Shaman’s Blood by Anne C. Petty

By Christine Goff

If your taste in fiction runs toward the dark side, Anne Petty’s SHAMAN’S BLOOD delivers. It begins when a hungry demon steps into an Australian conjure-man’s ritual circle deep in a Queensland cave in 1880, and the results are far-reaching. Stuck like a wasp to flypaper, the shape-shifting terror of Dreamtime legend clings to the sorcerer’s unlucky descendants down the centuries. Now, in a modern southern town, Alice Waterston and her daughter Margaret, the last of the bloodline, confront the demon from the Outback shadows. Can Alice figure out how to send the dimension-hopping Quinkan back where it belongs before it makes its final desperate move? Her long-dead father may have left her the means, if she has the nerve to use it!

“The tale covers myth and legend and shows how bloodlines matter in a family, even if the parental knowledge isn’t shared,” says Jo Ann Hakola, a reviewer for Library Thing. “It’s full of nightmares, horrors, and a reality that we’ve never seen. Once you start reading it, you’ll keep reading. It takes a while to put the pieces together and see exactly what’s going on and it will scare you on the way. ”

There’s a reason she wows us! Petty holds a Ph.D. in English from Florida State University with an emphasis in Comparative Mythology and Creative Writing. A Tolkien scholar, a specialist in Mythology and Finnish folklore and a poet, Petty also writes short fiction. “The Veritas Experience” and her award-winning story “Blade” were published in The Best Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction of 2009.  Add three books of literary criticism, and numerous essays on writing, mythology and J.R.R. Tolkien, and she’s a force to be reckoned with. Now, with two novels under her belt, Petty has become a master of horror and dark fantasy. According to horror writer and Bram Stoker nominee Daniel N. Shields, “Petty has proven to be a major player in the horror/suspense genre.”

Critics agree. “SHAMAN’S BLOOD offers unique insights into the worlds of magic, especially Australian mythology. Tales told by tribal “senior men”, combine with the modern world to create an engaging, intriguing, and ultimately enjoyable excursion into the intricacies of belief and unbelief,” says literary critic Dr. Michael Collings.

Petty is an active member of the Horror Writers Association, ITW, and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. In 2006, she founded Kitsune Books, a small press specializing in literary fiction and book-length poetry collections. For more information, please visit her website and her blog.

Take a trip to the dark side. Pick up a copy of SHAMAN’S BLOOD and let Petty take you on a journey you won’t soon forget.