The Afterlife of Mal Caldera

By turns irreverently funny and deeply moving, this debut contemporary fantasy is perfect for fans of They Both Die at the End and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Mal's life is over. Her afterlife is only just beginning…

Mal Caldera―former rockstar, retired wild-child and excommunicated black sheep of her Catholic family―is dead. Not that she cares. She only feels bad that her younger sister, Cris, has been left to pick up the pieces Mal left behind. While her fellow ghosts party their afterlives away at an abandoned mansion they call the Haunt, Mal is determined to make contact with Cris from beyond the grave.

She enlists the help of a reluctant local medium, Ren, and together, they concoct a plan to pass on a message to Cris. But the more time they spend together, the more they begin to wonder what might have been if they'd met before Mal died.

Mal knows it’s wrong to hold on so tightly to her old life. Bad things happen to ghosts who interfere with the living, and Mal can't help wondering if she’s hurting the people she loves by hanging around, haunting their lives. But Mal has always been selfish, and letting go might just be the hardest thing she's ever had to do.

Funny, emotional and life-affirming, The Afterlife of Mal Caldera will have readers laughing one minute and sobbing the next.

About the Author

Nadi Reed Perez is an author and writer for The Call of the Flame, a fantasy fiction podcast. The Afterlife of Mal Caldera is their debut book.

Reviews

"The Afterlife of Mal Caldera is a profound unravelling of a life through loss, trauma and family that leads to a bright and vivid afterlife packed with characters to die for!" —Rosie Talbot, bestselling author of Sixteen Souls

"For a book about the dead, The Afterlife of Mal Caldera pulses with life. Vivid, warm, and dancing between deep heart and heartbreak, humor and sorrow. The familiar ghost story finds a new spirit thanks to Perez's fresh and thrilling voice, with characters conjured up by their wry and witty prose. I so appreciated the focus on honest, modern love—from friendships to messy romances and everything in between—and finding forgiveness and community when you least expect it. I'm glad Mal got to haunt me for a while." —Nathan Tavares, author of A Fractured Infinity

"Oh, this book aches. Beautiful, messy, and incredibly human, The Afterlife of Mal Caldera will unstitch you and pull you back together again. This breathtaking debut comes at the tangled-up pain of loss from both sides of living, but it's also a celebration of life, love, healing, and friendship. I can't recommend this one highly enough!" —Jules Arbeaux, author of Lord of the Empty Isles

"The Afterlife of Mal Caldera is a warm, cozy burial shroud of a book, full of haunting atmosphere and a phantom found family that is simply to die for. Mal is addictively charming, the perfect companion on this hopeful, heartbreaking journey through a richly imagined afterlife." —Codie Crowley, author of Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch

Dimensions: 12.7 x 3.18 x 19.05 cm