Lamentation

Between August, 2007 and May, 2012, I taught high school English in Bradford, Arkansas.  Bradford is a small, rural community with a population of (maybe) 800 people. I enjoyed the job and learned a lot from it. Not to sound too corny or cliched, but the kids probably taught me more than I taught them. Certainly, the job influenced my perspective on many issues-- like the importance of funding public education.... But anyway.

The job, in a roundabout way, inspired my new novel Lamentation.  Particularly the setting.

Bradford's original high school building has been demolished and replaced....  But it was there for four of my five years, and in many ways, it lives on (abandoned second floor and all) as the Rohs Building in Lamentation.

Much like Jake Boyd, my novel's protagonist, I was responsible for supervising a small group of alternative school kids.  For an entire school year, every school day, I went up to the old Bradford High School building's second floor... and a few times, as I proceeded down that dim and damp hallway, it occurred to me: this place could so easily be haunted.

But the building, at that point, was not crying out to be included in a horror novel. I was working on other things, and I suppose I filed away the thought.... A few years later, after I'd quit teaching and was making my way through law school, that file folder started twitching and itching,  and when I began writing, that old Bradford building came back to me in crystal clear high definition.

Funny, the way influences work. Sometimes you recognize them, sometimes you don't. Sometimes the things you wish so badly to write about never work out-- and then a seemingly insignificant memory bubbles up, turns into a geyser, and floods your imagination.

I'm proud of Lamentation. As I state in the note at the end of the book, I grew very fond of the characters, and I enjoyed reliving my years as a teacher. And so, here's a thanks to the Bradford community and everybody I was blessed to meet, work for, and work with. The good in Lamentation is very much inspired by you (and your building).

The evil? Trust me, that's 100% from my imagination-- and I hope it scares the hell out of you.