Guest Blog: Jason McIntyre

Today I'd like to welcome a good Twitter-bud and amazing writer, Jason McIntyre. I've had the pleasure of reading some of his work and let me just say, I wasn't disappointed. I have BLED and can't wait to devour it. Okay, I'll be quiet and let Jason do the rest of the talking . . . make sure to leave him a comment!

Hot Blood: My new book ‘Bled’ turns up the heat

What is it about scary stories in the summer?

I’ve written my share of books and shorts that take place in the icy vastness
of a desolate winter but if we think back on our childhoods of watching movies and reading books, so many of the suspenseful and horrific ones take place on a hot summer’s night. Or out at the lake, in the woods, even in an inner city neighborhood during a heat wave.

I wonder if it goes back to the idea that we often step out of our routine -- and thus our comfort zone -- during summer holidays from school and work. We try new things, go new places. It’s a time for escape, but also for being confronted with some unusual things -- strangers or ideas or locations that might be totally new for us.

Bled takes place across the span of a hot summer in a beach town called Dovetail Cove. It starts on the May long weekend and rattles its way to conclusion in the blazing heat of an un-air-conditioned downtown cafe. A young woman named Teeny McLeod is a working class gal trying to make ends meet for her family. For Teeny, there won’t be many days in the hot sun improving her tan. She won’t be drinking at the pubs with friends. She’ll be fending of the advances of lazy office workers who come in to stare at her legs and make cracks about how they take their coffee.

Does the heat add to the tension? Or to the confusion? Does the lazy lolling waves of cigarette smoke hanging in the air make the tale a tighter squeeze on the reader?

I hope so. Really I do. And I hope you’ll consider giving the story a read to discover whether it does or not, too. Remember, I love feedback from my readers. I hope you’ll get in on Bled!


Bled: About the Novella

She only wanted to leave. But he took that option from her. Now she wants it back.

Set on the same island as the reader favorite Shed, the latest literary suspense novella from bestselling author Jason McIntyre picks up the Dovetail Cove saga with this story of one lonely woman...trapped.

Tina McLeod is on the cusp of a new life. Extraordinary change is rare in her world but this newsflash means she can finally leave her small island town for good. No more pouring coffee for townsfolk in Main Street’s greasy spoon, no more living under the weight of her born-again mother. That is, until Frank Moort comes in for his usual lunch and dessert on an ordinary Friday in May.

Bled sees things turn backwards and upside down for each of them. Their encounter is prolonged and grotesque, the sort of thing splashing the covers of big city newspapers. Both are changed. And neither will come out clean on the other side.

A story about taking what’s not yours, Bled explores pushing back when you’ve been pushed too far. It paints in red the horrors from our most commonplace of surroundings: right out in the open where nothing can hide behind closed doors and shut mouths.

Bled: Teaser Trailer

Click HERE to view the trailer.

About the Author

Jason McIntyre has lived and worked in varied places across the globe. His writing also meanders from the pastoral to the garish, from the fantastical to the morbid. Vibrant characters and vivid surroundings stay with him and coalesce into novels and stories. Before his time as an editor, writer and communications professional, he spent several years as a graphic designer and commercial artist.

McIntyre's writing has been called darkly noir and sophisticated, styled after the likes of Chuck Palahniuk but with the pacing and mass appeal of Stephen King. The books tackle the family life subject matter of Jonathan Franzen but also eerie discoveries one might find in a Ray Bradbury story or those of Rod Serling.

Jason McIntyre’s books include the #1 Kindle Suspense, The Night Walk Men, Bestsellers On The Gathering Storm and Shed, plus the multi-layered coming-of-age literary suspense Thalo Blue.