Zombie
Housewives
Ami
Blackwelder
Genre:
NA Paranormal Thriller
Publisher:
Eloquent Enraptures Publishing
Date
of Publication: Halloween, 2013
ASIN:
B00H6TIGGS
Number
of pages: 26 on kindle
Word
Count: 9,416
Cover
Artist: Ami Blackwelder
Book
Description:
Welcome
to Mulberry Lane, NJ where a quiet suburbia died as the sun
descended. The reporters tell us something in the soap caused
these...these changes. No one could say for sure what caused this,
but this is one neighborhood that will never be the same.
When
Crystal, Jennifer and Carrie begin to change from housewives into
zombies they bring all their repressed angst with them. Dishes,
laundry, and neglectful husbands and spiral into a fit of rage.
Follow these three characters in a dark comedy where being a
housewife never looked so creepy.
This
is an original novella. The sequel is Zombie Models.
Get
it free for your Kindle April 22, 23, 24
Excerpt:
Zombie
Housewives: It Started in the Kitchen
New
Jersey, in the not so distant future...
Crystal
and Alex
A
silent scream erupted from somewhere deep inside Crystal. She could
feel the anger building, like something inside of her broke. Slowly
counting to 10, she gently placed the camera on the sofa and spun
back around to glare at her husband Alex, her thin summer dress
swirling around her. “Fine, I won’t pick up my camera again! I’ll
spend all day in the kitchen.” Trapped, she felt so trapped,
unconsciously her upper lip curled like an angry dog.
Her
husband Alex threw his hands up before finishing his point, just like
he always did, and then his hands landed on his suit’s slacks. “I
didn’t mean it like that, Crystal. I just need you to be more
focused on the housework. Dishes are piling up and the floors are
dirty. I’m at work all day and then come home to this...this
filth.” His carefully trimmed eyebrows sat at angles over his dark
slanted eyes. His tall and slender shape hung over her like a drill
sergeant, his growing anger would become one more thing his mother
would blame on Crystal, somehow. Sometimes she imagined him floating
out the window like a kite, his words dragging behind him like a
tail. It may not soften the stabbing complaints seeping from his
mouth, but the image of him flying away made the words a little less
painful. Wow, when did she start wishing she could blow him out of
her life?
She
wished that she could feel chastised by this charade of a fight that
they seemed to have every payday, but these days she couldn’t
summon enough emotion to care. She dusted her hands on her dress
before she marched into the kitchen and jerked on the faucet, her
wavy blond locks bouncing behind her. Water splashed over the dishes
and she squeezed a few more drops of the SunShine dish soap into the
filling sink. Rinse, Soap, Rinse, repeat. She settled into the
never-ending ballet that was the dishes, the sudsy plates dancing
across the counter. Her fingers started tingling.
Alex
followed her into the kitchen and continued. “Can’t you spend
less time on your hobby and more time on the house?”
He
went there.
“Hobby!
Hobby?” The anger rising in her throat was palpable. “I studied
photography at college. I have wanted to be a photographer since I
got my first camera at four years old. How long did you study for
your job? Eight Weeks? Whatever, Alex! If we hadn’t gotten married
right out of college maybe I would have had time to pursue my
dreams... I am your wife, not your slave. I have replaced working on
my career with working on your dinner and five years later where has
that gotten me?” Another bowl careened into the soapy water.
“What
does that mean?”
“It
means you were supposed to have duties too, remember? Or did you
already forget all the promises you made?” She spun from the sink,
her back at the counter edge, and her hands covered in suds. At least
he had the decency to blush, the red creeping up his cheeks staining
his Asian complexion.
"I
didn’t care about your promises of a two story home with a picket
fence and two cars. I never cared about keeping up with the Joneses,
or the Changs, or the Griffins. I never wanted to get married."
Damn it, why was she crying? "I wanted to travel the world, just
me and my camera. Then you came along and I loved you so much that my
heart hurt every time I thought of leaving...My bag is packed, Alex,
has been for two months now.
It
has been five years, Alex. Five years! What do we have to show for
it?” She flung her hands at him and the suds scattered. She scanned
the dingy kitchen of their one bedroom home, as if just noticing the
peeling wall paper, mismatched chairs and chipping paint.
“I’ve
told you real estate is tight right now. No one is buying. The
economy is bad. I work all day to make ends meet and come home to
more mess. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“Fine,
Alex. You win.” Her emerald eyes grew defiant, though her pale
complexion turned hot red. She folded her arms tightly over her
chest, opening and closing her suddenly stiff fingers. Wasn’t 27
too young to get arthritis?
“Don’t
be like that. I’m...” he fished for a reason to cool the
argument, “just hungry darling.” Alex inched closer and stroked
her cheek with his pinky. She sighed, just about ready to believe his
apology. “Could you get me something to eat?”
Jerk!
“Sure!”
She wiped her hands off on the dish towel and shoved a frozen dinner
into the microwave. The tiny door slammed.“Be ready in five.” She
turned on her heel to walk out of the kitchen–being that close to
the knives was far too tempting.
Silent
at last, Alex stood motionless in the hallway of the kitchen. Crystal
brushed past him and headed to the sofa to find her camera. Lifting
the viewfinder into her eyes, she aimed the lens at Alex’s
disappointed expression as the microwave timer buzzed.
Review
Quotes:
"I
could totally relate!" -Ashley
"Not
your typical zombie story!" -Ami
"The
characters stayed with me long after the read." -Katherine
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About
the Author:
Ami
Blackwelder is a Paranormal and SciFi author. Her stories range from
Tween & YA to Adult. Growing up in Florida, she graduated UCF and
in 1997 received her BA in English and additional teaching
credentials. Then she packed her bags and travelled overseas to teach
in Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, China and Korea. She has always loved
writing and wrote poems and short stores since childhood; however,
her novels began when she was in Thailand in her thirties.
Having
won the Best Fiction Award from the University of Central Florida
(Yes, The Blair Witch Project University), her short fiction From Joy
We Come, Unto Joy We Return was published in the on campus literary
magazine: Cypress Dome and remains to this day in University
libraries around the USA. Later, she achieved the semi-finals in a
Laurel Hemingway contest and published a few poems in the Thailand’s
Expat magazine, and an article in the Thailand’s People newspaper.
Additionally, she has published poetry in the Korea’s AIM magazine,
the American Poetic Monthly magazine and Twisted Dreams Magazine.
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