Today, author Sophie Whittemore visits the Storytelling Blog to share an excerpt from Wake the Dead, a sequel to Catch Lili Too. A paranormal-horror fantasy mystery-thriller, there’s a lot to love here! Purchase link, here. (Or, if you prefer to see the address, https://sophiawhittemore.com/books/wake-the-dead/) Sophie is giving away a $20 gift certificate for Nine Star Press with this tour. Enter the drawing, here. (If you prefer to see the address: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47303/?) Learn more about the book at Goodreads:
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123852969-wake-the-dead
Disclaimer: I have a business relationship with LiminalFiction and Other Worlds Ink, websites which are promoting Wake the Dead.
An ominous presence awakens in the small town of Gamin. Fairies murdered by crazed monsters. Magic that makes immortals lose their minds and their heads (literally). Whispers of a vendetta against the fairy crime lords who own the infamous Kraken Club. One ace siren detective, Lili, is dragged back into defending her turf…and hopefully, she doesn’t die this time around.
Prologue
The Kraken Club
The Kuntilanak’s name was Indah, at least, it was in the strip club. Her long, black hair wrapped like a shroud around her body as she circled the pole. When her hair coiled past her shoulders, it revealed the nail sticking out of the back of her neck, thick as a child’s fist, the color of rust and blood. Black rope was tied around her legs, cuffing them to the soles of the boots she wore as heels. A tall and thin man, a fairy, with willow-emerald skin and eyes the color of lotus leaves, held out a wad of dollar bills. He placed them at her feet.
“Smile,” he told her.
She did, baring her fangs.
The fairy grinned. “Ah.” He traced his thumb against those fangs, still grinning as she sank them into skin that tasted of rotting leaves and nectar. The fangs retracted when he didn’t flinch. “Like a vampire.”
Indah laughed, bending over to pocket the bills in one smooth movement. “The vampires wish they were Kuntilanak like me.”
A Double Cross
As soon as she pressed the bills to the glittering zipup pouch at her thigh, they disappeared. The fairy waggled his long, thin fingers. “Alakazam.” He chuckled even though this wasn’t a laughing matter. Being of fairy blood, he couldn’t care less.
“Fae magic doesn’t feed me. Money does. So, if you’re not willing to pay with real cash, then get out.” She spat at his eye, praying he went blind. “Setan.”
She moved toward the bathroom, taking the long way around so she wouldn’t run into the handsy Ljósálfar manning the bar with his light-blond hair and translucent skin. He thought he was handsome, and he took many a mortal woman to bed, but his overconfidence turned the Kuntilanak girl off him.
Overconfidence just made you all the more of an asshole, and she knew his type. Pelle was just another elf acting as a handler in this gods-forsaken place.
The Green Fairy
She slammed into the bathroom and took the sink covered in the least amount of glitter and wadded tissue paper. She splashed under her armpits and near her groin, counting the feeble bills she’d collected in the first hour of the night.
The blue bathroom door swung lazily open behind her, screeching against tile. “Fuck off, Pelle!” She screamed it out, hoping she could scare him off.
Instead, it was the green fairy. He stood in front of her with his legs splayed wide, his eyes focused on her face.
“You again? I’m not for free.” She raised her middle finger, water trickling down the sides of her face. Smelling a sweet-smoky mix of nail polish and cigarettes in the back.
No reaction. His eyes stayed focused on her face. “Hello? Fairy dude, you doing all right?”
His neck bent backward then slammed forward again. Something splintered: wood, blood, and bone.
“They’re coming,” he said. “The ones who see all.” Then he struck.
Author Bio
Sophie Whittemore is a Dartmouth Film/Digital Arts major with a mom from Indonesia and a dad from Minnesota. They’re known for their Gamin Immortal series (Catch Lili Too) and Legends of Rahasia series, specifically, the viral publication Priestess for the Blind God. Their writing career kicked off with the whimsical Impetus Rising collection, published at age 17.
They grew up in Chicago and live a life of thoroughly unexpected adventures and a dash of mayhem: whether that’s making video games or short films, scripting for a webcomic, or writing about all the punk-rock antiheroes we should give another chance (and subsequently blogging about them).
Sophie’s been featured as a Standout in the Daily Herald and makes animated-live action films on the side. Their queer-gamer film “IRL – In Real Life” won in the Freedom & Unity Young Filmmaker Contest (JAMIE KANZLER AWARDS Second Prize; ADULT: Personal Stories, Third Prize) and was a Semifinalist at the NYC Rainbow Cinema Film Festival. They’ve published in multiple literary magazines and also worked as a staff writer for a time at AsAmNews and Her Campus Media. Ultimately, Sophie lives life with these ideas: 1) live your truth unapologetically and 2) don’t make bets with supernatural creatures. Author Website: https://www.sophiawhittemore.com
If you enjoyed this excerpt from Wake the Dead, you might like to read my review of The Resurrectionist.
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