Hello there! So, I finally got word back from the publisher about when my terrifying new novel, S.P.I.D.A.R., will be coming out. Originally, I had been told the novel would be coming out in all formats on January 8, but that didn't happen. I am guessing it had to do with the audiobook. Having produced a few audiobooks, I can tell you, it's always the audiobook.
I have been told that the new target date is Friday, February 23, 2018. That is the day a new definition of terror happens - in audiobooks, print and Kindle versions from Beacon Publishing.
So - what's S.P.I.D.A.R?
S.P.I.D.A.R. is set in the town of Whittier, Alaska (albeit a fictionalized version) where most of the entire population lives in twin towers once used by the military. There is a tunnel leading to a road that goes to Anchorage, but the tunnel houses a train track, is monitored to prevent trains and cars from coming through at the same time, has to be aired out from time to time and that closes about 10 pm every night. If you are in Anchorage and need to get back to Whittier, but it's after 10, you might as well find a hotel.
The population is about 200 people, most of whom work for the railroad or maintenance and upkeep of the towers, but a few also run their own businesses and work from home. The town gets a brief, intense, bit of warm weather where tourists come and some work for the restaurants, ice cream shops and boat rental places. The rest all live in the self-contained world of the towers, which has grocery stores, a church, a school, a video store, a police station, a hospital and a jail all contained within it. Some residents never have to set foot outside if they choose.
The novel takes place just as winter is coming. Winter is harsh in Whittier. The summer shops are closing up - and suddenly a body wearing a white coat washes up against the docks. This has never happened before, but it seems the body is from the government run Esther Island facility across the watery sound. The facility, since it was taken over and is no longer a salmon fishery, has been the subject of rumors and conspiracy theories. Now, a man wearing an ID badge and a white coat, and dead as a door nail is here.
With a storm coming, they have to store the body in the refrigerator in the basement and their local doctor decides to try and figure out what killed him. His body is bloated and strange-looking. Did he jump into the water or fall?
It turns out Esther Island has been experimenting with arachnids. Creating living, bio-mechanical drones to spy on people - and assassinate them.
Something terrifying lurks within the dead body the citizens of Whittier have just brought into their home. Something with simple orders: Invade. Control. Destroy. Something that adapts to each situation, keeps coming, takes you over, then destroys.
Can the residents of Whittier not only save themselves, but find a way to stop this eight-legged terror from getting out of Whittier and into the rest of the world?
What scares you? Is it spiders? Then S.P.I.D.A.R. will scare the hell out of you.
Invade. Control. Destroy.
Coming February 23, 2018.