Books
Hustle Valley Press Releases ‘One Icy Night: A Rook Thriller’ From Multi-Award-Winning Mississippi Author W.A. Pepper
OXFORD, Miss., January 26, 2024 (CarryOnHarry.com)
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As winter storms strand people and officials encourage residents to stay indoors, this wintery weather may bring back memories to some readers of another major storm that ravaged the South 30 years ago this coming February 9, 2024.
To one Southern author, the memory of the storm (and the lessons learned from it) fueled his next novel. One Icy Night: A Rook Thriller is a new release from multi-award-winning Mississippi writer W.A. Pepper and is “gritty, unexpected, and hard to put down (Midwest Book Review).”
“That Ice Storm redefined the way I live,” says Pepper, a USA Today Bestselling author. “My wife and I keep bottled water, canned goods, and more on hand at all times. We have gas heat and a gas stove. These were not just useful, but necessary, during the 1994 Ice Storm. A number of large trees surrounded my childhood home. Throughout the night, sounds like gunfire popped as limb after limb struggled to handle the 3X to 4X their weight in ice. Thunderous crashes echoed through our home as trees toppled. Finally, the booms of power lines crashing and transformers exploding added to the chaos.”
One Icy Night, Pepper’s second full-length novel takes place in the Mississippi Delta during this 1994 Ice Storm and follows Rook, a 20-year-old who is on the run from the law. After being abandoned by her now-ex-boyfriend at a dive bar in the middle of nowhere, she’s trapped by a deadly ice storm that destroys everything around her. It is only when she escapes to a secluded cabin does Rook discover she isn’t the only one in need of rescue.
The thriller is already receiving positive praise from reviewers and readers alike. The readers from the reviewer-led website Goodreads have this to say about One Icy Night: “One of my favorite thrillers to date! (K.C.)” and “It is thrilling, suspenseful, disturbing, witty and funny at times. You will not believe the ending! (E.S.).”
About the 1994 storm, Pepper adds, “Over 350,000 people went without power for an average of seven days, and that was just in Mississippi. My family went without it for three weeks, and we were on the same power grid as the hospital. Overall, almost 26,000 power line poles covered yards and streets. At the time, this was the largest and costliest disaster in Mississippi Power & Light history. Alabama and Tennessee each had damage reaching over half a billion. Mississippi wasn’t as lucky, where the damage and loss of revenue reached over two billion.”
Hustle Valley Press released One Icy Night: A Rook Thriller on January 26, 2024. It is available to order through your local bookstore, library, and all major retailers and distributors, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Ingram Spark.
To contact the author or for photos and reference materials, please visit https://www.wapepperwrites.com.
Source: Hustle Valley Press
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Author Ann Aschauer has released "Satan’s Worst Nightmare," a book built around a real outreach event two Michigan women created by reworking Halloween into a Christian production. According to the announcement, the expanded title reads "Satan’s Worst Nightmare: A Testimony of Recognizing, Fighting and Winning Today’s Spiritual Warfare" and it follows two small-town mothers, identified as Annie and Kelly, during the initial development of what the publisher calls a potentially unprecedented theatrical work: the story of Christ’s Resurrection told from Satan’s point of view.
The book arrives from Covenant Books, a Christian publishing house, and comes after Aschauer’s earlier novels including "Counselor," "Vision," and "Sparrows," as well as her prior nonfiction publications. Aschauer has a background in theater, playwriting and drama education, and taught middle school English and drama, experience the publisher says shaped how she reconstructed the obstacles the two women faced in building the event.
The narrative frames the project as spiritual warfare in a literal sense — prayer, obstacles, and what the release calls attacks and opposition standing between the women and a finished outreach. "This story shows that God can use anyone to do remarkable things that bring Him glory," Aschauer said in the announcement, adding that the original event became a testimony to everyone who helped build it. "I pray readers will see their own potential to make a difference in ways they never imagined possible," she said.
The book is being sold through bookstores and online retailers including Amazon, Apple’s iTunes Store, Google Play and Barnes and Noble, per the publisher.
What the announcement doesn’t specify is how the original event has evolved since — whether "Satan’s Worst Nightmare" is still staged annually in the women’s community, or whether the book is meant to document a one-time production. That detail is left to readers to find on their own.
Studio CarryOnHarry Perspective
At Studio CarryOnHarry, we see Aschauer’s career trajectory as instructive for faith-based creators working in theatrical spaces. Her progression from drama educator to playwright to novelist reveals how technical storytelling craft and spiritual conviction can reinforce each other. By teaching middle school drama, she developed an intuitive understanding of how audiences connect with narrative—not through sermon, but through character, conflict, and transformation. That foundation shapes how she approaches faith narratives: not as didactic messages, but as dramatic experiences. Her earlier novels like "Counselor" and "Vision" suggest an author learning to weave theological themes into structured plots. With "Satan’s Worst Nightmare," Aschauer applies those hard-won skills to document a real community event, transforming grassroots ministry into publishable testimony. For Christian creators, her arc demonstrates that investing in craft—understanding how stories actually move people—strengthens rather than dilutes faith-centered work.
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The novel is fiction but draws on the real experience of an NYPD officer, per the announcement. It centers on Sofia Vega, an NYPD officer whose work amid the smoke and debris in the aftermath leads to lasting consequences she and her family must face. Strong has said she wanted to write about what happened to first responders and their families after press coverage of the attacks faded — a theme that echoes a broader body of anniversary-year 9/11 literature, including nonfiction essay collections and survivor accounts published or reissued around the same milestone.
According to Strong, "I wanted to tell a deeply personal story about what happened after the television cameras moved on." "Many first responders and their families continued living with the consequences of September 11 for years. This novel honors their courage, their sacrifices, and the people who loved them through it all."
The free download is available at sheneverleftgroundzero.com. The book will also remain for sale on Amazon and other retailers after the promotional window closes. Strong’s team can be reached through the same website or by phone.
Studio CarryOnHarry Perspective
At Studio CarryOnHarry, we see Strong’s September timing as a textbook example of anniversary marketing strategy. Major commemorative dates like the 25th anniversary of 9/11 generate enormous search volume and media attention—precisely when potential readers are already thinking about the subject matter. By anchoring a free promotion to this peak-interest window, authors capture visibility they’d need to spend significantly on advertising to achieve otherwise. The counterintuitive logic: giving away the book for free during high-traffic periods can actually drive more long-term sales than traditional paid campaigns, because it builds audience reach, generates word-of-mouth momentum, and establishes the title in readers’ minds before the promotional window closes. When the book returns to paid status in October, those who downloaded it free become natural candidates for follow-up engagement—reviews, recommendations, and future purchases. It’s a calculated play on consumer psychology and search behavior that extends the book’s commercial lifespan well beyond September.
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