A little bit too dead

It's Halloween this month, so naturally we're talking about DEATH! Eek!! Eenie, meanie, chili beanie, raise that zombie from the grave… or close your eyes, let go and reach for the light.

As an author of paranormal stories, you'd think I'd be all over the near death experience.

And I am. Sort of. I'm the first to admit I don't think the whole 'bright light at the end of the tunnel' thing means anything. I'm not a religious person. When I die, I'm not convinced I'm actually going anywhere. Most likely, I'll just… stop.

Then again, if the near-death thing happened to me, maybe I'd change my tune. There's a character in a Stephen King novel (I think it's Thinner) who says, "The definition of an a**hole is guy who doesn't believe what he's seeing." If I ever see that bright light? You can bet your fur I'll be running towards it.

Likewise, if one dark night, I get jumped in a greasy alley by a hungry bloodsucker and resurrected into a razor-fanged soldier for the hordes of the ravenous undead, you'd think I wouldn't be strutting around afterwards saying, "You know that whole vampire thing? Bollocks. Life after death? It's rubbish. Trust me."

Because denial only goes so far when it's actually happened to you.

Same with zombies. If civilization crashes to a halt, The Walking Dead style, I've got no illusions that I'll be among the survivors. With my luck? I'll probably be among the first to change into a rotting corpse who shambles around groaning and lusting for the flavor of warm living flesh. Urrrrrgh… and then, the joke will be firmly on me. No foolish nay-sayers will be able to claim the afterlife isn't real then, eh?

But until that happens, folks? Death is death, and—just like taxes and Justin Bieber—there ain't no escaping it. And if you do get a second chance? It's probably a scam.

My horror romance, Demon Chained, is about a dead guy named Tam. A murdered guy, in fact, who was a bad dude in life, so he got dragged straight to hell. Only he did a deal with a certain childish demon prince—yeah, alarm bells—so he could return, to walk the earth and avenge his own murder.

Nice plan, eh? Only Tam forgot to specify that he should come back alive. And blam! Back he goes into that body of his, the one with the bullet hole and the imminent decomposition problem. Cheers, Tam. Enjoy your day. He's about to learn the hard way that being dead – specifically, being undead, stuck halfway between life and whatever comes after – isn't all it’s cracked up to be.

Especially when he meets the girl of his dreams. Oyy. For a guy who used to have all the right moves? Talk about a body image problem.

But hey, romance is all about inner beauty, right? It's not what's outside, but what’s inside that counts. Tam's problem isn't being undead; it's his angry, vengeful heart. And if love can heal those wounds? Fixing a few physical ones should be a piece of cake.

So yeah. Halloween. Horror romance. Get some sweet un-death into you :) and if you should see that tunnel with the bright light shining down? Well, y'know. Why not?

xx
Erica
www.ericahayes.net