And you’ll find things like: Aly’s Stor, Sant Marea Restrant, minral watr, potatas, piza, Hair Salan, blo dry, and many more.ģ. You’re constantly seeing misspelled signs and menus, like “welcome” can be welcom, wilcom, or welcm. Oh yes! For a writer who’s particularly sensitive to spelling/grammar mistakes, living here can make your blood pressure rise. I assume this was based on real experience? A brief scene of comic relief that made me laugh in this heart-stopping thriller was Élan’s encounter with Egyptian products sporting bad English translations. However, the demon spirits-the darsani-are based on actual Arabic legends of efreet (sort of the evil cousins of djinn).Ģ.

I’m sorry to say there’s no Bedouin soul cutter. Is the soul cutter based on real Egyptian folklore? Lexa, first of all, thank you for agreeing to let me pick your brain! One of the best things about Soul Cutter is this: I was expecting a story involving the same-old Egyptian gods I’ve heard about before, and instead I found something that combined folklore and urban legend from a distant country. When Élan discovers the Soul Cutter is no scam, she finds herself locked in a deadly battle against a supernatural killer with more than her mother’s life at stake.ġ. Élan’s only ally is Ramsey, a film-crew intern, but he’s arrogant, stubborn–and hiding dangerous secrets. When a hotel guest is killed, whispers start–the locals think their legendary Soul Cutter has come back from the dead. In Egypt, the superstitious film crew sucks at finding her mom. When her estranged mother disappears from a film shoot in Egypt, Élan puts her medium-busting activities on hold and joins the search. Skepticism makes life safe–all the ghosts Élan encounters are fakes. Seventeen-year-old Élan spends her free time videoing psychic scams and outing them online.

Before we get to the questions and answers, here is a blurb for the book: The book was Soul Cutter by Lexa Cain, and I asked Lexa for an interview. (I really need to stop writing emails after midnight.) I ended up devouring the story in one day and then writing a long, rambly email to the author gushing about it. A few weeks ago, I took a break from proof-reading my first pass pages for The Inquisitor’s Mark by reading an e-copy of a book I won in a contest.