TY - JOUR TI - Sam & Verna DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3FB553W PY - 2016 AB - Losing a parent is one of those inevitable moments for which no one is ever truly prepared. For Sam, whose relationship with his mother was never exactly easy, the news of her sudden and accidental death leaves him numb and unsure of how to mourn beyond handling her affairs and attempting to forge on with his life, hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, Arianna. Not long after he buries everything left unsaid along with his mother’s body, however, a series of comical, supernatural experiences clue him in that his mother may be dead, but is far from gone. When Verna returns from the dead as vivacious and intrusive into her son’s life as she was when she was alive, her newfound abilities as a ghost and her mysterious second chance to experience the world and spend time with Sam tear his life asunder. With good intentions and terrible execution, Sam forges onward, hell-bent on doing right by his mother while simultaneously setting her up to haunt and be happy in a way that he failed to while she lived. Sam & Verna takes every trope of every ghost story, horror movie, and mama’s boy tale and twists them into a comic farce with heart (that maybe doesn’t beat) and sass that refuses to remain silent, even in the face of death. KW - Creative Writing LA - eng ER -