Meghan: Hi, Lynn. Welcome to Meghan’s HAUNTED House of Books. It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here today. What is your favorite part of Halloween?
Lynn: Halloween is a family favorite. I love the delicious spooky aura, the costumes, and the candy.
Meghan: Do you get scared easily?
Lynn: No
Meghan: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and why?
Lynn: The Haunting of Hill House – both versions, the oldest and the newest – because of the dark threatening presence that is unexplained and utterly malevolent.
Meghan: Which horror movie murder did you find the most disturbing?
Lynn: The original movie for Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The scene where the hero gets in the truck and finds all the people pods and realizes what has really been going on haunts me to this day.
Meghan: Is there a horror movie you refused to watch because the commercials scared you too much?
Lynn: No, I’m brave. If the story intrigues me, nothing will stop me from watching it.
Meghan: If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
Lynn: A vampire movie set in turn of the century Paris.
Meghan: If you were stuck as the protagonist in any horror movie, which would you choose?
Lynn: The Conjuring so I could throw myself on the mercy of Ed and Lorraine Warren to get me out of the mess I was in.
Meghan: What is your all-time favorite scary monster or creature of the night?
Lynn: I always loved Barnabus Collins of Dark Shadows which was a thing when I was a little girl.
Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Lynn: Trick or Treat.
Meghan: What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed song?
Lynn: Ghostbusters
Meghan: Which horror novel unsettled you the most?
Lynn: The Haunting of Hill House
Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Lynn: When I wrote The Piper, I was living in a haunted house and so all the stuff in the book I did not have to make up. That is not as good an idea as it sounds. We moved.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Lynn: I love those mothman appearances that happened before the bridge collapsed and all o those people died. So mysterious.
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Lynn: The true life events behind The Conjuring.
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Lynn: Shotgun
Meghan: Now let’s have some fun. Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf?
Lynn: Vampire
Meghan: Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion?
Lynn: I can run faster than a zombie.
Meghan: Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard?
Lynn: I’ll take a glass of red wine instead.
Meghan: Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week?
Lynn: Poltergeist
Meghan: Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese?
Lynn: Melon
Meghan: Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs?
Lynn: Pass on both. I have standards.
Boo-graphy: Lynn Hightower grew up in Kentucky, and graduated from the University of Kentucky, where she studied creative writing with Wendell Berry and earned a degree in Journalism. She also teaches novel writing in the Writer’s Program at UCLA. Survival jobs include writing television commercials, catering waitress, and bartender for one day.
Her books have been included in the New York Times List of Notable Books, the London Times Bestseller List, and the W.H. Smith Fresh Talent Awards. She has received the Shamus Award, and been nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award, the Kentucky Librarians First Choice Award, and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Hightower’s books have been published in numerous foreign countries, including Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Israel and The Netherlands.
Hightower spends ridiculous amounts of time curled up reading, but also enjoys small sports cars and tame horses. She is married to The Frenchman, writes full time, shares an office with her Belgian Shepherd, Leo the Lion, plays bad but fierce tennis, loves to dance and is learning to Tango.
Hightower enjoys canoeing and is witty after two glasses of wine. She has studied French and Italian, but is only fluent in Southern.
Hightower is a Kentucky native, and lives in a small Victorian cottage with a writing parlor.
Noah Archer is a renowned neurosurgeon, with an impressive success record. He has a happy home, with his beloved wife Moira, their two adopted sons, and a dog who’s a very good girl.
But Noah keeps a dark secret, shared only with his old friend Father Perry Cavanaugh. When he was just a boy, he was possessed by a demon – and it was only thanks to the exorcist priest that he survived.
Now, Noah works at the cutting edge of medical science and religion, researching the effects of spirituality on the brain. His current research study – The Enlightenment Project – promises breakthrough treatments for depression, addiction and mental illness, and preliminary results are astounding.
But after a late-night emergency surgery, Noah returns to his office to find Father Perry waiting for him, with a terrible warning. The Enlightenment Project may not be closing the door to the darkness at all . . . but instead letting it in.
Demonic possession is now a recognized psychiatric condition, and the number of exorcist priests in the US has quadrupled in the last decade. As well as being a thrilling read, THE ENLIGHTENMENT PROJECT is an intelligent and fascinating view into the complex worlds of both the medical and the supernatural.
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