Christopher Ransom didn’t set out to write a haunted house novel. But, after the Colorado native – along with wife, Pia, and their three rescue dogs, Cowboy, Nacho, and Tater-Tot – relocated from Los Angeles to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, he found inspiration all around him. Lots of it, in fact.Ransom had moved into a 100-year-old former birthing house, essentially a home-like alternative to hospital labor and delivery wards where women once went to give birth. This was further confirmed when the couple found an old sepia-tone photograph of a half a dozen or so maids, nurses, and midwives standing on their front porch. One nightmare later, the one-time failed screenwriter – who also did stints in hardware, reptile care, and advertising sales – spent the next three years crafting his debut novel.
Published in the UK on January 1st of this year, THE BIRTHING HOUSE quickly reached #6 on The Sunday Times list of fiction paperback best-sellers. St. Martin’s Press wisely acquired the project stateside, and the book was released last month with a big promotional push and some impressive blurbs from the varied likes of Jack Ketchum, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and literary darling Sara Gran. Praise like this, for example, from author Michael Marshall (THE STRAW MEN, THE INTRUDERS):
“A stunning debut — swaddling the reader in dread from the very first sentence, and spiraling into a heart-stopping climax.”
Read my in-depth interview with Chris here at DARK SCRIBE MAGAZINE .
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