W5 with Dez Schwartz - GlennQuigley.com

Today in my series of five questions with authors, it’s DEZ SCHWARTZ!

Who is the star of your book?

Haunted Road Trip is the third book in The Dead Oaks, a YA LGBTQ Paranormal novella series. The series has two main characters, Jasper Jelinek and Wesley Shain. This installment focuses more heavily on Wesley (“Wes”), a theater kid with a passion for the paranormal, and the personal challenges he’s facing heading into college life.

What is your story about?

The Dead Oaks series is about a group of amateur teenage paranormal investigators and Haunted Road Trip is exactly what you’d expect; they take their passion for ghost-hunting on the road in an effort to visit some famous haunted locations in their home-state before they all have to head into the next phase of their lives.

When is it set?

This is a contemporary story set in the midst of summer; mostly at night.

Where is it set?

The Dead Oaks takes place in the fictional town of Hazelwood, CT. Haunted Road Trip visits several spooky locations which are loosely based on real-life haunted places in Connecticut. I chose Connecticut for this series because it is widely regarded as one of the most haunted states in America which gives me plenty of room to work with any ideas that pop into my imagination.

Why this story?

Haunted Road Trip deals with the pressure most of us feel to be successful. Unfortunately, sometimes we let our success be defined by societal or family expectations which can be overwhelming and stifling. This is a common, and important, struggle that teens face heading into adulthood and I felt it was necessary to explore that with Wesley’s character.

AUTHOR BIO

Dez Schwartz writes Dreampunk and LGBTQ Paranormal Fiction about dapper occultists, ghost hunters, and scheming supernaturals. Her Dreampunk series, ROAM, is now available through NineStar Press.

When she’s not writing, Dez likes to research the supernatural, draw, and take Disney trips.