Title: Something Strange and Deadly
Something Strange and Deadly #1
Author: Susan Dennard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Pages: 400
Brought To You By: Shane @ Itching for Books
Buy Here: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Book Depository
(Formerly titled The Spirit-Hunters)
The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…
Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—
The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.
And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.
Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.
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Guest Post: “ Why the Undead are SO Scary” by Susan Dennard
I was recently fortunate enough to be part of a panel at Comic-Con that featured some amazing, well-known zombie-genre authors (Max Brooks, Mira Grant, Dana Fredsti, etc.). One of the things we discussed was why zombies scare people as much as they do. From where does this growing fascination stem?
The answer we all seemed to agree on was twofold:
1) a viral, zombie outbreak is not only truly horrible and global, but it is absolutely out of our control. And the reason it's out of our control is because...
2) ...it doesn't discriminate. You could lose your best friend, your dog, your mother, or yourself to apocalypse. That fear of losing everything we love speaks to us on a very deep level.
I think the closest we can come to imagining the devastation of a "zombie apocalypse" is to look at natural disasters. Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes--other large scale disasters that destroy without discrimination and leave massive damage behind. I have to say that nothing scares me more than tornadoes.
But I'd like to add to this "why we're so afraid of zombies" list. The walking corpses in my own series, Something Strange and Deadly, aren't of the viral, contagious variety. They're of the already-dead-raised-by-magic variety, yet I think they're just as terrifying as the viral variety--and it all boils down to one thing:
Death is supposed to be the end.
When we lay our friends and family into the ground, we know that it's over--that person is gone, and when our turn comes, we'll also be gone. Forever. For good (at least in this particular earthly form, if you believe in an afterlife or reincarnation). But...what if, somehow, our corpses reawaken, with no other need than a bloodthirsty hunger?
How absolutely horrible--both on an emotional and SCARY level--to find your grandmother's corpse shambling toward you? And what if, no matter what you do, you can't get her to "just die already"?
Again, it speaks to us on an "out of control" level--that fear of giving up the reigns. What if The End isn't the end but only a terrifying beginning to a body you no longer control?
YIKES. I am actually getting stomach knots and chills as I type this. Personally, the idea of the undead--be they viral or necromantic--scares me more than anything else in the "supernatural" world. It's right up there with tornadoes. ;)
You tell me: Does the zombie apocalypse or do rising corpses scare you? What about wide scale natural disasters?
Thank you so much Susan for being a guest here at Bengal Reads. YIKES, after reading this I have to say that both scare me! It is super awesome that you got to go to Comic-Con! This is such a great Guest Post and topic, I just love it! I can’t wait to read Something Strange and Deadly, as I have heard amazing things about it!
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Feel free to leave comments for Susan, I’m sure she would love to read them. She may even stop in today! Thanks so much for reading guys.
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