From the Cover
They can save millions of lives, if she doesn’t kill them first
Tourist Raymond Molina finds the body of a young biologist in a Costa Rican bay—apparent victim of a shark attack—but no one knows how she got there. As Ray searches for what really happened to her, he stumbles onto the best kept secret in the natural world.
This is a secret hidden for centuries by residents of the coastal town of Sonara, protected by intelligent but violent animals unknown anywhere else on earth, and coveted by a massive biotech company that will do anything to discover the truth—no matter the cost.
And behind it all is a creature with the power to cure disease, all disease…or kill everyone on earth.
Details
Release Date: November 12, 2021
Also profiled: BookBub | Goodreads | Google Books
Critical Praise
“…a wonderful story full of mystery and miracles. It explored a town essentially trapped in time, concealing many dark secrets, which would soon be uncovered by the main character.” – Bookish Beyond
“…drawn by the hand of a virtuoso…had me laughing and crying out loud… This is easily five stars—I’d give it more if I could.” – Dr. Heather Carter, author of The Black Unicorn
“…all is not well in the small coastal town of Sonara…the past holds heartbreak and death, betrayal and guilt, and threats to the world’s population now and in the future. Beasts is a complex, detailed, haunting and captivating story line of animal sentience, genetic manipulation, and immortality: a character driven twisted tale of family, tragedy, power and control…” – ReadingCafe
“…fast-paced, with constantly unraveling mysteries… It reads like a thriller.” – L. Johnson
Inspiration
It’s hard to describe what inspired Beasts without giving too much away, but…one thing I loved about old movies and TV series like King Kong and Land of the Lost was the concept that there was still power and magic in nature if you knew where to look. And sometimes that magic is just biology we don’t yet understand. Beasts is about what happens when that biology creates power, and that power threatens to change almost everything we know about the natural world.
Even More Inspiration
The town of Sonara is vaguely based on the village of Nosara, where I spent a few different trips surfing and generally having an amazing time with locals and retirees and pretty much everyone. They were joyous, inspiring, formative trips that would probably never have happened without the invite of my friend Rusty, to whom I am forever grateful. You should visit Nosara, get a massage, do some yoga, go surfing, eat great food, drink a lot and generally embrace all that Pura Vida has to offer. And yes, there is or was a “Coconut Harry” in Nosara, but he and the Harry in Beasts are in no way related…even if they both run cool surf shops.
If you’re wondering, Sonara kinda means “it will dream” in Spanish, if you’re feeling charitable (but more correctly, “it will sound”). So Beasts of Sonara sort of means beasts of future dreams, or maybe jeweled beasts in mangled Swahili. So many bad choices…
About the Cover
I came up with the cover on Canva, after a lot of idiocy and really bad ideas (which you might be able to see here on Pinterest). Designer Jayelle Morgan at DreamSaver Covers was kind and professional enough to take my concept to the finish line. Thank you!
Related Books
See Run Lab Rat Run, where the genetic miracles of Sonara have taken a bizarre and brutally human but inhumane course.
For Authors
Beasts of Sonara Trademarks
Sonara, the fictional town in which Beasts takes place, is trademarked. Nomanity, the name of Jon Lamarr’s company in Costa rica, is a trademark. Nomanity also appears in Run Lab Rat Run.
Peace.
Leave a Reply