EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Jinxed
by Thommy Hutson
Today we have the perfect book for Friday the 13th. Jinxed by Thommy Hutson is currently on tour with Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
High school can be a real killer
Break a mirror
Walk under a ladder
Step on a crack
Walk under a ladder
Step on a crack
Innocent childhood superstitions …
But someone at the secluded Trask Academy of Performing Arts is taking things one deadly step further when the campus is rocked with the deaths of some of its star students.
Layna Curtis, a talented, popular senior, soon realizes that the seemingly random, accidental deaths of her friends aren’t random—or accidents—at all. Someone has taken the childhood games too far, using the idea of superstitions to dispose of their classmates. As Layna tries to convince people of her theory, she uncovers the terrifying notion that each escalating, gruesome murder leads closer to its final victim: her.
Will Layna’s opening night also be her final bow?
Excerpt
The small private island was a mystery.
This, even when so many knew, or thought they knew, what was going on twenty-two miles off the coast of Seattle, on the strip of land named after the very rich and very dead Cadogan Trask. Protected like so much of the Pacific Northwest by Douglas firs, red alders, and bigleaf maples, Trask Island, a blister in the water, seemed mythical. Very little was known about the reclusive man who bought the uninhabited plot in the 19th century, later developing it to suit his tastes. His personal life and his purpose, just like his eponymous island, were ensconced in a thick, white mist. One day there, the next not.
Over the years, worry about Trask the place and Trask the man ebbed and flowed. No one dared argue that business on the island brought money and a small amount of prestige to the area, but there was something about it.
The same people who sang its praises also gawked and wondered and preached about whether its gifts matched its detractions. All of those armchair whatchamacallits peeked out the windows of their glass houses into their neighbors’ glass houses and threw not stones, but boulders.
Always, always, they asked the same question: Why must a high school be so private?
The institution was nestled behind a wall of nature so beautiful that an equal number wondered how anything about it could be bad. A school for the gifted and talented. A place where children with an affinity for dance, voice, drama, art, and communications would be nurtured. A place where stars were born to shine.
But bad is a relative word.
And stars fall from the sky.
Still, the answer to the question on so many minds of what was really going on with those who were lucky enough, and rich enough, to find themselves hidden within its sacred I hope I get in please God let me get in walls?
Well, the answer was simple.
Secrets.
And not so simple.
Lies.
[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]
Praise for the Book
“Thommy Hutson is the ultimate authority in nostalgia-driven storytelling.” ~ Clive Barker, Bestselling Author of Books of Blood and The Thief of Always
“... A MUST READ FOR CLASSIC HORROR FANS ... an expertly paced, cinematic slasher in a setting that would make Agatha Christie proud. The novel’s often gore-filled kill scenes recall Clive Barker’s Books of Blood while simultaneously reminding the reader of the theatricality of Argento’s Suspiria. And yet, for all of its homage and the author’s obvious intensive understanding of the works of these genre giants, Jinxed is a unique novel that stands easily on its own merits as a work by a first time author ... a fast read that pulls the reader along in its momentum ... Inevitable and shocking. Brutal and beautiful. Homage and originality. Comedy and Tragedy. Thommy Hutson could easily take on the mantle as the next Lois Duncan...” ~ Waylon Jordan, iHorror.com
“Jinxed is the teen whodunit that Wes Craven and Lois Duncan never made. Hutson has created the best new slasher franchise since Scream.” ~ Peter M. Bracke, Author of Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th
“A dark, tension-filled thriller that’s wicked to the very end. Bad luck was never so much fun!” ~ Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of Final Destination
“Gr 9 up: Trask Academy, an elite arts academy for the uber-wealthy, hides a lot of secrets within its gilded walls ... gory but captivating ... a masked murderer starts picking off the teens, killing them all in theatrically grisly ways. Layna, a senior at Trask on a rare scholarship, tries to solve the mystery, but is terrified she might be at the center of it all. Nods to the original Nightmare on Elm Street film ... entertaining...” ~ School Library Journal
About the Author
Born and raised in Upstate New York, Thommy graduated from UCLA and launched his career co-writing the story for the Warner Bros. animated hit Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy? He followed that with co-writing the concept and additional material for Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!
His career then took a thrilling turn when he wrote and produced several definitive genre film retrospectives for television and home entertainment: Scream: The Inside Story, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead, and His Name was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th.
He was also a staff writer on Hulu’s daily web series The Morning After, a smart, witty, pop culture program aimed at getting viewers up-to-date on the latest entertainment news and celebrity interviews.
Thommy also produced the critically acclaimed feature The Trouble with the Truth, an insightful relationship drama starring Lea Thompson and John Shea. He also produced Dreamworld, a quirky, romantic dramedy.
He co-wrote and produced Animal for Chiller Films and Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films. The project debuted in iTunes’ top ten horror films (reaching #1) and became the network’s highest-rated original movie.
Continuing his passion for uncovering the stories behind the story, he went on to produce Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th, which is the most comprehensive look at the popular film franchise.
As an author Thommy crafted a limited-edition coffee table book detailing the making and legacy of Wes Craven’s 1984 classic A Nightmare on Elm Street. A trade version distributed by Simon & Schuster reached number one in Amazon’s Movie History & Criticism category. He also has a deal with Vesuvian Media to write a YA thriller trilogy with the first book, Jinxed, available now.
He produced and made his feature directorial debut with The Id, an independent psychological drama/thriller. Filmmaker Magazine stated it was “a deeply unsettling thriller that’s as moving as it is frightening … with skillful, provocative direction that has echoes of early Polanski.”
Most recently, Thommy wrote the screenplay for CineTel Films’ supernatural horror film Truth or Dare. He is also directing, writing and producing a documentary with Clive Barker’s Seraphim Films in addition to developing other film and television properties with the company.
As an author, he is currently writing another book that definitively details the history, making and legacy of another fan-favorite genre film from the 1980s.
A member of the Producers Guild of America, Thommy continues to develop unique, compelling and provocative projects across multiple genres for film, television, publishing, and home entertainment through his company Hutson Ranch Media.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card.
Links
