Sophie Whittemore has a new queer dark fantasy/paranormal mystery out (Ace, demi, bi, gay, gender-fluid, lesbian, non-binary, poly, trans, queer): Wake the Dead. And there’s a giveaway.
An ominous presence awakens in the small town of Gamin.
Fairies murdered by crazed monsters. Magic that makes immortals lose their minds and their heads (literally). Whispers of a vendetta against the fairy crime lords who own the infamous Kraken Club.
One ace siren detective, Lili, is dragged back into defending her turf…and hopefully, she doesn’t die this time around.
Warnings: violence, survivors, mental illness.
Giveaway
Sophie is giving away a $20 gift certificate for Nine Star Press with this tour:
a Rafflecopter giveawayhttps://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47303/
Excerpt
Prologue
The Kraken Club
The Kuntilanak’s name was Indah, at least, it was in the strip club. Her long, black hair wrapped like a shroud around her body as she circled the pole. When her hair coiled past her shoulders, it revealed the nail sticking out of the back of her neck, thick as a child’s fist, the color of rust and blood. Black rope was tied around her legs, cuffing them to the soles of the boots she wore as heels. A tall and thin man, a fairy, with willow-emerald skin and eyes the color of lotus leaves, held out a wad of dollar bills. He placed them at her feet.
“Smile,” he told her.
She did, baring her fangs.
The fairy grinned. “Ah.” He traced his thumb against those fangs, still grinning as she sank them into skin that tasted of rotting leaves and nectar. The fangs retracted when he didn’t flinch. “Like a vampire.”
Indah laughed, bending over to pocket the bills in one smooth movement. “The vampires wish they were Kuntilanak like me.”
###
As soon as she pressed the bills to the glittering zipup pouch at her thigh, they disappeared. The fairy waggled his long, thin fingers. “Alakazam.” He chuckled even though this wasn’t a laughing matter. Being of fairy blood, he couldn’t care less.
“Fae magic doesn’t feed me. Money does. So, if you’re not willing to pay with real cash, then get out.”
She spat at his eye, praying he went blind. “Setan.”
She moved toward the bathroom, taking the long way around so she wouldn’t run into the handsy Ljósálfar manning the bar with his light-blond hair and translucent skin. He thought he was handsome, and he took many a mortal woman to bed, but his overconfidence turned the Kuntilanak girl off him.
Overconfidence just made you all the more of an asshole, and she knew his type. Pelle was just another elf acting as a handler in this gods-forsaken place.
She slammed into the bathroom and took the sink covered in the least amount of glitter and wadded tissue paper. She splashed under her armpits and near her groin, counting the feeble bills she’d collected in the first hour of the night.
The blue bathroom door swung lazily open behind her, screeching against tile. “Fuck off, Pelle!” She screamed it out, hoping she could scare him off.
Instead, it was the green fairy. He stood in front of her with his legs splayed wide, his eyes focused on her face.
“You again? I’m not for free.” She raised her middle finger, water trickling down the sides of her face. Smelling a sweet-smoky mix of nail polish and cigarettes in the back.
No reaction. His eyes stayed focused on her face. “Hello? Fairy dude, you doing all right?”
His neck bent backward then slammed forward again. Something splintered: wood, blood, and bone.
“They’re coming,” he said. “The ones who see all.” Then he struck.
Author Bio
Sophie Whittemore is a Dartmouth Film/Digital Arts major with a mom from Indonesia and a dad from Minnesota. They’re known for their Gamin Immortal series (Catch Lili Too) and Legends of Rahasia series, specifically, the viral publication Priestess for the Blind God. Their writing career kicked off with the whimsical Impetus Rising collection, published at age 17.
They grew up in Chicago and live a life of thoroughly unexpected adventures and a dash of mayhem: whether that’s making video games or short films, scripting for a webcomic, or writing about all the punk-rock antiheroes we should give another chance (and subsequently blogging about them).
Sophie’s been featured as a Standout in the Daily Herald and makes animated-live action films on the side. Their queer-gamer film “IRL – In Real Life” won in the Freedom & Unity Young Filmmaker Contest (JAMIE KANZLER AWARDS Second Prize; ADULT: Personal Stories, Third Prize) and was a Semifinalist at the NYC Rainbow Cinema Film Festival. They’ve published in multiple literary magazines and also worked as a staff writer for a time at AsAmNews and Her Campus Media. Ultimately, Sophie lives life with these ideas: 1) live your truth unapologetically and 2) don’t make bets with supernatural creatures.
Author Website: https://www.sophiawhittemore.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/sofia.margareth/
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesophiewhit/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15057772.Sophie_Whittemore
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sophie-Whittemore/author/B01CHOEOFS
Writing WAKE THE DEAD by Sophie Mutiara Whittemore
What inspired you to write this particular story? What were the challenges in bringing it to life?
Wake the Dead is the sequel to Catch Lili Too. Overall, the Gamin Immortals series was inspired by an idea I had questioning how a siren would navigate being asexual. As a queer, nonbinary person on the ace spectrum—I knew this story was one I wanted to explore. As for challenges in bringing this story to life, I’d suppose one of my biggest challenges was fighting self-doubt. Especially whether the story I was writing was “too much”—though I suppose another way to reframe that is just by saying the story is quite camp. And you can never have too much camp!
What secondary character would you like to explore more? Tell me about them.
Stace. I love Stace in Wake the Dead. They’re a botanist who met their boyfriend (Jason, the Midwestern jock necromancer) in a boxing ring in NYC. They’ve got tattoos of vines and plants all over themselves and can identify a poisonous toxin in a second. Yes, I gush about them a lot in my book. But frankly, they’re who I aspire to be every day. They also have a pet battle boar named Wilbur as their sidekick. And the book has a running gag that every monster thinks they’re also a monster too—when they just have a plethora of cool body mods. Let me have my nonbinary comic-book-esque wish fulfillment!
Who has been your favorite character to write and why?
Lili. I sincerely have grown to love Lili as my own comfort character. Snarky. Cynical. Jaded, but a big softie with her monster cohort friends. I wrote her during the midst of a deep depression—when every day felt like forever. I think Lili ended up feeling quite similarly. She’s an immortal who’s lived thousands of years. She’s quite literally lived forever, and she battles depression because of it. Even someone who’s seen empires rise and fall can also battle difficult periods of mental health. I like writing characters who are vulnerable like that. They’re real.
What was the weirdest thing you had to Google for your story?
Not weird, but quite cool, honestly. As a plant nerd myself (hello inspiration for Stace), the Fae leave a calling card of poisonous plants. This led me down a rabbit hole of researching various poison gardens in the world. And yes, you can pass out simply by passing through the gates of some of these poison gardens! Magical, huh? (And slightly terrifying).
Let’s talk to your characters for a minute – what’s it like to work for such a demanding writer?
Hello there! I’m Patty. I’m the owner of the Sweeney Inn. My twin is Jason Sweeney, the jock. Ahem, yes, well. You didn’t think you’d meet me, would you? Especially with the author gushing so much about Lili and Stace. Honestly, it’s quite exhausting being the voice of reason in this book. One would think being a mortal necromancer would be a volatile profession, but honestly, it’s a lot of babysitting other, much more volatile monsters.
What’s your core motivation in this book?
Please don’t tease me for this. But, potentially, it would be to save Gamin… and the very cute newcomer Indah, from the grips of the Fae crime lords running a racket in town. They seem to think Indah murdered one of their princes or something—but I know she’s innocent! Indah is a Kuntilanak, an Indonesian vampiric figure in mythology who hides in trees and rips apart men. She’s quite beautiful, in her true form and her glamour. I want to save everyone in the town, of course. It just so happens that everyone also includes the beautiful Indah!
Are you happy with where your writer left you at the end? (don’t give us any spoilers).
Is there ever really an end to these books? Let me just say this: I’m sure what goes around, comes around. And I’m sure I’ll be coming back around to finding more trouble in Gamin soon!
AUTHOR BIO: Sophie Mutiara Whittemore is a queer, nonbinary, half-Indonesian SLE-diagnosed filmmaker/writer. Their work centers around their culture, queerness, and fairy tales. They have screened at Palm Springs’ Cinema Diverse, New York City’s Rainbow Cinema Awards, and the Vermont International Film Festival. Their film “Don’t Tell Mother,” about Asian mother-daughter relationships, was awarded top prize (Best LGBT+ Short) at the Los Angeles Asian Film Awards. Sophie has also been a quarterfinalist at the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards and a Semifinalist at Filmmatic Screenplay Awards. Sophie’s published work has included the Queer Indie Book Award – nominated QTPOC-fantasy book series The Gamin Immortals, which earned them an invitation to the Golden Crown Literary Society (known for honoring such legends as Allison Bechdel). Originally from Chicago, Sophie is now based in Los Angeles and is pursuing their MFA in Film Directing from CalArts. They hold a BFA in Film/Digital Arts from Dartmouth College. In their spare time, they perform Indonesian traditional dance with international icons Bu Nanik/Pak Wenten of dance troupe Burat Wangi. www-sophiewhittemore-com SOCIAL MEDIA: @thesophiewhit
