Sumiko Saulson

Sumiko Saulson

I am very pleased to profile other writers in the genre and to highlight what they do – because aside from the struggles we face as women in horror, and as women of color in this genre, aside from all that we are also working in a niche, a genre, that is much maligned. For that reason – because horror is that weird auntie of a genre we like to keep hidden in the kitchen during the big family reunion of writing genres, shielded behind her slightly more respectable cousins Science Fiction and Fantasy – because horror is that ugly duckling sister with a heart as deep and murky as the bottom of the ocean, filled with wonders unforetold – I am happy to lend whenever I can any legitimacy and sense of fraternity – or sometimes sorority? – with other writers of the genre as I can, whenever possible.

Still – sometimes I forget that I am an author and like every other author, there are times when what I really need to do is stop and plug my book. This is one of those times – but bear with me. There is something important about “The Moon Cried Blood”, and a reason why it is free not just on any day during WiHM, but today – Valentine’s Day.

A Coming of Age Story about a Girl

“The Moon Cried Blood” is a horror story that neatly occupies the Coming of Age genre niche, and falls just short of being a work of Young Adult fiction due to it’s mature subject matters involving death, domestic violence, mental illness and incest. In fact it shares something in common with J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye”‘ in that it is a story about a youthful protagonist who lives in a world so dark and fraught with danger that it is clearly written for older audiences – adults, although it is appropriate for older teens.

Leticia Gordon is thirteen years old in 1975. She hasn’t had it easy: she’s been living with her stepmother and half sister since her father died because her mother is in a mental hospital and can’t take care of her – and now strange things are happening to Tisha – she is seeing this and hearing things she shouldn’t.  In an increasingly dark and twisted Los Angeles, young Tisha finds herself struggling with a dark and surreal landscape of frightening events both natural and supernatural. She doesn’t know who she can trust – indeed, she doesn’t even know if she can trust her own mind. Is she, like her mother, insane? Or is the reverse true – is her mother, like her, perfectly sane but experiencing the world through the troublesome veil of her supernatural powers?

A Story About Women and Power

Free Today for Valentine’s

Leticia isn’t losing her mind – she is the last in a long line of witches who have been imbued with their powers by the Moon. They are called the Luna – daughters of the moon spirit – and have gifts of foresight, hindsight, insight and intuition, each according to her bloodline.  The future of mankind hangs in the balance as Tisha – the last remaining witch through which the Lita, an all powerful witch who has the power of all four bloodlines at her disposal.

Because of the prophecy, Tisha is in dire straits – some   wish to corrupt her so that she will bring into the world a Dark Lita, one who uses her powers for destruction.  And someone else wants to stop the prophecy by trying to kill her…

Alone in the dark gritty streets of urban Los Angeles, this little girl is running for her life, trying to figure out what is real and what is a part of her imagination, and who – if anyone – she can trust.

I hope you’ll check it out…

It’s free today, here…

http://www.amazon.com/The-Moon-Cried-Blood-ebook/dp/B007P9WL4W

~ by Sumiko Saulson on February 14, 2013.

Posted in Announcements, Women in Horror Month