Multi-genre author J.R. Turner dabbles into many genres - romance, suspense, character-driven action, horror, and now young adult. Her new upcoming series, Extreme Haunting, soon from Echelon Press, features a smart, tomboy skater heroine out to fight evil. In this interview, Turner talks about the first novel in the series, DDF: Dead Friends Forever, her love for the supernatural, her favorite authors, and about violence in young adult books.

Thanks for being here today, J.R. Why don't you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and the kind of fiction you write?

I write character-driven action, suspense, horror and romance - and many times a combination. Right now, I just completed my first YA Horror novel and I found the ride thrilling. As a huge fan of horror and action adventure movies, I tend to gravitate toward that in my writing/reading. Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, Stephen King, Anne Rice--I read them over and over.

I wasn't always a writer, though. Ten years ago I gave up a 15-year career as a contract artist and craft instructor for the Milwaukee Public School system when we moved to central Wisconsin. Art, for me, was more of the family business, never my first passion. I could never capture the epic quality of the worlds alive in my imagination on a single canvas. When the moment came for me to make the choice between reestablishing myself as an artist, or exploring my writing in a more serious manner - I jumped at the chance.

Six or so years later, my first book was published and I've been enjoying writing novels ever since.

When did your love for the dark side of things begin?

When I was eight years old, I saw The Exorcist. I had never before, or ever since had such a reaction to a movie. It's one of those things you never forget and changes you forever. At that moment, I fell in love with the horror genre. From Full Moon productions to Class of Nuke'em High and other Troma films, of course all the Meyers, Jason, Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, then on to Japanese influenced films like The Ring and The Grudge. I absolutely adore Resident Evil, so I wouldn't want to leave that out. Hostel, Hostel II, the Rob Zombie movies like The Devil's Rejects, House of a Thousand Corpses, etc., are others I own.

When I was eleven, I discovered Stephen King's book, The Stand and fell in love with written horror. From there, I branched out into John Saul - who has many teenage proganists. Robert McCammon became another favorite, as well as Koontz, Rice, Douglas Clegg, and Clive Barker.