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WORK TITLE: Peril in the Old Country
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://shooker.co/
CITY:
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Shelly; children: Jack.
EDUCATION:Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and artist.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Sam Hooker has been writing stories from a young age. Originally from Texas, he now lives in southern California where he writes graphic novels and darkly humorous fantasy novels. Inspired by the whimsy of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Roger Zelazny, Hooker writes about demons, despots, and goblins with a touch of silliness. He says that filling up novels with nonsense is hard work. Hooker holds a degree in communications from Stephen F. Austin State University and claims he is a Qualified Irish Whiskey Taster. To improve his literary knowledge, Hooker visited the Dublin Writers Museum and tipped his hat to Oscar Wilde, and went on the Providence, Rhode Island Lovecraft walking tour.
The Winter Riddle
In 2018, Hooker published The Winter Riddle graphic novel, a fantastical farce of Yuletide proportion. Mumbling recluse the Winter Witch just wants to be left alone in peace and quiet. But when the North Pole is ruled by the tyrannical White Queen and the Vikings invade and battle the frost giants threatening Ragnarok, the Winter Witch has been reluctantly called into action to be a hero and save the North Pole. Her invisibility spell doesn’t work, nor does getting help from otherworldly powers, so her only hope is to team up with Santa Claus.
Hooker mixes up climate change, espionage, flying machines, gender bending, and an evil necromancer as the Winter Witch delves into ancient magic and Christmas cheer to save the day. Online at Net Galley, Hooker explained that “Literature is teeming with heroic extroverts who’d love nothing more than to save the world, but where’s the fun in calling on them?” Rather, he created a hero out of the inept Winter Witch. “Something that will make you chuckle,” he declared.
Peril in the Old Country
Hooker followed up with the graphic novel, Peril in the Old Country, first of the “Terribly Serious Darkness” series. In the gothic, grim, and Lovecraftian kingdom of Salzstadt, miserable milquetoast Sloot Peril is a follow-the-rules type of guy who works as an accountant for the wealthy Lord Wilhelm Hapsgalt. Salzstadt is ruled by the despotic Domnitor who is at war with the Carpathians. When Peril’s mother gets involved with the Carpathians, he becomes a reluctant hero. Now he is thrust into confrontation with underworld kingpins, secret societies, the undead, and cannibals. Only the lovely Myrtle and her smile help him get through it, but she’s possessed by a lazy philosopher.
Influenced by Victorian novels and Transylvania, Hooker populates his world with goblins, propaganda, and the proletariat. Hooker has an “impressive gift for narrative driven storytelling” in this deftly crafted and inherently fascinating tale, according to a Small Press Bookwatch contributor. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that although the book can be repetitive and full of outlandish events, Hooker “spins an amusing tale that will appeal to fans of bitter comedy.” Praising Hooker for the story’s dialogue, fully-fleshed out world building, and plot that keeps moving, Claire Foster said on the Foreword Reviews website: “Peril’s language is equally rich: interesting phrases, invented words, and double entendres twist the ear.”
In an interview online at Black Spot Books, Hooker described how he chooses the unique names for his characters: “In conjuring fictional people from thin air, I get to decide who they are before I name them…Most of them have traditional names from one culture or another, which makes it easy. I do a search for ‘[nationality] [gender] names’ and pick one. German and Romanian are the staples for the ‘Terribly Serious Darkness’ series.” A reviewer on the Geeks of Doom website commented: “Darker than the Douglas Adams universe, but lighter than Game Of Thrones, Peril In The Old Country hooks you in with its intriguing world-building, compelling characters, fantastical elements, interesting twists on the supernatural, and perfectly absurd dark humor.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 16, 2018, review of Peril in the Old Country, p. 76.
ONLINE
Black Spot Books, https://www.blackspotbooks.com/ (January 15, 2018), author interview.
Foreword Reviews, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (May 1, 2018), Claire Foster, review of Peril in the Old Country.
Geeks of Doom, https://www.geeksofdoom.com/ (June 5, 2018), review of Peril in the Old Country.
Net Galley, https://www.netgalley.com/ (September 1, 2018), review of The Winter Riddle.
Sam Hooker writes darkly humorous fantasy. He is an entirely serious person, regardless of what you may have heard. Originally from Texas, he now resides in southern California with his wife, son, and dog.
Read more about Sam at http://shooker.co
Sam writes darkly humorous fantasy novels about thing like tyrannical despots and the masked scoundrels who tickle them without mercy. He knows all the best swear words, though he refuses to repeat them because he doesn't want to attract goblins. He lives in California with his wife and son, who renew their tolerance for his absurdity on a per-novel basis.
Darkly Humorous Fantasy
In the mood for a fantasy novel that dallies in the darkness? There’s a chance you’ve come to the right place. If you’d like to know what terrors lurk in the darkest havens where evil holds sway, try reading Stephen King. If you’d like to know just where to tickle said terrors to get them blushing and giggling, try reading Sam Hooker.
Sam’s work embodies much of the farcical whimsy found in books by Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Roger Zelazny. If you have no taste for whimsy, then you may have come to the wrong place. If you’re an entirely serious person who has no time for silliness, you are likely to disapprove of Sam’s work. If you’re not interested in learning which swear words will conjure the most goblins, you needn’t read on.
About Sam
Filling up novels with nonsense is hard work. Well, it’s work, anyway. And someone’s got to do it. Well, no one’s got to do it, but if no one did, then no one would. That’s why my work is so important. Well, maybe not important…
– Sam Hooker
Sam has a degree in Communication from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. He also has a certificate proclaiming him a Qualified Irish Whiskey Taster from the Jameson Distillery in Dublin, Ireland. He considers them equally important to his work.
Originally from Texas, Sam currently lives in southern California with his wife Shelly, his son Jack, his dog Cervantes, and a cat who insists on being left out of all of this silliness. His name has been redacted.
Interview with Peril in the Old Country Author Sam Hooker
1/15/2018
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@TheSamHooker
shooker.co
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot?
According to Pottermore, my Patronus is a sphinx cat. I'm a proud Ravenclaw, if you were wondering.
If I were making shirts for a sports team, the mascot would be a potoo. If you can't be bothered to Google it, the potoo looks like an owl who's gone to Viking school and majored in berserking. Wide-eyed, it sits and stares off into nothing, bristling as if on the verge of breaking the turgid silence with a blood-curdling scream, a string of horrific profanity, or a frontal assault on any passer-by who wanders too close.
The sport played by the aforementioned team would be darts, which I acknowledge is not a sport, but soccer involves far too much running. Or, rather, only running, unless you're someone like Iniesta, Balotelli, or Beckham, in which case you're occasionally permitted to try and score.
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
I've done some of the obligatories. I went to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and tipped my hat to Oscar Wilde. That was a few years after I went to the Dublin Writers Museum. Oscar Wilde may think I'm stalking him.
I went to Providence in 2009 to do the Lovecraft walking tour. Record amounts of snow had fallen the night before thanks to a nor'easter, a term I may be using correctly. I was living in Texas at the time, and I was horribly unsuited to the bitter east coast February from a wardrobe perspective. It was a fairly miserable experience.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I just nearly froze to death in the process. The cold, grey sky was the perfect backdrop for walking in the footsteps of my favorite horror writer.
How do you select the names of your characters?
Proper people, who exist outside the realm of fiction, seem to be assigned names at random. It happens at or shortly after birth, before one's personality has had the opportunity to develop. It only qualifies as a minor tragedy, as parents rarely harbor deep regrets about their Dylans growing up to look more like Reginalds. Or if they do, they keep it to themselves and take up drinking alone in dark closets. That's how the world works.
In writing, if I think of my characters as my children, I get the benefit of bringing them into the world as fully grown adults. For the record, I don't like to think of characters as my children, given how often I end up murdering them. There wouldn't be enough booze in the closet for all the coping I'd need to do.
In conjuring fictional people from thin air, I get to decide who they are before I name them; furthermore, in many cases, I get to change their names during the third draft once I've finally decided that the original name simply didn't fit. Most of them have traditional names from one culture or another, which makes it easy. I do a search for "[nationality] [gender] names" and pick one. German and Romanian are the staples for the Terribly Serious Darkness series.
Some characters get their names based on obvious attributes that define them, such as Mrs. Knife. Very few of them don't come from me at all, like Santa or Loki.
My favorites are the ones that take me the most time. They're the ones I've invented by capturing the very souls of the characters and distilling them into syllables. That's how Sloot Peril, Krespo the elf, and Ghasterly the necromancer got their names. If I loved all of my characters equally, I'd do this for every one of them; however, I don't. They're not my children. They're more like indentured servants, most of whom will meet grisly ends at the hands of other, more murderous characters. It's not a perfect arrangement, but it keeps my drinking moderate and out of the closet.
Peril in the Old Country
Publishers Weekly. 265.16 (Apr. 16, 2018): p76.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Peril in the Old Country
Sam Hooker. Black Spot, $13.99 trade paper
(312p) ISBN 978-0-9997423-0-3
Hooker (The Winter Riddle) demonstrates a delightfully firm grasp on absurdist fantasy in his second novel. Sloot Peril is an accountant with aspirations to mediocrity and not a whit of courage. His life in the totalitarian Salzstadt is equally divided among passing the time in his tiny apartment; joining rituals praising the Domnitor, Salzstadt's revered leader; and caring for the money of the wealthy. Against his will, he's drawn deep into a web of political intrigue and secret societies; even worse, his beloved mother is up to her ears in a scheme involving the Carpathians, Salzstadt's greatest enemies. What follows is a gleeful caper rife with literary influences--from Victorian-era English novels to tales of Transylvania--with a plethora of potshots taken at propaganda, the proletariat, and personal peccadilloes. Though the story is repetitive in places and unashamedly full of outlandish situations, Hooker nevertheless spins an amusing tale that will appeal to fans of bitter comedy. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Peril in the Old Country." Publishers Weekly, 16 Apr. 2018, p. 76. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532728/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5236e45d. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532728
Peril in the Old Country
Small Press Bookwatch. (Mar. 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Peril in the Old Country
Sam Hooker
Black Spot Books
www.BlackSpotBooks.com
9780999742303, $13.99, PB, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: According to the good folk of the Old Country, you have got to have rules because they are all that's holding the dismal tide at bay. Start playing fast and loose with the rules, and it all comes tumbling down.
First comes the goblins. Nothing entices them quite like minor breaches of etiquette. Cut in a line, say a swear word, or speak the proper name of the Old Country aloud, and your house will be infested with them before you know it.
No one in the Old Country follows the rules half as well as Sloot Peril, who has never so much as given alms to a beggar without getting a certified receipt. He had his entire life planned out to the end and was so looking forward to making as faint a mark on the world as possible. Then he was asked to correct the worst financial report ever written.
Had they called upon a lesser accountant, that report might have gone on to topple financial markets, drive honest people to utter ruin, or quite possibly acquire a taste for human blood and start terrorizing the countryside in bestial form.
Sloot's corrections prevented that annihilation from coming to pass; however, if he'd known what he was setting in motion instead, he might have heard annihilation out.
Sloot will have to set aside his affinity for the rules and go up against underworld kingpins, secret societies, the undead, bloodthirsty cannibals from Carpathia, and even the ruthless Vlad the Invader! If that weren't enough, the steely gaze of Mrs. Knife follows him wherever he goes. Does she really want to murder him, or does she just have one of those faces?
At least Sloot's misadventures bring the lovely Myrtle into his life. She has the sort of smile that makes him want to stand up straighter and invest in some cologne. He's not even bothered by the fact that she's possessed by the laziest philosopher ever to have died.
Will the events put in motion by the ghastly financial report end in Sloot's grisly death?
Critique: A unique, deftly crafted, inherently fascinating, entertainingly riveting fantasy, "Peril in the Old Country" showcases author Sam Hooker's impressive gift for narrative driven storytelling --the kind that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf. Certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Fantasy Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Peril in the Old Country" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.79).
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Peril in the Old Country." Small Press Bookwatch, Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536746370/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f5dd5e2e. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536746370
Peril in the Old Country
Sam Hooker
Black Spot Books (Jun 5, 2018)
Softcover $13.99 (302pp)
978-0-9997423-0-3
Sloot Peril, a modest accountant who is “only as superstitious as required by law,” is an unlikely hero in the humorous fantasy Peril in the Old Country. With a lyrical flair that evokes P. G. Wodehouse, Peril is funny and fun.
Sloot receives an unexpected promotion to personal financier: a fancy name for a miserable job. He’ll be squiring his employer’s spoiled son around the abandoned Whitewood estate. If that isn’t bad enough, his mission is rapidly complicated by Carpathian spies, goblins, and broom-wielding mannerists. Sloot’s struggle to adapt to his ridiculous circumstances is hilarious.
Peril in the Old Country‘s real strength is in its dialogue and world building. Sam Hooker has created a fully-fleshed-out, Lovecraftian country for Sloot to mope through. By turns gothic, grim, and gritty, the kingdom of Salzstadt is the perfect stage for Sloot’s adventure.
Peril‘s language is equally rich: interesting phrases, invented words, and double entendres twist the ear. Rather than fold in backstory or linger in description, Hooker keeps the story moving. The novel’s pace is quick but steady, skipping from plot point to plot point with pithy, dialogue-driven scenes.
Peril is Hooker’s second novel. The first of the Terribly Serious Darkness series, it’s reminiscent of Victorian serials, with a liberal number of pratfalls thrown in. Although most of the novel’s surprises come from outside Sloot—A possessed love interest! Bloodthirsty cannibals!—there are a few nice turns that develop his character more fully. Short chapters and action sequences, as well as tightly written dialogue, make this novel a standout.
Peril is the best kind of bad fun. Like Sloot, it’s pretty good—but not well behaved.
Reviewed by Claire Foster
May/June 2018
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Peril in the Old Country
Sam Hooker
Black Spot Books
www.BlackSpotBooks.com
9780999742303, $13.99, PB, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: According to the good folk of the Old Country, you have got to have rules because they are all that's holding the dismal tide at bay. Start playing fast and loose with the rules, and it all comes tumbling down.
First comes the goblins. Nothing entices them quite like minor breaches of etiquette. Cut in a line, say a swear word, or speak the proper name of the Old Country aloud, and your house will be infested with them before you know it.
No one in the Old Country follows the rules half as well as Sloot Peril, who has never so much as given alms to a beggar without getting a certified receipt. He had his entire life planned out to the end and was so looking forward to making as faint a mark on the world as possible. Then he was asked to correct the worst financial report ever written.
Had they called upon a lesser accountant, that report might have gone on to topple financial markets, drive honest people to utter ruin, or quite possibly acquire a taste for human blood and start terrorizing the countryside in bestial form.
Sloot's corrections prevented that annihilation from coming to pass; however, if he'd known what he was setting in motion instead, he might have heard annihilation out.
Sloot will have to set aside his affinity for the rules and go up against underworld kingpins, secret societies, the undead, bloodthirsty cannibals from Carpathia, and even the ruthless Vlad the Invader! If that weren't enough, the steely gaze of Mrs. Knife follows him wherever he goes. Does she really want to murder him, or does she just have one of those faces?
At least Sloot's misadventures bring the lovely Myrtle into his life. She has the sort of smile that makes him want to stand up straighter and invest in some cologne. He's not even bothered by the fact that she's possessed by the laziest philosopher ever to have died.
Will the events put in motion by the ghastly financial report end in Sloot's grisly death?
Critique: A unique, deftly crafted, inherently fascinating, entertainingly riveting fantasy, "Peril in the Old Country" showcases author Sam Hooker's impressive gift for narrative driven storytelling -- the kind that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf. Certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Fantasy Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Peril in the Old Country" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.79).
Book Review: Peril In The Old Country (Terribly Serious Darkness Book 1)
Tuesday, June 5th, 2018
By Empress Eve
Peril In The Old Country
Terribly Serious Darkness Book 1
Paperback | Kindle
By Sam Hooker
Publisher: Black Spot Books
Release date: June 5, 2018
You would think that in a place where swear words conjure goblins, cannibals live in the neighboring nation, and blood-drained murder victims are turning up, that paperwork would be the least of your worries. But in Sam Hooker‘s absurdly humorous fantasy tale Peril In The Old Country, over-anxious accountant Sloot Peril’s life is turned upside down after he revises a coworker’s disastrously written report and is suddenly propelled into an aristocratic world of adventure, intrigue, murder plots, double-crossing, and much more.
Peril is all about rules and regulations, order and civility, routine and rote. He’s a devoted patriot of Old Country, dutifully reciting its pledge of allegiance each day, and is a loyalist to his nation’s leader, the Domnitor (long may he reign). He’s a numbers guy – numbers make sense to him, which is why he excels as an accountant. Like most of the working class, he goes about his day like another cog in the machine and plans to do so until it’s his time to retire. A nervous man, he likes to keep things just the way they are and is averse to change. But fate has something else in store for Peril, leading to a series of events that could result in his death… or worse!
Hooker sets up an autocratic nation filled with bureaucracy and somehow makes it amazingly funny in that “it’s funny because it’s true” kind of way. Right in the beginning, we learn that in Salzstadt, the capital of Old Country, the citizens (“salts”) are always in a hurry because if you let people start “sleeping in,” it’ll be all downhill from there. At Central Bureaucracy, the employees work hard to ensure that nothing gets done too quickly (you wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea). Outside the building, Peril is first in a very long line, but once inside, he instantly finds himself last in line somehow. (I really laughed out loud on that one). While waiting for many hours in the lines, one must avoid asking the staff questions like, “Is there anything you can do?,” which opens up an area that leads right to the back of the line. Cutting a line? That’s another action that conjures a goblin, which is why no one does it. This is just a tiny sample of life in Salzstadt, and what makes this book so amusing.
Eventually, Peril is recruited to be the estate accountant for the bumbling idiot son of a wealthy Lord, which should have been a cushy position, since you don’t ever have to count the money for the rich (their wealth is, of course, “vastly immeasurable”). Unfortunately, his new role puts him in a position to take on more insidious tasks that Peril is neither equipped nor well-suited for. When he’s sent on a secret mission to the neighboring barbarous Carpathia, he’s not only thoroughly frightened and ill-prepared, but he’s facing the possibility that he might not make it back alive. And if he doesn’t, well, that likely won’t absolve him from his newfound responsibilities.
I absolutely loved Peril In The Old Country. First off, its cover shows off a formal portrait of Peril looking quite nervously agitated (quite reminiscent of Ichabod Crane, another literary nervous nellie). That was enough to entice me to start reading (as a good cover should). Darker than the Douglas Adams universe, but lighter than Game Of Thrones, Peril In The Old Country hooks you in with its intriguing world-building, compelling characters, fantastical elements, interesting twists on the supernatural, and perfectly absurd dark humor.
Sam Hooker’s “Peril in the Old Country” Is The Perfect, Dark Comedy Escape
Published on June 5, 2018 in Fiction by BookTrib
Rare is the author that writes like Sam Hooker.
His latest book, Peril in the Old Country, draws the reader into a kaleidoscope of absurdist humor, stunning imagery, and a fantastical plot. Hooker is an expert when it comes to dark humor, and it clearly shows.
In a land where rules are everything – also known as the Old Country – Sloot Peril is an accountant who’s really just trying to do the best he can and stay in the realm of mediocrity for as long as possible. That, unfortunately for him, is now what happens. Instead, he fixes an accounting error, gets invited to a high-class dinner party he doesn’t belong at, and finds out that he’s actually from Carpathia, Old Country’s bloodthirsty, cannibalistic neighbor. Peril is then taken on one adventure after another, while never really knowing quite what he’s doing – which only makes the darker moments even funnier.
Full of action, adventure, and fantasy, each journey Peril is swept into is perfectly presented: the characters are dynamic and refreshingly new, and Hooker’s attention to detail when writing fully immerses the reader into the world he’s built, each plot thoroughly planned out to be neatly tied up at the end, everything coming together.
Admittedly, the book is a little difficult to get into. The world Hooker has created is so well developed and detailed that it can be tricky to orient yourself when you first start reading. But the humor makes up for any confusion, and a chapter or two later, you’ve become so immersed in the world that it feels like you’ve been there all along. Hooker’s wit and unexpected twists of humor mix delightedly with the more absurdist and fantasy elements of the book. The first book in a new series, Peril in the Old Country is a must-read for anyone in need, or looking for, an escape.
Description
A Fantastical Farce of Yuletide Proportions
WILL THE WINTER WITCH JOIN FORCES WITH SANTA AGAINST THE GATHERING DARKNESS, EVEN IF IT MEANS SAVING THE WORLD?
Once upon a time, the North Pole was a very noisy place. A kingdom cowered under the maniacal rule of the White Queen, the Vikings raided and pillaged as they were wont to do, and the Winter Witch avoided talking to any of them.
When her peace and quiet are obliterated by threats of war and Ragnarok, she’ll try anything to get them back. When casting spells to become nearly invisible and dealing with otherworldly powers fail, the Winter Witch must forge an alliance with Santa—a retired warrior who’s anything but jolly—to save the North Pole from calamity.
In this updated version of Sam Hooker’s humorous dark fantasy novel that’s a perfect holiday read, The Winter Riddle [Black Spot Books, November 1 2018], destiny calls on an unlikely hero to save the North Pole. The Winter Witch would have been more than happy to be left alone entirely, and that’s exactly the sort of person who sticks out like a sore thumb when destiny goes shopping for heroes. Destiny has a nose for a bargain. Why pay full retail for a willing hero who’s all biceps and tally-ho?
Of course, she could have avoided the whole thing by refusing to involve herself in a scheme devised by the most deceitful deity ever to disgrace the world with his presence, but that would have angered the horrible White Queen, ensuring that she’d never have another moment’s peace again. The aforementioned scheme felt like the lesser evil at the time, but nothing could have been farther from the truth.
The Winter Witch’s desire to be left alone sends the North Pole careening toward disaster. Flying machines falling from the sky! Cannons going off indoors! Espionage, intrigue, gender-bending fashion, and even a hint of global warming imperil the fate of the world as we know it, and it all falls to one reclusive mumbler to make things right.
Will the Vikings take up arms against the frost giants? Will an evil necromancer keep the kingdom in the grip of fear? And for the love of Christmas, will everyone who isn’t the Winter Witch please stop meddling with dark forces beyond mortal comprehension for a bit?
The Winter Riddle is a farcical tale of a yuletide fantasy, wherein a reticent heroine must surmount countless challenges to save the world. From battles with giants to unlocking ancient magics to navigating the nuances of polite conversation, each obstacle is more monstrous than the last. Deck the halls and bar the doors! We’re in for a long winter’s night.
"I was perfectly happy to let my first novel molder in self-published anonymity, but my publisher saw something special in it,” says Hooker. “I am thrilled to be working with Black Spot Books again to re-release a new, improved version of The Winter Riddle just in time for readers to cozy up with it this holiday season."
“Literature is teeming with heroic extroverts who’d love nothing more than to save the world, but where’s the fun in calling on them? Fight scene, barely escape death, training montage, romantic aside, denouement. It’s all very boring,” says Hooker. “In The Winter Riddle, we tap the surly introvert instead. Suddenly you’ve got creative swearing! Irrational arguments! Something that will make you chuckle despite the weight of daily life. Tap into the introvert within everyone, and you’ve got something worth reading.”
Description
Dark Fantasy, Filled with Necromancers, Cults, Inept Romantic Endeavors, and the Occasional Game of Boulderchuck – a Sport as Simple as its Name
WILL THE EVENTS PUT IN MOTION BY A GHASTLY FINANCIAL REPORT END IN SLOOT'S GRISLY DEATH? ALMOST DEFINITELY. IS THAT THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? ALMOST DEFINITELY NOT.
You've got to have rules. According to the good folk of the Old Country, they're all that's holding the dismal tide at bay. Start coloring outside the lines, and it all comes tumbling down.
No one in the Old Country follows the rules half as well as Sloot, who has never so much as given alms to a beggar without getting a certified receipt. He has his entire life worked out to the very end and is looking forward to making as faint a mark on the world as possible. Everything is going according to plan. Of course, "everything going according to plan" is perhaps the single most precarious state of affairs available. Nowhere to go from there but down. There you are, safe as houses, and then boom. Things don't just end in disaster, they take up with other disasters, get matching leather jackets, and start harassing old ladies walking home from the market.
In Sam Hooker’s sophomore humorous dark fantasy novel, Peril in the Old Country [Black Spot Books, June 5 2018], Sloot’s utter ruination takes root when he is asked to correct the worst financial report ever written. While his corrections avert a global economic crisis, had he known what he was setting in motion, he might have instead bought economic crisis a drink to see if there was anything there.
Things turn from bad to worse when Sloot finds out that he might not be the true and loyal citizen of the Old Country he’d always thought he was. His newest acquaintance will draw him into a web of intrigue, and everyone knows that accountants don’t do intrigue. It never fits into the ledgers properly. Sloot will have to set aside his affinity for the rules and go up against underworld kingpins, secret societies, the undead, bloodthirsty cannibals from Carpathia, and even the ruthless Vlad the Invader! If that weren't enough, the steely gaze of Mrs. Knife follows him wherever he goes. Does she really want to murder him, or does she just have one of those faces?
At least Sloot's misadventures bring Myrtle into his life. She has the sort of smile that makes him want to stand up straighter and invest in some cologne. He's not even bothered by the fact that she's possessed by the laziest philosopher ever to have died.
When it turns out that all of his loyalties oppose each other, Sloot will have to match wits with everyone from Vikings to ogres with advanced legal degrees to sort out the madness. He’ll navigate the impossible queues of Central Bureaucracy, strike deals with the most devious denizens of the black market, and evade the massive warhammers of savage librarians, all in the name of balancing the ledgers at the end of the day.
Peril in the Old Country is a farcical tale of a dystopian fantasy, where its hero will have to traverse dungeons, brush up on his Carpathian invasion theory, and fathom why anyone would ever need a box filled with tentacles of doom if he’s to survive, which he probably won’t.
“The tricky part [of humorous dark fantasy] is finding spots where unspeakable evil is ticklish,” says Hooker. “In Peril in the Old Country, I invite readers to traipse through the darkness with me via Sloot Peril. He is the safe route personified—the answer to having asked ‘why risk it?’ dozens, maybe hundreds of times in a single life, and never coming up with a satisfactory answer. None of us are Sloot because all of us have thought ‘oh, what the heck’ at least once in our lives.”
“It’s those moments of courage, the little risks we take that prepare us all for real bravery, should we ever hear the call. When unspeakable evil steps out of the shadows and the only person to hear the call is Sloot, you get Peril in the Old Country.”
MAY 29, 2018KOPRATIC
Peril in the Old Country by Sam Hooker
Author: Sam Hooker
Publisher: Black Spot Books
Publication Date: June 2018
Peril in the Old Country by Sam Hooker is a book with words. Yes, yes, that might sound redundant, but not every book has words you know. Perhaps you’ve heard of picture books? Got you there! ahem Anyway, this worded book has many passages. Some of them lead through long and winding hallways. Other passages are rather short, but you just can’t help but take your time as you walk through them.
In this book, we follow Sloot Peril, who lives in the Old Country. It has a name, but it’s illegal to say it. Don’t want to offend the Domnitor–long may he reign. Sloot is a worrier and has lived that way his all life. His money-making profession, though, is an accountant. When he corrects a report originally done by a -phrase that means to stand atop a table- (don’t want to summon any goblins with our swearing), he finds himself as the financier to Lord Wilhelm “Willie” Hapsgalt, a definitely six-year-old boy who must move to his own estate due to him finally getting engaged.
“Six?! He’s at least forty-two! He’s tall and has a mustache!”
No, no. Little Willikins is definitely six. He just had an early growth spurt. Moving on.
The Old Country is the best country. There’s Nordheim to the north, but they have to deal with all of their gods all the time. As long as you follow every single rule in the Old Country, you’re golden. Well, Peril would rather have less luster. Easier to blend in that way. Except he’ll soon find out that becoming the young Lord’s financier might not have been the greatest thing. Mrs. Knife made him do it, and have you seen the daggers she can glare? We rarely see her, but she sends shivers in July.
Ever the man for rules, Sloot soon finds himself being made to break a few. Including–brace yourselves–spitting on the sidewalk. The horror! The disgrace! A gran should kick him, she should! (Older women are the best kickers, as they’ve had lots of practice.) Oh and also he might have to go to Carpathia where blood-crazy cannibals live and meet Vlad the Invader. But hey, at least he’ll have the philosopher-possessed Myrtle to think about. And his new buddy Roman. The characters are wonderful, really. For example, Myrtle’s banter with Arthur (the philosopher) shows just how cunning and full of wit she is.
As we discussed earlier, this book takes us through many passages. Many humors (the comedic ones, not the bodily ones; we’re not Carpathian savages after all! Let the records show that the use of savages does not imply that the Ancient Greeks were savages or that Carpathia is inspired by Ancient Greek) make an appearance. This is a fast read. It has wit. It has charm. The world is built up very well, although I will say that a few of the passages felt a bit like info-dumps, which halted with the pacing a bit. Don’t let the Domnitor, long may he reign, know I said that, though.
In short, this is a book for anyone who wants a bit of adventure, some laughs, and a character with a little Senlin (from The Books of Babel) quality to him.