Did you ever have a teacher you were afraid of?
I did.
I had more than one, in fact, but then again, I went to Catholic schools when it was still acceptable to strike a child with a ruler.
No, not on the hands. On the back of the head, or wherever the Sister felt such a blow would serve as the best educator.
There is an old schoolhouse near where I live. A small structure with a pair of doors in the front, one for girls and one for boys. There is a cemetery nearby, of course, and I can remember stories of how a schoolmaster would keep a switch near him to keep discipline foremost in the minds of his students.
These two pieces of information, the schoolmaster with the switch and the Sister with her ruler, joined together in my thoughts.
I wondered, what would it be like to have an intelligent, sadistic schoolmaster become a member of the Village’s dead community? How would Marcus react to a man who reveled in violence for the sheer joy of it?
As I wrote Brutal Lessons, I remembered my own childhood and the fear I had for the Sisters who taught me. This fear constructed and formed our schoolmaster, and the heavy handed way in which he delivers his punishments.
I want you to remember your own childhood, that sinking feeling in your stomach when the teacher called on you and you had no idea as to what the answer might be.
That’s what I did, and that fear guided me through this book.
So, come on, follow the path that fear left behind and see where it goes.
For the best reading experience, enjoy the Haunted Village series in the following order:
See you in the shadows,
Ron Ripley