Carrie Dalby

Summoned by her aunt and uncle to help with her recently orphaned cousin, nineteen-year-old Merritt Hall arrives in Mobile, Alabama, at the end of summer in 1897. Straight-laced Merritt and fifteen-year-old Winifred clash with most of what's important to the elder cousin-decorum, responsibility, and education. To make Merritt's dire situation more complex, Winifred believes her dreams are haunted. Sean Spunner, an ardent young neighbor, is all too willing to help protect Winifred from evil spirits and the deadly infection sweeping the city, but what if he poses the biggest threat during their isolation? Set against the backdrop of the final yellow fever epidemic in Mobile, the first novel in The Malevolent Trilogy is a fresh Southern Gothic family saga by the author of The Possession Chronicles.

Fifteen and suffocating in her sister's shadow, Mary Weber struggles to claim her own identity-and the attention of a guy at school. No matter what she does or where she goes, Mary never feels she measures up to her older sister's legacy. Ben Thomas, a seventeen-year-old neighbor on the autism spectrum, crosses paths with Mary. He fights against the weight of his rigid lifestyle because he doesn't want his sensory issues to block their road to friendship. An unlikely relationship forges between someone hiding from the world and another seeking to find her place in it. Will Ben and Mary discover what it takes to strengthen their lives that have been corroding around them? Corroded is a contemporary teen novel with a classic coming-of-age theme relevant to those both on and off the autism spectrum. With a dual point-of-view story line, readers will experience the neurotypical life of Mary as she navigates public high school, friendship trouble, and family drama, plus feel the inner-workings of homeschooling Ben as he deals with sensory and other issues relating to his Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Love is in the air, but so is something else . . . In this third installment of the Mobile Writers Guild anthology series, our members celebrate the traditional romantic aspect of Valentine's Day with sweet and funny stories of hearts, flowers, and kisses, but they also explore the darkness that surrounds the day with a few tales of intrigue, madness, and murder.