A Behind the Scenes Look at THE FUNERAL CHICKEN by Alyanna Poe
An Excerpt from THE FUNERAL CHICKEN Chapter 2
A knock startled her, and Evie poked her head in.
“Sorry to bother you, but there are about five people waiting for the shower.”
Rebel nodded, and wrapped in a towel, she tip-toed across the cold floor to her room. She imagined her mother had to have made the same trip about a million times as she was raised in this home. From birth to her early twenties she lived there.
Stepping through the doorway, Rebel noticed the vanity’s stool was no longer beside the bed where she’d placed it the night before. Turning to peek behind the door, where the vanity sat, Rebel drew in a sharp breath.
A woman sat at her vanity, busying herself with a giant face powder puff. Ghastly white dust rained down around her face as she patted away. Where Rebel stood, she could see not her face nor her reflection, but she could feel a cool aura around the woman which pulled at Rebel’s senses. Like curling fingers, the cold enveloped her, pushing her further into the room and closing the door.
Rebel stood behind her, shivering.
Spinning on the creaking stool, the woman faced Rebel.
She stood, keeping her eyes closed, and with only the light of the vanity illuminating the room, the woman’s silhouette glowed. She appeared young, possibly even younger than Rebel. Her face and neck were whiter than her chest with powder, yet the exposed skin of her arms appeared almost translucent. Little purple veins twisted around her arms, pulsing visibly.
Rebel remained in place despite the thudding in her chest.
The woman gently grabbed Rebel by the shoulders and opened her eyes.
They glittered like the stars, emitting their own light, and much like the moon, pits of darkness interrupted these lights.
She leaned in close, whispering,
“You are not safe here.”
And like a wisp of cloud in the wind, she was gone.
Rebel stood alone in her mother’s room and tried to catch her breath.
“You’re still not dressed?” Evie said, cracking open the door an inch.
Rebel looked at the singular eye which peered at her and shook her head.
“You sick or something?” Evie closed the door half an inch. “You look really pale.”
Rebel shook her head again, speechless.
“Well, get dressed. I need your help in the kitchen.”
Who is the main character?
Rebel Fry, a 26 year old woman who has just gotten out of a bad relationship. She seeks refuge with her only living family that will take her: Aunt Evie and Uncle Steve. What you’ll notice about Rebel is: she’s a bit insecure. She’s got a lot of past trauma which affects how she perceives herself. I really wanted to get into the real deal consequences of PTSD and body dysmorphia with this book as someone who struggles every day. Rebel is a beautiful woman with sharp features and dark curly hair, but she doesn’t see herself that way. She tends to see herself through all of the names she has been called.
What inspired you to write THE FUNERAL CHICKEN?
There was a show I was watching which went over the history of words and they covered what a funeral chicken is. It’s a meal given to a grieving family, usually a casserole, which is meant to be easy to heat up so that the family can mourn and still put dinner on the table.
I knew I had to write something with that as the title, being that a lot of my titles are eating-related.
So, I challenged myself to *not* write a splatterpunk novel. I told myself that I would finally write something supernatural, because, believe it or not, it’s one of my favorite subgenres to read.
And so THE FUNERAL CHICKEN was born.
I also had gone through a hard breakup around the time this was written, and obviously a lot of the things Rebel calls herself in her own head are things I also struggle with.
Where is it set?
It’s set in a mansion in the hills of Oroville, California, which isn’t too far from where I live.
Think tall, golden yellow grass and sharp, dark oak trees. Think bright blue sky and heat dry enough to make you gasp for air. Think a house that can watch you, that can breathe, that can almost taste you.
And you’re inside The Funeral Chicken.
Who is this book for?
Fans of The Haunting of Hill House. That’s one of my favorite books, and, since I first read it when I was 14, it heavily impacted what I consider scary. I mean, I was so paranoid while reading it that I had to move away from the window I was sitting under one night.
I also hope fans of my style will like this book despite it not being as gross as MUKBANG or HOME or EATEN. It’s meant for those who couldn’t swallow MUKBANG. Those who like the eerie, the creepy, the macabre, rather than the gross-out.
I loooove a good ghost movie. The Sixth Sense. Winchester. The Conjuring.
Why are you choosing to self-publish THE FUNERAL CHICKEN?
I love having creative control. I think if I were to send this story to a publisher, they would hack it to pieces, and that’s *if* they even selected it. Traditional publishing takes a loooong time compared to self-publishing. Lots of waiting for agents to send rejections. I like having control over the interior, the cover, the story itself, AND all my marketing. I mean, I don’t know how a trad publisher would feel about my cannibalism videos…
If you want to read THE FUNERAL CHICKEN…
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And here are some photos!
This is what I'd like the font on the cover to look like. Definitely need to clean up the letters.
A doodle from my notebook of the front of Cristine Manor...
A doodle of Rebel Fry. I like to draw when I get writer's block.
A REALLY rough and early sketch of what I want the cover to look like :))
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And subscribe to my Patreon or buy the unedited eBook here: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2247656