Lori Titus is the owner of Flashes in the Dark, a wonderful ezine of Horror Flashes in Daily Doses, and submissions editor for Sonar4 ezine. She has a book that is available for preorder right now at Sonar4 publications, entitled, Green Water Lullaby (Short Story Collection). We wanted to talk to her about her new book.

Lori, where did the title of the book come from, I love Green Water Lullaby and would be interested in the process of naming the book.

I actually thought about naming the book Chrysalis, since it's the name of the town where all the events take place. But as I read through the stories, I noticed how they all made reference to water. One of the strongest images is the lake and its “green water”. I chose the word “lullaby” because it evokes memories of being sang to or told stories by a loved one.

Who did the cover art; it's very colorful and 'today.'

The cover art was done by the talented group of artists at Sonar.

Tell us a bit about what the book is about, I know it's a collection of five horror stories.

Each of these stories has an element of a love story about it. There are stories about a pair of siblings, school friends, a married couple, etc. But at is heart the stories are about the relationships between the people of this town, and how they are affected by different paranormal experiences. There are ghosts, werewolves, and other creatures.

All of the stories take place in the fictional town of Chrysalis, South Carolina, how did you come about this fictional town, is it based on where have lived, or visited before?

I lived in Columbia, South Carolina from the time I was seven years old until I was nine. Prior to that, I had never lived outside California. Columbia was my first experience living someplace where the forest was actually within walking distance from my home. The differences in the color of the sky, the water, and the trees all made a huge impression on me.

It was beautiful but frightening to me at the same time.

I loved the woods, but I was scared of snakes, and there was occasional gossip about wolves roaming through them. I was accustomed to earthquakes, but hurricanes were scary. As luck would have it, a pretty bad one hit the state only a few weeks after we moved there, though not the city where I lived.

Hopefully, some of that childhood wonder has found its way into my writing.

How long did it take you to write this book?

It was written over a period of five months, between writing episodes for The Marradith Ryder Series . At first, I wasn't even thinking of it as a book, but just as a collection of stories for my own entertainment. I was writing two or three episodes of Marradith every week, but I made it a priority to write and set aside one short story a month. The title story took the longest, but the experiment as a whole worked out well.

What was your favorite part of writing the book?

I enjoyed writing all these stories. It's hard to pinpoint any one moment, but I am always happy when the vision I have in mind is close to what I have on paper. That usually happens a little at a time, as I write and re-write.

How did you decide to go with the growing popular ebook format?

Since many of my short stories have been published on the internet, it seemed a sensible choice to market my stories in an ebook format that would be easily accessible to readers that are already familiar with my work. Publishing in ebook form also allows me to retain more control over my work, and get it out to readers in a short span of time.

How did you go about finding an editor, or did you just automatically go to Sonar4 first?

I actually did go through a traditional publisher first. I was able to secure a contract, but I found that as a new writer, very little attention was given to my project. The response with Sonar4 has been completely the opposite.

Are you in the process of writing more books and will there be a sequel to this one?

I have several projects going on. The first online novel of Marradith Ryder is complete,

and I have started on a second . Meanwhile I have several short stories going, and

three stories that I intend to develop into novels, including one based on Brotherhood,

which is one of the stories in Green Water Lullaby .

What advice would you give to others who are at this moment working on book manuscripts?

My advice is just to stick with it. I think many writers let the story in their head get in the way with the actual story that they write. If something doesn't fit, it can be changed, or gotten rid of. Don't get stuck on nuances rather than working on the story as a whole.

I also suggest that writers keep every story idea that they can, written down somewhere.

Often these bits of story ideas come in handy later. You may not know exactly how to bring a certain story to life now, but with time and distance an idea you had years ago can be fashioned into something new and terrific.