Most stories keep things simple. There is the side of Good, represented by the protagonist. There is the side of Evil, represented by the antagonist and his minions. Postmodern fiction tries to spice it up, with gray versus gray or gray versus black morality. Having just two sides is the norm. If there are multiple […]
Babylon Red Chapter 1 Preview
The IndieGoGo campaign for Babylon Red has reached 38% of its funding goal! To celebrate, here’s chapter 1 of the exclusive novel! — Movement was meditation. Meditation was movement. Embodying these twinned concepts, Yuri Yamamoto walked the streets of ArcoShanti. Designed in reverence of the human form, it was a town disguised as a neighborhood, […]
Ingredients of Action Horror
Action horror. A fiction contradiction if there ever was one. Action stories are about agency: the character’s ability to act on the environment, to overcome all odds, to destroy all foes in his path. Horror relies heavily on a lack of agency: the inability to directly confront the horror, and with it, the despair that […]
BABYLON RED is live on IndieGoGo!
The New Gods have won. The Special Tasks Section has been disbanded. Nothing can stop the New Gods from unleashing Hell on Earth. Or so they think. Fighting from the shadows, Team Black Watch wages a desperate war to keep cosmic horrors at bay. But this time, Yuri Yamamoto is in exile. Without a mystical […]
Hunters of the Void Chapter 6
The flight back to the hotel was long and circuitous. Sirens echoed in discordant choruses through the empty streets, the first responders finally confident that the wrath of the New Gods had passed. The Angel at the controls pulled a series of high-speed high-precision maneuvers, staying far from police vehicles and away from the city’s […]
Hunters of the Void Chapter 5
Ring of Steel Nightfall. People said Babylon never slept. Here, it came closest to slumber. As the sun set, the district wound down operations. Lights extinguished by the scores. Cars and buses flowed out of the neighborhood, southwards to the suburbs, north to the town of North Valley. People abandoned the streets. By midnight, only […]
Hunters of the Void Chapter 4
Division of Labor A hybrid biocomputer was one of the most sophisticated pieces of technology in all existence. Putting one together required equally sophisticated tech. An industrial-grade 3D bioprinter capable of ultra-high precision. Bioink. A multi-material 3D printer. Feedstock. Uninterruptible power supply. Most importantly, a cleanroom. Securing everything was no small feat for the private […]
Hunters of the Void Chapter 3
The Weakest Link Precision. Control. Calmness. The watchwords that kept Kayla grounded in the field. She was not in the field any more. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!” She punctuated every word with a step, burning a circle into the living room carpet. Seated at his workstation, Zen folded his hands over his belly, his […]
Hunters of the Void Chapter 2
To the End For a corporation linked to the New Gods, Zenith Biotech was remarkably transparent about its operations. Its corporate website betrayed critical information about the company. Address, contact form, areas of specialty, mug shots of executives and critical staff. More photographs showed the interior of the labs, the conference rooms, the reception area. […]
Hunters of the Void Chapter 1
By the Waters of Babylon Babylon was beautiful tonight. Crowns and necklaces of light adorned the skyscrapers flanking the Babylon River, edifices of concrete and steel wreathed in multicolored flame. Soft red and yellows illuminated the waterfront, the sturdy towers and swooping cables of Founders Bridge, the ferries and lesser boats that plied the waters. […]