-Wicker Man Studios-
Barbara Lien-Cooper
and Park Cooper
NEW BOOK:
Song to the Siren
-----------------------
Our new book is out! Song to the Siren is a prose novel about:
--scares, drugs, and rock and roll
--true love, madness, and the supernatural
--childhood... and surviving long enough to get out of childhood...
Here's a link to the book trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhvPLBqSFSw
When two young documentary filmmakers start investigating the enigmatic death of the infamous Reed Sinclair, founder of the never-quite-made-it indie rock group The Big Carnival, they interview Reed's former girlfriend, photographer Samantha ("Sam") MacNamara-- who tells them the story of a seeming love triangle between herself, Reed, and a frightening entity named Belle.
Belle may have simply been how Reed's troubled mental state interpreted multiple tragedies and coincidences in his life... or she may have been a supernatural being.
As the filmmakers begin to uncover the frightening truth, Sam must face the riddle of her relationship with Reed if she wants to step into the light, away from the specter of Belle and the shadow that was cast over Sam's life.
**********
PRAISE FOR SONG TO THE SIREN:
"As soon as I jumped into this book it was hard to put down. When I wasn't reading it, I couldn't wait to pick it back up again and often found myself thinking about Reed. The authors did a wonderful job of making this a gripping tale . . . fascinating, creepy, and heartbreaking all at once. Reed has earned a spot in my [list of] favorite characters. He is broken, flawed, but still so caring. I finished this book days ago and I still think about his character. That's how much I love the guy. Amazing character development . . . The ending was hauntingly beautiful and moving . . . A book I will not soon forget. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"
--IndieBookAddict.com
"Captivating, entertaining, and thoughtful . . . SONG TO THE SIREN is a must-read paranormal and mythological story. From the utilization of the indie-rock scene as a setting to emotional character growth and the mystery of 'Belle' . . . one novel readers won't want to miss. Rating: 10/10"
--reviewer Anthony Avina
"It's old school, with a lot of the creepiness appearing in the shadows . . . Could we be witnessing a mental breakdown and delusion, or are we seeing something truly supernatural? Honestly, this book could appeal to the romance crowd equally as much as it could to any lovers of quiet horror. What it is, is a damn good story. It is engaging, entertaining . . . well-written . . . You really could suspend disbelief and think this was a true transcript from a real magazine or documentary. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it."
--kendallreviews.com
Here's a link to get the book:
https://books2read.com/u/mVAYDA
HUNGRY GHOSTS Kickstarter: TOTALLY SUCCESSFUL!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, you know how this page has been saying for some time that HUNGRY GHOSTS would be coming soon? Well, it's a lot closer now! The Kickstarter campaign launched-- and then a few days later, it met its initial goal! So it made! Some people are going to be getting a samurai graphic novel!
BUT ALSO: our Kickstarter also reached all its stretch goals! So-- and this is the one we're super-extra-excited about-- also, Shooting Star Press the prose novel we wrote that also features Isogai Heidazaemon Taketsura (from one of Lafcadio Hearn's classic stories)-- he's in the graphic novel and the prose novel! So we're getting that ready now!
The great recorder of Japanese folktales, Lafcadio Hearn, wrote, in his work Kwaidan, written over 110 years ago in 1904, about the folktale of "Rokurokubi," in which the former samurai, Isogai Heidazaemon Taketsura, having lost his feudal lord during the war, said heck with it and just became a priest instead.
But Taketsura's days of fighting and danger were far from over, as he stumbled into the world of the supernatural...
Hungry Ghosts is a four-chapter digital comic written by Barbara Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper of Wicker Man Studios, illustrated by Jeremy L Dumouchel-- AND it's going to be a prose novel by Barbara Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper of Wicker Man Studios, with cover art by Jeremy L Dumouchel!
The prose novel:
From Barb Lien-Cooper, author of the critically-acclaimed digital comic Gun Street Girl (Wicker Man Studios) and Park Cooper, creator of the Swipe graphic novel (Angry Viking Productions) comes a novel about war, mythology, redemption, the supernatural, strategy, demons of the mind, and sword fights...
Takeshi Ito woke up with bandages over his eyes, because a slash at his eyes was the only way his opponents could stop the battle-maddened teenaged swordsman his comrades had nicknamed "the little god of death." When the bandages came off, Takeshi could still see-- but he kept finding out strange things about the monk who'd saved him. Takeshi eventually realized that the man who'd taken the name of Eisai when he tried to become a monk was really Isogai Heidazaemon Taketsura, the great samurai, the wielder of the incredible sword Lightning-on-the-Water. But will even Taketsura be able to solve the problem of the oni curse that Takeshi's accidentally stumbled into before someone gets killed during a fit of bloodlust-- like Kiyoko, the cute orphan girl that joins the two swordsmen as they roam Japan looking for a way to cure Takeshi...?
.jpg)
The Talking Cure:
A Novel of Magic and Psychiatry
--Zach Cutter claims he's not really an antiques dealer as such, but that he's really a supernatural investigator.
--Zach claims he's got repressed memories, missing at least a year of his life, probably more.
--Zach claims he can do magic. Not stage magician magic-- real magic.
--Zach claims he's got feelings for his new psychiatrist, Dr. Cynthia Mann.
--Zach claims a lot of problematic things.
But they're all true.
After a disturbing case in New York made Dr. Cynthia Mann wonder if the supernatural might actually be real, she's started her life and her practice all over again in Cleveland, where she meets a new patient, stranger than any she’s ever met before—and far more charming than anyone she’s ever met, too.
During the progress Zach makes as Cynthia’s patient, he tells her stories about his past, and their relationship slowly edges from a doctor-patient one to a friendship—and Zach clearly wouldn’t mind if it became more.
Together, Cynthia and Zach will eventually have to find a way for him to get out of the trouble he stumbled into long ago...
---------------------------------------------------------------
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya9_0eCMrzw
---------------------------------------------------------------
Basically, one reader called it "THE DRESDEN FILES Meets THE PRINCE OF TIDES." That's not a perfect summation, of course, but it gives a general idea. So, paranormal with a little hint of romance (it's the first book in a series).
---------------------------------------------------------------
"[A]n engaging and exhilarating paranormal read. . . a great job of world-building and infusing humor and wit . . . Captivating, heartfelt, and entertaining . . . Rating: 10/10"
--reviewer Anthony Avina
---------------------------------------------------------------
"5/5 stars . . . I really enjoyed this story . . . [Zach and Cynthia] have been through the dark . . . and perhaps they can help each other get to the other side. The cases . . . were very interesting indeed . . . And I absolutely love his car! (It is magical and so fantastic, though its story is so sad, I want to adopt it!) The humour is excellent, I had a few times where I laughed out loud. . . . The two authors are husband and wife, and I think they did well writing together."
Amyah MapleBell, MapleBell Reviews
More of Our Work:
Swipe
ISBN: 978-0-9887182-2-7
Swipe is the story of Ray, a hacker who finds a one-in-a-million self-aware robot, Karina, and, well, there’s immediately some trouble between a cyborg pimp and an old friend of Karina’s, and things escalate quickly... before Ray and Karina quite know it, the whole city is one of several launch points for a nanotech invasion that turns people into zombies... corrupts machines’ programming… and eventually starts fusing the two together in very unnatural ways… all because the best show on the web has jumped the shark. It’s cyber-zombie invasion madness, all in one graphic novel: Swipe, from Angry Viking Press.
---------------------------------------------
"I won’t lie: I was expecting to hate this cyberpunk comedy, and I clicked on the preview to make sure I’d hate it. Sexy robots, chicks fighting in corsets, long black leather coats, idiot heroine/intelligent hero, Valley Girl pastiche-speak, casual danger dialogue, characters who can’t stop talking, cyborgs, zombies, cyborg zombies — I have a deep, entrenched hatred of all of these tropes. And yet! And yet! I swear I do not have a gun to my head as I type these words, and stay with me — Swipe does every one of these things exceptionally well, some of which I honest-to-god thought that nobody could do well ever again.
Ray (black leather coat hacker) and Karina (corset murderbot) are both absurdly charming characters. And moreover, they’re charming because they’re played totally straight. Karina . . . makes total sense both on and below the surface. She has a limited concept of cause and effect; she’s delighted by 90% of what she sees and mildly grossed out by the rest; she calmly narrates all her own experiences, even violent and terrifying ones; she loves Ray and she loves escrima. The archetype is Idiot Heroine, but it’s not really that. She just has a bizarre, sped-up machine consciousness that’s full of weird, infectious joy, and her joy sets the tone for the whole comic."
--Rachel Fellman, The Geek Girl Project.com
Coming (Again) Soon:
SOMETHING MORE
THAN BLOOD
Returning home from the funeral of his last, oldest friend, character actor Johannes Fassbinder falls asleep and is awakened by someone he saw at the funeral-- a young woman who handcuffs him, points a gun filled with silver bullets at him, and asks him if he is guilty of murdering her great-grandfather, and if so, why he did it. His answer involves telling her his life story... which involves garlic, secrets, mist, Berlin, Yiddish, old-time radio shows, Broadway, revenge, and a lot of Hollywood B-movies... and blood. A lot of blood. But blood, by itself, is never enough...
Something More Than Blood was originally published by Black Curtain Press, but the publisher has recently closed up shop. We will be offering it again soon ourselves.
---------------------------------------------
"Something More Than Blood is a well-crafted, fast-paced story of a fresh-faced young German farm boy who volunteers to serve his country in the Great War, and get a lot more - and worse - than he bargained for. In the process of going from naive young 'soldat' Johannes Fassbinder to becoming an undead B movie actor - stage name Lykan Fuller - we follow a man who wanders through some wild and weird places - Weimar Germany, Depression Era USA, Hollywood - and copes with his unsought fate while surrounded by people who often seem less human than he is.
The writing is tight, the dialogue crisp, the settings pitch-perfect, and the plot compelling. Park Cooper and Barbara Lien-Cooper have written a vampire tale with lot of chills, but also sad insights, and a few chuckles of recognition along the way. I enjoyed it, and you will, too. It's a welcome addition to the horror bookshelf."
- Lou Antonelli, Hugo Award multiple-nominee
---------------------------------------------
"Barb Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper have written a rather wonderful book called Something More Than Blood. If you're a horror fan, a vampire fan, or just a fan of good writing, this is a book you must read. With touches of Anne Rice, a dash of Stephen King and an occasional humorous touch, it's one of the most enjoyable reads I've had all year, a sprawling epic that takes in classic Hollywood lore, Broadway shows, and vampiric carnage..."
--Bruce Hallenbeck, author, Monsters of New York: Mysterious Creatures in the Empire State, The Hammer Vampire: British Cult Cinema (with Jimmy Sangster) and Hammer Fantasy & Sci Fi: British Cult Cinema (with Martine Beswick)
---------------------------------------------------------------