Category Archives: Novellas

NaNoWriMo Excerpt – “Apollyon: Body and Soul”

Artwork by Tyler Sowles. Designed by Nathan Marchand.

I’m “unoffcially” participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year. I say, “unoffcially,” because I haven’t signed up and plan to write 25,00-30,000 words instead of the target 50,000. It’s my first time trying this, so I thought I’d start with a smaller goal. (Plus, who in their right mind thinks November is a great idea for this when Thanksgiving and holiday activities happen during it? There’s a reason some use January as an alternative).

My project for this is the much-demanded sequel to Destroyer, which is currently titled Apollyon: Body and Soul. I’m four chapters and 7,500 words deep into it, but I’m sharing its prologue here for you, True Believer, to read. Forgive me, for it is an unedited first draft. Enjoy!

***

“Come not between the Dragon and his wrath.”

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1 (William Shakespeare)

Prologue: Resurrection

Hydraulics growled as the Ilyushin Il-215’s jet engines rotated to VTAL position. Ivanov tapped a few buttons on the aircraft’s dashboard with his calloused fingers, and the words, Autopilot Activated, appeared on the monitor. The dark-haired, hard-faced man stood, reflexively brushing flecks of dried blood from his camouflage fatigues, stepped over the aircraft’s dead pilot on the floor, and walked out the cockpit’s door to the transport’s long main bay. There he saw his lieutenant, Nikitin, also clad in dirty fatigues, standing by a Typhoon Titan armored truck. The vehicle bore several years of rust after years of sitting in storage after the World War. Nikitin was a haggard man with a shaved head and long scars on both cheeks. 

“Remember the Coalition!” said Ivanov in Russian.

“It will rise again!” replied Nikitin, also in Russian.

“We’ve reached the coordinates above the Zmei Crater, comrade. We have little time before the VVS realizes we have stolen their aircraft.”

“Do not worry. I have completed the Muromets Cocktail and placed it in the Typhoon. It will provide excellent raw materials for the microbots.”

“We lost a dozen Warriors gathering the alien crystals, dinosaur DNA, and alloys for it. If their sacrifices are wasted, you will pay with your life.”

“I assure you, comrade, we will succeed for the glory of the Coalition!”

Ivanov tapped several buttons on a control panel on the wall. Hydraulics hissed as gray light flooded the tunnel-like bay from the back of the aircraft. The thunderous wind coming from the open hatch was not unlike a roar shooting from a great maw, Ivanov thought. “‘Come not between the dragon, and his wrath,’” he said.

“Indeed,” replied Nikitin.

Ivanov pressed a final button, and the clamps restraining the Typhoon snapped off the vehicle’s wheels, letting it roll back and disappear out the hatch.

***

Darkness. Unending.

Coldness. Smothering.

Silence. Everlasting.

Crash!

Bugs crawling.

Teeth biting.

Eyes…seeing.

Lost limbs regrown.

Open wounds closed.

Severed sinews reconnected.

Skin wraps his body.

He feels the dirt.

Buzzing fills his ears.

Fire burns in his throat.

Heart beats in cold fire.

Blood flows in metal veins.

A voice cries in his brain.

Moaning escapes his throat in response.

His hands claw at the cliff.

***

Ivanov maneuvered the aircraft in a patrol pattern around the Zmei Crater under Russian radar for several hours. Waiting. Waiting for the results of this grandiose and desperate experiment. An experiment to avenge Mother Russia’s disgraceful defeat. What better way to do so than the irony of reviving the enemy’s greatest weapon and unleashing it upon them? Yet still, they wait.

“We must go, comrade,” said Nikitin, who sat in the co-pilot chair, “before the VVS finds us!”

Ivanov shot him a glare. “No, not until we know if the dragon lives again!”

“And join our fellow patriots in Siberia? No!” Nikitin threw his headset on the dashboard and shot to his feet.

But as he stormed off, Ivanov called, “Down there! Something moves!” Nikitin looked out the windshield where his leader pointed.

A few hundred feet below, a huge metal hand half-covered in blood-red flesh rose from the crater. Its claws dug into the ground, anchoring themselves, and with a great heave, a malformed cyber-serpent dragged itself from the hole. Crimson skin seemed to grow on its half-melted endoskeleton. A crown of horns slowly grew on a head that flopped wildly like a suffocating fish. It crawled on the ground like a snake, leaving a trail of dark fluids and dead scales in its wake.

“The dragon lives!” exclaimed Ivanov. 

Nikitin pulled a computer tablet from his coat pocket and unfurled it. “I will upload instructions to the microbots to begin Operation: Dragonstrike.”

As if in response, one of the dragon’s red eyes flared, shooting a crimson laser.

A crash. Alarms blared. Red warning lights flashed on every dashboard monitor. The Il-215 spun and lurched and divebombed. Ivanov fought the control stick as his lieutenant screamed behind him. With lightning reflexes, he tapped buttons to lower the landing gear and forced the aircraft level out. But it landed cockeyed and slid across the rugged ground, grinding to a halt several long seconds later. It lay at a 60-degree angle, propped on a broken wing. 

Sparks flared from the dashboard, singeing Ivanov’s fatigues, as smoke filled the cockpit. The Russian shook his aching head to regain his bearings, blinking to clear his blurry vision. He felt blood trickle down his left cheek. Cursing, he struggled to free himself from the seatbelt, and a giant hand smashed the ground in front of the downed aircraft, quaking the earth and rattling his teeth. A shadow fell over the cockpit as the rebirthed cyborg dragon slithered by, a low rumble echoing with his every movement.

A rare smile cracked Ivanov’s face.

He finally unbuckled the seatbelt and turned to speak with Nikitin–only to find the man lying dead in a mangled heap with the pilot’s thrashed corpse. The tablet lay shattered next to him.

“May the dragon avenge you, comrade!” whispered Ivanov.

He reached into his pocket and produced a cellular phone and tapped its cracked screen. It rang twice before someone answered. “I require extraction,” Ivanov said.

A voice with an Asian accent replied in English, “Is it done?”

“Yes, Kang, Apollyon lives!”

NaNoWriMo Project – Apollyon: Body and Soul

Artwork by Tyler Sowles. Designed by Nathan Marchand.

For the first time, I’m participating in National Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), albeit “unoffically.” I say that because I’m not registering nor am I aiming for a 50,000-word novel. I plan to write 25,000-30,000 words for a much-requested sequel to my kaiju novella, Destroyer, which I co-wrote with Natasha Hayden, Timothy Deal, and Nick Hayden. Below is the just-finished prologue.

If you’d like to watch my progress in real time, join the Patreon for my podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault, for as little as $3 a month. Otherwise, watch for a new book from me soon! Enjoy!

Prologue: Resurrection

Hydraulics growled as the Ilyushin Il-215’s jet engines rotated to VTAL position. Ivanov tapped a few buttons on the aircraft’s dashboard with his calloused fingers, and the words, Autopilot Activated, appeared on the monitor. The dark-haired, hard-faced man stood, reflexively brushing flecks of dried blood from his camouflage fatigues, stepped over the aircraft’s dead pilot on the floor, and walked out the cockpit’s door to the transport’s long main bay. There he saw his lieutenant, Nikitin, also clad in dirty fatigues, standing by a Typhoon Titan armored truck. The vehicle bore several years of rust after years of sitting in storage after the World War. Nikitin was a haggard man with a shaved head and long scars on both cheeks. 

“Remember the Coalition!” said Ivanov in Russian.

“It will rise again!” replied Nikitin, also in Russian.

“We’ve reached the coordinates above the Zmei Crater, comrade. We have little time before the VVS realizes we have stolen their aircraft.”

“Do not worry. I have completed the Muromets Cocktail and placed it in the Typhoon. It will provide excellent raw materials for the microbots.”

“We lost a dozen Warriors gathering the alien crystals, dinosaur DNA, and alloys for it. If their sacrifices are wasted, you will pay with your life.”

“I assure you, comrade, we will succeed for the glory of the Coalition!”

Ivanov tapped several buttons on a control panel on the wall. Hydraulics hissed as gray light flooded the tunnel-like bay from the back of the aircraft. The thunderous wind coming from the open hatch was not unlike a roar shooting from a great maw, Ivanov thought. “‘Come not between the dragon, and his wrath,’” he said.

“Indeed,” replied Nikitin.

Ivanov pressed a final button, and the clamps restraining the Typhoon snapped off the vehicle’s wheels, letting it roll back and disappear out the hatch.

***

Darkness. Unending.

Coldness. Smothering.

Silence. Everlasting.

Crash!

Bugs crawling.

Teeth biting.

Eyes…seeing.

Lost limbs regrown.

Open wounds closed.

Severed sinews reconnected.

Skin wraps his body.

He feels the dirt.

Buzzing fills his ears.

Fire burns in his throat.

Heart beats in cold fire.

Blood flows in metal veins.

A voice cries in his brain.

Moaning escapes his throat in response.

His hands claw at the cliff.

***

Ivanov maneuvered the aircraft in a patrol pattern around the Zmei Crater under Russian radar for several hours. Waiting. Waiting for the results of this grandiose and desperate experiment. An experiment to avenge Mother Russia’s disgraceful defeat. What better way to do so than the irony of reviving the enemy’s greatest weapon and unleashing it upon them? Yet still, they wait.

“We must go, comrade,” said Nikitin, who sat in the co-pilot chair, “before the VVS finds us!”

Ivanov shot him a glare. “No, not until we know if the dragon lives again!”

“And join our fellow patriots in Siberia? No!” Nikitin threw his headset on the dashboard and shot to his feet.

But as he stormed off, Ivanov called, “Down there! Something moves!” Nikitin looked out the windshield where his leader pointed.

A few hundred feet below, a huge metal hand half-covered in blood-red flesh rose from the crater. Its claws dug into the ground, anchoring themselves, and with a great heave, a malformed cyber-serpent dragged itself from the hole. Crimson skin seemed to grow on its half-melted endoskeleton. A crown of horns slowly grew on a head that flopped wildly like a suffocating fish. It crawled on the ground like a snake, leaving a trail of dark fluids and dead scales in its wake.

“The dragon lives!” exclaimed Ivanov. 

Nikitin pulled a computer tablet from his coat pocket and unfurled it. “I will upload instructions to the microbots to begin Operation: Dragonstrike.”

As if in response, one of the dragon’s red eyes flared, shooting a crimson laser.

A crash. Alarms blared. Red warning lights flashed on every dashboard monitor. The Il-215 spun and lurched and divebombed. Ivanov fought the control stick as his lieutenant screamed behind him. With lightning reflexes, he tapped buttons to lower the landing gear and forced the aircraft level out. But it landed cockeyed and slid across the rugged ground, grinding to a halt several long seconds later. It lay at a 60-degree angle, propped on a broken wing. 

Sparks flared from the dashboard, singeing Ivanov’s fatigues, as smoke filled the cockpit. The Russian shook his aching head to regain his bearings, blinking to clear his blurry vision. He felt blood trickle down his left cheek. Cursing, he struggled to free himself from the seatbelt, and a giant hand smashed the ground in front of the downed aircraft, quaking the earth and rattling his teeth. A shadow fell over the cockpit as the rebirthed cyborg dragon slithered by, a low rumble echoing with his every movement.

A rare smile cracked Ivanov’s face.

He finally unbuckled the seatbelt and turned to speak with Nikitin–only to find the man lying dead in a mangled heap with the pilot’s thrashed corpse. The tablet lay shattered next to him.

“May the dragon avenge you, comrade!” whispered Ivanov.

He reached into his pocket and produced a cellular phone and tapped its cracked screen. It rang twice before someone answered. “I require extraction,” Ivanov said.

A voice with an Asian accent replied in English, “Is it done?”

“Yes, Kang, Apollyon lives!”

Chapter 1: Nightmares

NEW BOOK – ‘ZORSAM AND THE GOD WHO DEVOURS’

The cover art for the book.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything of note on this website. I’ll say it’s a New Year’s Resolution to remedy that. So, let’s start that off with a mandatory post about my newly published book, Zorsam and the God Who Devours!

Some years ago in a wonderful place called Story, Indiana, a bunch of my college writer friends and I made a pilgrimage to have a weekend retreat in a big cabin. Amidst some sightseeing and tabletop gaming, we all sat down and discussed doing a big year-long project together we called “The Pulp Fiction Project” (the “literary genre,” not the Tarantino movie). We listed several types of stories that you’d see in old pulp magazines, including space western, monster story (which led to Destroyer), and “barbarian story.” My friend Nick Hayden chose to write that last one. Over the course of the next year, our goal was to have multiple 30,000-word novellas in the style of old dime store novels. Each would have three writers who took four months each to write about 10,000 words a piece before passing it on to another writer whose name would be drawn from a hat. It fell to Aaron Brosman second and finally to me.

It sat on the proverbial shelf (or rather, hard drive) for years until Nick attempted to get it published with a publishing house he was with a few years ago. That didn’t work out, so I contacted Wild Hunt Press, who jumped at the chance to publish some sword and sorcery.

What’s this book about? In a nutshell: a barbarian cooler than Conan.

You read that right.

Here’s the back cover copy:

Zorsam is a mighty and savage warrior born in an undreamed of and unrecorded age, filled with strange kingdoms, fierce warriors, dark magick, nightmarish monstrosities, and terrifying deities. Among the latter is the dreaded Manrix, the God Who Devours, a bestial deity who demands the sacrifice of young female virgins to keep his appetite sated and appeased. His most powerful follower in that bygone era is the brutal King Margruxks, the ruler of the much-respected kingdom of Glaur, whose latest intended sacrifice is a young woman named Asundi.

Zorsam is soon to learn, through a deadly series of trials he is put through by an avatar of Death itself, that the sacrificial girl is one of his tribe, and he becomes determined to do the unthinkable and take on his greatest trial yet: invading the lands of Glaur, oppose King Margruxks and his deadly minions, and dare to deny Manrix his demanded offering by rescuing Asundi.

Among King Margruxk’s soldiers are the brothers Zaduk and Fria, unconquerable warriors who control the forces of fire and ice respectively, which will more than ensure Zorsam a challenge that shall truly earn him the title of one of the greatest warriors of all time — if he survives. For even if he gets through this incredible gauntlet, he must then face the deadly sword of King Margruxks himself, and ultimately, the power of the God Who Devours.

The blood-stained saga of Zorsam begins here, and it is brought to you by no less than three authors who have made the sword and sorcery genre their passion.

It’s available on Amazon as an eBook right now, but the paperback is coming soon!

If schedules allow, I’m hoping to do a livestream with both Nick and Aaron on my YouTube channel to discuss the book and the process of writing it. Stay tuned!

In meantime, start the New Year off with a new book!

‘The Fall of the House of Kyzer’ begins serilization today!

fall-of-kyzer-cover1

Today marks the beginning of the serialization of my novella, The Fall of the House of Kyzer. Here’s a synopsis for you:

In Thyrion, power is everything.

But not for Jaysynn, the youngest of the Kyzer royal family who rule the city with an iron fist. He alone is unable to manipulate magic, making him an outcast in his own family. However, General Dracon, himself non-Select, sees the prince’s potential and trains him to be a warrior in his own right.

In the wake of the Cataclysm, Jaysynn is the only Kyzer to survive. Ascending to the throne, he is overwhelmed by the weight of the crown and the devastation of his city. What’s worse, he learns of a conspiracy brewing within his own ranks. Even as Emperor, he feels like an outcast.

It will introduce a character (not Jaysynn) who, I hope, will be a prominent villain in future stories.

Chapters of this novella will be posted on the website every Tuesday and Thursday for the next several months. You can also subscribe via our e-mail newsletter. We also post a “behind-the-scenes” blog every Friday. We love getting feedback from our readers.

To join the adventure, click here.

 

I read ‘Destroyer’ chapter on Derailed Trains of Thought podcast

My friends Nick Hayden and Timothy Deal featured me on their amazing podcast, “Derailed Trains of Thought,” again. Last November they interviewed me when Pandora’s Box was published. In their latest episode, I read chapter six of Destroyer in a segment called “A Bit of Story.” If you want to get a taste of the story before purchasing it on www.Lulu.com or www.Smashwords.com, check this out. You can also download the podcast from iTunes onto your iPod,  iPhone, or iPad.

While you’re there, please listen to previous episodes of the podcast. It’s quite good. Both Tim (one of the novella’s co-authors) and Nick have great insights into storytelling, and, I might add, awesome senses of humor. If you’re a creative person looking for a place to discuss ideas about the art and craft storytelling, go no further.

And when you comment, tell ’em Nate sent you.

‘Destroyer’ now available as an ebook!

It was a little more difficult to do than I expected, but Destroyer, my recently self-published novella co-written with Natasha Hayden and Timothy Deal, is now available as an ebook on www.Smashwords.com! Now you can download it and read it on your Kindle, iPhone, and other mobile devices. Just go here. You can also check out my Smashwords profile page (although it’s not much different from my profile here).

Be warned: I am still working out some bugs with the book’s formatting. So, if it looks a little odd in places, let me know, and I’ll try to iron it out. Thank, faithful readers!

‘Destroyer’ now available in print! (FINALLY!)

Cover art by Tyler Sowles

After fighting a long battle with Lulu.com‘s cover wizard program, I am ecstatic to announce that Destroyer has been self-published in print! This is a  novella I co-wrote with Natasha Hayden and Timothy Deal from 2008-2009 as part of a year-long “Pulp Fiction Project” we and our writer friends did. I chose to write a “monster story” (which, as one guy pointed out, meant I could write “everything from Frankenstein to Godzilla”) and spent three months writing part one (about 10,000 words). The goal was to have a 30,000 word  book by the end of the project. Then at our follow-up meetings throughout the year, we drew names from a hat, and that person wrote the next section of the story. Those fell to Natasha for part two and Timothy for part three.

I decided several months ago it was time for this to get published.

Destroyer tells the tale of a group of scientists and soldiers who create a giant cybernetic dragon to end a war, but the creature goes berserk and strands them in Moscow, one of the enemy capitals, and goes on a rampage.

I know that sounds like a B-movie plot, but I promise you it is closer to the movie Cloverfield, and it even has some shades of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It was, I will admit, inspired by a few Godzilla movies.

Regardless, it is available here on Lulu.com as a paperback and as a downloadable PDF. It will soon be available as an eBook on www.SmashWords.com, so you can take it anywhere on your mobile device.

Prepare yourself for some thrills and chills, readers!