Scamming Death

It's finally HEEEERRRREEE! After far too long a wait, Scamming Death has finally arrived. Mary's back with a whole new adventure. I hope everyone enjoys this new book.

Here's the blurb:

Gran is the most important person in Mary’s life. Mary would do anything for her. So when Eddie, a freshman at her school, asks Mary for help with his grandma, she can’t say no.

But what he wants is an exorcism.

Mary goes to meet his grandma with misgivings. She’s not sure how she’ll break the truth to Eddie. Elderly people can change. They can stop recognizing their loved ones. They can act like completely different people. Alzheimer’s can do that. Dementia can do that. But a ghost can do that as well.

Eddie’s grandma is possessed. But the ghost swears that she’s protecting the elderly woman because there’s something scarier than ghosts at the nursing home. An angel of death stalks the building.

With Eddie and her friends, Mary must find the angel of death and stop them, but how do you stop an angel? Mary will have to figure that out before the angel strikes again.

I say this in the author note at the end of the book, but I'll repeat it here: I hope to be more consistent with my publishing schedule from now on. I want to publish two books a year. I plan to release the next Scary Mary book in May 2017. I'm announcing that now so I can't let myself slide. 2016 has been a bad year for me as a writer. I couldn't get my act together. I could give you a list of reasons why, but in the end, it was just procrastination. I let myself just veg far too much, but I am back in the game now. I'm very excited by a number projects and I hope to share them with you all soon. Thank you for hanging in there. I hope you fine Scamming Death was worth the wait.

Where to get the book:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Google Play

iTunes

Kobo

Great Writers, Right Here

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be one of the authors in attendance at the Fauquier County Public Library's local author fair - Great Writers, Right Here.

Here's a Press Release they provided:

S.A. Hunter To Participate in Local Author Fair

(Warrenton, VA) August 30, 2016 — S.A. Hunter, author of The Scary Mary Series will be appearing at the 2016 Great Writers, Right Here – a local authors fair, hosted by the Fauquier County Public Library on Friday, September 30 from 6 – 8 p.m.

Great Writers, Right Here will bring together local published authors, and readers who will have the opportunity to stroll from table to table and meet the authors. S.A. Hunter will share and discuss her work with the community and sign and sell her books.

Over 40 authors are participating in this celebration of local talent. In response to the increased interest, this year’s event will be held at the Family Life Center, First Baptist Church, 39 Alexandria Pike, Old Town Warrenton. This location, which enables more authors to participate in this event, is located across the street from the Warrenton central library.

To find out more, check out their website.

My Review of Annihilation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Annihilation is a first person account of encountering the surreal. And I think it can only exist on paper. A movie adaptation could not do it justice unless they went full first-person POV with the filming which is not something done much at all. I fear some filmmaker would try to make this a found footage horror film which would most likely ruin the story because one thing they touch on in the book is the fact that what they see often does not appear on film so does that mean it does not exist?

The basic story is: A group of four women go into a strange place to explore it and this is what happens. The book is classified as "New Weird". Here's one definition straight from the author, "a type of urban, secondary-world fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place found in traditional fantasy, largely by choosing realistic, complex real-world models as the jumping off point for creation of settings that may combine elements of both science fiction and fantasy." (From the introduction from an anthology called The New Weird.) This fits Annihilation to a T. The main character is the The Biologist. She breaks everything down to biology. Even the most fantastic can be made palpable by considering the thing's existence and biology. She isn't concerned with why the thing exists, only that it can.

Between flashbacks to mundane life that develop the veneer of the surreal within the context of Area X, the biologist makes her way through the strange landscape with three other women. The story is in first person in a pseudo-journal format that allows the biologist to speak candidly to the reader, letting us in to her most private fears and guilts. Her perception of the other women in the group is interesting as well for the unreliableness of it. She often sees a glimmer of hidden emotion where there might be none.

And then there is Area X itself. It is rife with danger and dread. And it's the dread that makes the story for me. The question of what is real and what is illusion is fascinating. Unlike a show like Lost where I wanted some answers and never got them, I was actually hoping for none here. I wanted Area X to wash over me with no stopping to consider the waves of strange and that is what Vandermeer delivered. All in all, this was a poetic book with a Lovecraftian tone that I found very satisfying to experience.

I do want to read the next book Authority. I'm curious about the organization that sent the team of women to Area X and the organization they try to imprint on something that defies comprehension. I sort of hope none of the second book takes place in Area X. I want to know what it looks like from the outside.

View all my reviews

My Demon Volume 3 Published!

Well, here it is--The final volume of My Demon!

I uploaded it late last night to all the places and it is slowly appearing on different channels.

It's available at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Google Play

iTunes

Kobo

Smashwords

Waynesboro Author Fest!

I will be an author at this event! I'll be giving out magnets, pins, and bookmarks for Scary Mary! I've only done one other public event ever, so this sort of thing is still pretty new and intimidating to me, but I know several other authors attending this so I'm also pretty excited to take part. :-) I want to thank the Waynesboro Public Library System for putting on the event. I'll have a table or half a table, not sure which, but I'll have all my swag and books available.