Could it be…? Yes, it could! Something’s comin’… something good!

Yes… yes I did quote Tony from West Side Story. Because it is so apropos (and a fantastic play too!). I mean, this news… I can barely contain myself because, well, watch… you’ll see:

!!!

See what I mean? I am over the moon about Cacophony! Seriously excited to share the next book in this action-packed existential, psychological, cosmic horror saga. The Realm series makes you think about so many things at once:

• To what lengths would you go to save your family?
• What happens after death?
• Can you change your fate?

And those are just a few of the questions that will bounce around in your mind as you join Patrick, Doug, and Gabby on their rollercoaster ride.

Wanna see some back cover copy?

Lemme show you some back cover copy!

Toddlers and playdates and white picket fences. Afternoons in the park, steak on the grill – all in the perfect neighborhood. Gabby was living a life that many people could only wish for and she was over it. It wasn’t that she disliked her world – it wasn’t that at all…she loved her family and the life that she and her husband had made. She just wanted more – more action, more stimulation, more excitement. Gabby was bored. But while she spent her days washing sand out of hair and making PB&J sandwiches, a battle was going on in The Realm, a cosmic tug of war over the most inimitable of prizes: Gabby’s very soul.

Cacophony will be released on October 13, 2021 but it is available for preorder now!

If you are wondering who Patrick, Doug, and Gabby are you can catch up by checking out The Realm. The crisis that they are going through is expressed pretty well here:

You thought you were dead.

Waking up and looking all around you, you realize all you learned about The Afterlife was a fantasy. You don’t know where you are, but you do know it’s not a pleasant or suitable place. You need to run. Hard and fast.

Eventually, you meet others doomed to live in this terrifying Realm with you. Here are gathered the newly dead from all over the universe. A formidable race of giant beasts hunts them. The likes of which have never been seen by those in the living world. This place is like nothing you ever learned about in life—neither Heaven nor Hell, neither Purgatory nor Sheol.

You encounter clusters of people huddled together for safety. You’re a lone wolf—they don’t trust you, nor you them. Perhaps with good reason.

Patrick is key to the future of The Realm. He must right old wrongs and fight against all the terrors it has in store. He must fight to save his family and, most importantly, all of his descendants. His revelations will impact the living world, as well as what comes next.

Patrick is the future of humanity.

Can he succeed?

(Ha! I just got you to read some more back cover copy! LOL!)

Let’s see… what else…? The Speculative Fiction Academy – that’s what else!

What have you been watching?

Since the last newsletter I have gone to see the new Candyman and loved it (get it, Mr. Peele!) and started and finished Midnight Mass and loved that (go Hamish Linklater!). Such good stuff out there right now. I am getting ready to start Squid Game – having flashbacks of The Running Man, which is a good thing!

What are you reading?

I finished Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland (book two of the Dread Nation series) and loved it – definitely worth the read for you zombie fans out there. I’m reading The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill now and enjoying it.

No new music for me these days – been listening to my faves and I having mini personal parties in preparation for all the festivities coming in October. On my playlist today? Much Kehlani. Check this one out – I jammed to it twice today:

Ok, well, I think that’s it. It was a lot. So, I guess that’s enough.

🙂

Until next time.

L. Marie Wood