Make a Wish and Win Free Books!

Laura Ellen Scott’s excellent and quirky debut novel, Death Wishing (Ig Publishing, 2011), is set in post-Katrina New Orleans. In this wonderfully reimagined world, random dying wishes are granted by some unknown and arbitrary power. Wishes that can cure cancer, magick-away cats, resurrect Elvis (Elvis!), give mothers an eye in the back of their heads, and turn the clouds a gorgeous, vibrant orange.

The novel’s equally colorful middle-aged narrator, Victor, is divorced from his embittered wife, Brenda, and striving for comfort and consolation in his newfound home in the French Quarter with his son, Val. Victor also works in Val’s vintage clothing store. Thus he shares both home and business with his son, and more. Victor is infatuated with Pebbles, the intriguing, attractive, and erratic young woman who lives across the street. However, Pebbles is Val’s girlfriend. Amidst this father-son dilemma of desire, there’s also the mounting paranoia, violence and chaos that ensue from death wishing.

The voice and prose in this novel are beguiling and its madcap, quest plot is a page turner. The characters, from major to minor, are well-drawn and earn our sympathy and empathy. Death Wishing is a fun read and also a moving one. I admit to feeling especially affected by the portrayal of the resurrected Elvis. Hey, it’s ELVIS. There are also large doses of the creepy and terrifying. Moreover, the ending sneaked right up and punched me. Yet Laura Ellen Scott makes this convoluted novel seem effortless, as if the twists of story and its delightful wit and rich absurdity flowed right out of her. I don’t doubt she had a hell of a lot of fun writing this noteworthy work. I also don’t doubt that Death Wishing was a great labor of love and is the product of an electric imagination and skilled author.

Segue to our Free Book Giveaway. What would your dying wish be? From silly to sincere to sublime to irreverent, leave your Death Wish in the comments below. We’ll ask Laura Ellen Scott to pick her favorite Death Wish and the winner will receive the following books: