Creepy thoughts fill a Carrollwood home, which pleases thrill-seeking readers.
By JAREMY SHELTON
Published June 11, 2004
CARROLLWOOD - It's not your typical marriage.
Inside their home on a quiet cul-de-sac near Plantation, Jeff and Janice Strand sit in separate offices and weave tales of werewolves, zombies, psychopaths, grave robbers, mummies and man-eating fire ants.
Husband-and-wife horror novelists. It's a match made in heaven - or maybe somewhere else.
The Strands have been married for nearly seven years after meeting at a horror convention in 1995, and both are growing in popularity for their scary and suspense-filled novels.
But they don't write together; they have different styles.
"As long as we don't collaborate," Janice Strand joked, "we can stay married."
Janice Strand, who writes under the name Lynne Hansen, is the author of a young adult series called Heritage of Horror. The series' first two books, The Return and The Change, follow a family through different generations, telling tales of zombies and werewolves on the 19th century American frontier.
"I love mixing historical background with monster stuff to keep kids turning the page," she said. "It allows the story to be educational but also very fun."
A history buff, she does a lot of research and strives to accurately portray the past to give her work a realistic feel and some educational value.
The presence of severed limbs crawling across the floor changes that a bit, of course. But she says she has to keep her stories filled with action and suspense to compete with things kids would be doing otherwise, like playing video games.
"Lynne Hansen" is currently working on two upcoming releases in the Heritage of Horror series. Fans will encounter mummies in The Cursed this August and yetis in the swamps of Florida in The Hunted next February.
Janice Strand also writes adult horror novels under the name J.L. Hansen. Her recent novel LogOut is what she calls a "technothriller" set in the world of high-tech computer security in Tampa's corporate setting.
Jeff Strand writes for a different audience. Calling himself a "literary comedian," his horror novels are aimed at adults with a strange sense of humor.
His popular "humorous horror" books Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) and its sequel induce riots of laughter in a morbid fashion. Filled with severed-limb and chain saw jokes, Graverobbers follows Andrew Mayhem, a reluctant hero who is talked into digging up a grave to find its occupant still alive.
Its sequel, Single White Psychopath Seeks Same, begins with the same character being kidnapped by bumbling psychopaths who act more like the Three Stooges than the murderers they try to imitate.
Jeff Strand's other comedy works include How to Rescue a Dead Princess, Elrod McBugle on the Loose and Out of Whack, which he calls "relentlessly goofy."
Mandibles, a delightful story about man-eating fire ants in Tampa, is his parody of the classic giant-insect movies.
"I wanted to write a big bug story and I thought ants were a good choice," he said. "It wasn't until I moved to Florida that I realized people here passionately hate ants."
His upcoming books include a third installment of the Andrew Mayhem story, Casket for Sale (Only Used Once), in August, and Carnage-a-Plenty near Halloween - a book in which video games turn children into psycho killers.
Although they live together, Jeff and Janice have different writing styles and work habits. Each has an office in their Carrollwood home, uniquely decorated with horror props and posters.
"We get asked all the time if we would ever collaborate on a story together," Janice said. "But we do things differently and have different preferences while working. Jeff only works in 15-minute intervals and jumps around from one thing to the next," she explains as she rolls her eyes at her eclectic husband.
"She, on the other hand, meticulously plans out every detail of her plot before starting to write," said Jeff, "whereas I don't know what I'm writing until a couple of words into it."
Both are active in Tampa's writing community. Janice loves to speak at schools about reading and holds writing contests for her fans to encourage creativity. She co-founded a literacy program called Writers for Readers, in which local authors share their love of writing with students.
Both authors make frequent appearances at horror and writing conventions in Florida and at Barnes & Noble reading programs. They love to talk to fans.
