Week Of The Undead 2014 Presents: Shana Festa

Shana Festa grew up in the small town of Northborough Massachusetts. As an impressionable tike, she shared in her father's love for Horror, and spent most of her childhood hiding under the blankets worrying what nightmarish creature lurked in her closet. She grew up on a healthy diet of classics like Nightmare on Elm Street, Return of the Living Dead, American Werewolf in London, Child’s Play and Poltergeist. 

Her writing career was born from her long-time addiction to terrifying tales. Under her alter ego, The Bookie Monster, Shana reviews horror and paranormal books, with an emphasis on zombie fiction. Her altruistic beliefs fuse seamlessly with The Bookie Monster's mission to provide readers with honest reviews and to provide authors with a platform to promote their labors of love.

Shana holds a degree in nursing and now resides in Cape Coral, Florida with her husband and two adorable dogs. In addition to her apocalyptic series, TIME OF DEATH, she is a founding member of AT HELL'S GATES, a horror anthology series dedicated to supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces through the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

Social Media Links

Author Website | The Bookie Monster | Twitter | The Bookie Monster Facebook

Author/Book Facebook | Google+ | Pinterest | Goodreads

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Shana Festa Interview

What do you do when you’re not writing about the end of days?

I am a registered nurse. I made the move from psych to nursing informatics in 2013 and love that I get to use my degree and my love for technology and data. Also in 2013, my alter ego, The Bookie Monster was formed. TBM provides a platform for both the reading and writing communities. We give honest, unbiased opinions of horror and dark fiction titles, and provide authors a platform to share their work.

Author…Blogger…Nurse…and Zombie Lover.

Tell us about your latest book?

Title: Time of Death: Induction

Brief run down in your own words

The zombie apocalypse has never been snarkier! Think Janet Evanovich meets The Walking Dead. (Available Now)

Anything in particular that you want to say about it? Where did you get the inspiration from? Favourite characters? Tell us something unusual.

I am a total dog nut. Anyone that's read Induction will tell you, Daphne steals the spotlight from my main character, Emma. I do indeed have my own Daphne, and I promise…she is written true to life. Many readers enjoy the realism I've injected into my writing. My main character is inspired by my personality and experiences. (Sadly, chapter one, Code Brown, really happened!) And most secondary characters are based of the important people in my life.

Here's Daphne

What are you working on next and when can we expect to get our greedy little mitts on it?

Asylum, Book Two Synopsis: Available December 9th! 

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Time Of Death: Induction: Synopsis & Purchase Links

When nowhere is safe to hide, where do you go to escape the monsters?

In a few short days, 37 year old Emma Rossi’s hard work will finally pay off. She will don her cap and gown and graduate with a degree in nursing, but not before she loses her first patient and is confronted with a new reality. In Cape Coral, Florida, a storm approaches.  The dead are coming back to life.

And they’re hungry.

Infection ravages the Eastern Seaboard with alarming speed while attempts to contain the spread of infection fail. Within days, a small pocket of panicked survivors are all that remain of civilization. Fighting to survive the zombie apocalypse alongside her husband Jake and their dog Daphne, Emma comes face-to-face with her worst nightmare.

Relying on snarky wit and sheer determination, she is forced to commit atrocious acts to protect her family and avoid joining the ranks of the undead. 

Purchase Links
Time Of Death:Induction USA

Time of Death:Induction UK

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Time Of Death: Induction: Excerpt

Officer Donnelly, according to the name badge located over his left breast pocket, pulled himself together and said, “You need to get somewhere safe. The main parts of town have been overrun with…whatever this is.” He waved his gun hand in the direction of the dead body. “Stay inside, lock your doors and do not open them for anyone. And if you can’t stay hidden, if they get in, get in your car and drive.”

“Where? If town isn’t safe, where can we go?” I was shaking all over as Jake helped me to my feet, and my words came out as a stutter.

The cop looked up at me sullenly. “I don’t know.”

He walked back towards his car and was about to say something when we heard the sound of a blood-curdling scream coming from down the street. We all whipped around to face the noise and scanned the neighborhood. The screams continued for a few seconds, then nothing. I squinted to see in the distance and could make out a group of three people huddled on the ground in front of a house at the end of the street. I wiped the rain from my eyes and squinted as the scene came into focus. They were eating someone. Possibly someone we knew. They ripped at their victim like they were digging for buried treasure.

A scream escaped me as I raised my hands to cover my mouth. One of the huddled group snapped its head in the air, cocked it to one side and listened. It angled its neck back, and lifted its nose in the air. A short scream sounded further down the street and the head snapped to the left like a bird seeking prey. The zombie lumbered awkwardly to its feet, and began moving in the direction of the new noise.

The radio squawked from the police car, pulling us all from our rubbernecking trance, and I turned back to Officer Donnelly.

“Watch out!” I screamed.

Four figures had crested the embankment behind him. They were close enough to him that they would be on him in seconds. The first-a female-looked as if she had lost a battle with a wild animal. Wearing nothing but what once had been a pink negligee; her lower jaw had been torn right from her face. Blood dripped down her neck, staining the negligee, and her tongue, now black, was matted to the side of her neck. She emitted a dry rasping moan as she reached for him. He managed to get one shot off, taking her down, before the other three were on him.

He turned, only to land on the hood of his car and plead for help as he attempted to scratch his way over the hood to safety. His grip on the gun failed. It fell to the hood like a brick and slid off the front of the car into the mud. One of the monsters managed to get hold of his kicking legs and dragged him back. Officer Donnelly let out a howl of pain as its teeth sunk into the meaty skin of his calf. I saw his eyes then, staring straight into mine. Begging with an unspoken appeal to for help. Nails digging into the paint of the hood, he disappeared from view as they yanked him off the hood and began to feast.

I stumbled back and nearly fell over Jake as I backed away from the grisly scene. My head moved side to side like a yo-yo and I heard the splash of feet in a puddle to my right. Coming around the house was another one; it was leaning on the house as it walked towards me. One of its arms had been torn off at the elbow and its face was so mangled that I couldn’t decipher gender.

I grabbed Jake’s arm and ran to the front door. Slamming it hard and locking the dead bolt, I slid down to the ground with my back to the door. I was hyperventilating. My vision was blurry and I saw spots. I realized I was sobbing, and Jake had his arms around me making soft cooing noises to calm me down. He held me close and told me everything would be okay.

I shoved him away, fueled by a panicked rage. “Nothing is okay Jake. A man just got eaten on our front lawn. There are zombies running around eating people. So tell me, how the fuck will this be okay?”

Pushing him aside, I stood up and looked through the peephole. “Oh, God, no,” I whispered. A pack of them were heading straight for the door, trailed by a reanimated Officer Donnelly. The lower half of his leg had been ripped off, and the bone was jutting out from below his knee like someone had picked it clean. Daphne started to bark again, this time focused on the back of the house. I picked her up and turned to see a man standing at the sliding glass door. He didn’t try to open it with the handle. He just kept hitting the glass with his head; leaving smears of blood across the clean glass.

Spider web cracks were appearing in the glass and were spreading with each impact. At the same time, the group at the front door was causing the door frame to bow with the sheer force of their weight. “The doors won’t hold. We need to get to the garage!” As he said it, he grabbed me and looked me in the eyes. “Emma, we need to get out of here.”

We ran toward the garage, and made it to the kitchen before the glass door shattered. The zombie was in the house. Mere feet away, I could smell its decaying flesh as we ran for our lives. Blood oozed from a neck wound and it let out a wet gurgle.

Time Of Death: Asylum: Book 2 (Out December 9th)

Out 9th December 2014

The last two months have brought nothing but death and destruction for Emma Rossi. She survived the initial zombie outbreak with her husband, Jake, and their dog, Daphne, but the cost was steep: Sanibel has fallen.

In a world where the only constant is change, the group is pushed to their limits before reaching the gates of Asylum, a coastal stronghold in Sarasota, Florida.

Once again, Emma must navigate an apocalyptic wasteland filled with relentless hordes of the undead and other menacing horrors that threaten her survival.

Only thing is certain. No one is safe from what lurks on either side of Asylum's gates. Asylum may offer more than just safety.

Sanity will be tested; and many won't live to tell the tale.

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At Hell's Gate Anthology

This collaboration is in honor of the brave men and women in our Armed Services who willingly lay down their lives for our freedom. Words could not possibly express our undying gratitude, so we have banded together, doing what we do best, to show our appreciation.  All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to serve wounded soldiers and their families. This is for you, those who have truly been…At Hell’s Gates.

For more information on this release, future anthologies in the At Hell's Gates series, and how to get involved with the project as an author or editor, visit http://www.athellsgates.com.

For more information on The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, visit http://www.fallenheroesfund.org/.

Short Stories from seventeen of your favourite authors, and set in the worlds you know!

At Hell's Gate Website

At Hell's Gate
(Available Now)

When evil overflows from the deepest, fiery pits, the battle will be At Hell’s Gates…Whether you are a zombie aficionado, or you feed on horror, there is something for everyone. We’ve summoned some of the top Zompoc authors, masters in horror, and even some new talent to strike fear into even the most jaded soul. Dare you look, let alone approach, the dreaded gates?

Each skillfully crafted vignette showcases previously created worlds in the individual author’s works. If you’ve ever yearned for more back story or ached to learn what happened to a peripheral character; your wait is over.  But, as they say, “Be careful what you wish for”.  Once it has been seen, you cannot go back. And once infected; there is no cure.


Purchase Links

At Hell's Gate USA

At Hell's Gate UK

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Finally...

COFFIN HOP is the ultimate horror author/artist/creator online event running annually from October 24-31 at COFFIN HOP

Come visit us October 24 - 31 to join hundreds of authors for seven full days of terror, mayhem, madness and unseemly shenanigans. Prizes and contests at every stop. Fiction, Fury and Fun!

Happy reading book whores!

Claire xxx

Don't forget to enter The Week Of The Undead Giveaway using the link below.

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