic serial killer that has targeted them. Despite both women having an ability to 'sense' bad things on the horizon, neither one knows the who, what, where or when. The killer watches them - is near enough to touch them - yet they don't know who he is. As the story unfolds, we get a glimpse inside the killer's mind - hear the dark, twisted thoughts that drive him. But only as he gets closer to his ultimate goal, Sara Bishop, do we get a real taste of the true evil within...

Me: I’ve been dying to know what your inspiration was for ONCE UPON A NIGHTMARE.

Lee: Well, it actually was a nightmare... Probably the worst one I've ever had. In the dream, I awoke to the sight of blood all around my bedroom. It was on the walls, the floor... And then I saw body parts. It was quite horrific. I really thought I was awake. I thought someone had just been murdered in my house! But as I got up to call for help, I realized I was moving without my body, sort of floating around. That's when I looked back at the bed and saw why I was able to move about so freely... I had been the victim. Before the dream ended and I truly awoke, I was trying to communicate with my closest friend. I was trying to get her to call the police, keep my husband and kids from finding me like that and lastly, to find the person who had done it. So, the nightmare was born...

Me: I understand that you have a degree in biochemistry but a passion for forensic science. Did your education and love for forensics help in writing the book?

Lee: Oh, absolutely! I've studied every part of science I could from physical to behavioral to life sciences. I wanted to be a profiler before anyone even knew what that was! So I just took all the information I've been storing for years and put it in my characters' heads...

Me: Did you have to do any additional research?

Lee: No, I guess you could say I've been researching this material since I was a teenager. That was the first time I ever heard the words 'serial killer'. His name was John Wayne Gacy, and he lived a few towns away from me. I never got over seeing those young men's faces and the horrors he committed against them. That was when I began my quest. I just wanted the answer... Why?

Me: What do you think the hardest part about writing your novel was?

Lee: Well writing a novel over a two-year period is difficult because the characters live with you the entire time... (At least that's how it is for me) But the worst thing was writing those truly disturbing scenes. In order to write them, I had to put myself into the killer's mind as well as the victim's. It was brutal. I was having a hard time dissociating from the victims and had to take frequent breaks to get out of those scenes.

Me: Are you currently working on anything?

Lee: Yes, thanks to my most recent nightmare, it's another suspense/thriller. I love the twist in this one! And hopefully my second book, Fatal Charade, will be released next year.

Me: Who are some of your favorite authors and books?

Lee: Oh, I love Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, James Patterson, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald... Favorite books? Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, loved the creepiness of Pet Semetery, and of course, anything by Poe!

Me: If you could write a book about absolutely anything with another author, who would you choose and what would it be about?

Lee: Hands down, Stephen King, and it would have to be a ghost story, the most haunting one ever! (Hey, if we're gonna dream...)

Me: Thank you so much for taking the time out to answer some questions. I really enjoyed your book and I’m looking forward to reading more of your work.

Lee: Thank you for reviewing it! I hope you had at least a few breathless moments!

Lee's Question for you!

Have you ever 'sensed' anything before it happened? If so, what was it?

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And now for the GIVEAWAY!

Lee has generously offered 1 signed copy to one of my readers! There is no mailing restrictions so everyone is welcome to enter =)

To enter:

-Simply leave a comment expressing you'd like to win the book. You must leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win - No email = No entry!

For extra entries (you must leave comments telling me you've done so or they will not count.)

+1 for answering Lee's question above!
+1 for commenting on my review here!(<--click the link and post comment there)

+2 for linking to this contest (blog posts, sidebars, twitter, facebook, etc all count - leave a link or you won't get the extra entries)

+2 for becoming a follower of the blog (if you currently follow just mention it below)

The deadline is Sunday, September 27th. One winner will be chosen and announced September 28th. I will email them and they will have 3 days to contact me back with their information.

CONTEST CLOSED