The apples are ready to pick and ready to eat. I have a great recipe for a surprising apple pancake. It’s not what you think and more often than not I eat it with ice cream. Of course you CAN have ice cream for breakfast but I usually wait until after dinner. Send me a message here or on my Facebook page and I’ll divulge the secret that makes this recipe so special.
North Kingston Library
I will be talking about my books at the North Kingston Library at 100 Boone Street, North Kingston, RI, on October 27th from6:30 – 7:30. I’ll have my books with me. I have a lot to say about my writing process and my recent successes. Hope to see you there.
READER VIEWS
My first book in the Sister World Trilogy, Sister World The Arrival, received a 5 Star review from Reader Views.
Below is their review of The Arrival
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.
Providing book by book publicity for Indie Authors since 2005.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.
METCALF SCHOOL HOLIDAY BAZAAR
Every year Metcalf School hosts a diverse and exciting Holiday Bazaar. This year, for the first time, I will be selling my books there. The date is December 6th the place is Metcalf School, 30 Nooseneck Hill Road, Exeter, RI. Now we all know that Rhode Islanders from the northern part of the state think any place further south than Providence is too long a drive, but believe me, it’ll be worth the ride.
Comic Con
Don’t forget to come to Comic Con. I’ll be along with some other very talented authors. I’ll have all my books including Dark Night Of the Soul a finalist in the American Legacy Awards and Sister World Return to Terah, awarded second best science fiction for 2024 by BookFest. With the remake of my Darkness and Light Book covers you’ll get a deal purchasing the books with their original covers. Come to meet the cast of Fletch, The Flash, Supernatural and so many more. Leave with memories, celebrity autographs and a good book or two.
TO BECOME
This is what I hoped I’d become. First there was the singer. I was sure Barbra Streisand would love me. Believe it or not, I really could sing, but now my voice has aged. I’ve written songs that will never be played. I have a rather limited knowledge of notes and timing needed for writing music down- self taught-so I developed my own method of writing my songs down, this means they’ll die with me. Jeffrey, if you read this, I have often wondered what would have happened had I joined your band and headed to California. You wanted me to be the lead singer, I was afraid of failing. Then there was the dream of being an author. I had so many things I wanted to talk about and no one to talk to so I made up stories that sat in the back of my closet, most still do. For a while I wanted to be a free spirit with no ties tethering me to the dirt I would one day be buried under. My best friend and I planned on taking the money we earned working after school, to buy motorcycles and head out. She decided to stay home, go to college and take care of her family. I choose to go to college, become a nurse and marry my new boyfriend over the open road, but since there’s no way a person my size could ride anything bigger than a scooter, and we’ve been married now for many,- I’m not telling- years that was the right choice. Nursing wasn’t for me, so I got my degree in business management, once again putting my writing aside. At least I got to sing in the chorus, then the choir and finally at weddings. I loved it, but I stilI wanted to be a famous author. I finally left the free spirit thing completely go, deciding that now that I was a wife I might as well be a mother. It took a long time, but in that I finally succeeded, so maybe that was what I was meant to become. I’ve never stopped wanting to see everything, know where every road goes, see the miracle of life in all its guises. I still do. Later I became obsessed with staying alive. The Headaches making me wish I’d die didn’t change this. Survival only increased my desire to write. I still wanted to be a famous author. I still poured out my soul in my poems and characters, so I settled for being an author. But the dream never dies.
AUDIO BOOKS
Submitted.
OMG, I’ve done it. All the files, covers and details for my audio book are complete. I watched my pocketbook shrink, but this feeling is priceless. Having Dark Night Of The Soul recognized by the American Legacy awards is a really big deal to me. My heart and soul went into every page. I told my 7th grade English teacher that I wanted to be a writer. It took 42 years, a close encounter with death and many life changing moments to make that dream come true. Mrs. Lanoue, if you read this, I’ve never forgotten you. Sometimes I wonder what the 17 year old me would say to me, what would I say to her. Would she tell me to follow my friends and go to California. Jeffrey, a very talented musician, sexy too, invited to be the lead singer in his band. Obviously I didn’t go. Was this a missed opportunity, a chance to follow my other dreams, or a lucky escape from unknown dangers? What would I tell me when I was making that decision? Would I tell her to avoid the people and things that hurt me? Even now, approaching 70, I can say that avoiding the things that came as I aged, may have lead me to things far worse. Unanswerable questions will always be unanswered. I don’t think there’s one clear path, there is only the one we choose.
I have to get back to my books. All my characters faced difficult choices. I had them make the choices that I hope I would have made. Life has a way of sneaking into our art. Now for the somewhat funny moment. The other choices my characters could have made would have made for very boring books.
There are so many things I could say. The things that hurt me blessed me in ways I didn’t expect. Being poor made me realize how little value money has. Thinking I wouldn’t wake up, made me realize how much I wanted to look into my husband, my babies face meant to me. Taking many years to have my son, made me learn that all children are ours. Facing possible death taught me how strong I am. When I held my child in my arms I learned the value of life. Some say it takes almost losing your life to learn how to live. For me, it did. We are temporary. Live your best life, even when it hurts. And today smile for me. You can never have enough smiles.
Author Event
I will be signing and selling books
I will be signing and selling books at Rhode Island’s newest and only summer book festival. It’ll be held on Friday, July 12th, from n10 AM to 6 PM at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, RI. There will be food trucks and live entertainment and best of all authors and readers. I’ll have my award winning Sister World Trilogy and the entire set of my Darkness and Light series. The first book, Dark Night of The Soul is a finalist by the American Legacy awards. Unfortunately I won’t have the books with their new covers, but that means you can buy the series at a discount. I hope to see you there.
New Covers, Audio Books and Old Age
I hate that head line but it’s true. I’ve gotten new, beautiful, covers for the books in the Darkness and Light series. My first, and unless I become a John Grisham, my only audio book will be released soon. When I first published Dark Night Of The Soul, the first book in the series, I was too concerned with the cost of publishing, than what the cover should look like. Titles are what draw me to books, but that isn’t true for most of us. Though I don’t regret making my own covers for the Sister World Series, BookFest loved them almost as much as I do, I do regret not following my instincts. Once Dark Night became the first in the Darkness and Light series, I knew the other covers should have Marcus on each of them. I just didn’t know how to do it. I created covers showing what he went through, not uniting them by who he was and what he became..
Although I can’t think of a time in my life when I didn’t love books and hoped to one day be more than just someone who read them, I was swimming in a pool without a life jacket. You would have laughed to see my 14 year old self taking beginner swimming lessons with the little kids (6-10 years old). I was more self-conscious than I am today, but I wanted to swim, so I put my head down and swam across the pool. I hope you see how I, once again, put my head down and swam across the pool, only this time it was pen, ink and a keyboard filling the pool. It really wasn’t that different than what I’d done before, Though the water is still over my head, today is different. Today I have a husband who, though he may not understand my desire, wants me to follow my dream, I have time to sit at this computer and however frustrating it is, I can try to figure out what I have to do,. I have friends and colleagues who help and support me. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, which means I really cannot offer you advice, What I can say is you should seek out those who support you, move forward even when your tired and force yourself to learn, even when you’re told the technology involved has left you behind. I’m frustrated, but I’m alive. Tomorrow may not come, but I have today. Yesterday is a fading memory that can and always does bring back memories showing a life well lived, but today is all we have. Live it well.
Releases
The audio book for Dark Night Of The Soul is still in process but the covers and their back descriptions are complete. The artist who created those covers has my highest regards and respect. Not only was he reasonable, he was reliable and easy to work with. I’m very happy with my Sister World covers and that they also received 2nd place from BookFest for a JPEG designed cover, makes me proud. I did them, (I’m bragging now) but if I ever needed another cover I would not hesitate to go to him. Remember
info@rockingbookcovers.com if you need a cover.
Now to a more personal note. Dark Night was a labor of love. I wrote it a long time ago and I rewrote it twice as many years have passed since its inception. Always, its many versions stayed true to the message of hope, love and the importance of seeing beyond appearances that brought the story to life . Receiving notice of it’s being a finalist by the American Legacy Awards helped me to feel like the time, which I cannot get back and the cost, which I can never replace, was more than worth it. I know I drove my husband crazy. I’m pretty sure the man who formats the books has also suffered with my lack of knowledge and neediest, but for me this will be a legacy second only to my son. The woman who told me to continue Marcus’ story, is very dear to me. Claire Mary, wherever you are, I hope you know this. She was right, not because she said series are popular, but because Marcus had, I had, so much more to tell. In Vampires(spoiler alert) Marcus finds himself living as so many of us have, only as to be expected, in extraordinary ways. Rising above a monster, of the problems that beset us all, is what makes his journey worth the effort. Now for the big, you must read the book moment. I ask you when is it too late to find redemption. Is it ever too late. We make many decisions every day, some without thought_Possibly my next book-so think about those little decisions. They may end up being not so little.
Debra Zannelli Author 