‘Death is too mild a penance for me.’

JASMAINE Payne heard those chilling words distinctly in her sleep one night in December 2013.

He had no face she could discern, but she instinctively knew the whispering voice was that of “some heinous man of British descent”, she recalls.

Back then, the young journalist and fledgling writer was still struggling to find an intriguing idea for a novel. Even on awaking, those disquieting words stuck with her. Was this a character gaining form in her mind? Convinced that this was the case, she jotted down the words.

“I knew I had to build a world around this villain, she says. “I remember posting the announcement that I got an idea for my first novel on a blog that I had at the time, and that people should ‘stay tuned.’”

This was in December 2013. Twelve testing years and five drafts later, she had added a name and a face to that voice. He was John Thomas Reginald Leech, the malevolent serial killer in her debut novel, LEECH.

Last month, Jasmaine self-published her Gothic horror novel, and on September 20, she held a well-attended book launch at the Love and Latte Café Royal Hotel, where she spoke with guests and posed for photos with fans, eager to obtain autographed copies of her novel.

She’s still not gotten over the exhilaration that her idea has made it from rough manuscript to glossy-covered novel with her name as its author.

“It’s an amazing feeling! I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, because I have seen my name in print countless times over the last 15 years through journalism, but there is something about seeing a finished product, from cover to cover, with your name on it that knocks your emotions out of the park! Even better, when you hear people discuss your work with such seriousness, knowing that you have successfully convinced them of this fictional world, is a feeling of honour that you have created a work of quality.”

But she’s also having first-time author jitters, regarding how her novel will stand up to the scrutiny of readers and critics.

“I am absolutely terrified because of how close writers naturally are to their work. LEECH feels like ‘my baby’, as they say, and now I am sending that baby into the world to be scrutinised and interpreted at will. It is a feeling of equal dread and exhilaration, but I am certainly enjoying the newness of it.”

TIME-TRAVELLING KILLER

LEECH is a terrifying time-travelling novel set in nineteenth-century London and 2023 New York. Her main character is John Thomas Reginald Leech, a self-proclaimed scientist who carries out heinous experiments and commits suicide after murdering several colleagues who had discredited his work.

But Leech finds himself ‘reborn’ in contemporary New York. He discovers that he has the power to reveal himself to some humans and even control their minds.

He becomes fixated on a struggling writer, Arianne Smith, and compels her to turn his ghastly story, with never-revealed details,  into a bestselling novel. But for Arriane, overnight fame becomes a terrible, all-consuming curse.

A fan of the macabre, Jasmaine reveals that John Leech’s character was influenced by her favourite books, movies and television shows.

“Jack the Ripper was my first inspiration (The first letters of his forenames – John Thomas Reginald- mirror the first letters for Jack the Ripper), but I found more freedom in creating my own villain. Hannibal Lecter, John Doe from Se7en, and Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray were also influences on his character.”

A journalist and communications specialist with a demanding schedule, she had to adapt to writing “whenever and wherever” she could.

“I wrote in the middle of the day, in the middle of the night, early morning, on my phone, and even made voice notes while driving.”

DAUNTING

Although she had written short stories as a teen, the former St. Rose’s and Queen’s College student soon discovered that writing a novel was a daunting prospect.

“Eleven years were spent writing the first draft, with many stops and starts in between. I did not understand the process; I had no writing community or support.

“Sometimes I felt so lost, and it was so daunting, not knowing what the next step was and not having anyone to share my frustrations with. Many times, I just said, ‘This is not the story I was meant to write.’ At one point, I even tried to convince a cinematographer friend of mine to convert it into a movie script, thinking it would be less challenging.”

But like her writer protagonist, Arianne Smith, she felt compelled to share the story of John Thomas Reginald Leech with the world.

“It was always like this unfinished task that kept nagging at me, so, no matter what, I kept returning to it out of pure obligation to finish what I started.“

She finally sought professional guidance.

“Jim Parsons (RIP), a writing coach from Australia, gave me my first developmental edit in 2015-2016. He helped me to tell Arianne’s story through the eyes of a psychiatrist instead of her first-person account only, so Dr. Oscar Pressum was born.

“In 2023, I hired a second Developmental Editor, Stephanie Wilson, who really helped me to give Dr. Pressum more depth and fix many of the inconsistencies that had arisen across years of writing.

“In 2025, I hired a copy editor, Magda Bartkowska, and just after we were about to wrap up, I met Guyanese writer and playwright Harold Bascom, an award-winning veteran in the Guyanese literary space,  who suggested another developmental edit to tighten some loose ends. Over the last three weeks before heading to print, we caught some final points that really polished the story. Admittedly, the whole process was tough, but extremely fulfilling.”

She’d initially planned to set part of her novel in Guyana.

“But after studying for my BA in English from the University of London, I was so inspired by the Victorian era and other aspects of English Literature and language that I wanted to set at least part of the novel in England in the 1800s.

“I also spent some time in New York, where I immersed myself in the rich literary culture and received my first experience in writing groups and book fairs. New York was such a vibrant and artistic place that I was inspired to use it as the main setting.”

One of the most commendable aspects of Jasmaine’s novel was her success in creating authentic images of nineteenth-century London, as if she, like Leech, had time-travelled.

“Those images of London in the 1800s came from pictures of that era. Along with details about medicine in that time, I needed to know what the place looked like so I could properly portray it. So I would search for artists’ paintings and renderings of different areas, and then I would describe what I saw.”

Some have queried her reason for “writing about a white man from England,” rather than turning to her Caribbean roots for settings and characters.

“This is my story, and I am a storyteller. I don’t believe that I should be bound to any one place or narrative, regardless of where I come from.

“ ‘Write what you know’ was one of the first creative “rules” taught to me, and I immediately disliked it. For me, it was terribly limiting, especially growing up in a small Caribbean country where ‘what you know’ was not so much of the bigger world. I always wanted to write beyond my borders and tell stories far and wide about all and sundry. I started to seek ways to defy that rule, and I realised that many writers themselves have advised that the concept is more about ensuring that you have sufficient knowledge about what you are writing. In this modern age, that simply means: research and experiences.”

She’s ‘hung out’ for so many years with her despicable serial killer John Leech, that he has become “like an old maniacal friend.”

“I know him well, including and especially all of his flaws. I took a lot of time and care carving out who he is, to the point that it is hard for me to dislike him. I don’t like the person, but I do have a fondness for the final product; the creation.”

Her other main creation, writer Arianne Smith, who falls under Leech’s spell, “is actually more a part of me,” Jasmaine confides.

“She is the essence of my writing frustrations, my insecurities and a lot of repressed emotions. I used her as an outlet for some grievances I had about life, relationships and especially writing. That being said, however, because she is an intimate part of me, her character was ironically the most difficult for me to flesh out due to the extent of self-examination it required.

While some mainstream authors and critics dismiss horror fiction as being an inferior genre,  Jasmaine unabashedly claims horror as her main literary influence.

“It takes special skill, I believe, to write something that gets into a reader’s mind to evoke fear and worry. Not that I like them feeling that way, I am more fascinated with the challenge and the skill of getting that kind of writing right. My main influences are Stephen King (The Green Mile, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, Misery, On Writing), Anne Rice (The Vampire Lestat, Interview with a Vampire, Memnoch the Devil) Richard Matheson (I am Legend, Hell House), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Invisible Monsters); and classics like The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Great Gatsby. Movies and Shows: Se7en, Hannibal, From and, believe it or not, the Anime World of Naruto.”

For Jasmaine, her success is an amazing leap from her years as a nursery school pupil with reading and writing challenges.

“In nursery school, I actually fell behind in reading and writing, but I received special tutoring to bring me up to speed. Afterwards, I consistently outwrote the other students in Composition class with my imaginative stories.

“I won my first (and only) writing competition when I was 11 – A UNICEF Environmental Poetry Competition. My work has been shortlisted and received an honourable mention in The Guyana Annual Competition. I developed my first reader fan-base in St Rose’s when I used to write fanfiction with my friends in exercise books. I was also very proud of my Distinctions in English A and  B at CXC. I was one of the few children who were happy to rewrite our English A paper after an unfortunate leak that year, but I got to write a second story!”

She hopes that Leech will help her to emerge as a new voice in psychological thrillers and supernatural horrors.

“Would it be crazy if I said I wanted to be ‘Guyana’s Stephen King?’ I want to be just as prolific and varied in my storytelling as he is. I want to tell many more stories and have Guyanese be able to read the thriller and horror genres from a writer right at home. Ownership of our stories and representation for Guyanese writers are essential for me. I also want to be a resource for helping other writers develop their craft and get published. So I am passionate and optimistic about the prospects.”

She‘s grateful to the unwavering support of her parents, sister, partner, and four-year-old son, Greyson (“the most magical and intuitive little boy you will ever meet”), as well as her small circle of friends and even those in the Diaspora.

Horror fans, in particular, will be happy to know that two other novels are in the works. Her second novel, still in its early stages, is a modern imagining of the Moongazer myth.

Individuals wishing to purchase copies of LEECH can contact Jasmaine Payne on Facebook or Instagram. Copies can also be purchased in ebook or paperback format on Amazon.