Jared Grace is my guest for #WriterWednesday — Just in time for the spooky season.

Something you’re really good at: Trivia, overthinking, and creating stories (humble brag)

Something you’re really bad at: Filtering out the things that I shouldn’t say to people who ask me dumb questions. Not the best trait when you currently work in customer service.

Favorite music or song: Coheed and Cambria. Hail, Claudio Sanchez!

Music that drives you crazy: Modern rap music. What happened to the amazing rap of the ‘90s and early 2000s?

Things you always put in your books: All of my books have a connection. Not to say they are all in the same world; they are not. But all of them reference the others in some brief way. It’s a fun little “Easter Egg” I like to do for my fans.

Things you never put in your books: I’d like to believe that I never put in an expected ending. There's usually a twist you hopefully don't see coming.

Things to say to an author: Keep writing. The world wants your stories.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Stop writing. You bore me.

Favorite places you’ve been: My favorite trip was to New Orleans. I wasn’t there nearly long enough. Ghosts, supernatural happenings, history, and don’t forget the food. How can you not love it?

Places you never want to go to again: This is such a cop out, but honestly I can’t think of anywhere I’d never want to go again. I believe you can find something interesting or culturally significant in most places. I also haven’t had the chance to travel nearly as much as I’d like, so beggars can’t be choosers.

Favorite books (or genre): My favorite book is The Stand, and in that vein, I’d buy anything by Stephen King. He’s my writing inspiration. And Matt Dinniman. If you haven’t read the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, you really need to ask yourself what you’re waiting for.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Generally speaking, I wouldn’t buy a romance novel. Not to take anything away from the great romance writers of the world, it’s just not my cup of tea.

Favorite things to do: My favorite things to do are go hiking, day trips where I just get in the car and drive to wherever my heart takes me, concerts, local fairs, any fall activities, museums, video games, and, of course, writing.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to avoid doing: In fairness, I have eaten bugs before. You know, those little packages some candy stores sell of crickets. They aren’t that bad. But, if I have to get an IV again, I probably wouldn’t run through the fire; I’d just stop and let it consume me. Needles and I are not friends, but IVs are the literal worst.

The first 8-track, record, cassette, or CD you ever bought: The first “Parental Advisory” CD I ever received was Montell Jordan. You know, the “This is how we do it” guy. My mother actually bought it for me, and I was stunned. She didn’t allow that sort of thing when I was younger. The first one I ever bought for myself might have been LL Cool J’s Mr. Smith album.

A type of music that’s not your cup of tea: I’m all for some harder rock music, but if it just sounds like you're burping loudly into the mic for 4 minutes because you’re doing your best caveman impression…miss me with that.

My favorite book as a child: I don’t know that I can identify a specific book that was my favorite, but I grew up loving those abridged classics that are for kids. I remember loving Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Tom Sawyer. But I would be remiss to not mention Goosebumps and Fear Street. They shaped my love of horror and the stories I love to this day.

A book I’ve read more than once: I was a high school history teacher for almost a decade, so I’ve read many books more than once. But I will say Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a favorite along with Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, and The Epic of Gilgamesh. I have to mention Stephen King again here, as well: Pet Semetary, Carrie, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon are some of the rereads in my collection.

Your favorite movie as a child: A favorite movie as a child would have to be The Great Outdoors, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. When I was a slightly older child, give me Grumpy Old Men. That movie is absolutely hilarious.

A TV show or movie that kept you awake at night as a kid (or as an adult): A friend of mine, Adam, showed me this movie Night Breed when I was way too young to deal with that nonsense. If you know the movie, you know the scene with a man cutting his face in the psychiatric hospital. I literally left his house and walked home.

About Jared

Jared Grace is the author of Isolation, his well-received debut horror novel that's already making waves as a finalist for the Indie Ink Awards 2024 in various categories. Born just south of Boston, Massachusetts, Jared now calls the scenic White Mountains of New Hampshire home, where he spends his days hiking trails, chasing his muse, researching paranormal events, and devouring books from his favorite authors across a wide range of genres. When he's not working on his next spine-tingling tale, Jared is a proud dad to his two incredible kids, Jordan and Wyatt, who keep him equally terrified and inspired (but in the best way). After a brief pit stop at Boston College, Jared earned not one but two bachelor's degrees-English and history-from Southern New Hampshire University in 2014. Jared's love for history, nature, travel, and the supernatural seeps into his stories, making them equal parts eerie, thought-provoking, and unputdownable. Whether he's digging into spooky folklore or climbing a mountain, Jared finds inspiration everywhere-especially in the things that go bump in the night.