D T Neal

Saamaanthaa D T Neal

Set in Chicago in 2007, Saamaanthaa follows Samantha Hain, a 28-year-old performance artist whose pretentious peers include poets and painters who see themselves as cultured subversives in a world full of ordinary people. Sam encounters Ansel Rupino, an artist, a werewolf, and is infected by him during a one-night stand. She sees her world turned inside out as she struggles to reconcile her artistic persona with her lycanthropy, and finds artistic inspiration and expression, both creative and destructive, through her infection. As the story propels her through the city, the unpredictable and gruesome consequences of her malady become increasingly dire for Sam, her friends, the city, and even the world. Saamaanthaa explores lycanthropy-as-art, the effect of Sam's disease on her relationships, and what it means to be a monster, and a woman, in a world of men.

Part black comedy, part satire, all horror novel, Saamaanthaa offers a uniquely literary take on the werewolf mythos, and builds to an unforgettable, grisly climax.