1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE RULE OF THREE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When she comes to believe that seemingly unrelated tragedies share a sinister connection, a young woman must solve the mysterious urban legend known as the Rule of Three or be the next one to die.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The book has a deliberately ambiguous setting because of the way the story is told. Written as a journal, or “survival guide,” as one character calls it, there are no named locations or even dates. The book is a puzzle to solve, so a specific setting or location would be the antithesis to that.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely not! She is very troubled and fearing for her life, convinced she is doomed to die because of the Rule of Three. When people keep dying around her, I would want to stay as far away from her as possible.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Unstable, terrified, and determined.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that apophenia is the tendency to make connections between unrelated events. Just because something seems like a pattern doesn’t mean it’s anything more than coincidence. But, as in The Rule of Three, if that pattern suggests you are going to die too, can you bet your life it’s only apophenia?
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do both. By the time I finish a first draft, individual components of it have been edited many times over. However, once it’s been read by an agent or editor, that’s when the real editing begins.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m not exactly a foodie, but I’m a sucker for popcorn. I’ve made myself feel sick more than a few times because I can’t stop eating them once I’ve started.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have a dedicated office at home that is never tidy for some reason I cannot fathom. Because I tend to get cabin fever, I generally prefer to write away from home. Coffee shops are my favorite places to write in general. That said, it’s hard to beat a park bench on a nice day.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I’m lucky enough, so it’s hard to pick just one. However, because his latest book has recently come out and is simply sensational, I’ll go with Chris Whitaker. He’s been through a lot of dark times, but he’s always smiling, always happy, and he is incredibly supportive of other authors.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
The Chimp Paradox is an incredibly insightful self-help book that helped me understand how our brains work. Written by a neuroscientist, it does a tremendous job of explaining why we sometimes say things we don’t mean or act in ways that we wish we hadn’t. In short, we have more than one mind and those minds want and need different things, and invariably are often in conflict with one another.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It’s probably better that you ask my neighbors since my celebratory roars were heard far and wide.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
This varies massively and is dependent on what I’m currently writing. I try not to read anything similar to my current project as I find that distracting to the creative process. So, when writing a spooky, twisty, mystery like The Rule of Three, I’ll prefer something that couldn’t be more different such as The Road.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
The Usual Suspects. It’s the only movie I’ve ever finished watching and then immediately watched a second time.
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer. Sunshine just makes everything better.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I tend to forget it’s my birthday because I stopped caring the day I could legally buy beer in a pub, so by the time someone wishes me happy birthday, it’s probably too late to actually celebrate.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m currently watching House of the Dragon and love it, although I think the first season was probably better than the second. The hype around Game of Thrones passed me by at the time but I do love a bit of fantasy and the dragons in the show are, naturally, awesome.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
As I’ve already said, I’m not really a foodie. But pizza is life.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
What is this mystical free time you speak of and where can I find it?
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’ve not long finished the first draft of my next novel, tentatively titled The Lightning Girl. I’m currently awaiting judgement from my publisher so I imagine next for me will be lots of editing!
A Novel
The Whisper Man meets the paranoia of The Blair Witch Project in this terrifying suspense thriller about an urban legend coming true.
That’s the one. That’s the girl who’s going to die.
I didn’t believe in the Rule of Three. Not at first. It was just one of those urban myths you hear about all the time. A story my boyfriend told me about a girl cursed by the number three. A girl whose parents had killed themselves after her sibling had died in an accident. Which meant that she was doomed to die too because that’s the Rule of Three.
Bad things always happen in threes, they say, and they are right. Because it’s happening again.
But this time the curse is coming for me. And worst of all?
It’s coming for you, too.
Horror | Thriller Serial Killer [Atria / Emily Bestler, On Sale: August 6, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781668047699 / eISBN: 9781668047712]
Sam Ripley is a pseudonym for a bestselling thriller author from the United Kingdom who has sold over a million copies internationally.
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