Local Author Makes Kirkus Review’s 100 Best Indie Books of 2019

Recently Kirkus Review named dystopian-horror novella Kumori & the Lucky Cat by local author and Asian language scholar Wendelin Gray as one of their Best Indie Books of 2019, only one out of a hundred selected each year out of the thousands they review. The series follows three generations of women in a Japanese family whose lives are shattered by global political developments and are entwined with supernatural forces that oppose the totalitarian government they live under. Mixing Japanese kawaii (cute) culture with darker elements of horror and modern history, this volume is only the first in a series of four in The Lucky Cat Series, and the final book The Lucky Cat and the Kaiju Horde will be out in January or February of 2020. Although the series has dark themes, it is suitable for ages 13 to adult. Here are the reviews from Kirkus on the first two volumes:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/wendelin-gray/kumori-and-the-lucky-cat/

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/wendelin-gray/lucky-cat-and-the-snow-maidens-vengeance/

Both volumes also have new book trailers in time for the 2020 re-release of the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgjWkQe_qW8&feature=youtu.be

https://youtu.be/WTssbgRPf5Q

Wendelin Gray worked on the film programming and gala planning committees for Silk Screen Asian Arts Organization from 2007 until 2018 but also has provided programming on East Asian culture for the Pittsburgh Japanese Culture Society and Monroeville Library for a number of years, too. Among her other works is the 2015 Silk Road-inspired gothic ghost story, The Haunting at Ice Pine Peak, which also won the 2016 Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Young Adult Fiction E-book and earned the 2018 Story Monsters Approved Seal for Tweens. However, the books are also suitable for an adult audience.

For more information on the series and links to purchase the books, please see this page:

https://icepinepalace.wordpress.com/e-books/kumori-and-the-lucky-cat/