#BlogTour Mask Beneath Her Face by @rafaelchandler #GuestPost #horror #slasher #giveaway @shanannigans81

Hello folks, as you may remember, not so long ago I had the pleasure… the utmost pleasure, indeed, to read this wicked slasher horror- Mask Beneath Her Face by Rafael Chandler. If you missed my review, please do check it out HERE… This cracking book is now on tour and I am very pleased to host a stop for which Rafael kindly agreed to write a very interesting guest post… Without further ado… Enjoy!!!  I also recommend trying out your bookluck in the giveaway below! 😉 Liz

Hi there! I’m Rafael Chandler. I’m the author of Mask Beneath Her Face, a horror novel inspired by the slasher movies of the 1980s.

When writing the book, I also drew inspiration from Peruvian culture; as I get older, I grow more interested in my ancestors. My mother’s from Peru, but I don’t know much about my Peruvian family. I met my grandmother once when I was very small, but I don’t remember her. I visited Lima over 40 years ago, and I can’t remember that either. Spanish was my first language, but I don’t speak it as well as I used to.

Lately, I’ve been studying the Incas, and their antecedents, the Moche. I’m fascinated by their myths and legends. So is one of the main characters in Mask Beneath Her Face: Cristina Vargas. Like me, Cris is a Peruvian-American who doesn’t feel a connection to any particular culture; she spends her time daydreaming about the supernatural.

In the novel, Cris visits a museum to learn about old gods, and learns about the Moche. Though I couldn’t find any museums in my area with exhibits about the Moche, I did read a great deal about them.

The Moche flourished in what is present-day Peru, from roughly 100 CE to 700 CE. They left behind gorgeous artwork electroplated with gold and silver, massive aqueducts that are still used centuries later, and giant pyramids constructed with millions of bricks. They also created gorgeous illustrations of a dark god known only as El Degollador (“The Decapitator”). This deity, an eight-limbed spider-monster with the fangs of a jaguar, was invariably depicted gripping a bloody blade and a severed head.

Irrigation was a source of prosperity for the Moche, which may explain why their artwork also shows the passage of bodily fluids. Their pottery was illustrated with images of victims with throats slit and heads hacked off; the flowing blood was caught in various vessels.

Anthropologists have studied various remains, and have concluded that these were accurate representations: the sacrificial rites of the Moche did include decapitation, as well as the flaying of skin.

Yes, their arachnid god might strike us as evil, but the Moche revered spiders, because spiders devour the insects that harm crops.

Tragically, the Moche were wiped out. Climate change did them in: 30 years of rain, followed by 30 years of drought. Pushed to the brink by hunger and deprivation, their civilisation tore itself in a bloody civil war.

As for El Degollador, the spider god, what became of it? Well, you’ll have to read the novel to find out. Cristina Vargas knows the answer…

Thank you, Rafael, for this interesting guest post! It is always most intriguing to find out where authors find their inspiration from and in this case, I have to say, I love how the details surrounding El Degollador have been used in the story. If I hadn’t already read Mask Beneath Her Face, I would definitely want to read it now 😉 Liz

Release Date: October 14, 2017

During the 1980s, slashers terrorized America. With machetes and masks, these unstoppable killers stalked college campuses, quiet suburbs, and lakeside cabins.

Thirty years ago, Bobbi Metzger survived a massacre at her 16th birthday party. She spent decades putting her life back together.

Tonight, Bobbi will face a new killer: a high-tech slasher hell-bent on opening the doorway to an abyss of unimaginable horror.

How long can Bobbi survive this nightmare? What will she do to protect the people she loves? How much blood is she willing to spill?

For fans of 80’s slasher flicks like Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp!

Warning: This book contains graphic violence and gore. Not for the faint of heart!

Mask Beneath Her Face on Goodreads¦ Amazon UK ¦ USA

About the Author

Rafael Chandler writes novels (Hexcommunicated, The Astounding Antagonists), video games (SOCOM 4, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, MAG), and tabletop role-playing games (Teratic Tome, Lusus Naturae). He’s a metalhead, a kaijuphile, and a gorehound.

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