JL Oiler, Interview by Michelle M. Pillow (Originally published in Paranormal Underground Magazine)

JL Oiler, Interview
by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com

Since first being published in 2010, Paranormal Romance Author JL Oiler has published over a dozen books. She resides in the mountains of West Virginia where sometimes what seems paranormal is actually normal. An avid reader, it is not unusual for her to devour 1-2 good books in an evening. Her book, Dead Force Rising, releases in ebook and can be found at All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand, and Amazon.

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Q: In your book, Dead Force Rising you delve into the world of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and ghouls. What inspired you?

JL: I have always had a love for all things paranormal and it is my preferred genre but the idea for this story is actually credited to my five year old son who while watching the SyFy channel with me said that he would never worry about the monsters because he was going to be an army vampire.

Q: When world building, did you base your story off of known myths throughout history?

JL: I like to find the mystery in the everyday world so most my stories are based off real life places. However, I love to find little details of the explained in history and play upon them so you never know when a detail about people or places that simply vanished or died mysteriously will pop up.

Q: What myths or legends inspired you?

JL: I adore all the ancient Greek, Roman, Norse, Sumerian gods/goddesses as well as all the critters that pop up under them. I am also currently working on a piece, which involved the 4 horseman and a play off the whole heaven/hell at war theme.

Q: Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?

JL: We are creatures of habit and this habit is not being able to resist a great mystery and delve into the unknown. After all that’s how we ended up on the moon and in the farther reaches of our planet. We just can’t help but want to know what’s hiding in the dark.

Q: Do you have any paranormal pet projects?

JL: I currently do some blogging on my author site (www.joiler.weebly.com) and send out a quarterly newsletter (sign up at my site). However, in reality I enjoy letting others put together all the blog hops, radio shows, and groups. I then like to hop about the net and visit them all. This lets me concentrate on my writing more.

Q: What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?

JL: TV-Ghost Hunter
Movie – Underworld (all of them) and the Fifth Element
Books – Other than my own, I love Kelsey Coles Immortals After Dark Series

Q: Do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you a skeptic?

JL: I believe there is a lot of things in this world that cannot be explained and never will be!

Q: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?

JL: I was a paramedic for several years before returning to school to study education. One night while working midnight shift, I went looking in the kitchen fridge for something to snack on and felt someone shove me (two hands) hard head first into the fridge. I reared back madder then heck. Stomped to the dayroom and proceeded to chew my partner out (we were the only ones in building). He stared at me confused and then asked what I was talking about because he’d been sitting right there the entire time.

Q: What kind of paranormal creatures do you wish you could meet?

JL: I’d love to meet them all, as long as I was not on the menu for dinner. I think it would be exciting to see how each compares to what we envision or expect.

Q: If given the chance, would you become a shapeshifter?

JL: Though I feel any of them would be cool, a shifter would be the one that allowed you the rawest experiences. I could perhaps fly as a bird one moment, swim as a fish the next.

Q: How would you react if you came face to face with a ghost?

JL: I would like to think I would keep my wits about me enough to further explore the entity a bit more. However I would probably go running like a girl.

Q: What does the future hold for the characters of Dead Force Rising?

JL: I’m currently working on a sequel for the story which picks up where the first ended and focuses on one of secondary characters.

Q: Have you ever been to a psychic and/or a past life regression? What did they predict for you?

JL: I went to a tarot reader in the Tea Room while visiting New Orleans and she predicted that I would find a man who made me feel complete and move toward great success in my life in an area I had not expected but always dreamed of entering into. (I think she was right. Shortly after I met my husband and my first book was published.)

Q: Have you ever been abducted by aliens?

JL: No, they would probably become annoyed with all my questions.

You can learn more about JL Oiler and her books at www.joiler.weebly.com. Interview by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com