Cover Reveal for Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women by Kris Waldherr

It lives! I’m thrilled to share the cover of UNNATURAL CREATURES: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women by Kris Waldherr, a woman I’ve known for some time now in the writing world and deeply admire for all her creative talents. Among other things, she is also the author of a book I immensely enjoyed, The Lost History of Dreams (Atria).

I’m so excited for her newest endeavor! UNNATURAL CREATURES reveals the untold story of the three women closest to Victor Frankenstein in a dark and sweeping reimagining of Frankenstein. Stunningly written and exquisitely atmospheric, it shocks new life into Mary Shelley’s beloved gothic classic by revealing the feminine side of the tale—you’ll never see Victor Frankenstein and his monster the same way again.

Right? Gorgeous!! As most of you know, besides working as an editor and PR consultant in publishing, I’m a reader of both genres in which I work too – horror (especially love gothic) and history, and as well, enjoy learning about women in history. This book ticks so many pleasure boxes for me! I’ve added to my GoodReads and you should too.

Coming October 4, 2022! To read advance praise and get first dibs at a special pre-order offer from Kris, visit KrisWaldherrBooks.com/cover/

About the Cover –

I was really interested in how Kris said she created the cover so I wanted to share with readers.

“The cover was designed by me in Photoshop. The central photograph of the woman is by Rekha Garton, which I collaged over two photographs, one of the Alps near where Frankenstein takes place and the other of an electrical storm. The imagery is meant to provide a feminist counterpoint to Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, a famed oil painting by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. It’s also a painting that’s often used on paperback editions of Frankenstein.”

Cool, isn’t it? If you’ve seen the Dover Thrift Editions using this painting, you might see how she took back the feminine power for hers. I love it!

I’m anxious to see how the self-publishing endeavor goes for Kris and for the beginning of her own publishing press! So many authors are doing the hybrid method now – a mixture of traditional big four or small press and self-published. If you have the means to do it right, it’s a great choice to give you ultimate control of your work. Congratulations, Kris!

Kris Waldherr, Biography –

Kris Waldherr’s books for adults and children include The Lost History of Dreams, Bad Princess, Doomed Queens, and The Book of Goddesses. The Lost History of Dreams received a Kirkus starred review and was called “an unexpected delight” by Booklist. The New Yorker praised Doomed Queens as “utterly satisfying” and “deliciously perverse.” The Book of Goddesses was a One Spirit/Book-of-the-Month Club’s Top Ten Most Popular Book. Her picture book Persephone and the Pomegranate was lauded by the New York Times Book Review for its “quality of myth and magic.” Her fiction has won fellowships from the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, and a works-in-progress reading grant from Poets & Writers.

As a visual artist, Waldherr is the creator of the Goddess Tarot, which has a quarter of a million copies in print. She has had illustrations published as greeting cards, book covers, and in calendars and magazines. Her art has been exhibited in many galleries and museums including the Ruskin Library, the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Kris Waldherr works and lives in Brooklyn in a Victorian-era house with her husband, their daughter, and a very vocal Bengal cat.

————————————

Thank you for continuing to read my site and blog. I appreciate it! If you’re not already an email subscriber, enter your email over in the sidebar!

News Hooked: Rosson’s Cover Reveal, New Way to Link to Books, HWA Summer Scares, Women in Horror Month #booknews #hookofabook

New News Reeled In!

I have a variety of book news to share with you all, so I thought that instead of spreading it out over the week, I’d do an all-in-one news post because I have some other exciting things coming up later in the week. I think I might start to do these – as a mini-news newsletter (News Hooked? Should I call it that?). This one seems to be mostly horror news related, besides the third notice, but it will be in the future for news in any genre or in the book publishing field. Let me know if it’s something  you like or you have anything to contribute.

In this edition:

•  Keith Rosson Cover Reveal and Info from Meerkat Press
•  Horror Writer’s Association Summer Scares Library Program
•  New Way to Buy Books and Support Libraries
•  Women in Horror Month Underway

____________________

Author Keith Rosson Cover Reveal –

Meerkat is revealing this beautiful cover for Keith Rosson’s next book, coming out next year. It’s so amazing. He’s a brilliant artist! I can’t wait to sink into his work. Meerkat keeps repeatedly impressing me.

Title: Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons: Stories

Author: Keith Rosson, author of The Mercy of the Tide and Smoke City

Pub Date: February 2021

More Info:  Meerkat Press

Twitter: @meerkatpress and @Keith_Rosson

From Meerkat Press –

“We are excited to reveal the cover for Keith Rosson’s new collection: FOLK SONGS FOR TRAUMA SURGEONS. The cover design was done by Keith and we think it fits the collection perfectly! The book will be published in February 2021.”

Description

With the Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons, award-winning author Keith Rosson delves into notions of family, grief, identity, indebtedness, loss, and hope, with the surefooted merging of literary fiction and magical realism he’s explored in previous novels.

In “Dunsmuir,” a newly sober husband buys a hearse to help his wife spread her sister’s ashes, while “The Lesser Horsemen” illustrates what happens when God instructs the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to go on a team-building cruise as a way of boosting their frayed morale. In “Brad Benske and the Hand of Light,” an estranged husband seeks his wife’s whereabouts through a fortuneteller after she absconds with a cult, and in “High Tide,” a grieving man ruminates on his brother’s life as a monster terrorizes their coastal town.

With grace, imagination, and a brazen gallows humor, Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons merges the fantastic and the everyday, and includes a number of Rosson’s unpublished stories, as well as award-winning favorites.

Now, readers, isn’t this one of the most beautiful covers you’ve seen!!?

 

________________________________________

HWA Summer Scares Library Announcement – 

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Library Journal/School Library Journal, is delighted to announce the second annual Summer Scares Reading List, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.

Each year, three titles will be chosen in the Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade categories, and for 2020 they are:

ADULT

In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson (Skyhorse, 2017)

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (Tor.Com, 2016)

She Said Destroy: Stories by Nadia Bulkin (Word Horde, 2017)

YOUNG ADULT

The Agony House by Cherie Priest, Illustrated by Tara O’Connor (Scholastic 2018)

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova (Sourcebooks Fire, 2017)

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics (Harlequin Teen, 2015)

MIDDLE GRADE

Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh (HaperCollins, 2017)

Case Files 13: Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage (HarperCollins, 2012)

Hoodoo by Ronald L. Smith (Clarion Books, 2015)

The goal of the Summer Scares program is to introduce horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. Along with the annual list of recommended titles for readers of all ages, the Summer Scares committee will also release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles for libraries to use when suggesting books to readers this summer and all year long.

And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and horror authors from all over the country, to provide free programming to libraries. From author visits (both in person and virtual) to book discussions to horror themed events, Summer Scares is focused on connecting horror creators with libraries and readers all year long.

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) will also be hosting a Library Day special stand alone program May 7, 2020 at the Naperville, IL Public Library. Authors from the Summer Scares reading list, as well as the committee members, will be in attendance. Authors and committee members will also be available throughout the year for on-site and/or remote appearances to libraries and schools to promote the Summer Scares program and discuss the use of horror fiction as a tool to increase readership and nurture a love of reading.

The Summer Scares program committee consists of award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones (Mongrels, The Only Good Indians, Night of the Mannequins), Becky Spratford (library consultant, author of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd Ed.), Carolyn Ciesla (library director, academic dean, book reviewer), Kiera Parrott (reviews director for Library Journal and School Library Journal), Kelly Jensen (editor, Book Riot, author of [Don’t] Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health), and JG Faherty (HWA Library Program director, author of Sins of the Father, The Cure, and Ghosts of Coronado Bay).

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest organization dedicated to the horror/dark fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, visit the HWA’s Libraries web page (www.horror.org/libraries), Becky Spratford’s Reader’s Advisory Horror Blog RA for All: Horror (http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html), or the Book Riot, School Library Journal, Library Journal, or United for Libraries websites and social media sites.

You can also contact JG Faherty, HWA Library Program Director (libraries [at] horror [dot] org) or Becky Spratford, HWA Secretary (bspratford [at] hotmail [dot] com).

______________________________________

New Alternative to Amazon Buy Links to Help Indie Bookstores –

On Friday I posted a list of ten books of obsession just in time for Valentine’s Day. One of the books is published by Poisoned Pen Press and the Poisoned Pen bookstore pointed out to me that I can use a certain website to help support indie bookstores like theirs. I had never heard of it but meant to look it up. Yesterday, I saw a Forbes.com article go by that had to do with it so I read it. Wow! What a great idea. I think authors and anyone else out there, especially book reviewers and supporters, need to try to use this link for books. Not all indie bookstores carry indie books, but any indie book supported on Ingram can be found on this website and local stores still profit from that! It’s a win-win.

The article states, in short:

“Bookshop.org, a website that went live at the end of January and is still in beta mode, is designed to be an alternative to Amazon, and to generate income for independent bookstores. And, perhaps more importantly, it seeks to give book reviewers, bloggers and publications who rely on affiliate income from “Buy now” links to Amazon a different option.

Profit from books sold through Bookshop will be split three ways, with 10% of the sale price going into a pool that will be divided among participating bookstores, 10% going to the publication that triggered the sale by linking to Bookshop.org, and 10% going to Bookshop.org to support its operations.”

Will you join me in this movement to support bricks and mortar stores?

Here is the full article that was on Forbes.com.

__________________________________________

February is Women in Horror Month – 

One of my favorite months of the year being a woman in horror is celebrating February as Women in Horror Month. It’s a grassroots initiative to celebrate and inform about women working in the genre whether writing books, filmmaking, to many of the other roles. I really enjoy not only writing horror, but being an editor, publicist, and so much more in the genre. And I love supporting others, especially my fellow horror sisters. Horror is so many different things from quiet, psychological horror to escapism gore, and the ladies can bring it all.

I’ve been making my rounds online this month with a couple interviews and articles, and I’ll wrap those up for you at the end of the month, but coming up here on my own site I’ll be featuring three or four interviews and a guest article with some exciting women in horror, I’ll offer some reviews of women’s horror books I’ve read, and possibly something else interesting. All within the last couple weeks left so stay tuned.

Don’t forget ladies, free month of SHUDDER with code WIHM2020.