Sometimes ‘What Scares Authors?’ is best left……unsaid…..Lynne Reeves
I’m afraid to tell you what scares me. You see, I’ve done it before. I’ve told trusted friends about my phobia only to be teased and tormented.
I’m no stranger to the dark emotions. I write domestic suspense novels about complicated grief, about addiction, inherited trauma and family violence. Topics society deems undiscussable. I write to learn what I think about ineffable social and relationship issues, going where others fear to tread. Though I’ve been known to craft novel endings that land on hope. But this thing I can’t tell you—that I will never write about—involves an aversion so extreme and irrational, I can’t take the risk you’ll use it to frighten me.
Let’s just say horror novels aren’t my cup of tea. Ditto scary movies. Halloween is a fun night for little children dressed as firefighters and kitty cats. And who doesn’t like candy? But fright nights of any kind? Not for me. I like to control things. Scan my environment to be sure I’m safe. And get up and go if I’m not.
So I won’t be telling you what scares me, this Halloween or any other. What I will do is ask you to do me a favor. If someone you care about has a phobia and trusts you enough to disclose it, don’t use it to frighten them. A clown* may pose little or no real danger to you, but it might be heartstoppingly, terrifying to the person you love. Respect the fear and the person’s response to it. Fall back to compassion. Be kind.
*PS—My phobia isn’t clowns.
Here’s a look at Lynn’s latest release DARK RIVERS TO CROSS:
As an internationally recognized school and family counselor for more than three decades, Lynne Reeves (Griffin) has witnessed first-hand how adverse childhood experiences and trauma can profoundly impact families, even many years after they occur. She explores these consequences in her upcoming thriller, DARK RIVERS TO CROSS, which Crooked Lane Books will publish on November 8, 2022. This emotionally charged novel of domestic suspense sensitively addresses adoption, inherited trauma, and the secrets parents shield their children from in hopes of protecting them from truth’s painful realities.
Lena Blackwell has kept her sons sheltered and close by her side for over two decades, working and living at their successful Maine river lodge. She’s raised them to be kind, hard-working, and caring young men—and she’s determined that they never learn of their true origin story, even though that’s meant erasing every connection she has to her own past. When Lena’s son Jonah insists on searching for his biological family, she’s resolved to stop him from discovering what is certain to shatter the peaceful life she’s built for him and his brother. Luke wants nothing to do with the search, but he recognizes that his brother will never give up and feels caught between the devastating secret his mother is desperate to hide and the hard truths his brother is determined to expose. When friends from their mother’s past unexpectedly arrive at the lodge, a series of events is put into motion that Lena is unable to halt, jeopardizing the very relationships she’s lied to protect and forcing her to sacrifice everything, perhaps even her life, to protect her sons.
“In my own life, and in my work as a writer and counselor, I’m endlessly fascinated by the extraordinary ways family trauma changes relationships, creating disparity between what we want for ourselves and the ones we love, and what we will do to look away from the sorrow that darkens our lives,” Lynne explains. “For many of us, the trauma inheritance shapes our lives in far reaching ways, yet it is a legacy we cannot escape but must endure.” She adds, “Inhabiting fictional narratives offers a path toward the kind of emotional resilience that heals.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lynne Reeves Griffin is an internationally recognized family counselor, public speaker, teacher and writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work has been published in Parents, Psychology Today, Solstice Literary Magazine, Chautauqua Journal, Craft Literary, Fiction Writers Review, Brain, Child, Your Teen, and many other outlets. She’s a go-to expert to discuss contemporary family life and preventive mental health in the media, with appearances that include WBUR Radio’s Morning Edition and WCVB’s Chronicle.
Writing as Lynne Griffin, she is the author of the familyfocused novels, Life without Summer (St. Martin’s Press), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster), and Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books). As Lynne Reeves, she writes novels of domestic suspense, including The Dangers of an Ordinary Night (Crooked Lane Books; November 2021), which The New York Times calls “a sensitive examination of a dysfunctional family and a full-of-secrets community that claims to be seeking the truth.”
Her latest thriller, DARK RIVERS TO CROSS, will be published by Crooked Lane Books in November 2022. Lynne is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime National and Sisters in Crime New England. Visit her website: www.lynnegriffin.com, Instagram: @lynnereevesgriffin, Twitter: @Lynne_Griffin.
