D.T. NEAL

Saamaanthaa

HORROR | THE WOLFSHADOW TRILOGY | NOVEL

“My first read from D.T. Neal, and it won’t be my last. A unique werewolf story, different from others I’ve read, which is a good thing! A fresh take. Great characters, the emotions are felt deeply. Overall, would highly recommend! ”
—Brian G. Berry, Goodreads review

THE WOLFSHADOW TRILOGY | BOOK 1

Set in Chicago in 2007, Saamaanthaa follows Samantha Hain, a 28-year-old performance artist whose pretentious peers include poets and painters who see themselves as cultured subversives in a world full of ordinary people. Sam encounters Ansel Rupino, an artist, a werewolf, and is infected by him during a one-night stand. She sees her world turned inside out as she struggles to reconcile her artistic persona with her lycanthropy, and finds artistic inspiration and expression, both creative and destructive, through her infection. As the story propels her through the city, the unpredictable and gruesome consequences of her malady become increasingly dire for Sam, her friends, the city, and even the world. Saamaanthaa explores lycanthropy-as-art, the effect of Sam’s disease on her relationships, and what it means to be a monster, and a woman, in a world of men.

Part black comedy, part satire, all horror novel, Saamaanthaa offers a uniquely literary take on the werewolf mythos, and builds to an unforgettable, grisly climax.

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ABOUT D.T. NEAL

Born in Missouri, growing up in Ohio, and settling in Chicago, D. T. Neal has always written fiction, but only got really serious about it in the late 90s. He brings a strong Rust Belt perspective to his writing, a kind of “Northern Gothic” aesthetic reflective of his background.

Writing his first novel at 29, he then devoted time to his craft and worked on short stories, occupying a space between genre and literary fiction, with an emphasis on horror, science fiction, and fantasy. He has seen some of his short stories published in “Albedo 1,” Ireland’s premier magazine of speculative fiction, and he won second place in their Aeon Award in 2008 for his short story, “Aegis.” He has lived in Chicago since 1993, and is a passionate fan of music, a student of pop culture, an avid photographer and bicycler, and enjoys cooking.

He has published six novels, Saamaanthaa, The Happening, and Norm—collectively known as The Wolfshadow Trilogy—Chosen, Suckage, the cosmic folk horror-comedy thriller, The Cursed Earth. He has also published three novellas—Relict, Summerville, and The Day of the Nightfish.

He co-edited THE FIENDS IN THE FURROWS folk horror anthologies, The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror, The Fiends in the Furrows II: More Tales of Folk Horror, and The Fiends in the Furrows III: Final Harvest.

AWARDS:

• 2008 Aeon Award, Second Place for “Aegis”
• 2009 Honorable Mention, “Best Horror of the Year,” edited by Ellen Datlow for “Aegis” and “Rotgut.”
• Runner-up, 2013 Best New Novel by a Chicagoan, Chicago Reader, for “Suckage”
• Shortlisted for the 2012 Aeon Award for “Day of the Nightfish.”