Thursday, February 4, 2010

Saving Amanda Feral: Snarkiness Reigns

Perhaps you've seen mentions of Amanda around the blogosphere, perhaps not. If you hang around book bloggers, especially on Twitter, you most likely know the King of Snark, Mark Henry. Amanda is Mark's "insane zombie protagonist" from his book Happy Hour of the Damned, which has just been released this week in mass market paperback aka the cheaper version. Mark needs this version of Amanda's story to sell or her fourth book will never be published. Times are tough, and publishers are tougher.

Here is the blurb from Happy Hour of the Damned:

Donuts are deadly. One minute you’re getting your binge on, the next, you’re slipping on the box, cracking your skull, and in the weirdest turn of events, rising as a zombie. That’s just for starters. Now, the recently deceased Amanda Feral is trying to make her way through Seattle’s undead scene with style (mortuary-grade makeup, six inch stilettos, bangin’ Balenciaga handbag) while satisfying a craving for decent vodkatinis and the occasional human flesh—Don’t judge. And no, not like chicken.

Mark explains here (from his website) what the scoop is on his situation:

Lots of people bought and read the book, just not enough to make a dent in my advance, so that zombie chick right there has hit the skids (oddly enough the premise of the 3rd book revolves around a totally crappy lack of funds for poor Amanda), and by skids, I mean that her story might just come to an end with the third book, BATTLE OF THE NETWORK ZOMBIES (coming February 23rd).

You can read an R rated interview with Amanda at Wicked Pixie's blog here. However, don't come crying to me if you are scarred and traumatized by the interview. It's a Reader Beware kind of deal.

The writing and book community is awesome. Authors and bloggers help each other out through encouragement, reviews, contests and sales. We buy, and it supports are favorite authors. There are also some cool contests going on right now to help save Amanda. Check them out:

Mark Henry, the zombie man himself, has a contest for Amanda's second & third book:
http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/02/save-amanda-feral.html
Hurry and Stop by before Monday, February 8th

Emma Petersen has a very cool interview with Mark & a Give-away!
http://emmapetersen.com/blog/
Ends February 7th, so hurry.

Dakota Cassidy is giving away book goodness to help out Mark:
http://www.dakotacassidy.net/?p=497
Visit and enter before February 14th!

Stacia Kane is offering up some cool cover flats:
http://www.staciakane.net/2010/02/02/because-i-love-you/
Visit her before February 16th.

Michelle Bardsley is having an awesome contest to support Mark!
http://blog.michelebardsley.net/?p=1133
Head on over before Monday, February 8th

I bought my copy from B&N, plus it's available from & Powell's and Amazon.. Enjoy the read and help out a great author!

~Moonsanity