Susan Dennard: SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY

BIO: Susan Dennard is a 27-year-old reader, writer, lover of animals, and eater of cookies. She used to be a marine biologist, but now she writes novels. And not novels about fish either, but novels about kick-butt heroines and swoon-worthy rogues (she really likes swoon-worthy rogues). She lives in Germany with her French husband and Irish setter, and you can learn more about her crazy thoughts and crippling cookie-addiction on her blog, twitter, facebook, or Goodreads.

DEBUT: Something Strange and Deadly (HarperCollins, Summer 2012)

It’s 1876, and Philadelphia is hosting the first American World Fair. It’s also hosting rancid corpses that refuse to stay dead. When one of those decomposing bodies brings Eleanor--a 16-year-old with a weakness for buttered toast and Shakespeare quotes--a hostage note for her brother, she resolves to do anything to rescue him. But to face the armies of Dead that have him, she’ll need a little help from a rag-tag ghost-fighting team, the Spirit-Hunters.

5 INDISPENSABLE LIFE-SAVING GADGETS FOR THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE:

1. An axe with water purification handle: One end is for ZOMBIE DEATH (the sharp end) while the other end lets you make that foul sewage safe for afternoon tea.
2. Zombie-seeking, night-vision goggles: Don't let darkness creep up on you! Keep these goggles on, and you'll be safe the whole night through. (Laser beam add-on not included.)
3. L'eau des Morts: Gotta make a quick trip outside? A spritz of this perfume, and you'll be masked from zombie senses...just make sure you're back to a fortified location within ten minutes.
4. Screamers: Need a distraction? Gotta make a run for it? Throw one of these fist-sized alarms (complete with delayed detonation!), and you'll have every zombie in a quarter-mile radius shuffling full-speed to the sound.
5. Really, really, really good sneakers: Look, you're probably gonna be running--like, a lot. The worst thing you could do is injure your knee or develop shin-splints due to poor arch support or low quality tread. Invest in some good sneakers, in those rotting piles of corpse won't stand a chance.