Bite Me Spider
by Nora Penn
Date of
Publication: November 8th 2017
Cover
Artist: Nora Penn
Genre: Horror,
Sci-Fi, Action and Adventure
Tagline: An Eight-Legged Nightmare
BLURB
What would YOU do to save your
family? What lengths would you go through to rescue your loved ones from a
truly horrible fate? A fate such as being eaten by a pack of giant spiders?
This is the question that “Bite Me Spider” asks.
A bona fide page-turner, “Bite Me
Spider” combines an outrageous disaster scenario with intense family drama.
James Dresden wants the best for his family, including his daughter, Carol, his
wife, Hannah, and their unborn child. When Hannah is diagnosed with cancer, the
family opts for a radical new treatment, the bite of the genetically modified
Black Hermit Spider. Although Hannah is cured there is a terrible cost: an
invasion of giant spiders that threatens every living thing on the planet. To
save his family, James must face the scuttling menace head on. He must perform
deeds that would put weaker men in the madhouse.
Buckle up, horror fans. “Bite Me
Spider” puts YOU, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to experience
the terror, the tension, the madness, the mayhem, and the tiny moments of
salvation, that are part and parcel of surviving in a world overrun by spiders.
The question remains. If all hell
broke loose, what would you do to save your family? Read “Bite Me Spider” and
find out.
Buy Links:
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/Ngw2j60j8hE
Excerpt:
Sonja
could barely see the road ahead for all the tears in her eyes. She had been
driving for half an hour and had been crying for the entire time. It wasn’t a
sobbing, heaving cry, like one might expect of a woman who had moments ago been
widowed of her husband of fifty years. Rather it was a steady, unceasing flow,
as if she were a fountain filled with pure grief. At some point she stopped
wiping the tears from her face and simply let them run down her cheeks.
As she
drove along 95 South her mind replayed a hit parade of memories of her and
Bill. These memories went back to when they had first met, all the way back
through their time dating and then getting married, their raising their
children, and then their children’s children, and then living in the lighthouse
and fighting off the giant spiders for their survival. As the old woman
reminisced she was painfully aware of a hollow place in her soul. It was the
place in her life that her husband had occupied. It was more than a hole. It
was another half of her that had gone missing. No, not gone missing. This half
of her had been ripped away. And as sure as up is up and down is down, Sonja
knew that she would never be the same now that the love of her life was gone.
The only
thing keeping the old woman going at that point was her mission. Her sanity
hinged on the fact that she was entrusted with saving Carol’s life. In a
strange way she was grateful for the task. If she, Sonja, could play a role in
saving the child, she thought to herself, she could shuffle off this mortal
coil knowing that she had done one last good deed. It occurred to her then that
once she had caught up with James and Carol and informed them about the true
nature of the spider’s bite, she could simply drive her car off the road and
let herself be reunited with her husband in heaven.
Because
her emotions were so chaotic and her thoughts so scattered, and her eyes so
misty with tears, Sonja’s driving was extremely erratic. On several occasions
she had almost driven off the road and only managed to save herself by swerving
back at the very last moment. Compounding the danger was the fact that she was
speeding along at 90 miles per hour. Having a highway that was empty of cars
(except for the occasional abandoned vehicle) had given her a false sense of
safety. What’s more, she figured that James would be driving fast and she
deduced that if she was to catch him she would have to drive even faster.
As she
drove she remained just aware enough to keep on the lookout for spiders. The
eight-legged bastards had a habit of suddenly scuttling out in front of
vehicles. Back when the spiders were no larger than squirrels this was more of
a nuisance than a real danger, but now that the spiders were as big as bulls
they posed a far more serious threat. But as fate would have it, she hadn’t
seen any thus far.
The
unexplained growth of the spiders since the beginning of the spider apocalypse
meant that survivors like Sonja had grown accustomed to looking for the larger
specimens, as they posed the most obvious danger. But the fact that is that
there were still plenty of smaller spiders creeping about, such as those that
had hatched inside of her husband. As if further evidence of the danger of the
smaller spiders was needed, a normal-sized Black Hermit Spider was crawling up the
back of Sonja’s chair as she drove.
“I’m
going to make you proud, Bill,” Sonja said out loud and sniffed. “I know you
would want me to help these kids. Just like we would help our own kids.”
The Black
Hermit Spider put its finger-like legs over the top of Sonja’s chair. When the
creature saw the exposed neck of the female human, its eyes gleamed with a
terrible malevolence.
Sonja’s
thoughts turned to her children and her grandchildren, especially Dylan, who
was her favorite. She hadn’t heard news of him since the spider apocalypse
began, but she had a feeling that he was still alive. He was such a hearty soul
– a lot like this James fellow – and he would certainly put up a fight. If
anyone could survive the spider apocalypse and start building civilization
afresh, Dylan was the one.
Sonja
snapped out of her reverie just in time to turn the wheel and follow the curve
of the highway. The tires squealed but she was oblivious to the danger. Instead
of slowing down to a more reasonable pace, she pressed the gas pedal down
further. The car was going so fast the frame of the vehicle began to shake.
The Black
Hermit Spider, meanwhile, put its legs over the ridge of Sonja’s collar. The
creature was about the size of a human hand, and just as heavy. If Sonja had
been thinking clearly she would have felt the weight on the back of her shirt.
But she was too lost in her thoughts to notice.
“Wherever
you are, Dylan. I hope you’re well. I hope you know your grandmother loves you.
If you’re up in Heaven, then I hope you’re with your grandfather. And if you’re
still here on Earth, I hope I see you again someday.”
The
spider’s fangs were hovering over the exposed flesh of the back of Sonja’s
neck. As she wrapped up her tearful soliloquy, the spider drove its fangs into
her skin. Sonja winced as she felt the needle-like projections burrow into her
flesh. There was a sharp sting and then a powerful numbness as the poison was
injected into her system.
At first
the numbness was uncomfortable, but then it spread out like rays of sunshine
freed from behind a passing cloud. Instead of feeling heavy she began to feel
light.
“I love
you Dylan. And I love you Bill. I hope I’ll see you both again someday in
Heaven.”
Sonja
closed her eyes. A spasm passed through her body and her spine stiffened,
causing her legs to extend and her foot to press the gas pedal to the floor of
the car. The vehicle shot forward like a rocket, crossing the highway at a
sharp angle and smashing through a partition. On the other side of the
partition was a deep ditch waiting to accept the plummeting vehicle. But this
isn’t what Sonja saw.
What
Sonja saw was a multitude of faces. The faces belonged to everyone she had
known in life, going back to when she was a child. They were all smiling at her
as if she had just walked into a surprise birthday party being thrown in her
honor. Behind the familiar faces was a bright light and inside this bright
light was her husband Bill, who looked just as happy to see her as the rest. He
held out his arms to her. Sonja was suddenly no longer in the car. She was in
her husband’s arms. And in her husband’s arms she would stay.
Buy Links:
Author Info
Nora Penn writes fast-paced horror novels with strong, relatable characters.
Her favorite authors are Dean Koontz and Stephen King.
She released her first novel, Bite Me Spider, in November of 2017.
She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, who endures her various idiosyncrasies in return for being the first to read her new novels. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, on September 11, 2015.
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with Nora Penn
How would you describe you style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
My work, “Bite Me Spider” puts YOU, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to experience the terror, the tension, the madness, the mayhem, and the tiny moments of salvation, that are part and parcel of surviving in a world overrun by spiders. It’s an action packed fun ride which combines an outrageous disaster scenario with intense family drama.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
There is one routine. Write one hour a day, every day. No excuse, never.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
Putting characters into scenarios which they can barely handle show truly who they are. Continuously raising the bar naturally helps character development. I hope you’ll feel the same after finishing Bite Me Spider.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character? If so which one(s)?
My father died protecting us from two robbers when I was a little child. The main character, James Dresden is like him, at least how I remember. He is strong, smart and would do anything to protect his daughter and wife. Putting him in a disaster scenario works really well and represents what does being a human mean to me.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
Yes, James Dresden who I created based on my memories about my father.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
The continuous phobia of spiders. I just can’t stand them. They are scary as f#ck. 😊
Author Links:
Tour Giveaway
Grab your free copy on InstaFreebie
No comments:
Post a Comment