Cynthia Di Filippo Elomaa interviewed me for her blog, “THE INTERVIEW & BOOK REVIEW”
Cynthia, an excellent author herself, will be interviewing authors and reviewing their books on a regular basis. Please tune into my interview on April 7th. It will go live at 12:00 AM. Here’s the link.
https://author-elomaa.blogspot.com/2026/03/introducing-deb-zannelli-author-of-dark.html
And once again, here’s the link to my video trailer for Dark Night Of The soul.
This was my mother’s favorite one of my books. I created a world I wish I could live in, even with all the dangers, there’s a life to each page. A person, or animal you want to get to know. ‘There are characters you’ll remember long after you close the book. Now, as the author you may expect me to say it, but as a person who fell in love with words before I could read them, I really mean this. I hope, if you read the books, you’ll agree. These are the things that make me feel the hours spent alone, dreaming of places and thinking of the people you know, are worthwhile.
Sister World: The Arrival
Debra Zannelli
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2019)
ISBN: 978-1727643992
Reviewed by Julie Grayson for Reader Views (08/2025)
5*- Great start to a new series!!
Imagine a world in an alternate universe that’s a mirror image of Earth. What if an evil leader on
that Alt Earth decides to quietly take it over? That’s the premise of Debra Zannelli’s Sister
World: The Arrival. This is Book 1 of the new Sister World trilogy, a story that takes place
across parallel planets.
Welcome to Terah, a world that basically mirrors Earth, but is ruled by an authoritarian regime
under the tyrant Frauliege. She decides to come to Earth because ruling one planet must not be enough.
When siblings Kahill and Cara hear about the evil plot to invade Earth, they escape Terah through a
wormhole that connects the two planets. Their goal is to find their counterparts on Earth, siblings Peter and
Becky, and their scientist father, Dr. Samuel Benjamin.
One of the coolest aspects of this story is TEV, an ingenious device that translates animal speech,
allowing humans to understand them. Suddenly, the creatures of Earth have the potential to be its
biggest allies. From bats stealing weapons to rats swarming enemy soldiers, they bring an
entirely new concept to warfare.
The characters here show great emotional complexity. Kahill is a young man broken by the
cruelty of Terah. His counterpart, Peter, has suffered great trauma. Readers will also meet
Jenny, a character who will be forced to make a brutal decision.
The animal kingdom, thanks to TEV, also plays its part with some amazing characters, including
Bentwing, leader of the bats, and a dog named Spirit. But perhaps the most profound moments
with the animals involve the eagles, who mourn their dead, allowing us to reflect upon our
connection to Earth’s animals.
Sister World: The Arrival is a story of survival, resilience, and unity. Environmental themes
occasionally play out, as evidenced by the delicate beauty of Earth contrasting with the scorched
desolation of Terah.
Some readers may want more on Terah’s backstory, or Frauliege’s motives, and the adult
characters (as compelling as they are) can sometimes get overshadowed by the perils facing the
youth. However, these gaps don’t seem to be the result of careless editing. Instead, they seem to
echo the narrative’s message that the future belongs to the young, the brave, and the
underestimated.
Open this novel and prepare to be taken in by a revolution we never saw coming. In which the
slightest of voices is set to make the most noise. Debra Zannelli’s Sister World: The Arrival is a
tale of speculative fiction offering all the thrills of a swashbuckling adventure as well as themes
of stewardship and sacrifice.
This review was followed by an award by Readers Views
I wrote this poem when I was in the fifth grade. I was listening to the days news, all the mean things people did to each other. Then I put on a movie. It was supposed to be a comedy about two old men. I don’t remember the name of the movie. All I remember is how sad they were. They talked about some of the things they did when they were kids. Some of them were funny. Mostly they were sad. They missed the people they pushed away, the chances they had to help their friends. They had money but it was only numbers in a book. Numbers don’t enter your room and give you a hug. I don’t know how it ended. It was too sad to watch it to the end.
I always turn to writing when I’m sad. I write a lot of poems, most I don’t remember and have to read them from my diary, or the computer now, but I remember this one. I’m older now, which means I know a lot of elderly people. Please I beg you, don’t call me elderly. Ma’am is bad enough. What I hear a lot of from sons and daughters is: I should have told mom I loved her more often, I should have taken dad golfing, spent more time with my parents. I heard one woman say she realizes that she talks to her mother more now that she’s passed away than she did when they were together. I hear husbands talk about the times they should have been there, how they spent so much time working to give their children a better life that they weren’t there were when they were needed. One man spoke of saving money for the day when he retired and could do all the things he wanted to when he was young. Of course he waited too long. He became bitter. Now he’s alone.
When I wrote this poem I thought it was about other people, made up characters in the movies. Now I realize it’s about us. Sorry if this post is sad, but some days are like that.
HOW QUICKLY RUN THE HOURS
How quickly run the hours
that decide our fate
from happy birth to showers
we find our faults too late
Before we really live
our light begins to fade
when we finally learn to give
Goodbye to all we bade
The last book in the Sister World Series took the longest to write but I am so proud of the responses. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review the book; thank you Ameila
| Aurelia Hulls | Sun, Feb 15, 9:00 PM (14 hours ago) | ||
to me | |||
I just got the reviews posted and thanks for writing your book.
Living with the aftermath of a disappointing Super Bowl. I was sorry the Patriots lost, though just getting to the Super Bowl is a big deal. What I really hoped for was a more exciting game. There’s always next year. Cudos to the Seahawks. They played a great game. I have to say that going to a friend’s house to watch the game and eat all the things I don’t usually eat is a lot of fun, whether we win or lose. Segway, writing a book and seeing it published gives this author a great feeling of accomplishment and though I’d like to be a bestselling author, I’m happy to have been able to write and publish my books. It’s not easy and lots of love and hours went into them. I love my word children.
I’ve learned that my thought for the day which turned into thought for the week may now be a thought for the month. This one is February’s, though I hope I’ll have at least one more thought.
“I will not go quietly into the night.” Those words were used in the movie Independence Day, but they are a variation of the poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. You can take this in a way personal to your life. As we age, we might think of it as fighting the inevitable , there is an end to all things. I wrote my books for love of the story, to express in fiction some of what I’ve felt and have experienced in my life. Marcus does not go gentle or quiet into the darkness Gregor gave him. That is my version of this expression. Yes, we don’t want to age, but neither should we be quiet when darkness descends upon us. Funny how that is a nice transition to the prequel to Dark Night, so I add, do not step quietly into the Darkness Descending.
I wrote this poem after rocking my baby to sleep.
Line by Line
Sleeping curled upon my lap,
while rocking to and fro,
is my one and only child of flesh,
born not many years ago.
He is not my first born,
for deep within me lives,
all that are my hopes and dreams,
the words I long to give.
I’ve written down all that makes me, me.
What I’ve seen, wished for, my every goal,
the words I have written,
are the children of my soul.
I love words, sung, written, spoken,
their passion and their power.
Mankind could never have come so far,
for it is words which makes man tower.
Above all creatures, mankind towers,
in his ability to leave a trace,
of what he’s learned, where he’s been,
that time cannot erase.
I live for my children,
my son and my words too.
I want them to live on,
and be proud of what they do.
In silence I pray,
for the skill, and for the time.
Time to write my thoughts, my hopes,
to live out my life, line by line.
Debra Zannelli 8/96
If you’ve read anything by me, you know I love dogs. A hot summer day and the ice cream truck was coming. We had money for ice cream this time. I was running up the road to catch him before he turned the corner. Chipper, my dog was right behind me. The truck slowed, a leg kicked out and Chipper fell to the ground. The leg came out of the truck again, slow enough for me to catch.
“He bit me.”
It was a lie. Chipper was behind me.
“Did it feel like this.” Before I let go of his leg I bit him. Not hard enough to get through his sock but strong enough to put fuzzies in my mouth.
I figured we’d never get ice cream again, but a couple of weeks later the truck came with a new driver. I turned to see my mother smiling, Chipper licking her cheek.
Dark Night Of The Soul was awarded 4 out of 5 stars in its review by Suranna Wallace Michael. I’m going to post the entire review, which I’m very proud of. Also pay attention to my note I posted at the end of the review.
Dark Night Of The Soul
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Review of Dark Night Of The Soul
•
Post by Suranna Wallace Michael » 09 Jan 2026, 19:40
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of “Dark Night Of The Soul” by Debra Zanelli.]
4 out of 5 stars
Share This Review
FacebookTwitterLinkedInPinterestShare
Dark Night of the Soul by Debra Zannelli is a modern retelling of the classic vampire story. A vampire meets a girl and falls in love. It spans several years and demonstrates that love can conquer fear and retribution.
Maddy, as a child, is attacked while playing by a scary monster. She lived out several years under the stigma caused by this attack. Many think she is crazy or seeking attention by describing what she saw as a vampire. No one truly believes her, not even her brother. She suffers from nightmares because of this. She became an artist and painted her attacker’s face numerous times. Awaking from one of these nightmares, she goes to the park to paint early one morning and has an encounter with her attacker, Gregor, and the one who saved her, Marcus.
The story continues as Maddy rescues Marcus from the approaching sunlight. She seems to know that he is the one who needs help. Her brother, Judson, is recruited to help stop Gregor from his upcoming murder spree. Marcus has the goal of ending the reign of terror inflicted by Gregor.
The characters are well-developed, believable, and likable. The author effectively portrayed the pain and loneliness of Marcus’s and Maddy’s lives. I was able to feel the loss and struggle of each character and found myself rooting for victory over evil. Even though not all the characteristics of Gregor and Marcus exactly portray a vampire, there are enough to conclude that they are undead and blood suckers.
I am rating Dark Night of the Soul a 4 out of 5 stars. There were more grammatical errors than I felt was acceptable to give it a higher rating. I find the storyline compelling and well-written, and I recommend it to anyone who loves vampire novels. It is a very engaging book, and it was hard to put down at times.
Dark Night Of The Soul
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
NOTE:
The books will be updated and all errors corrected. My editor worked hard to make sure the book was mistake free but we are all human. I am proud to say that there were only ten errors and though I’m not happy to have even one, I am happy with the book and I’m sure you will be too.
It’s available as an audio book and my podcast is ongoing.
|
#read #fiction #selfpublishing #literature #authorscommunity #blackauthors #art #amazon #poetrycommunity #kindle #quotes #poets #indieauthors #authorcommunity #writingtips #poems #booknerd #bookaddict #writersnetwork #authorsofinsta #bookstagrammer #inspiration #instagood #storytelling #poet #bookish #bookshelf #bookreview #writings #publisher
Debra Zannelli Author 