Sci-fi/Fantasy author A. Lee Martinez is featured in this spotlight post. Martinez fills his stories with humor, wit, and a bit of gore. Even if you're not a sci-fi/fantasy fan, you may enjoy these stories that insert "normal" personalities into fantastical situations.
Spooked Yet?!
Little Star is by John Ajvide Lindqvist who wrote“Let the Right One In.” This was made into the movie “Let Me In” and is about a little girl vampire. His new work is on a different subject. A man finds a baby in the woods, left for dead. He brings the baby home, and he and his wife raise the girl in their basement. When a shocking and catastrophic incident occurs, the couple’s son, Jerry, whisks the girl away to Stockholm to start a new life. There, he enters her in a nation-wide singing competition. Another young girl who’s never fit in sees the performance on TV, and a spark is struck that will ignite the most terrifying duo In modern fiction. 
You loved him when you were a kid, now the guy that gave you Goosebumps is writing for adults. His first adult novel is Red Rain by R.L. Stine and it taps into some grown-up fears. Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Caroline, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction through the island and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers two orphaned boys—twins. Filled with a desire to do something to help, to make something good of all she witnessed, Lea impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island—husband Mark, a child psychologist, and their two children, Ira and Elena—aren’t so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the twins’ true nature—or predict that, within a few weeks’ time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in.
I haven't read any Stephen King books in a long time, so when Full Dark, No Stars came across my desk, I decided to try it out. The book consists of four short stories in one book: 1922, Big Driver, Fair Extension, and A Good Marriage. The stories are all creepy and scary and give you just enough information that you wish they lasted a little bit longer. This is truly "typical Stephen King writing" and if you love Cujo or Christy, you'll love these stories too. In the book's Afterword, King sums up the books purpose this way: "When it comes to fiction, the writer's only responsibility is to look for the truth inside his own heart. It won't always be the reader's truth, or the critic's truth, but as long as it's the writers' truth...all is well...I have tried my best in Full Dark, No Stars to record what people might do, and how they might behave, under dire circumstances." The people in these four short stories are basically ordinary people that are confronted with a sudden and drastic circumstance and must figure out how to act (or react). The writing is at times tense but never do the heroes and heroines act the way you expect. These four stories are as much an exploration of the human mind as they are creepy thrillers.
If you are having Bad Thoughts, don't despair--Dave Zeltserman is here to help them survive! Bad Thoughts is Zeltserman's newest book and it is a real page turner. The premise of the mystery is this: Detective Bill Shannon works in Cambridge and has recurring blackouts, usually once a year around the anniversary date of a horrific psychological event. He has been trying desperately for years to manage the blackouts, but nothing seems to work, including drowning the darkness with alchohol. The real clencher is that when he was thirteen, he came home to discover his mother being assaulted and the criminal waiting for him. Shannon suffered unspeakable torture at the hands of this person, and his mother ended up being murdered. Now, Shannon must continue to heal himself, pick up the pieces of his marriage, and find the source of his blackouts as he tries to solve the case of a serial killer who is assaulting victims in a weirdly similar manner to the way Shannon's mother was assaulted. As the evidence grows, suspicion begins to point towards Shannon's involvement in the murders, and soon Shannon's partner, wife, fellow police officers and his therapist begin to believe that Shannon's blackouts have something to do with the crimes. If you want to know true evil, try reading this book--I suggest you do not read it alone!!! This fast-moving thriller is chock full of twists, and is a mix between a mystery and a horror story. It is gritty and gory but a real treat for readers who love their mysteries taut and with a taste of the occult.
I know what you're thinking...what in the world is a "rom-com-zom?" It's a romantic zombie comedy, of course! I just read the most entertaining book, and believe me, I was just as skeptical as you when one of my co-workers handed it to me and insisted I read it. I used to be a big fan of zombie movies when I was a kid. I had to watch all of George Romero's zombie movies (Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead), usually in the middle of the night with the lights off, huddled under blankets with my friends. I have outgrown that phase (I think?) but I still enjoy reading stories with a supernatural spin to them, usually vampires or fairies. S. G. Browne's Breathers: A Zombie's Lament totally blew away all of my expectations about what a zombie book would be like! The book opened with a bang (think about waking up in your kitchen one day, opening your refrigerator and finding some dead bodies) and gathered steam until its very satisfying conclusion. The premise of the story is that zombies exist (and have for many years) but do not have any rights in society. Andy Warner is a recently deceased, newly minted zombie, who reanimated after a bad car wreck in which his wife also died. Andy's parents have reluctantly agreed to be his caretakers, even though they have a hard time getting used to the smell of Andy's slowly decompsing body parts, and encourage him to stay out of sight while he's living in their wine cellar. After weeks of name-calling and fast-food throwing by Breathers (living humans), Andy decides he's had enough and embarks on a journey to find himself and gain rights for zombies everywhere. The best part of Breathers is the humor--it sneaks up on you and things you wouldn't ordinarily think are funny turn out to be very amusing. There is a bit of "gruesome-ness" in this story, but it's more of the dark humor variety (think Creepshow) rather than gory. Try this book out and let us know what you think about it! And, if this blog has stirred up nostalgia for your old favorite "zombie" movies, check out the library's DVD and VHS collections - we have plenty of your favorites to choose from. :)
aumatized. The book talk will be followed by a reception and book signing. Alexander Brown published his first novel, Sweet Dreams in 2003, when he was only eighteen. The story is in the horror-suspense genre and involves a twisting tale of terror set in the fictional Southern town of Havesnburg in 1935. His second novel, published when he was twenty-three, is a more complex novel that shows his increased maturity and writing style. Traumatized is a collection of fifteen fascinating tales on a variety of topics. The stories examine many subjects, from witches, demons and hell to a disturbing exploration of a new type of sushi that has bizarre effects on those who ingest it. Like many younger authors, Mr. Brown is using new technologies to publicize the publication of Traumatized. The book can be purchased at http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ and http://www.borders.com/ and copies will be available for purchase at the book signing. He is currently publicizing his book on facebook.com and on his myspace page located at http://myspace.com/alexbrownhorrormaster.