*SAMPLES: PERDITIONS GATE*

A New *Sample* from my recently finished futuristic thriller, PERDITIONS GATE: Escape from New Eden.

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There was nothing but darkness with the occasional spire of light intruding into the drainage tunnel from the streets above. Jason tried to move quickly in the cramped quarters. He kept the capsule pistol aimed down the tunnel before him so that the night-vision image coming from the weapons small scope could be fed to his CLDs. Jason finally saw his man lying motionless and perpendicular with the tunnel, its wall cradling him like a baby. Soulman’s right arm was aimed straight at Jason and he held a capsule gun in his hand.
“Jerome, it’s me, Jason.”
Soulman’s arm relaxed and dropped like it had a fifty pound weight attached to it. He had to struggle just to speak. “Jason…I knew you’d find me. I’ve been trying to hold on until you got here. I tried the transmitter; it must have gotten shot away. I didn’t want to die alone.”
“Die? Hey, don’t start talking like that,” Jason said as he crawled closer to his friend.
“I already know, it’s bad, man. No use blowing smoke; I’m done.”
Jason wished he could argue with him, but he knew Jerome was probably right. He plugged an interface cable from his micro computer module on his left bicep into the same on Soulman’s arm. The two units communicated briefly and then when Soulman’s unit acknowledged Jason’s unit as that of the team leader, Nightstalker, it surrendered all of its relevant data.
Physiologic data, coming from Jerome’s uniform, confirmed his self diagnosis. He had shrapnel lodged in his heart, tears in both iliac arteries, liver damage and several small and large bowel perforations. Jerome’s blood pressure was displayed on Jason’s CLD. It was steadily dropping below critical levels despite the auto tourniquet system. Jason could smell the foul odor of blood collecting in pockets under his friend’s uniform.
“Jerome, you’re dying, my friend.” The words cut at his heart to say them, but it was true.
Jerome nodded his understanding and acceptance of the situation.
“Is there anyone—?”
He smiled through the pain as he labored to breathe. “Now, you know I’ve always been more of a player, man. There’s no one ever been waiting at home for me.”
Jerome grabbed Jason’s arm, then he found his hand and squeezed it tightly. “Jason,” he said with great urgency. “Theed’s men, they knew I was coming.”
“What?”
“I know, but it’s true. They were waiting for an assassin to come into that hospital room and you can see they were ready for me.” It was difficult for him to get the words out.
Jason contemplated what his friend was telling him. If it was true, then they had a mole within BABYLON.
“Jason?”
“Yes?”
“I’m afraid.” And with that, Jerome Brown’s stare became blank and the tension in his face became slack. His grip on Jason’s hand lost all strength and he was dead.
Jason turned away from him, still holding the man’s hand. It was one thing to kill a man targeted for assassination you had never met and a completely different experience to watch your best friend die. It made him glad that very few individuals held such a close connection to him, because he never wanted to experience this again.

*SAMPLES: A WORLD WITHIN*--PART II

A WORLD WITHIN: SAMPLE--ATTACK OF THE SPIDER ELVES!

Daniel started to run after the Wil when a thunderous explosion of gnarled tree branches delivered a monstrous creature into the short clearing around the edge of the pond. It was a gargantuan, hairy spider, its body alone the size of a Clydesdale with a man of some sort riding upon a makeshift saddle just behind the crown of black eyes upon its head.
The rider’s hair was silvery white and long with pointed ears that protruded through at the normal place one would expect. He wore a thin beard of the same color and his skin was a ghastly, pale gray. His torso was adorned with a silver breastplate made of layers of metal scales that shimmered with violet color and he carried a long, intricately crafted lance in his right hand. The elf’s form was beautiful and terrible all at once and his steed made him all the more hideous. The elf looked at Daniel and he was frozen with fear.
More ghastly riders appeared, coming through the trees behind the first with their horrid mounts, their eight legs traversing the surface of the mighty forest root system with ease. Daniel tried to run, but he slipped on the ice. His skates were missing, replaced by his normal shoes. The elf rider urged his spider-mount forward to attack the boy with its great, two foot long fangs. Daniel could see the venom dripping as its mandibles opened to reveal the black daggers.
Daniel was snatched away from the jaws by a large bird of prey, nearly his size and powerful. It bore him up swiftly, carrying him by the shoulders. Was he now to be this predator’s next meal? “Don’t worry, lad, I’ll get you out of here,” said Meineke’s voice through the bird.
“Meineke, is that you?” cried Daniel as they soared up toward the twisted branches of the nearby trees.
A blast, like a clear bubble, was hurled off of the end of the elf’s lance. It hit Daniel and Meineke in flight, sounding like a thunderclap. Daniel fell away and landed among heaps of decaying leaves within the gaps in the massive tree roots. Meineke tumbled in the air on a collision course with the thick trunk of a craggy, old tree. His form morphed almost faster than could be seen and he righted himself in time to land on the vertical face of the tree trunk. Meineke was hanging there in his original form, claws set into the porous bark like a defiant squirrel.
He leapt down to the ground with the same elegant precision and found Daniel among the smelly old leaves where the roots hung over them like prison bars. “Come on, Daniel,” said Meineke as he led the boy back into the leaves and intertwining roots.
The Wil was tunneling through, finding their way through the labyrinth created by the roots. Pockets of dead space were littered among the leaves as they tried to keep moving away from the Spider Elves. The spaces between the roots were too small for the spiders to enter, but Meineke could hear them moving around above them, searching for their prey.
Meineke spotted a patch of light and they headed for it. The pair came up through a rotted out trunk that had a large enough hole in its side for them emerge onto the forest floor again. They were running again, with the Spider Elves about twenty yards behind them. Daniel did his best to try and keep up with Meineke. The Wil seemed a natural for such an environment, leaping from root to root and ducking under others to stay ahead of the elven riders and the nightmares they were riding upon.
As they were running through the dense forest, Daniel began to notice something. There was a distinct groaning emanating from all around them. It was like the forest was moaning in agony over the situation. The harder he ran and the closer he and Meineke’s pursuers got to them, the louder the noise became.
The trees were beginning to sway their craggy top branches, yet Daniel felt no wind and the intrusive fog was not being displaced. Could the trees be moving on their own, he wondered. He ran into an area where the roots heaved up in tight bands like a wall before him. Meineke had circumvented it while Daniel was paying more attention to the movement of the forest than his way. He realized, too late, that he was cornered next to a huge old tree with massive boughs.
One of the elven riders was upon him. His mount hissed and bared its venomous fangs for the kill. Meineke was nowhere to be seen. Daniel turned to attempt a climb, but he couldn’t find a purchase anywhere for his incapable, child’s hands. The tree was vibrating underneath his palms and there was a sound like wood twisting under duress. The giant spider lunged forward at the prodding of its rider. Daniel screamed as the sleek black fangs came at him; there was nothing he could do to defend himself.
The ground shook like an atom bomb unleashed, sending Daniel back on his side into the dirt. He looked back at the fiendish predator, only to find one of the massive branches of the tree grinding the spider and its rider into the ground, like a man squashing a bug under his thumb.
The branch began to lift slowly, revealing a ghastly residue from the kill. Daniel thought he might vomit, but that was before the rising branch revealed another elven rider twenty yards away. The rider looked aghast at his former companion’s remains dropping from the branch, intermingled with hunks of arachnid pulp, back into the stew surrounded by eight splayed legs.

*SAMPLES: A WORLD WITHIN*--PART I

A WORLD WITHIN: this is the new young adult fantasy that I'm working on currently. This scene is where Daniel first finds himself in the Living Land with its strange inhabitants...just prior to an attack by Spider Elves! (part 2 of this sample coming soon...spider elves attack!)

Daniel lay on the ice, his face numb from the cold. He was aware of his clothes being wet across his front as he lay facedown on the pond. He wasn’t sure if he had his eyes open or not, but he only saw black. The air was strangely warm and smelled of grass and flowers; more like spring than winter. And there was a definite rustling, like wind forcing its way through the full foliage of tall trees.
He felt a poke at his body, Derek finishing his job, no doubt. Then, he felt it again; two pokes to his ribs this time. Daniel might have laughed at the ticklish sensation if his head wasn’t throbbing so badly. Then, the finger poked at his head and he heard the distinct sound of someone close to his face, biting into something like a piece of fruit and the juice squirted onto his cheek.
Daniel winced and opened his eyes, expecting to find his bullies, but instead there was a thing staring at him and it spoke with fruit juice dribbling down its furry chin.
“What are you then, big nose?” said the creature.
Daniel screamed and his head throbbed hard, turning screaming to wincing.
“Well, I’m not that ugly,” said the creature, placing his curled little hands on his hips, a piece of half eaten fruit in one of them.
Daniel was amazed and suddenly realized his jaw must be dangling open well below his face. The creature was sitting on his haunches, but wouldn’t have been more than four feet tall on his tip-toes. He had a lemur like face, but long ears like a rabbit that fell back behind his head like a ponytail. His short silver fur covered most of his body and his hands and feet were ape-like and appeared good for climbing things.
“What are you?” asked Daniel, bewildered.
“I asked you first, big nose,” said the creature gruffly.
Daniel was suddenly aware that he had been insulted. “I’m Daniel and I haven’t got a big nose.”
“Well, it’s bigger than mine,” said the creature. “I’m Meineke.”
“Are you a monkey, Mr. Meineke?” asked Daniel innocently.
“Look, if you don’t want me calling you big nose then don’t call me a blooming monkey! I’m a Wil, of the noble family too.”
“A Wil, what’s that?”
“What’s a Wil? Aye, you’re not from around here are you?” said Meineke.
“Oh yes, I am. This is my family—” and suddenly Daniel realized that the world around him had changed. The frozen pond was the same, but everything beyond its edge had changed dramatically. No more was there a wide clearing sparsely populated by trees near the water’s edge—this had been replaced by a thickly planted forest of trees that looked centuries old and twisted malevolently by time.
Their bark was gunmetal gray spotted with black and the trunks of the trees were monstrous in width. The branches looked like grisly claws raking the sky in opposition to the sun and great roots covered the entire forest floor like a nest of snakes within the crag of a rock. The dark clouds above seemed married to the treetops and wisps of fog created a murky veil that made it impossible to see what lay in the distance.
“Where am I?” asked Daniel as he surveyed his new surroundings with a mixture of fear and awe.
Meineke continued chewing on his fruit, speaking with his mouth open. “Why, you’re right there,” he said, pointing a finger at him matter-of-factly.
Daniel blinked slowly, becoming exasperated with the little creature’s literality. “I mean, what is this place?”
Meineke stood up and spread his arms to the forest around them. “This awful place is Parengore Forest. It’s the home of the Spider Elves; scary huh?”
Daniel kept his eyes searching the various layers of the forest, expecting something terrible to erupt from the murk at any moment. “It’s not so bad,” he lied.
“Yeah, right,” said Meineke sarcastically. “Well, I normally wouldn’t be caught dead around here if it weren’t for the Wielder.”
“How did I get here? Last thing I remember, I was getting beat up by Derek Wentworth.”
“I haven’t a clue,” said Meineke. “I left my companion to find a place to conduct nature’s business and you were lying here, gone to the world.”
Daniel racked his brain. None of this made any sense: the Wil, this forest, Spider Elves, and his house no longer anywhere in sight. Perhaps, I’m dreaming. “Who is this Wielder person you said you were with?” asked Daniel curiously. If he was dreaming, then he might as well find out what the dream was all about.
“Oh, I’m not traveling with him, me and my companion are looking for—” Meineke paused, listening. His ears twitched and perked up over his head.
“What is it?”
“Shush!” hissed Meineke. He bent his head low, allowing his ears to pick up the vibrations traveling through the ground. Suddenly his eyes widened and he straightened quickly. “Come on, they’re coming!”
“Who?!” asked Daniel, confused.
“The Spider Elves—run!” And with that, Meineke bounded away from Daniel and the approaching rumble. Daniel watched the Wil running away and wasn’t sure what to do. Was this real? He took another fraction of a second to consider it. Whatever a Spider Elf is, I don’t think I want to meet one!

MARCHER LORD PRESS

MARCHER LORD PRESS and WHERE THE MAP ENDS...

I just wanted to say that Jeff's vision of Marcher Lord Press sounds very interesting. As an author currently published with a POD small press, Breakneck Books Publishing, I think it has great potential if done correctly...especially if Jeff can find the right books to publish for the Christian Speculative market and can be effective in marketing them. The ability to get books into distribution with chain book stores is essential to maintaining success. While Amazon is a 10% share of the book market and growing, it can be a fickled place to try and promote a book.

I personally hope Jeff can make a go of it and bring out some new titles for this growing genre. It's a niche market to be sure, but even if you don't sell oodles of books compared to the mainstream, people who enjoy the genre will have another place they can hopefully find some great, God honoring stories. And some overlooked Christian authors may be able to find an outlet for their work to gain some appreciation.

*NEW WRITING SAMPLE COMING TOMORROW--STAY TUNED*

WHERE THE MAP ENDS

WHERE THE MAP ENDS---Speculative Christian Fiction Website is being featured on the Christian Science Fiction Fantasy Blog Tour this month.

There are lots of items you'll be interested in on the site including: Interviews, Booklists, Tips for writers, Forums, and the newsletter you can subscribe to.

Christian Speculative fiction is a genre that is just beginning to try to blossom and Jeff and Where the Map Ends are all about giving it all the help they can.

Check out the site and all of its special features today!!

CSFF BLOG TOUR PARTICIPANTS--VISIT AS MANY AS YOU DARE!

*MORE WRITING SAMPLES COMING YOUR WAY IN A FEW DAYS!*

*SAMPLES: COS2: THE RISE OF LUCIN*

A writing Sample from the upcoming Breakneck Books release: The Chronicles of Soone: The Rise of Lucin.

THE snow was falling heavily as Kale stood on the porch watching Olson chopping wood for the fire hearth. It was still very cold but he was getting used to it now. The countryside around their home was completely white except for the black spires of bare trees jutting up out of the surrounding hillsides. It was absolutely beautiful, he thought.
The women were inside finishing the supper dishes together and chatting away about their guest. Olson was puffing on his pipe, in between strokes with the axe. Kale thought, how strange to try and do such a strenuous task while inhaling flavored smoke. Still, the aroma was pleasant, hanging in the frigid evening air. The sun could still be seen vaguely through the thick clouds, casting a pale glow across the land as dusk battled for dominance.
“Would you like to take a whack at it, Master Soone?”
“Please, Kale is fine; and yes, I would be happy to.”
Kale jumped down off the porch and picked up another axe propped against the porch foundation and took up a position at the stump as Olson placed another thick log on top for him. He raised the axe high over his head and brought it down precisely, sending the two pieces of log down off the side of the stump.
It was satisfying, even relaxing in a way. Olson gave him a sly grin through his beard as he puffed again on his pipe. Kale placed another log up for the kill and then he brought the axe up for another hit. He looked at Mr. Barone again. Olson was blankly staring out into the trees around them. He was no longer puffing, but listening.
Then Kale noticed that the noises of nature around them had suddenly fallen silent. It would not have been strange had their not been so much activity from the cold climate birds and tree dwellers only a moment before. Then Kale felt something else—danger.
He heard only a whisper, like a blade dividing the air. The cracking and splitting of wood followed after as a large tree came crashing through the frozen limbs of the other trees. Kale jumped toward Olson and snared the older man in time to pull him out from under the thunderous explosion of wood and snow hitting the ground behind them.
Kale was back to his feet in a flash, rolling away from Olson as his kemstick leapt off of his leg to his hand. He did not ignite it; not yet.
Kale scanned the trees with his eyes trying to squint through the heavy flakes of falling snow. Olson lumbered back to his feet, shaking the snow off as he looked at the fallen timber lying in the place he had just been standing.
Kale was sure it was not an accident. His senses surveyed beyond his eyes, taking in every detail he could with his mind, but something seemed familiar about the lack of feedback he was getting from his surroundings.
Then, Kale heard it again; that whisper and his mind caught the source just in time. He snapped his arm up to the side of his head as the kemstick blazed to life. Something bounced off of its rod of dispersion energy and landed in the snow. He turned and found a sword, vibrating, blade straight down, in the snowy ground. The sword leapt out of the ground, sailing away to find the hand of its owner who was now visible in the clearing of trees ahead of them, about fifty yards away.
Kale half expected to see the dark clad wraith he had faced in the woods upon his arrival and again in the streets of Briceton. Instead, there was a human male of regal stature. He looked like a warrior and power emanated from him that Kale alone could sense.
“Lord Elam,” said Olson in hushed tones.
“I see they told me the truth, Olson Barone!” his voice boomed across the expanse between them. “You have broken the law by harboring this off-worlder!”
“But he is good. He fought away the Agonotti who invaded our town this morning.”
“You do not realize who you are dealing with, Barone. He is working with the Agonotti to deceive you. His people attacked our home city this afternoon, killing the twins and Colossus!”
“Colossus is dead?!”
“At the hand of one of these off-worlders, like him!”
That statement peaked Kale’s curiosity a great deal. Others like himself—off-worlders? Could his father have actually found him and so quickly? The thought was actually comforting at the moment.
“Surrender, off-worlder, and I will have mercy on you,” said Elam.
“Kale, you had better give up peacefully. We don’t dare oppose the Guardians,” instructed Olson, fearfully.
“So, this is a Guardian?”
“Lord Elam, the leader of the Guardians,” said Olson.
“I don’t need your mercy, sir! I haven’t done anything except try to help these people. Surely, that isn’t against your law.”
“You’re a spy and a murderer!” shouted Elam, angrily.
“I haven’t killed anyone except those creatures, so far!”
Elam shot forth in fury, his body spinning like a missile on target with his sword extended for the kill. He covered the distance between them in seconds. Kale’s weapon deflected Elam’s strike. The Guardian leader’s sword was suddenly encompassed in a dispersion field as well. “It looks like we have something in common after all, Elam,” said Kale.
There was a furious exchange of blows between them. Kale flipped away, for a moment sensing something in the trees behind him. Sniper!
He deflected one shot, allowing another to pass near him. He whipped another kemstick from his leg clip and hurled it at the tree about three feet below the sniper’s position. It severed the upper portion of the tree which toppled, under its own weight, and came crashing down into the snow with the shooter entangled among the branches. Kale engaged Elam again.
Kale noticed Olson on the porch trying to usher Juli and her mother back inside as the battled raged. It was best that they stay out of this—Kale certainly didn’t want Juli or her family hurt because of him. Elam was quite skilled with a blade and Kale knew it was time to up the ante a bit.
Kale flipped over the downed sniper’s roost and called his other kemstick to his hand from the snow, where it had landed. He launched into Elam again with dual kemsticks, trying to overpower the Guardian leader. The elder man blew him back into the air with a kinetic thrust. It was unexpected, but Kale recovered; somersaulting and then landing on his feet.
So, that’s how it’s going to be.
Kale noticed others rushing in on armed hover-bikes from the woods around them. He disengaged Elam to dash away from the streams of blaster shots coming at him. Kale ran into the woods as the hover-bikes followed; ten in all.
The shots pelted the snow and timber around him as he dodged about through the trees evading the attack. It was only a moment before the bikes would overtake him. Kale, unexpectedly, flipped back on the one bearing down upon him and made one exacting strike as he tumbled in the air past the pursuer. A momentary flash of light was all that the rider perceived. The rider’s body tumbled into the snow as the hover-bike veered and slammed into a tree.

STAY TUNED FOR WRITING SAMPLES

Stay Tuned into this blog for a new feature: SAMPLES*

SAMPLES will be actual writing samples from manuscripts I've recently completed or that I'm currently working on. Now, I won't be giving whole chapters at time, but will feature enough to give you the idea of a scene and the intensity of it.

I hope to get feedback from readers and fans of Chronicles on my upcoming projects by doing this and of course to try and keep the blog interesting.

The first SAMPLE will be taken from The Chronicles of Soone: The Rise of Lucin, scheduled by Breakneck Books for release in November of 2007. I'll post the sample in the next post, probably tomorrow...so STAY TUNED TO THIS BAT-CHANNEL!

PERDITIONS GATE: Escape from New Eden is finished!

Wheeew! I finally finished my third novel, PERDITIONS GATE: Escape from New Eden. I've still got to proof the whole thing, but I'll be setting it aside for about a week (probably) so that when I do proofreading things will stand out better.

Now I can go scamper through the dandelions!! Oops...it's still winter, no dandelions. Maybe packing peanuts will do?

There is a second novel to this series vaguely outlined already: subtitle: "Hell on Earth"

But next up to the plate will be A World Within, the young adult / childrens fantasy novel. Hopefully the anthology short story version of this one will appear later this year and at least I've already got that much (30 pages) written on it that will begin the novel version.

Fantasy and Sci-fi Fantasy are very fun to write for me because I like dreaming up cool stuff more than researching real places and stuff. So, this one will be fun (I think).

HAVE YOU ORDERED YOUR VERY OWN CHRONICLES OF SOONE TEE-SHIRT YET?

New Breakneck Books GEAR!

We can't believe it!~

Neither can I...now you can purchase Breakneck Books GEAR!! These awesome tee-shirts are available on 10-15 colors and have the logos of all of Breakneck Book's novels on them. Choose your favorite book's tee-shirt and order it. They arrive in 3 days and are garanteed not to fade! They even have kids sizes!!

Wrapping Up PERDITONS GATE!

Well, I'm on the last chapter of PERDITIONS GATE: Escape from New Eden and soon it will be time to laze about on the couch watching T.V. and taking it easy...ahhhhhh....

Are you kidding?! Of course it won't be. There's so much left to do!

I'll put the book aside for about a week and then begin proofing the manuscript. It's already under submission with one proposal requested by a Christian Publisher --to remain nameless at this time. And hopefully that will pan out.

I've just received an epiphany on the next book in the P.G. series and the tentative title; let me know what you think: PERDITIONS GATE: Hell on Earth.

If you think it sounds a bit strong, then remember the setting is the Great Tribulation period from Revelation and the wrath of God is falling on a sin darkened world at the time--so, I think it's not too strong, yet who wouldn't find it compelling to investigate? By the way, if you've thought this was some Left Behind clone, you'd be happily mistaken. Anyone who's read my Chronicles of So0ne series, should know well, that my novels are relentless on action and P.G. is no exception. And since I like the sci-fi element, it's set in the year 2094.

Next up to the plate is my new Young Adult / Childrens novel: A World Within. This one is already submitted in short story form with an upcoming fantasy anthology and so far it looks promising to get in. But the full novel is next to be written and I'm really looking forward to it. It's difficult not to compare stories with the epitomies of different genres you write in, but this young adult fantasy may be Narnia-ish, yet it will be completely different and follow my action packed style of writing (I am what I am).

I hope to finish some reading in the near future, but I just can't get away from the keyboard with my own writing.

Light At the Edge of Darkness

Light at the Edge of Darkness is a Christian Anthology that spans a number of genres from speculative to sci-fi to horror.

The Anthology is to be released April 2007 and you can learn more about this book at the website.

This Anthology contains 28 awesome stories including "Undeniable" by A.P. Fuchs.

Check it out!!