Welcome to episode 7 of the Indies’ Reading Block Podcast!
Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. She writes primarily for teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runner-ups in a poetry competition with her poem “Manchester”–a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and its appallingly wet weather.
In ONLY HUMAN, teenager Aecia is so isolated and desperate that she talks to her diary as though it was a real human friend. She wears neutraliser to conceal her human smell, whitener to deaden her pink and healthy human skin, and drinks the warm, thick life’s blood of another of her own species, just to go unnoticed and escape death at the hands of members of her own clam family! Aecia has not experienced the joy and freedom of a breezy summer day, has never had a picnic on the park and watched the sun filter through the leaves of the trees onto her face. No. Aecia must live her life through the deep darkness of night. She must pretend to fear the glorious rays of the sun and cower at the sound of the birds celebrating the dawn.
Her traumatic and time-consuming theatrical performance every night of her life is simply because she is human and must live in a sadistic vampire world. She is a throwback, a deformity, and a curious case of two members of the same species producing a different one! She is a cuckoo amongst her people.
Walk with Aecia as she meets her first love. Feel her confusion as she dares to wonder if he is human, too. Experience her terror when she finally uncovers the truth about her own origin and finds that it is enough to shake the foundations of the cruel vampire regime forever!
You can purchase ONLY HUMAN in ebook and paperback form on Amazon.
If you’re interested in learning more about Maria Bradley, head on over to her website. Or follow her on Twitter. Or like her Facebook page. She also occasionally blogs at Indie YA Books and manages their Facebook page.
Our next episode will air on February 15 and will feature a short story by Holly Barbo.
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