About the Book
Title:
Skateboard Xombies: Search for the Crystal Coffin
Author: Ace
Antonio Hall
Genre: YA Horror
On a normal school day in Lunyon Canyon, California, teenage
necromancer, Sylva Fleischer, bickers with her teacher in class over an
unfairly graded paper. But when the principal announces that all teachers
should lock their door and not let any students leave class, the entire school
is trapped in a world of terrifying zombies that not only bite with their
teeth, they bite with their minds.Since all life on Earth faces extinction at the hands of the perilous undead, a guardian of a secret society of vampire monks saves Sylva, her friend, Half-Pipe and her family, and lead them to an alternate world. And that's when the real terror begins ... on a planet full of every imaginable type of undead creature that ever lived ... Including those telekinetic zombies!
"As I say on the front cover … A treat for Buffy fans–but 100% Ace Antonio Hall's own twisted vision. Breathes new life into the living dead; run, don't shamble to get a copy." –Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author, Robert J. Sawyer
“In a vast sea of zombie tales, Hall's tale is more than a cut
above. He brings the entire genre to heel and treats us to one Hell of a ride.”
—Art Holcomb, Editor-in-Chief, Andromeda Entertainment
About the Author
Ace Antonio Hall is an actor, former
music producer, and ‘retired’ educator with accolades as a Director of
Education for the Sylvan Learning Center and nearly fifteen years experience as
an award-winning NYC English teacher. He has a BFA degree with a concentration
in screenwriting and has published poetry, short stories and fiction in
magazines, anthologies, newspapers and novels.
Inspired by his father, Chris
Acemandese Hall, who penned the lyrics to the Miles Davis jazz classic, “So
What”, sung by Eddie Jefferson, and his sister, Carol Lynn Brown, who guest
starred in the 1970’s film, “Velvet Smooth”, Ace spawned
his creativity into developing the beloved but flawed teen character, Sylva
Slasher.
Ace was the Vice President of the Greater
Los Angeles Writers Society (2009-2011), and continues to head the Science
Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (ScHoFan) Critique Group as Co-Director of
critique groups within the society. He is also a member of LASFS and the
International Thriller Writers.
On April 14, 2013, Montag Press
published his YA zombie novel Confessions of Sylva Slasher. His next release,
Skateboard Xombies, is coming out later this year, and he has already begun
working on Skateboard Xamurai for the third installment in his Sylva Slasher
series.
Looking for some zombie
gear? Check out Ace’s Zombie Pop Shop!
Giveaway
On the cover reveal day, you can win a $10 Amazon gift card. Fill
in the Rafflecopter form below to participate!
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Book Excerpt
“Okay, fifteen
points,” Ms. B. said calmly, from over my shoulder.
I straightened up from the
water fountain, and turned to her. “Really?”
“Find someone
or a credible source to give credence to your theory and you will get an A-plus
on that paper. Additionally, get rid of that section on biocentricism.”
My mouth
opened to protest, but she didn't let me get a word out.
“I know that
Dr. Lanza is the third most respected scientist in the world,” she said. “He's
interesting and I've read some of his theories, but there just isn't enough
data to back up his claims that our consciousness continues to live after our
bodies die.
Once the body
dies, the spirit, the soul, everything is as dead as a red shirt on Star Trek.
Sorry, I know that your family business raises the dead for grieving families
and such, and you'd like to believe that there is some kind of place we
resurrect from, or ascend into, but there is no heaven. No hell. No afterlife, and
no facts to support them. Scratch that section and you have a deal.”
Before I could respond she
was already walking back into the class room, so I jogged up behind her and was
about to open my mouth in protest until our principal, Mr. Lee, interrupted over
the loudspeaker.
“May I have your
attention,” he said. “This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test. I need
every teacher to listen carefully. Please lock your doors—right now. Close your
doors, and lock them. Do not let any students leave your classroom for any
reason.”
From outside, emergency
sirens started wailing. They were heading toward school grounds.
“Above all,” Mr. Lee said,
“staff and students must remain calm.”
“What's going on?” I
asked.
“I don't know,” Ms. B.
said, hustling me back to the door.
“The school,” Mr. Lee
said, “is on lock-down until further notice.”
Murmur buzzed through the
classroom. Ms. B. shut our door quickly, and locked it.
“I repeat,” Mr. Lee said.
“I need everyone to remain calm.”
“Do you think it's a
gunman?” asked a boy named Roger.
“Okay, students,” Ms. B.
said. Her face had turned rather pale. “Stay in your seats.”
Emergency engines were
getting louder and louder.
Ms. B. looked at her desk.
“On second thought, R-Roger,” she stuttered. “You and Terrence move my desk to
block the door.”
“Okay, Ms. B.,” Roger
said, getting up.
He and super-tall
Terrence, the school's all-city basketball forward, lifted the desk and sort of
duck-waddled across the floor to place it in front of the door. Red flashing
lights seeped through the cracks in the blinds.
“Thank you, boys,” Ms. B.
said. “Now go back to your seats.”
On the way back to his
seat, Terrence walked over to the windows. “I hope it's not some psychotic
joker out there with orange hair.”
I hope it's not another
school shooting.
The siren blared so loud
it started to hurt my ears. Terrence was about to peek through the blinds when
Ms. B. ran over to him, and ushered him away from the window.
“Sit down, Terrence,” she
said. “Let's do as Mr. Lee—”
The windows shattered.
Walls imploded with a thunderous sound and a fire truck slammed through our
classroom, taking Ms. B. and Terrence with it.
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