Debra Zannelli Author

Here’s the cover

The covers are almost done.
info@rockingbookcovers.com did an amazing job. I finished the audio book taping yesterday. Richard Johnson did an amazing Job, even better than what I expected and I had high expectations. Dark Night Of The Soul, the book dearest to my heart is now a finalist in horror for 2025 by the American Legacy Awards. Picture a little girl. She wasn’t popular, having used clothes and two very hard working parents. Without a large number of friends, she spent many hours making up stories, and writing poems. The one she penned in the seventh grade is now published. She worked her way through college, marrying the man -a 17 year old boy friend-4 and 1/2 years after meeting him, though she knew she would from their very first meeting. She can provide proof of this as she told her best friend and sister the day after they met. She worked from the age of 15 in various jobs finally getting a job she was proud to have when she was 23. Eleven years later she had a child. Still she worked, her husband sharing their child rearing and everything else they faced. At 39 she found out she had a mass behind her right eye. It was the reason for her headaches. A bottle of 200 aspirins lasted 2 weeks and there were times she couldn’t drive because she couldn’t see well. Surgery brought about tremendous changes. Recovery meant not being able to take care of the house(Not bad), her child (awful) and not being able to drive (Metz-a-metz). She sat down and wrote her first book long hand at the kitchen table. She didn’t have a computer. For all the fear, the worry, and the pain, the tumor that could have taken her life gave her a better one. Below is the poem she (I) wrote when I lay on the gurney in the recovery room. For awhile, I wasn’t ready to open my eyes. I found myself in those few minutes.
Waking
They were calling me
I ignored the voices, listening to my heart.
I wasn’t ready
There was no reason to wake
For moments that seemed like years
I thought of the child
The child I once was
The child I’d brought into the world
I knew the person who opened her eyes
Would never again be the one
who had closed them
The journey wasn’t over
It had just begun.
1996

I have always been particularly proud of this, my first book. Today, I get to be even prouder. I’ve just been notified that Dark Night of the Soul has been selected as a finalist by the American Legacy Awards. It’s quite an honor. Writing Dark Night was a labor of more than love. It was the fulfillment of a life long passion and a way to express my feelings as I recovered from brain surgery. Though I intended to write only one book, it soon became a series. Marcus had more to tell. An unexpected life, a man who faced difficulties far beyond any nightmare he dreamt of, couldn’t be told in one book.

Now, years later, I’ve decided to revamp(sorry if that seems like a pun) the covers of all five books. I’m also having Dark Night made into an audio book. The release date is not yet known, but I will let you know when it’s available.

I hope you enjoy the book and want to know more about the man I created. There are many lives he saved, but the one that means the most to me, is mine.

I’m going to make Dark Night of the Soul, book one of the Darkness and Light series into an audio book. Recording begins this Friday. I’m going to the best recording engineer, George Dussault of Galilee Productions in Rhode Island. I have a man with a voice I could listen to for hours no matter what he’s saying. Richard Johnson, a child of Rhode Island, is an actor, a singer and a friend. I’m lucky he’s available. Though I’m more than happy with the choices I’ve made, this is still far out of my comfort zone. As usual I’ll plod along, fearful but determined to do anything I can, to get my book out there. I’ve created a character I’m proud of, giving him the strength I hope I’d have if I were to walk in his place. His message of doing right even when it’s hard, or in his case there’s hell to pay, is important in any age. Of course I wish he were real though I don’t think he’d be very happy with me, not after all I’ve put him through.

With new book covers and an audio book, I hope to rejuvenate book’s sales. If you haven’t read or bought the books now may be the best time. There’s a discount if you buy the books with the old cover. If you don’t have time to sit with a book, I’ll let you know when you can listen to it.
Whether the day is sunny, cloud covered, raining or snowing, remember they are the days you have. Make the best of them.

The Wickford Art Association launched their 2025 Reading Circle Program yesterday. I was honored to read my short story published in the ARIA Anthology Green. I was very proud to stand beside such talented authors and also happy to say I didn’t cry.

No Green Eyed Monster is a very personal tale. Some memories are painful even as they help us become who we are today. I’ve carried some of those feelings into my books. Marcus, from the Darkness and Light series, has childhood memories that are in many ways my own.

I hope you have a chance to pick up a copy of Green, or any of the ARIA Anthologies, and enjoy the stories within.

The series will be getting new/better covers. Wait till you see them. I hope you’re as excited as I am. Here’s a sample. Though they aren’t completely finalized, the new covers will soon look something like this.

I had to post a picture of me with my award. Second Place Science Fiction published 2024 by BookFest. It makes all those hours worth while. Wish I had a better hair cut but at least I like my smile. They also gave me recognition for the cover I created. So totally happy with this. Now I need another idea. Keeping my fingers crossed that one will be coming soon.

Though I loved writing it.