SHELTER ME is almost here…

by Alex McAulay

So my fourth novel, Shelter Me, is coming out in a week, on January 6. To my knowledge, it's the first historical thriller that MTV Books has ever released (but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, anyone!) It's the best book I've written so far, but it's also a little unusual. It's a thriller about a teenage girl during WWII who escapes from boarding school with her friends and embarks on a journey across a war-torn landscape to get back home. Although it's set in the past, I think savvy readers will probably see some parallels to present-day situations. The book goes to some pretty dark, scary places and it's probably closest in tone to my first novel, Bad Girls. I'm really looking forward to reader reactions on this one, so feel free to let me know what you think (you can email me directly at info@alexmcaulay.com and I will try to respond and not be lazy).

At the same time that I'm getting ready to go out and promote Shelter Me, I also just wrapped up my first screenplay, Demonica, which I wrote with a friend from college. It's about a championship fencer who gets stalked by a death cult bent on resurrecting ancient demons. It's inspired by the great early Sam Raimi films, as well as the works of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and Clive Barker. So far, people are liking it, and I'm talking to managers, agents, directors, etc. The good thing about living in Hollywood is that I get to go around and meet people in the film industry all the time (including some childhood heroes) which is always a total blast, because I'm an obsessive movie geek. In fact, the film rights to Bad Girls just got picked up again last month, and things are moving ahead on that front (hopefully I can post more details here soon).

And in addition to all of the above, my wife Lisa is pregnant with our first child. That is, of course, the best and most exciting news of all!! We don't know yet whether it's a boy or a girl, but we are thrilled (and a little scared) either way. We've already been hitting up all our friends who have kids for advice, because we don't really know what we're doing. But we do know that we're probably right at the start of a very big, crazy adventure…

Anyway, so that's what I've been up to recently. I hope all of you out there have a great New Year's! And if you're bored, come check out my redesigned website www.alexmcaulay.com, which features a new FAQ section.