Hometown Horror - A Guest Post by Russell James

This month, Fabulous Florida Writers is pleased to welcome guest blogger Russell James. James is the author of nail-biting thrillers, science fiction novels, the Grant Coleman adventure series, and several short story collections. His latest book, Playing Card Killer, was released on Valentine's Day. James was our featured author on August 1, 2017.

This month, I might lose a lot of friends. I’m setting serial killer loose on Tampa.

My novel that released on February 14^th is called The Playing Card Killer. In it, someone is killing women around Tampa Bay. The locations are always different, the women share no commonalities, the timing is irregular. All that ties them together is the method of execution, a velvet rope, and a playing card left with the corpse. Brian Sheridan keeps dreaming about the killings. But he’s dreaming about them before they make the news. He’s afraid only the killer could do that.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no axe to grind. I love Tampa. So why saddle the city with hosting a psycho killer? Well, it’s big enough for the killer to blend into, and all the city’s varying locations are fantastic backdrops for each scene, which makes the writing more fun. Anyone familiar with the city will recognize plenty of the spots the killer frequents, or a location just like them.

This is the second time Florida has starred in one of my novels. In Black Magic, I turned an evil sorcerer loose on South Florida. He gives the “gift” of magic to a bunch of kids, and they unleash it to destroy their sleepy Everglades town. Parents and townspeople have to band together to get control of it all before the sorcerer sends a hurricane into the state. A trip to Everglades National Park inspired that story.

And it’s not over yet. Later this year a horror adventure set in Dry Tortugas National Park is scheduled for release. In a throwback to 1950s creature features, brave park rangers have to save historic Fort Jefferson off of Key West from an attack by giant crabs.

I am so lucky to live in Florida, surrounded by inspiring settings. I mean, if I lived in Siberia, what would I write about? All this fictional Florida terror won’t be promoted by any tourist boards, but readers certainly seem to like it. If you are up for a scary thriller, give the Playing Card Killer a try. And then don’t let it keep you from visiting wonderful Tampa.

For more information, visit James' website at www.russellrjames.com, follow him on Twitter @RRJames14, or say hello at rrj@russellrjames.com.

His books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. or wherever good books are sold.