The Tribune | Weekend | 21
Friday, May 20, 2016
books
Bahamian author a hit with British readers
B
ahamian author Tanya R Taylor has captured British readers’ hearts with her new book, “Infestation: A Small Town Nightmare”. The novel made it to number one on the Amazon.co.uk website during March and April 2016 in the Religious Drama category. Ms Taylor, a resident of Nassau, is a best-selling author of both fiction and non-fiction. She has eight published books under her belt and is now releasing her ninth book, “Haunted Cruise: The Shakedown”, on Amazon.com and other online stores, including Barnes & Noble, Apple iStore and Kobo. It will be available as of Sunday. Her popular book “Cornelius”, described as “a spine-tingling, paranormal tale that ties a painful history into the present day”, also made it to number one in November 2015 on Amazon.com in the Teen and Young Adult Multi-generational Family Fiction category. Ms Taylor said all of her books have made Amazon Kindle’s Top 100 Paid Best-Sellers’ list in several categories. She’s been a number one best-seller in Religious Drama multiple times. She has topped the best-selling lists in categories such Horror, Ghost Thrillers, African-American Historical Fiction, Psychic Thrillers, Teen and Young
Adult Historical Romance, Ghost and Haunted Houses, Time Travel, Religious and Inspirational Fiction, Classics and Allegories, Christian Fantasy, and others. Several of her books, including “Real Illusions: The Awakening” and “Cornelius” have been listed on Amazon’s top 100 Paid Best-Sellers’ list with the “Master of Horror” Stephen King and also Dean Koontz. Ms Taylor is sure her newest work, “Haunted Cruise: The Shakedown”, will be just as popular as the others. She fans around the world who have signed up to be notified whenever she has a new release. In “Haunted Cruise: The Shakedown” the protagonist Dellie Hayworth has landed a job with one of the largest ship-building companies after years of unemployment. She is sent off to sea with her marriage in shambles and seemingly beyond repair. For two weeks, she will reside on the luxury vessel “The Caesar”, in anticipation of what awaits her when she returns home. However, neither she or any other crew members can fathom what awaits them in the middle of the ocean. Ms Taylor said she has been writing ever since she “could remember holding a pencil”. She manages to juggle her writing and family time without any problem.
She said her background in finance and business probably helps to keep her on track. And Ms Taylor is happy to spread her talent around. Her best-seller “Cornelius” was listed on the Catholic Board of Education’s Summer 2015 reading list in the slot for grades 11 and 12, and will be listed again this Summer. Additionally, she was invited to speak to the Creative Writing Club of Aquinas College last November. She is open to speaking engagements and has also taken on ghostwriting and editing assignments. Ms Taylor’s other books scheduled for release in 2016
include, “Real Illusions IV: War Zone” from her popular series “Real Illusions”; “10 Minutes Before Sleeping”, and “CARA”. For more information, visit her website at www.tanyartaylor. com.
Author Tanya R Taylor
A tale of combustible friendship in ‘Girls on Fire’ review IT’S 1991 and Hannah Dexter is making her way through high school in Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, trying to fit in without attracting too much of the ire of queen bee and mean girl Nikki Drummond. Then two things happen: The school is shaken when Nikki’s boyfriend Craig, a popular high school athlete, is found shot dead in the woods, an apparent suicide, and Hannah meets Lacey Champlain, the school renegade. Hannah and Lacey bond over their mutual outsider status, and Hannah
quickly becomes malleable clay in Lacey’s hands: She renames her Dex, introduces her to Doc Martens and Kurt Cobain, and pushes her further and further away from good-girl status into wild-child terrain: drinking, sneaking out and even dabbling in quasiSatanism. Author Robin Wasserman depicts the all-consuming, borderline obsessive nature of teenage friendships with a deft touch in “Girls on Fire.” Chapters labeled “Us” alternately tell the story of Lacey and Dex’s deepening bond and increasingly reckless behavior from each of their perspectives. It turns out nothing is quite what is seems. Wasserman turns the usual high school stereotypes — the good girl, the popular girl, the outcast — by revealing unexpected relationships between
the characters. The novel moves into shakier terrain when it expands beyond the world of Lacey and Dex into chapters told from the point of view of Hannah’s parents. And while the characters have more depth than their high school stereotypes initially suggest, they never quite feel fully fleshed out, either. “Girls on Fire” depicts the dark side of teen years in a vein that echoes movies like “Heathers” and the highschool noir novels of Megan Abbott. As the book progresses, Lacey and Dex’s combustible friendship erupts into a fight, culminating in a disastrous party, and alliances begin to shift among Lacey, Dex and Nikki. Though at times more smoke than sizzle, “Girls on Fire” is an enveloping page-turner that could be a good
beach read for those who like some darkness with their sun rays. MAE ANDERSON Associated Press