A Taste of Blood

All the words worthy of being used have been written. They languish on the pages of dusty books in amber lit rooms, unread and weeping from the loneliness of their plight. How can I save the words and utilize their brilliance, without treading on the fingers of their creators?
Sammy Shu '09


Below is a scene from “Bloodthirsty” my newest release, it may seem as if I am giving somthing away by choosing such a scene but trust me all is not as it seems.
 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=samantha++shu++bollodthirsty&x=15&y=16



A soft ecited murmur came from the members of the students still in attendance.

Leo shook his head, “of course, I cannot discuss my findings with our group until I have updated the task force, I’m calling the lead Detective as soon as I leave here and will be cleared to share by the time our group meets.”

Katie spoke up "How can that be? Don’t you have to wait to share theory and information until the case is closed.”

“That is correct” Leo smiled confidently “With what I have that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Another student spoke up and Leo waived his question away.” Nothing else today, save your inquiries until our meeting. Have a good night.” He began packing up his brief case. The students filed out, talking excitedly amongst themselves.

Katie remained seated until all of the other students had left and the door swung shut behind them. She stood, placing her hands on her desk for support.

“Leo, I’ve been working on a paper for my psychology class on this serial murder and I was wondering if you could give me an opinion on my theories.”

He was clearly irritated. “Katie, I told you, I can’t discuss this now.”

‘I know that, but you can talk about my paper.” She quipped, her heart still lodged in her throat.

“Isn’t your paper on the case?” he asked, a sharp point to his tone.

“Yes” she needed him to be a little irritated. She wanted answers. She needed to take him by surprise, if the answers didn’t calm her.

“Well then, I can’t discuss it,” He stated flatly.

“Oh… well, I was just gonna tell you, I think it’s a CJ student.” She watched his reaction to her statement.

“What?” Stricken

Shit, she thought, this is bad. She pressed, testing her theory further “And I think the differences in the crimes aren’t because they’re confused or trying to find their grove. I think it’s intentional to throw off the cops” she rushed on, watching his expression “And they know how to do it, because they study criminals” She chanted inside her head, tell me I’m crazy! Tell me I’m crazy! She liked Leo. Really liked him, sadness moved in her somewhere as she considered the inevitability of this moment.

He didn’t tell her she was crazy, as she knew he wouldn’t. His eyes were slits now and Katie knew, she wasn’t wrong. He was too close. Her heart regained is normal pace as calmness washed over her. Her gaze was sharp and the air inside the room became thick. She could feel the atmosphere thicken, as it always did in these moments. She heard Leo ask, “How did you come to these conclusions?” He demanded to know

“Why? Are they the same as yours?” She tilted her head demurely and winked at him

“Close, very close.” He replied slowly. She could see his brain, tick, tick, ticking away, trying to find a solution to this bizarre situation. Somehow a student had come to the same conclusions that he had labored over, paced the floor and lost hours of steep over. She could see it all on his face, etched into the lines around his eyes. She squinted at him, looking deeper seeing what only she could see.

“But you have something else, something that will blow the case open?” with his next action Katie knew she was correct. Knew with a certainty that if she didn’t act quickly this man, this lousy retired profiler, would be her undoing.

Leo opened his briefcase and began searching inside

While his attention was diverted, She slipped her hand into the backpack and slid out the long pearl handled knife. This had been a present from her grandmother ten years ago; a gift meant to hang on the wall in celebration of another mans victories. She griped it tight and wondered how many men’s blood had slipped down its long blade only to end in the palm of their killer.

She saw his deep exhalation as he located his paperwork on the case. She giggled. The sound was close to hysterical, harsh and shrill.

His head came up at the sound ” I didn’t steel your papers.” she said, and took a few quick steps in his direction. “I would never do that” he hadn’t noticed the knife. She could see him trying to evaluate the situation, to gage its magnitude.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what you have but I can’t risk it leading to me.”

He moved his head as if to shake it, then stopped and looked directly into her eyes. “Why would…” he stopped and his eyes grew wide as he obviously realized the full brevity of the situation.

Katie lunged forward plunging the pearl handled blade deep into his mid section.

Eye widening, teeth gritting, Leo grabbed her shoulders and pushed, as he did this, he stomped down hard on her left foot. She felt and heard the bones fracture in several quick snaps, like twigs from a brittle tree. She bit back a startled scream, held tight to the handle and fell back, landing firmly on her ass. Katie watched as Leo fell back against the wall and opened his mouth to yell out. She jumped from the floor and shrieked as pain; fire and ice, tore into her injured foot.

Immediately she dropped back to the floor, a moment before his boot landed under her chin. Her teeth slammed together and copper filled her mouth. Still conscious, she wondered how she had mad such a terrible, obvious mistake.

Leo may be a professor, a profiler, but he had also been, Detective Marks, a decorated, police officer. He wasn’t one of the ashen, soft, useless men she’d dealt with in the past. This one was trained and accustomed to pain. He’d taken a thick heavy blade to the stomach and still, he moved toward her. As blood pooled and streamed, still he stood, no, not stood, walked. Fear and pain, a universal motivator, stirred in her. she rolled onto her stomach. As the tip of the leather boot came into view, Katie reared up and plunged the blade into the top of his boot, through the skin and bone, slamming it into the floor beneath. A guttural scream filled the room, like a siren waking Katie to the danger she was in, which had nothing to do with the battle she was currently waging.

She moved across the floor on her stomach, rolled over and pulled herself onto her shaking knees. The sight she saw shocked her enough to make her choke on the blood in her mouth. Head bent forward; balancing on her knees, she spat a mouthful of crimson onto the tile. As her eyes came up she looked into the gaze of a madman. Blood dripping from her blade he now held. His teeth were showing, in a wide snarl. As he moved, blood trailed under his injured foot. He was dragging his foot a little and as he spoke, she realized they were the first words he’d spoken since she’d stabbed him an hour ago. Wait… it wasn’t an hour, it was seconds, only seconds, and now she was about to loose it all. A stupid mistake.

The dripping bleeding madman said, “You’re the one. Why?” as the last word still echoed in the small classroom, streams of slick, dark, blood, fell from his open mouth.

His eyes widened and as she watched, it seemed as if the bones had been extracted from his muscle tissue in one fluid movement. He fell only a few feet from her, the blade clattering onto the ceramic tile and spinning away. She watched in shocked fascination as it came to a stop an inch from her fingertips. Streaks of the professor’s life force accompanied its journey.

Katie turned her head left and then right, trying to establish where the loud keening noise was coming from. Had the fan in the central ac unit collapsed? Her nerves were raw and the sound was excruciating. Her jaw hurt where he had slammed his oversized boot into her face. She could feel the swelling already beginning.

She pushed off of the floor and leaned her back against the wall. What was that noise? When the noise changed to a whimper then a gasp, Katie realized that it was coming from her. Blood spattered the walls and covered her clothing. She knew her DNA was everywhere. She remembered spitting blood on the floor. The keening began again. Think think!

She crawled toward Leo and began searching his pockets. He had fallen into a contorted bloody mass on the floor. She had a hard time getting her fingers into his pockets. Front jeans nothing she turned him and was started when his head fell to the side and smacked against the floor. His red-rimmed eyes stared at her. Stopping she leaned in and looked at him his glasses had fallen off during the fight. Funny, she hadn’t noticed. His eyes were brown, like honey. Some people would call them amber but Katie liked honey. Whenever she heard the word amber she thought of misscitos trapped in that hardened stone waiting for the collection of dinosaur DNA.

So stupid, how a crazy movie could change someone’s view of something so easily. She reached out and pressed her index finger against the soft skin beneath his left eye. So soft. She marveled at how she had never noticed his lovely honey colored eyes. The left one had a tiny fleck in it and she leaned in closer. Rings of gold and almost brown but not quite, captivated her. She could see he was no longer there. No life waited to re-ignite within the honey whirls. The same finger that rested on his face reached up slowly and rested against the surface of his open beautiful eye. As her skin met the surface she was surprised at how dry it felt. She expected it to be slick and moist with tears. It was also harder than she had imagined. The surface firm and not spongy as she had somehow been led to believe. She pressed against the eye and was surprised again by how it moved as a whole and didn’t indent under her finger. She wondered if more pressure would do the trick. Would the eye pop? What did the inside of an eye look like?

The last time shed dealt with this she had just scooped the eyes out she hadn’t touched them. But this was different. She knew him she liked him. Yes this was different. She grabbed his eye lid pulled and watched as it popped down over the violated eye. She fell back so that she was sitting on her heels and looked at him. Leo marks was winking at her. She laughed. He had been a funny guy she liked it. Plus she knew it made a sort of sense he dies with a secret. Wink. Wink. Now she just had to find the secret.

What had she been doing when his eyes distracted her? She grasped for it in her mind what, what, what! Keys! Ok she began the search again. After checking the body several times she decided to look in the brief case and there they were two sets of keys. Katie knew he looked up for the faculty some nights. Sometimes he even let class out early so he could take care of the chore.

Ok first cultivate a plan. She turned off the light and locked the inside door just in case. Pulling off her jacket she used it to mop the blood from her mouth and hands the best she could. Her hair was long so that should obscure any security guards from taking a closed look at her swollen face.

She grabbed her book bag off the desk, emptied all of the professor’s paperwork and laptop into it. Removing the small penlight and jump drive from around his neck and  draped them around hers. Back pack in place she peeked out the door. The hallway was empty, she slipped through, locking the door behind her.

As Katie drove she contemplated how she would move forward. There were ten hour before the campus opened and the room that had become a slaughterhouse was found. The body would have to be moved. But how? And even if she moved the body they would know where he was killed the minute they saw the room. Everyone in his last class would become a suspect.

Ok there’s nothing to be done about the mess, she thought, but I can at least get rid of all of the evidence. She dropped her car off in the parking lot of a gas station. Went to the restroom and looked at her reflection. Surprisingly she didn’t look frightened. She looked exhilarated. Washing her hands and face she giggled as an idea struck her.


Until tomorrow. Fortune favors the brave! Samantha Shu

The Big Question

The most common questions I am asked are “How did you get published?” or the always exciting “How long did it take you to get published?” in both cases the questions are so highly individual that I can’t imagine my answer doing much to advance anyone’s faltering career. That said, I feel the need to answer the question in the most honest way possible. The only help is to motivate and try to keep that dreadful discouragement out of my tone. ‘Cause the truth is, it’s a serious exercise in dedication and mental stamina to keep the faith. I have stacks and stacks of rejection letters. If I decided one fine day to wall paper my bedroom in the letters of dismissal, I could cover every inch of the large room.


There were moments on my path, heck even days leading to months, where I was so discouraged I quit writing. I would stare at the stacks of written material and curse the hours spent producing such prolific arrays of work, never to be read by anyone but me. I spiraled down into that sad head space called writers block. Invariably, I would pull myself from this place and put pen to paper, mostly because this is what I do. I write. If this is you, if you find that the only thing that keeps you going is to create, then never stop. Don’t let anyone criticize your zeal. Make something great and share it with the world. Keep those rejection letters as a sign that you are moving forward. Every failure takes you one step closer to that golden place called success. Make connections, talk to people, but most importantly write, write, write and send something out, somewhere at least once a week. Do that and things may change. Good luck on your journey. And that my dear friends is how I got published.


Until tomorrow.
Fortune favors the brave!
Samantha Shu

Okay, so I am having a sort of strange feeling about what an author is suppose to blog about. Do we simply talk about what we write about? Do we go on and on about the way we try to promote ourselves or do we simply talk about what we are doing in our day to day life. Who the heck knows? Part of my issue is that I am a really, really private person so I have some issue with telling all about my life in a serious of broken up paragraphs. Honestly the real issue is that I know that the people I write about may read this and so I know I cannot be completely forth coming about all of my thoughts, but who wants that anyway?


I will start with a story about what is up with me and then maybe add one of my pieces of literary genius.

My publisher just made a face book page I was pretty excited to get on and get involved. After doing Starfest and getting involved with Odd Child Underground I feel like I am making leaps and bounds toward moving my work into the mainstream. Below are my bio and a list of my current novels.






Until tomorrow.
Fortune favors the brave!
Samantha Shu
Samantha’s most recent published work is a mystery, fiction, serial killer drama titled Bloodthirsty released this year. Samantha’s other works include Blood Line released in October 2009 a prequel to Whispered Dreams released in November of 2008. She is currently working on a romantic, fantasy fiction titled Soul Purpose. To read the first few chapters and find out a few of her daily thought processes visit samanthashu.blogspot.com


Samantha Shu has completed three mystery novels, seven children books and several short stories. Her prolific writing style crosses genres successfully and enthusiastically, from mystery thrillers to children’s picture books. Recently, Samantha completed her bachelor’s degree. Her major, Criminal Justice was chosen to do research for her books Bloodline and Bloodthirsty Samantha hones her craft with a regimented four hours each day and focuses her attentions between her first love, the written word, and her education. Samantha’s love of writing is evident in her detailed and vivid style.

In her spare time Samantha enjoys swimming, skiing and martial arts.

To discover more about Samantha visit her at whoisshu.com

Samantha lives in the beautiful mountainside city of Denver Colorado

Something for today

I promised myself I would write something every day. I have not been in the right brain space to create. Still, I will write a few words.
I came back from Starfest on Sunday evening. I was so tired and cuddled in my bed while watching a new Supernatural and considered all that had happened in the three days before.
I met so many great people. I shared a table in the dealer’s room with Odd Child Underground. Those guys are really spectacular. Chris, Dave, Stacy and Dianne, you are among my favorite people now.We had a balcony room that overlooked the atrium and we hung my banner. Stormy won first place in the junior’s category in the costume contest. On Friday and Saturday we finished up our work and partied until we were too tired to walk…or dance:) I found myself having more fun than I had in ages. As a writer I lead a solitary life. My days spent staring at a computer screen or reading. I forget being with good friends can be a soul cleansing experience. It can also bring up issues long forgotten. Now I’m just becoming vague… sorry


I also had a disconcerting experience, but I won’t write about it today. I will think about not associating with people that cause me irratation even if they have something I need.

This has been a rather rambling blog, but I promised myself, so here you go.


Until tomorrow.
Fortune favors the brave!
Samantha Shu

test

This is an email I am sending to test the validity of this process.  found that I can really blog from anywhere and simply send it in to a secret email and it will post to my page. I also learned that I can send notifications to anyone as I am blogging . I still havent figured the details of that one yet . Soon ... soon. I will get this blogging thing down and keep it going! Maybe I will find a few fellow authors who would like to blog with me. Apparently I can have up to 100 contributors. Fun!
OMG!!! it worked. this is so cool. I am learing and everyone gets to watch it happen. I know I am a goof.

A few simple thoughts

I feel as if I am being told what to write today. I Composed a fairly long blog about a few different issues and it seems as if they simply disappeared. I am going to persevere and try to
make the same points. Below in my older posts I have some samples of my newest novel. Please read and let me know what you think.
Tomorrow I will be selling my books at Starfest and hopefully making some new friendships while revisiting a few old ones. I will be at Starfest all weekend, so stop by and come visit the dealers room. My books can be found on any search engine by simple putting in the title or my name. Samantha Shu
Todays blog is short. I apologise for that. I will write again soon and post a photo of the soul purpose cover art.
Till tomorrow,
Fortune favors the brave!
Samantha Shu

Royalty Check

About nine years ago I self published a book through a well known self publishing entity and did my best to promote and follow the necessary road to success. Unfortunately, the book sold a few measly copies and those were to my friends. As time passed I forgot about this badly edited, first try and focused on my future. I kept sending out my work daily in a desperate plea to be acknowledged by ANYONE.
Eventually, while sitting in a restaurant enjoying a breakfast, on my way to a glorious day in Idaho springs, I received a call that changed it all. That said, I have published a children's book and three mystery, murder, thrillers. I am continuing to sell mostly to friends and associates, although there are still some of you who need to go shopping (you know who you are). Someday someone of great import will pick up one of my books and again it all will change.
Back to my original point. a week or so ago, I received the first check from this company, almost nine years from the day that I first self published, for eleven dollars. I stared at the check for awhile feeling the laughter bubbling up and soon I was running down stars to show my sister my awesome royalty check that took nine years to arrive. What does that average out to per year?

From the Author

Hey guys. When I started this blog a few months ago, I was very excited to share the work and get input from my fans. As I began this process I was told, by a few people, that giving away such a valuable novel is not the smartest thing to do. I was also informed that many publishers do not like to see that you are blogging your work. I don’t know how true any of this is, but I intend to discover the truth and get to the bottom of what is the non -detrimental, non-career demolishing, thing to do. This book has taken me by the hair and forced me to write it. I am clamoring to share it with the world. So read what is below and let me know what you think. If I get enough interest I will add more. The cool part is the book is about 40 pages from done, so it could be on the shelves as early as fall. I hope you fall in love with these characters, they are perceptive and remarkable.
I am published through Aargus publishing, with a trilogy of Mystery Thrillers. To find out more about those see sammyshubooks.com or whoisshu.com or find me on facebook. I also have a children’s Book out also available on all of my sights as well as Aargus
Until my readership has increased a tad, I will use this blog to update you on what is going on in my life and how my writing is going. Let me know when you want more Soul Purpose.
Fortune favors the brave!
Sammy