A BETTER WORLD (S&S, April, 2023). I love this cover so much!!!
In other fantastic news, Canelo Books announced that it’s starting a new horror imprint. It will be publishing from my backlist and I’m very, very excited. More on that to come. The books will be out and in bookstores soon, possibly before the end of 2023
Formerly known as Mom’s Night Out, and more aptly titled A BETTER WORLD, you can preorder it by clicking the image or here.
Pre-ordering helps me out a lot. My ability to sell new books depends on previous sales. What’s also very helpful is requesting it from your local library. For instance it turns out Good Neighbors is not at my own library in West Hollywood. So I requested my own book!
I’m excited to talk about A BETTER WORLD. It’s set under the shadow of the modern nuclear threat, during a time when jobs are scarce and it seems like things are only getting worse. A family lucks into a cloistered company town that offers not just survival, via the town’s labyrinthine underground bomb shelter, but a future for generations to come.
But the rich residents, closed off from the world, are hiding a secret. They adhere to a group of customs and beliefs which they’ve collectively named Hollow. What’s the story behind this underground labyrinth, and why are the family told at all the Hollow festivals to “Beware the Sacrifice?” Linda Farmer, Russell Bowen, and their teen twins know that all isn’t what it seems. They even have an idea that the powerful here are probably very corrupt. But how bad is it? And what point will it be too late to get out?
It’s such a fun book, and chock full of fun themes. I was thinking “The Lottery” meets “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Some other things —
This summer was a sad one. My dad passed away from cancer. I had never seen someone die so close up before, and all I can say is cancer is really mean. Avoid it if you can. For realz. Do all the things. Avoid it. He died well. Was always himself, always brave and thinking of everyone else. My admiration was renewed, my heart doubly broken.
In other news, my husband and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary. We spent it in Ojai, eating oysters, which is what everyone should do. Unhappily, back home the heat caused a blackout. So special thanks to my best friend for coming over to stay with the girls and make ice cream sundaes, otherwise we’d have had to race home.
We also went to Morrow Bay and Hearst Castle some weeks ago as a family. There’s an unworldly bird sanctuary in Morrow Bay, populated by so many odd creatures that I felt like I was in a Doctor Suess book. This is in keeping with A Better World, where the town mascot is a weird looking Caladrius. Hearst Castle was silly. Clementine summed it up best: “I like Teddy Roosevelt’s house better. It felt like people actually lived there.”
I’ve had some letters regarding my back list. I finally got rights back from my original publisher, so they’re out of print. I have copies of all the books and will be touring at conventions with them pretty soon. You may also want to wait for Canelo’s versions.
Finally, there’s a kindle deal until the end of this month — Good Neighbors for cheap ($1.99) at any place that sells ebooks.
I’ll close with a painting by my dad. He made it for the cover of Good Neighbors, back when it was still entitled Empty Houses.
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