Feature Friday: Dead Man's Drive by Michael Panush

La Cruz looks like an average Southern California small town in the 1950s Post-War Boom, but it has some dark secrets - and its guardians. They are the supernaturally adept drivers of Donovan Motors, including former Okie bank robber Wooster Stokes, Zoot Suiter and part time shaman Angel Rey, college girl and burgeoning sorceress Betty Bright and --their latest member -- an amnesiac zombie known only as Roscoe. The drivers stand between La Cruz and chaos with only their wits and some fast hot rods to help them hold back the darkness. But an onslaught of demonic attacks heralds a new danger. Reed Strickland, a ruthless tycoon with unholy assistance, seems intent on making La Cruz his. Only Roscoe and the drivers can stop him. But Strickland's allies stir painful memories in Roscoe and even an undead gearhead is no match for his own past. Roscoe will need to overcome his memories, stand with his friends and keep his motor as the battle for La Cruz begins in a tale of white hot vehicular action, arcane Noir, and Hollywood horror that reveals the rotten heart of California's Golden Age.

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About the Author:

Twenty-Four years old, Michael Panush has distinguished himself as one of Sacramento's most promising young writers. Michael has published numerous short stories in a variety of e-zines including: AuroraWolf, Demon Minds, Fantastic Horror, Dark Fire Fiction, Aphelion, Horrorbound, Fantasy Gazetteer, Demonic Tome, Tiny Globule, and Defenestration. He published his first novel, Clark Reeper Tales, for his high school senior project. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Michael currently serves as a City Year Corps Member at Rosa Parks Middle School. His books with Curiosity Quills include The Stein and Candle Detective Agency, Volume 1: American Nightmares, Volume 2: Cold Wars, and Volume 3: Red Reunion, all featuring a pair of occult detectives in the 1950s, Dinosaur Jazz-- where The Great Gatsby meets Jurassic Park -- a story about a Lost World battling against the forces of modernization; and El Mosaico, Volume 1: Scarred Souls and Volume 2: The Road to Hellfire, a Western about a bounty hunter whose body was assembled from the remains of dead Civil War soldiers and brought to life by mad science. Dinosaur Dust and El Mosaico, Volume 3: Hellfire are expected to be released soon. 

Read excerpts from his work, or you can follow his blog and follow him on Twitter.

Michael began telling stories when he was only nine years old. He won first place in the Sacramento Storyteller's Guild "Liar's Contest" in 2002 and was a finalist in the National Youth Storytelling Olympics in 2003.

In 2007, Michael was selected as a California Art's Scholar and attended the Innerspark Summer Writing Program at the CalArts Institute. He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in 2008 and currently attends UC Santa Cruz.

Other Publications by Michael Panush

• Icarus Swift and the Night-Elves July Aurora Wolf 2010. 
• Grim Glower-Eye and the Pit Troll Silver Blade Summer 2010
• Clark Reeper and the Angel of Temperance Defenestration: A Literary Magazine Devoted to Humor, November 2008 Edition 
• Culpug the Cavelord and the Nameless King Aphelion: The Webzine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Issue 128 Vol. 8 December 2008, also in Horror Bound Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2008.
• Culpug the Cavelord and the Blood Rites of the Horned God Dark Fire Fiction, Issue 37, January 2009, also in Demonic Tome, August 2008 Issue 
• Captain Dice and the Isle of Twisted Stone Fall Issue of DemonMinds: Horror Publishing, Stories, Poems, and Artwork, Halloween 2008 Online
• Puck out of Luck The Fantasy Gazetteer, July 3rd
• Astronoir: The Lunatic Dame The Tiny Globule: a Repository for Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Just Plain Weird Fictions, 
• Marine Corpse Alien Skin, August/September Edition, 2007. Issue