In my effort to share blog postings with other authors, it's my honor to introduce to you Samantha Combs, writer of YA paranormal and horror.
Last week I wrote a guest blog posting on her site and today I'm returning the favor. Enjoy!
Author Samantha
Combs, serving up the paranormal…with a side of horror
Hey! I’m happy to
be here on Mike’s blog and hope you all get to know me a little better. My name is Samantha Combs and I am the author
of eight books. Like my catch-phrase
says, I write both YA paranormals and adult horror. I started my writing journey in the 4th
grade when, instead of a book report, I wrote a poem. And then I took about a thirty year break!
When I started my literary journey (which is sooo
different than a writing journey), I wrote a couple of paragraphs. They became a couple of chapters, which
became a novel before I realized it. My
first published book was born from an idea created by my four year old. It was Twilight mania about two years ago and
she announced to me she wanted to marry Edward the vampire. Um…no.
Just…no. I decided I needed to
write a boy my daughter could love…with my approval. So I wrote SPELLBOUND.
SPELLBOUND was supposed to be a stand-alone. But, my protag and her sweet boyfriend would
not stop having conversations in my head.
In the car. In the shower. In the middle of the damn night. I thought if I sat down and wrote a few
paragraphs, they would be happy. Um…no. They weren’t.
So Everspell was born. And in
between, I got a kicky idea about a boy-ghost, and wrote Ghostly.
So, that’s usually how it goes for me. I am NOT a plotter. I’m not sure I am a pantser either. I’m a Get-a-Good-Idea-and-Jot-it-Down-and-See-How-a-Couple-Paragraphs-Feel-er. Which is exactly how it sounds. I get a neat tingle about something, whip out
my cell and tap out the premise, or the character’s name, or just the one,
juicy line. Then I sit down later at my
laptop and wait for Musina.
Musina is my muse.
She is bitchy and snarky and speaks her mind like a world-weary fifteen
year old who knows EVERYTHING. She
annoys the shit out of me and makes me work like a dog. I love her and can’t stand her. She feels the same about me. But, for some reason, it works. She and I are like two peas in a pod. She is my YA voice.
My ninth book will be published in two months. An edgier, darker YA paranormal, I take on
some themes I never have before.
Releasing in April, through Secret Cravings Publishing, this is an
excerpt from THE DEADLIES:
The front of Holly Hills Academy was
imposing. Callie was reminded of antebellum mansions she had seen in magazines
featuring Southern architecture. She watched the other students flowing into
the building and wondered why they looked so perfect in their uniforms and she
looked so out of place. The scratchy plaid skirt and starched white blouse were
so unlike what she was used to. She couldn’t ever remember wearing knee-high
socks before this. She’d managed to salvage some semblance of her individuality
by shunning the ladylike black-patent mary janes in favor of her beloved black
cowboy boots. They didn’t go at all with the proper look of the girl’s school
uniform, but they were much more her style. They made the stiff, itchy monkey
suit halfway bearable.
“Hi. You must be Mrs. Flood’s niece,
Calliope. She told me about you.” Callie
turned around to find another girl standing there, dressed in the same
ill-fitting school uniform. She had an armload of books and was appraising Callie
with a friendly eye. “My name’s Suzette Price, but you can call me Suki.
Everyone does.” The girl did a little
bow and finished it with a curtsey.
“Hey. I’m Callie.”
“I know. Your aunt plays canasta
with my grandmother.” Callie gave Suki a
wide-eyed look. Suki just laughed. “Oh,
the already-knowing-you thing? You’ll
have to get used to that. Haven Falls is a small town and everyone knows your
business. We knew you were coming here to live more than a month ago. And since
Holly Hills is the same school your momma and Auntie went to, we just knew
you’d be going here too. You’re a legacy!”
Suki seemed pleased with her knowledge, but Callie wasn’t. It irked her
to have total strangers know so much about her.
Suki was friendly and as they stood
outside the school, she waved at most students who passed them. Suki tried to
fill her in on all the names, but Callie missed most of them. One she didn’t
miss belonged to a boy named Cayden Welliver. Chatting animatedly with a couple
of friends, Callie noticed he was a bit taller than her with dark hair that
fell to just below his ears. He hung back, behind the others, as if he didn’t
want to be the center of attention. He was certainly the center of Callie’s.
She tried not to be obvious about it, but she found she kept peeking around
people to see if he was watching her. A couple times, she thought he might have
been.
As Callie tried to take the whole new
environment in, her attention was drawn away from the good-looking boy to a
tight group of girls who seemed to appear out of nowhere. There were six or
seven of them, she wasn’t sure, and as they glided by, they commanded the whole
area. They wore the same school uniform as everyone else, but somehow, it
seemed to fit them much better. Loose where it had to be and snug where it
ought not have been. Beautiful hair, shining faces and such a imposing
presence, crowds of kids parted as if the movement were pre-rehearsed. It was
apparent to Callie that they were some kind of big deal at the school.
“So, who’re the Barbie dolls?” she
asked Suki.
“Oh, those are the Ravens. They’re
kind of a social club. Super secret and super hard to get in.”
“If it’s such a secret, why does
everyone know about it?”
“The secret part is what they do. No
one really knows.”
“Then why would anyone want to get
in?”
Suki gazed wistfully as the Ravens
drifted by. “Are you kidding? I would
kill to be a Raven. They’re the prettiest, smartest, most popular girls in the
school. Everyone wants to be one.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“You will.” Suki raised an eyebrow at her new friend. “You’re
pretty enough, you know. They might ask you. They probably only cruised by to
get a decent look at you. Are you smart?”
“I can hold my own. But I’m not into
joining things.”
“I heard you want to be on the
yearbook staff. That’s joining something.”
“Something worthwhile. Not a social
club for look-alikes.” Callie stared at
the girl in front of her. “And how did you know about that?”
“I told you. Small town.”
“Whatever.”
“Come on. I’ll show you where your
classes are.”
Callie followed behind Suki as she
led her down another endless hallway. She saw the same pack of girls as before,
the Ravens, gathered in an open area near some lockers. This time, they were
openly appraising her. One of them, a tall, slender blonde girl, even raised
her hand in a wave, as if she knew her. Callie was about to wave back until she
saw her face. Instead of a smile, she was sneering at her. She sucked in her
breath.
“Whoa.”
“What?” inquired Suki,
disinterestedly.
“One of those creepy Raven girls was
waving at me.”
“Really?” Suki spun around to look.
“Which one?”
“The thin blonde girl.”
“Oh my God. Don’t wave back to her.
She’s psycho.”
“Okay, well, that explains it. She
was making this scary face at me. I didn’t wave or anything.”
“Good thing you didn’t. We try not
to encourage her.” Suki stopped and
turned around. “Anyway, we’re here.”
I invite you to come visit me on my blog,
www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com,
where I try and give new, aspiring, and established writer/authors tips and
tricks of the writing trade. As an
independent author, I like to give attention to fellow indies and highlight
their work as often as I can. I am not
usually the object of a blog, so this was fun to do. Thanks Mike!
If you like what you read, please let me know. Like me, follow me, add me, plus me, or
whatever it is they will be doing tomorrow.
I’d love to hear from you, and about you. And thanks for getting to know me.
Samantha Combs, Author
Check out all EIGHT of my books!
CONNECT WITH ME!
WRITE, PUBLISH, AND BE
INFORMED!
