Samantha Alban is living the dream.

The former Oakdale resident and 1995 OHS grad will be back in the local area this weekend, taking part in a ‘meet and greet’ on Saturday at Café Bliss to celebrate the release of her second book.

“I’m really excited,” Alban admitted of coming home to celebrate the event. “It’s a follow up to a book that was the first in a series I have begun. It’s paranormal fantasy, that paranormal element being witches.”

Alban said the book, ‘Barely Living Alive’ is basically a love story.

“Two people destined to be together, but like any good love story, there is a third person trying to keep them apart,” she said.

The first book in the series was ‘A Life Without Living’ and she will have copies of both books available at the Café Bliss appearance.

The meet and greet with the author, who uses SC Alban as her writing name, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“I also have a short novella that will also be available as well,” she explained.

Her book series is available both in bookstores and online, the series picked up by Solstice Shadows out of Farmington, Missouri.

“That is an imprint of Solstice Publishing, a mid-market publisher, they do a lot of online and print versions,” Alban explained.

Her first book was released in December 2014 and Saturday’s event officially launches book two.

“When I started working on the book I was about 32 or so, it has been a process, I waited about five years before it was picked up by a publisher,” she explained of her first book. “They were interested in the series so it is planned as three books, all with the same characters, the same group, a classic good vs. evil tale.”

Alban’s dad is Magnolia Elementary school teacher Steve Alban, while her mom Carolyn serves as an administrative secretary at Magnolia. One sister, Erin Benbow, is a teacher at Oakdale Junior High while sister Jamie Pritchard is a make-up artist and hair stylist.

Alban now lives in Sonoma County but is looking forward to her Saturday visit to Oakdale.

An English Lit major in college, Alban said she has always written but has also paid her dues.

“It takes about seven to 10 years to become an overnight sensation in publishing,” she said, chuckling, adding that she now has a Facebook page and is branching out on social media. “I have 400 Facebook followers, just on my author page and a couple thousand on Twitter.”

For a chance to meet the author, stop by Café Bliss at 152 N. Yosemite Avenue on Saturday