WAUSEON—Wauseon Library’s own Samantha Shelby will host her first Book Talk 7 Signing at the Wauseon Public Library on Saturday, December 5 from 10:30 a.m.-noon in the library’s main floor Reading Room. She will be reading excerpts from her first young adult novel-“Sentinel Event,” sharing her experiences with self-publishing, and answering questions about her characters and publishing experience.
The Book Talk & Signing is free, and the public is invited to attend. Shelby will have books available to purchase and will be happy to sign them. Refreshments will also be available.
As a local librarian, Samantha takes great pride in highlighting the Wauseon area in her book. This includes S.R. 108 near the turnpike and businesses on Airport Highway near Shoop Ave. Area landmarks are also mentioned. In fact, the cover was shot at Butler Cemetery on County Road 16 near Chesterfield School on Highway 20. “The cover model is my sister Angelina, an aspiring actress. One of the ghost characters in the book was written with her as the inspiration,” shared Shelby. “I love the look of cemeteries and old buildings, especially abandoned ones because they remind me of skeletons and make for beautiful images.”
According to the book jacket, “The dead are not indifferent to the living. They have arrived among us in a peaceful invasion to haunt people, not places. Their purpose is to help and not harm us…but one man is their enemy, for reasons he can’t explain. For years, Aidriel has been helpless to protect himself from ghostly violence. Now a chance encounter in a hospital has set into motion a series of attacks the likes of which he has never before seen. Ava, a manipulative shrink, tries to hide him, but no matter where he goes, Aidriel can’t escape the spirits. An aggressive ghost expert, Chester, attempts to placate the dead, but nothing he does has any effect. The only way to avoid danger is to keep moving. The greatest race of Aidriel’s life has begun, and even with the help of a well-meaning medical worker named Dreamer, he must fight this battle alone. Should he lose, it will cost him his life.”
In addition to being a librarian, Samantha is also a health care worker and modeled one of the main characters after her job. “The heroine in ‘Sentinel Event’ is a phlebotomist, that is, someone specifically trained for collecting blood samples. I myself am a ‘phleb’, and have been working at an out-patient lab for almost 5 years,” described Shelby.
Samantha is already working on her next writing project. “I am always working on many novels at once, but I am next focusing on a saga about a family of monster hunters, as well as preparing a fable about the four winds for publishing,” explained Shelby. “Gothic ghost stories and the paranormal have always fascinated me, particularly cryptids. I liked the idea of ghosts becoming so familiar to people that they are no longer scary. The concept of something common becoming dangerous without warning makes for great thrills in a story.”
For more information on Samantha Shelby, her book, or her upcoming Book Talk & Signing, please email the Wauseon Public Library at amurphy@seolibraries.org, call 419-335-6626, or log onto Samantha’s Facebook at facebook.com/samanthashelbyauthor or her Amazon Author page at amazon.com/author/samanthashelby.
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