#BlogTour Snake Eater’ by T.Kingfisher

In an isolated desert town, a young woman seeking a fresh start is confronted by ancient gods, malevolent supernatural forces, and eccentric neighbours. A witty horror-tinged fantasy, perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Chuck Tingle, and Rachel Harrison.

When Selena travels to the remote desert town of Quartz Creek in search of her estranged Aunt Amelia, she is desperate and short of options. Fleeing an unhappy marriage, she has exactly twenty-seven dollars to her name, and her only friend in the world is her dog, Copper.

On arrival, Selena learns Amelia is dead. But the inhabitants of Quartz Creek are only too happy to have a new resident. Out of money and ideas, Selena sees no harm staying in her aunt’s lovely house for a few weeks, tending to her garden and enjoying the strange, desolate beauty of the desert. The people are odd, but friendly, and eager to help Selena settle into her new home.

But Quartz Creek’s inhabitants share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbours. Selena finds herself pursued by disturbing apparitions, visitations that come in the night and seem to want something from her.

Aunt Amelia owed a debt. Now her god has come to collect.

Hugest of thanks to Amy at Titan books for the blogtour invite, and gorgeous gifted review hardcover of ‘Snake Eater’, which is out now, in  e-book and hardcover formats.

This book has had me re-evaluating the, admittedly small, amount that I knew about roadrunners, which are a real creature, and absolutely vicious.

T.Kingfisher does it again-she pulls you in from the very first sentence by introducing both her protagonist, Selena, and her rescue dog, Copper.

‘Selena picked her new home for no better reason then the dog laid down on the porch’

Anyone who has a dog knows they have an unerring instinct for home, and belonging, it also shows that Selena is someone in need of guidance as well as security.

In that one sentence, you are done for because not only can she write dogs (as proven in so many of her other books), so that you are immediately invested, she places Selena in need of refuge and that she is running away from soemthingbad.

And Selena very much is.

She is running from her life with a partner who does nothing but disrespect her, and a mother whose recent death has left Selena without her position as a whipping stick. In retaliation, and with nothing left to lose, she uses the last of her money to head towards her aunt’s house, in the small, historical town of Quartz Creek.

Running from a life she could not fit into, she finds the base she never knew that she needed, even though she is resolutely only ‘staying for one night’, and struggles to accept that she is worthy of help.

The townspeople seem to know her better than she knows herself, and as that one night turns into days, Selena’s time is spent nurturing her aunt Amelia’s garden, and reading her uncovered travel journals , where she discovers a most unusual connection with the eponymous god.

And from there on in, things get really, really weird…

This is the second time this year that I have found myself crying over a non existant animal (curse you Joanthan Janz!)and finding myself immensely invested in Selena, her newly found community , including the wonderful Grandma Billy who I would like to adopt me.

Fantasy, redemption, belief, and recovery, all take the stage as you surrender , once more, to T.Kingfisher’s brilliant storytelling.

T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name of Ursula Vernon.

In another life, she writes children’s books and weird comics, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections.

This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups.

When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies.