"September Harvest" NEW Cover, Excerpt & Book Trailer

By Lisa Maliga
Copyright 2023

March 2023

Online comment: If only someone would have warned these gullible people about what was going on BEFORE they took the bioweapon. I warned people. Did you?

My reply: I didn't realize how bad it was until June 2021. I spent all summer writing a novella about what I saw going on. Sadly, I don't have a billion-dollar budget to bamboozle people with endless publicity. But I did try...

After answering that question, I decided to put together a book trailer to promote my eBook. And I changed the cover from one of the watercolor illustration of the mall’s interior to a photo of a dead mall’s exterior. Finally, I rewrote the book's description. 

New Book Description:

It’s 1979 and Laurie Caswell is working as a bookstore clerk at the Northbrook Mall. That Saturday evening, she sees a movie with her boyfriend, Dennis Nolan. Instead of dining at a restaurant, the teenage couple goes to her parents’ suburban house for some adult beverages. He leaves, and in the early hours of the morning, she has a horrifying nightmare.

A nightmare of a future where the mall resembles a prison. It’s populated with overweight, black-clad people wearing face masks, and lining up outside the former Sears department store for mandatory Convict-21 injections.

Will the nightmare come true, or will the old book she discovers the next day at a yard sale help change the course of humanity forever?

Excerpt:

“The signs on the door demanded that recipients of the Convict-21 vaccine must wear masks, be over the age of twelve and I stopped reading the sign after that. The cosmetics section of the once-thriving department store was minus its display cases. The Avon and Revlon makeup kits were gone. Vibrant young salespeople offering sprays of perfume were absent. No floral fragrances lingered in the air other than generous gusts of alcohol-based sanitizer from spray bottles being squirted by uniformed medical workers. It reminded me of some sort of pest-control team—and it appeared like we were the pests.”

Book Trailer:

Book Links:

Amazon: SEPTEMBER HARVEST

Apple: SEPTEMBER HARVEST

B&N NOOK: SEPTEMBER HARVEST

Kobo: SEPTEMBER HARVEST

Smashwords: SEPTEMBER HARVEST

September Harvest ~ Nightmare or Prophecy?

 By Lisa Maliga

Copyright 2021

I’ve finally returned to writing fiction. It’s a great feeling to have completed a novella. There was nothing to bake or melt and pour. In other words, no sweets were made and I only made a few batches of soap for an upcoming book.

The first draft of September Harvest was written in a month. It was the easiest and hardest book I ever wrote. During it, I was doing online retail therapy. I’d watched many videos about malls, dying malls, dead malls and abandoned malls. I watched and listened to the soundtracks of the past. Whether you call it Muzak or elevator music, it was wordless and brought back memories. Yet listening to it made me write better and helped create that long ago and far away era. And as I wrote the Northbrook Mall section, I thought it should live up to its name with an exotic landmark center court area. The Palm Beach Mall was my inspiration. Although photographed circa 1968, I imagined being in that mall back then. People dressed more formally than they do nowadays. Salesmen and managers wore suits and ties. Customers and retail employees had a more stringent dress code than that of 2021.

Being able to use the photograph wasn’t an option as it wasn’t in the public domain, and I’d already decided to change the “wonderfall” fountain to a standard cascading type of fountain. But the bridge over the pond surrounded by tropical foliage was an element that had to be in the Northbrook Mall. It was the landmark centerpiece and most noted feature.

Finding a cover artist to recreate the mall wasn’t an easy task. The first person I found via a search had the promise that all emails were answered in 24 hours. To date, my email has been ignored. I contacted another cover artist, but my suggestion wasn’t deemed possible. I kept looking and found a talented artist who had several images of buildings and people in her portfolio. I had quickly learned that some artists specialized in drawing animals, others in portraits, and some in drawing fantasy landscapes. Would I like a watercolor, oil painting or colored pencil rendition?

I wrote out detailed instructions and even included an excerpt from my novella which described the fountain area. I asked that the ladies on the bridge be changed to the main characters in the novella. A few days later, I received the image and here it is…

What is September Harvest About?

Laurie Caswell loves her life… but a nightmare leaves her terrified of the future… 

It’s 1979 and Laurie’s living a great life as a bookstore clerk at the Northbrook Mall. She’s excited to go out with her boyfriend to see a movie, have a drink, and spend a happy evening together. When he leaves, she’s rocked to her core by a nightmare.

A nightmare of a future where her mall is dead, overweight, black-clad people cover their faces like common criminals. 

People seem more focused on their light-up book-like devices than her, but the year 2021 holds darker, more sinister dangers. Dangers she desperately wants to wake up from and escape. Laurie just wants her normal life back… but whatever she’s experiencing might not be willing to let her go so easily.

 

Where to buy:

Amazon: September Harvest
Amazon UK: September Harvest
Apple: September Harvest
B&N/Nook: September Harvest
Kobo: September Harvest
Smashwords: September Harvest
Vivlio: September Harvest