Chicago Down, chapter 1 – excerpt

Posted on 11/25/2023 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

Chicago Down, chapter 1 – an excerpt

He wanted Salbatora to take care of business in the end. He trusted her and only her to do it. After all, she owed him, and she believed in payment of debts. Yet, he was her friend. And she, his. Despite the world’s perception of Al Capone, he was honestly kind to her and never asked anything in return for all he had done for her over the years. Nothing at all. He never put the moves on her, or asked for any sort of sexual favors, or payment in some other shady way. When she had nothing, he had it all, and he offered some to her, Salbatora, a lost Texan looking for her family. Salbatora, who lost her family, found it, and then lost it all over again for the good of humankind.

Al, he admired her. No doubt that her tenaciousness, bluntness, bravery, and the way she accepted success and defeat, life and death, with sophistication was a few of the many reasons why he thought she was worth something.

She wandered past everyone, barely aware of them. She imagined the blood of her friend being upon her hands and she broke down out on the veranda. All alone. It took only an instant though, for the valiant, solid Salbatora to regain her warrior stature. Not as young as she used to be, and having so many responsibilities these days, she pushed that grief aside. Now was not a good time.

“Salbatora,” Mae Capone was behind her, holding a small box. Only middle aged, Mae was still as kind as ever, even after all she had been through. “Al left this for you. He boxed up these things a long time ago. I don’t really know what’s in here. And I never tried to look.”

She approached Sal and gestured for her to take the box. Sal started to reach for the box, but hesitated.

“Really, Sal, take it.”

She took the box. “I don’t know why Al would give me anything else. I’ve taken way too much already.”

“He left it for you because he knew that you’d come,” Mae took a deep breath and turned away from
Salbatora, almost as if she was ashamed to admit what is. “He knew you’d come here and do what the rest of us could not. What his family, friends, or employees could not do.” She shook her head and turned around to face Salbatora.

“I…I don’t know…I…” Salbatora could only stammer. She was at a loss for words and actions.

“He knew you’d end it for him. Put a stop to it. Do what even his doctor wouldn’t. What I wouldn’t…couldn’t. He never wanted to become like that.”

Chicago Down- Cover Blurb

Posted on 11/04/2023 by Wanda Paryla | 2 Comments

Greetings all,

Here’s a peek at what I’ve been working on for the Chicago Down back cover blurb. I’m still working on it.

*****

Salbatora vows to honor her father’s last request: find Eliot Ness to help free her brother who was wrongly arrested for Prohibition violations. She abandons her Texas home leaving behind memories, and the living dead.

Ness isn’t the only thing Sal finds. Chicago struggles under Prohibition. While its citizens covertly indulge in spirits, a sinister darkness grows. Born of greed, it’s more disturbing than a lust for alcohol. While gangsters battle over territories, the undead have no preference as they run amok, and the Illinois governor has lost his mind to a madcap plot to corral Chicago’s mounting zombie populace.

An unlikely team, Salbatora Guerrera, Eliot Ness, and Al Capone form an unusual camaraderie as they fight the Screamin’ Mimis, as Al calls them. They develop a strategy to deter the governor’s plan which will collapse the weakened city. But can they end the evil’s terrorizing hold? When they learn how the dead sprang to life, they must strike at the source to set Chicago free. And they may not survive alive.

Chicago, are you ready for your unsung heroes? (Note: this line is slated for the front cover, as opposed to the back blurb. We’ll see.)

Book Review: No Lasting Burial, by Stant Litore

Posted on 02/08/2015 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

NO LASTING BURIAL (The Zombie Bible), by Stant Litore

I won a copy of No Lasting Burial, by Stant Litore, in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I give it 4 Stars.

As with my other reviews, I will not rehash the story in the book.

I was teetering between 3 & 4 stars with this book, mostly because I felt it was a bit long and dragged on sometimes, however, all the parts come together to make a great and fascinating whole read. So I’m giving this book 4 stars for this author’s creativity, knowledge, and for this book’s uniqueness.

I can just start by saying, I do not think I’ve read anything quite like this before. It’s an amazing twist on Biblical tales. However, I think it’s a better read for those who are familiar with the Bible. When I started reading, I didn’t know that this is only one book in a series of books; the others which came before this one. However, one needs not to have read the others. This is also a stand alone book.

My only trouble with this book is that it was too long. Not the story itself, but the sentences are written in great length, with no slang and are…I hate to say it…terribly well constructed. I am not sure, because I did not research the writer, but I do not think he is a native speaker of American English. I spotted so many paragraphs that I could have shortened. This is why I think some readers, even those well-studied in the Bible either through a religious or historical perspective, might lose interest. Also, if you don’t realize there’s extra information in the back that might clear up some questions, you’ll get through it without some an understanding that the information afford you. The language and sentence structure in this book is definitely for a more adept reader with a large vocabulary, perhaps even higher educated.

On the flip side this is an incredible story, and one I had no idea I was going to read. The writer’s knowledge on the subject he’s written about is vast. This is not a zombie story…all about zombies…, but that’s not to say that readers who enjoy zombies will not enjoy this, as long as they are history buffs or interested in things biblical. I say though, if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, this is it.

This book is an emotional ride, despite it’s literary style, and you will feel all sorts of things if you stick with it… sadness, anger, sympathy… just stick with it. You’ll also realize that the Biblical characters are just like us. If you consider this a page out of history, plus a few zombies thrown in, you’ll see even after 2,000+ years and a half a world away, we are the same.

It took me longer than I would have liked to get through it. Not technically because it is long, but I do read more than one book at a time. I am looking forward to reading his other zombie tales, and I will add – I hate all things zombie. Until No Lasting Burial, I have never read a zombie tale and have watched few zombie movies, etc. I just do not like them, but in Litore took my mind off of that with this sweeping tale.

This book was so interesting to me. Everything else in the book was so interesting, he could have wrote this fiction piece without zombies…I mean, he already had the Romans… and I would have still read it.

If you like cultural or world history, religious history, smartly and amazingly written literature,and zombies?…this is the book for you to. And if you are not familiar with with Biblical history or that time period, you’ll learn a lot. This book has great depth, was written with great thought, and has rich food for thought.