A thrilling science fiction/horror novel from award-winning author Sam Stone. The first in The Jinx Chronicles.
Think War of the Worlds meets Lord of the Rings via Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.
Teacher Jasmine Regis’ world is turned upside down when an alien race attacks and devastates the Earth. The Jinx – named by soldiers who find that Human technology fails during attacks – are a race of savage warriors from elsewhere. They have one agenda: take the women and kill any male who stands in their way.
After saving Andrew, one of the children in her care, Jas has to find refuge in the remnants of the world she once knew. Humanity has almost been wiped out, and those who remain cannot always be trusted: some are feral, displaying savage and monstrous qualities, while others harbour brutal obsessions.
As the world changes around her, Jas soon learns she must disguise who and what she is in order to remain safe. But how can she so effectively turn from male to female? And what dark secret is being kept by the remaining military hiding in their underground base?
Jinx Town is Book 1 of The Jinx Chronicles. It is an epic science fiction portal fantasy with dark horror.
310pp. 6×9 format paperback novel.
ISBN: 978-1-84583-096-0 (USA Edition: 978-1-84583-893-5)
Published February 2015
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dark Fantasy author Sam Stone began writing aged 11 after reading her first adult fiction book, The Collector by John Fowles. ‘I’d never read anything like it. It was terrifying – but so exciting…that’s when I realised I liked to be scared,’ she admits.
Her love of horror fiction began soon afterwards when she stayed up late one night with her sister to watch Christopher Lee in the classic Hammer film Dracula. Since then she’s been a huge fan of vampire movies and novels old and new.
The youngest of seven children, Sam struggled to find her own space and is a self-confessed bookworm. ‘I always have a book on the go,’ says Sam. ‘It’s my time. Life wouldn’t be the same if I couldn’t chill sometimes with a good book. It’s where I learnt about life, long before I lived it.’
Sam’s writing has appeared in seven anthologies for poetry and prose. Her first novel was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. Like all good authors she drew on her own knowledge and passions to write it. The novel won the Silver Award for Best Horror Novel in ForeWord magazine’s book of the year awards in 2007. In September 2008 the novel was re-edited and republished by The House of Murky Depths as Killing Kiss. The sequel, Futile Flame, went on to become a finalist in the same awards for 2009. Futile Flame was later shortlisted for The British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novel 2010.
An eclectic and skilled prose writer Sam also has a BA (Hons) in English and Writing for Performance and an MA in Creative Writing, which means that she is frequently invited to talk about writing in schools, colleges and universities in the UK. She is said to be an ‘inspirational’ speaker.
Praise for Sam Stone:
‘Sam Stone without doubt is a mistress of the grisly and the glutinous. She is one of the few horror writers who makes you feel when you have finished her stories that you need to wash your hands. Twice. I believe that we can look forward to seeing Sam Stone develop into a major influence in the realm of blood and shadows and things that wake you up, wide-eyed, in the middle of the night.’ – Graham Masterton
‘A deceptively readable date with darkness watch your step! This book is lit for the much more discerning chick (and cock) who likes to walk in the shadows. Relax with it, but be prepared for sudden jewels and little masterpieces and the rug to be pulled from under your feet.’ – Tanith Lee on Killing Kiss
‘I was floored by Sam’s work. Really flat-out delighted to see such a level of style combined with narrative drive. I suppose one could use those terms in an overly technical sense, but Sam is at a level that simply shines. Soaking in her story even while seeing her powerful ability to make me feel and see what the narrator is experiencing – she’s not only got a gift, she clearly knows how to employ it to powerful effect.’ – Gard Goldsmith on Killing Kiss
‘With all the style and charisma of Anne Rice, but less indulgence and crazy, Futile Flame is a sensual, deadly tale of immortals, sins and the unknown wrapped up in a vivid take on the past. Rich, enticing and utterly charming, Stone’s vampires are ambrosia to horror fans hungry for the good old monstrous vampires who look, walk and sound like us, but hold our deaths in their gaze.’ Michele Lee – Booklove
‘Enticing, shocking and delightful … A fast-moving story that’s spell-binding, as thrilling as it is intelligent and thought-provoking … Sam Stone writes with stylish panache.’ – Simon Clark on Demon Dance
‘Sam Stone has done it again, her immersion into the vampire world is so extraordinarily well-crafted that I am wondering if she is really Lilly, the protagonist vampire with a heart. And Lilly is more than a vampire, she has learnt witchcraft and – rare in vampire literature – can manipulate ley lines, using them as a power. Unusual too in that this vampiric feast travels the corridors of time, quite literally and in both directions … If Futile Flame was a flambé of vampiric lust, Demon Dance is its force majeure.’ – Geoff Nelder
Helen Gould –
Book Review for Jinx Town by Sam Stone – by Helen Gould
I picked this book up at Eastercon. I went into the Telos Publishing room out of curiosity, and bought it because it looked intriguing.
Jas has just left teacher training and is very much trying to prove herself at her new school. She takes a class of kids, who are a bit of a handful, on a theatre trip, during which a mysterious vortex opens up close to the theatre. A troop of huge warriors in ornate antique armour of baroque appearance piles out, kills all the men in the area, and kidnaps all the women there – except Jas. She isn’t sure why she and one of the boys weren’t spotted, but the ruined theatre becomes their base for several months.
Meantime, US Captain Arch Taylor and his troop have been sent to England to counter the attacks. More raids occur at various times, and it becomes clear that the Jinx (as the humans name them) have some weapon which incapacitates the high-tech gadgetry of the humans. There is no way the humans can fight the Jinx or win.
Jas and Andrew meet Arch and his men, and later, the need for food drives them to a Manchester shopping mall to join another group of survivors. They must function and mesh as a group, but the interplay between the characters on the surface reflects their desperate circumstances, highlighting the undercurrents and tensions between them. Jas discovers some hidden talents, the existence of which she’d hardly suspected, but which prove helpful as well as surprising.
This is definitely a book of two halves, the first as brutal and savage as you’d expect a dystopian future novel to be – particularly one where two different worlds suddenly collide – and the second quite different. Yet from the start Jas displays hints of the strong character she becomes from necessity. I enjoyed the multiple shifting viewpoints and the insights into the characters’ thoughts and motivations. There’s some strong writing in it, though at the juncture of the two halves of the book I got confused by the abrupt transition. But I really enjoyed it and am looking forwards to following more of Jas’s adventures.
Telos –
In this engaging and intelligent fantasy novel by the first woman in 31 years to win the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novel (in 2011), teacher Jasmine Regis is at the centre of events when an alien race attacks and devastates the Earth. The Jinx — so named because “all of the technology and science in the world can’t scare them” — appear to be a race of savage warriors with only one agenda: take the women and kill any male who stands in their way. The Jinx seem utterly barbaric. But as Jasmine finds out more about them, she begins to wonder whether they are any worse than humans? “Think War of the Worlds meets Lord of the Rings via Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus”.
Caroline Sanderson http://www.thebookseller.com/insight/independent-author-preview-march-2015
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25015833-jinx-town
http://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/book-reviews-latest-literary-releases/11198-jinx-town-book-review
http://www.geek-pride.co.uk/booksandcomics/jinx-town-by-sam-stone/
http://naturalbri-pursuitsoflife.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/JinxTown.html