“Saamaanthaa” is very much a literary horror novel - which is to say it isn’t simply a genre exercise (although I’m always peevish at the line in the sand between Literary and Genre fiction, and deliberately set out to scuff that up with this novel, to write something that couldn’t simply be blown off lightly). How does Saamaanthaa differ from other novels about werewolves? Throughout it, she tries to reconcile her relationship with Ansel, with her best friends, and with Saam, this nether-self that keeps urging her to do more horrible things, and the pace builds as you get deeper into it: bigger, badder, bloodier. The story is darkly funny at the outset, and gets increasingly dark as you get deeper into it, until the bottom falls out and Samantha is staring into the moral abyss. I won’t go so far as to say Sam’s a slacker werewolf, but there is a definite dose of dark irony in Sam’s metamorphosis from infected human to monster. Of course, to Saam, this invariably amounts to carnage, cannibalism, murder and mayhem - Saam’s notion of art is squarely tied to slaughter, with Samantha increasingly along for the ride. Sam then finds her artfully constructed world going belly-up as she contends with this other self (“Saam” - her werewolf psyche) who urges her to shed her affectations and just get at making “real” art.
She runs into another artist, Ansel Rupino, who is also a werewolf, and he infects her during a one-night stand. Sam is serious about her art (performance art being her medium), with being seen as an artist, and earning cred with her pals, who are busy playing versions of King of the Hill with each other, constantly one-upping one another. She’s a late 20-something hipster who goes clubbing with her friends, who are all artists and dilettantes of some shape and form. “Saamaanthaa” is set in Chicago in fall of 2007, with Samantha, the protagonist, as the narrator. Check it out and let us know what you think.Ĭan you tell us about your book Saamaanthaa? Neal, the author of Saamaanthaa, a brand new werewolf novel unlike anything we’ve seen before.
An interview! Woot! I had the pleasure of chatting with D. Do not duplicate in any form without permission.I’ve got a fantastic treat for you today.
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