Featuring Paranormal Fiction Author Whitney Metz

We are really excited to feature paranormal fiction author Whitney Metz. The following article was written by Whitney herself. It was an absolute pleasure to learn more about her series Black Magick and the real person behind the books that we love.

My name is Whitney Metz, and I am currently writing a Magical Realism series called, Black Magick. The first two books are now available from Amazon, and I am working on the third. The series follows Ben Black, a former skeptic, who suddenly finds himself having to navigate the world of the supernatural, in order to help his girlfriend, Carrie, who was dragged into another realm, while trying to communicate with the spirit world. Afraid that he will be blamed for Carrie’s disappearance, Ben is forced to go on the run, staying ahead of the police, while also tracking down people and information that could help him bring Carrie home.

During the ill-fated ghost hunting expedition, that led to Carrie’s disappearance, Ben is injured, and soon finds himself battling a demonic illness. He must travel across the country to find a healer, named Jacob Weston, to cure him of the disease. Jacob proves to be as much a teacher as a healer though, and guides Ben to an understanding of Nature Magick and the interconnectedness of all life. He also helps Ben to find truths about his own past that he had kept hidden, even from himself.

We travel with Ben, forward toward his goal of finding a way to help Carrie, and also backward into his memories of the two of them. In this way, we get to know Carrie, and can begin to stitch together the different pieces of her life, to truly understand what happened to her, and why. Carrie is an artist, and activist, and a truth-seeker. She is kind, beautiful, charismatic, and deeply loved by everyone who knows her. But there is also a darkness in her, something that Ben has only seen glimpses of, over the years. She doesn’t talk about her past, or her family, and she often lets her quest for excitement lead her into dangerous situations. It is this self-destructive tendency, and her unquenchable thirst for knowledge of the supernatural, that results in her tragic encounter with an evil entity that pulls her out of our reality.

I have been writing, in one way or another, my entire life. Even when I wasn’t trying to write, I always had stories playing out in my head, for as far back as I can remember. Until recently though, most of the writing I have done for the public, rather than just for my own entertainment, has been nonfiction. I’ve had various blogs over the years, which were predominantly just about my life, but also contained things like social commentary, discussions of animal rights issues, occasional product reviews, etc. I wrote poetry, some of which I actually performed in public on a couple of occasions, and published a book of poetry many years ago. I had an article about body image, within the animal rights movement published in The Book of T.O.F.U., and an autobiographical short story published by Gods and Radicals.

I had never given serious thought to writing a novel, before I started working on this series. At the time, I had decided to try my hand at writing fiction, but was attempting to write short stories. I had this image in my mind of a guy standing outside an apartment building, in the middle of the night. He was staring blankly into the distance, and had a growing pile of cigarette butts at his feet. I wanted to know why he was there, and what had happened to him. The short story that resulted from this, eventually became the first two chapters of Sigils & Secrets, the first book in the Black Magick series. It turns out I’m not great at writing short stories; I always want to know what happens next.

I’ve always been fascinated by Magick, mythology, and all things supernatural. I believe that there are things in our world that we may never truly understand, and I love writing about what those things might be. I think that, to a large extent, reality is created by belief and, if you believe in Magick, you will find it.

I’ve been vegan since I was eighteen years old, and have interned twice with the animal rescue organization, Farm Sanctuary. During my first internship, I adopted two pigs from the shelter. Their names are Riley and Petunia, and they have now been living with me for almost ten years. I care deeply about animal rights, and protecting our planet, and like to include aspects of those issues in my work, though (hopefully) never to the detriment of the story. I believe that stories have power. Good stories change us, they change the way we see ourselves, and the world around us. I do my best to use that power for good.