As a challenge and also for personal interest, I staked my literary claim in historical fiction. Rule #1 is that the primary setting is New Jersey and Rule #2 is that it has to take place in and around 1920. The Interwar Period in particular is an era that has been criminally under-utilized and absolutely rife with incredible characters and amazing events: explosions, mobsters, and even a giant elephant, my home state runs the gambit. We also have our very own cryptid: the Jersey Devil.
Research for my Words and Coffee podcast – where I talk about interesting history of the Garden State – goes hand in glove with my research for the books. Mostly, I search through old newspaper archives (This sounds like I’m spelunking in ancient library stacks… to clarify, the records are digital and I do this from the comfort of home…) but I’m also fond of the Images of America book series by Arcadia publishing.
A local publication called Weird NJ is a veritable trove of local lore, legends, and mysteries, and I will often use it as a starting point for topics to research.
One event during the summer of 1916 served as the inspiration for a young Peter Benchley, in which a series of attacks along the Jersey Shore was blamed on a shark. I mentioned the Jersey Devil already, but there are many stories of hauntings, ancient curiosities like Tripod Rock, and even UFO’s (sorry, the cool kids now say Unidentified Aerial Phenomena…). It was in this context that I thought: monsters.
During the time I was jotting down my first notes for what would become Luna’s Veil, I started getting into eclipses – or rather, my kids asked how an eclipse works and that sent me down the rabbit hole. There were all these accounts of how they were seen as ancient harbingers of doom and catastrophe – eclipses, that is. Not my children (although…) And I had this idea about a cosmic entity whose influence on Earth was tied to the cycles of the moon.
Rule #2 – had to be the 1920’s. Fortunately, there were several recorded events that worked for the book, and this actually helped to refine the scope of the plot. That’s how the main antagonist ended up being a soldier fighting for Austria-Hungary in 1917.
With my villain accounted for, I still needed the main protagonist. Pretty early on, I knew this was going to be an action-heavy story and wanted the MC to be a Marine, but I didn’t want to have another soldier from the European theater. Plus, there was Rule #1 to consider – it had to be set in New Jersey.
There’s another chapter in American history that often gets glossed over in the public school curriculum called The Banana Wars which involved US Marines doing their thing in Central and South America. From there, I immediately pictured a young man leaving South Jersey to enlist at the Philadelphia Naval Yard and thus, Lenny Burton was written.
Imposing restrictions is a really effective way of shaping the story. When anything can happen, it’s daunting for the writer and often leads to analysis paralysis. Worse yet, it’s boring. But clearly define what can’t happen, and all of a sudden the options are far more manageable. Better still, the characters are forced to invent creative solutions and that’s what engages us as readers. What’s great about the 1920’s as a setting is that a lot of the things we take for granted in the modern age are simply unavailable. That’s what I love; making up problems and figuring ways out of them.
As with my first two books, it was my enthusiasm for history – especially the local variety – that served as my primary inspiration. The record is full of amazing individuals living through extraordinary events. That’s what I hope to convey, and I hope that’s what readers take from it.
Title: Luna's Veil
Author: Wes Verde
Publication Date: June 29, 2024
Pages: 328
Genre: Horror
Leonard Burton wakes up to find his life in ruins. His wife is dead, and no one believes his story about what killed her – he’s not even sure he believes it himself. Now, in jail for the crime and with no friends, his prospects are bleak. That is, until he is rescued by Dr. Cecil Gainor, an enigmatic investigator and perhaps the only other man who knows what unnatural horrors are really at work.
Unfortunately, more questions arise when Cecil’s partner disappears while chasing the same dark forces responsible for the death of Lenny’s wife. The two men realize they must follow the trail themselves, or many other lives may be at risk.
What follows is a race against time to clear Lenny’s name and find the real killers before the full moon. The death and destruction that has already been suffered is nothing compared to what will occur beneath Luna’s Veil.
You can check out his book at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1LK45JH
A fan of nature, he spends as much time outside as possible.
His latest book is the horror/action novel, Luna’s Veil.
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