Out of Salem

Synopsis

The Best Teen Zombie Werewolf Witchy Faerie Fantasy Murder Mystery You've Ever Read--by Debut Author, Hal Schrieve. Genderqueer Fourteen-year-old Z Chilworth Has To Adjust Quickly To Their New Status As A Zombie After Waking From Death From A Car Crash That Killed Their Parents And Sisters. Always A Talented Witch, Z Now Can Barely Perform Magic And Is Rapidly Decaying. Faced With Rejection From Their Remaining Family Members And Old Friends, Z Moves In With Their Mother's Friend, Mrs. Dunnigan, And Befriends Aysel, A Loud Would-be-goth Classmate Who Is, Like Z, A Loner. As Z Struggles To Find A Way To Repair The Broken Magical Seal Holding Their Body Together, Aysel Fears That Her Classmates Will Discover Her Status As An Unregistered Werewolf. When A Local Psychiatrist Is Murdered By What Seems To Be Werewolves, The Town Of Salem, Oregon, Becomes Even More Hostile To Monsters, And Z And Aysel Are Driven Together In An Attempt To Survive A Place Where Most People Wish That Neither Of Them Existed. Rarely Has A First-time Author Created Characters Of Such Immediacy And Power As Z, Aysel, Tommy (suspected Fey) And Elaine (also A Werewolf), Or A World That Parallels Our Own So Clearly And Disturbingly.