Dionysus Forest Frolic

The Brown trunks of the trees surround Me

Channeling the energy I See

Dionysus, I sense your presence Here

You make the truth of reality Clear

For it is with you that he seek pleasure in the Night

Knowing that as warriors it is our Right

For all that exist desire life’s Kiss

Why be born at all if such things we would Miss

Animals play within the Trees

Dancing around our Knees

Water splashes By

And with an Ale in my hand I have to reason to Cry

Tip a shot of golden Fire

As our real one burns ever Higher

Some Green beneath the Green

If you know what I Mean

Dionysus I join with You

And to my pleasure I will be True

Dionysus Forest Frolic

 

Learn more about Dionysus and his heroes here!

Rolling Trouble

An older woman glared at Rollie as she passed the outdoor seating at Scallywags. He was used to such things when he went out with his boyfriend. It probably didn’t help that Will wore a bright pink shirt and had his hair spiked up in some sort of slacker Mohawk.

Skallywags

“You see how she looked at me?” Will joked. “You know she was mad because she wanted some.”

Will

“I think she looked like she wanted was a super big pair of channel-locks to pull that bug out of her-”

“You want something else, Rollie?” Sammy asked. He’d known Sammy for a while and she always made sure he had anything he needed whenever he had enough money to treat himself to a trip to his favorite place.

 

“You want another round?” he asked.

“Maybe, but I might want to shift gears.”

Sammy tried to smile, but he could tell she was beat. “What’re you in the mood for? Wine or maybe a mixed drink?”

Will looked over at him with a wicked grin.  “Let’s do some shots.”

“It’s not even five yet,” Rollie laughed, “I think-”

A shout interrupted him. “What the,” Sammy said.

Will had already bolted up from his chair. “It’s that old lady. Some dude is grabbing her.”

Rollie’s gut reaction would be to say, ‘screw her,’ but he knew his knight in shining armor wouldn’t let it go. He finished his beer, because with the way these things tended to go, he might not get a chance later.

Turning, he saw a man in a business suit grabbing and pulling at the woman who had scowled at them. 

“Leave me alone,” she cried.

Then, after a savage pull, the man leaned forward and bit her neck. Rollie just stared for a moment, but when his mouth came away with a huge bloody piece of her neck, his pint glass slid out from between his fingers and shattered on the floor.

Bloody Business Suit

He still starred, but Will had already sprinted toward the fight. Rollie had barely left the courtyard by the time Will had reached the man’s side and pushed him hard enough to knock the guy off his feet. 

But the woman had lost her footing as well and lay on the pavement moaning. Rollie figured Will could handle himself, so he ran to help the woman. She didn’t look good. His gut told him she wouldn’t be making it. He applied direct pressure anyway and screamed toward Sammy. “Call 911!”

His eyes looked toward Will again and he saw that the man he fought refused to stay down. Will pushed him away again and again, but no matter how much abuse he took, the man kept coming. Rollie almost lost his lunch when the man opened his flesh filled mouth and growled.

Two bouncers showed up. One’s name was Jack, but the big black guy was new to him. Jack stopped by Will side and drew him back. “Let Diamond handle this.”

The man, Diamond, crashed into the red mouthed man and slammed him against a brick wall, but Rollie looked back toward Sammy because she was screaming.

First Zombie

Rollie saw that a man had leaned over into the courtyard and had attacked a pair of women and one was being pulled onto the pavement by her hair. But as soon as he looked that way, his attention was drawn back to the men, for Diamond shrill scream now competed with the others. Rollie looked on in horror as the suited man went in and took a second bite out of his arm.

To be continued next Saturday.

You can discover where Rollie entered the Eternal Aftermath Here!

They are coming to get you Rollie

A Shameless Plug or Jack Primus faces the Eternal Aftermath, and with the help of Skinjumpers, fights Dalsala Den

Collapsing Shack Arizona: This week, in a hope to increase book sales, I have taken it upon myself to interview America’s newest hero as he takes on his most difficult challenge yet.

When I caught up to him, Jack Primus put down his brain splattered sledge hammer just long enough to say, “I hope you’re all getting a kick out of this. I have to face the villains from not just my world, but three others as well; just to help Michael D. Griffiths make some books sales. It might sound good for the author, but being forced to fight cyberpunk undead Xemmoni that come from an evil filled planet of high magic really sucks when you are on this side of the pages.”

Jack With an Axe

When I pointed out that selling more copies might mean he would get to be in more books, Jack said, “Hell, I’m already in a few books, loads of artwork, and a weekly blog, but what good does it do me? Oooo I get to get beat up more often.”

When the swarms of zombies that surrounded him grew closer, he thrust an axe into my hands and said, “I’m not even from a world of zombies. I hate zombies, they remind me of my first girlfriend. But now I’m stuck fighting them just to help promote my author’s Zombie Apocalypse series, Eternal Aftermath. Does he care that I’m not even in that series…? No!”

Zombie March

After we cut down enough zombies to give ourselves some breathing room for a moment, I asked him about the allies that he fought side by side with. “These Skinjumpers are the only silver lining to this whole mess, but these high tech cloned heroes brought their own cyber powered villains with them. Do you know how much it blows hitting some guy with a sledge hammer who you think is just a normal dude, but then find out he’s made of solid metal. My fingers are still numb from the last impact. And if you’ve never been hit by a laser, let me tell you something, IT REALLY SUCKS! I almost rather be bit by a zombie. Yeah, if it wasn’t for that whole plague thing. By the way, looks like you were bit. Sorry fella, but I guess I’ll be your last interview.”

I was starting to fell a little light headed, but managed to spit out a question about Dalsala Den. “Yeah, that high level magic using a-hole is the worst of the lot. I thought I had things bad on my world. Shit, I’d rather fight Vile Darken than that guy. I had a group of cops here helping me, but he turned half on them into solid ice and the other half became… crawdads. He says he wants to take over this planet. Well line up scum bag. I wish there was some way I could just let them fight against each other… and… kill… themselves… off. Hey, let’s light that trash on fire and use the smokescreen to go grab ourselves a few ales.”

Even though I was starting to bleed from my eye sockets, I agreed as long as the first round and the cheese steaks were on him.

Get started on some of my Fiction Here!

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Apollo Defensive Blessing

Warrior of Heaven with Sword in Hand

Protector of Home and Peace, Defending the Land

This Day we Call out to Thee

For Free from Evil we Wish our Home to Be

Enemies of our Flesh and Soul we seek to Banish

The Evil that Lurks, Will be Made to Vanish

Apollo Help us Defend Ourselves from those that would cause Me and Mine any Harm

Protect us when we are at home in our Warm

The World can be full of Evil and Malicious Intent

Remove Us from the Path of the Twisted and Bent

On this Day we Sign out to Thee

As I Will So Mote It Be!!!!!!

Apollo Defensive

 
Learn more about Heroes of Apollo

Lakeside Plots

The days had stretched long while Jack, Phillip, and Cleo, not only healed their wounds, but also refueled their spend Ki. Their second day hadn’t been so bad for the group had healed their wounds and the McBannons brothers had dropped by for a large poker game. Pizza and shots, mixed with craft ales and Jack got some much needed R and R. It did his soul good to be able to relax as a normal person, even if his guilt still ate at the back of his mind. It didn’t surprise him much when Cleo and Phillip won most of everyone’s money.

White’s Pond

On the third morning, the trio of Stalwarts gathered to meet before they headed back into the dark city. They had all agreed that a gear-up run should occur before they reached the city, but other issues proved more complex.

 

Phillip and Cleo sat around the remains of the poker game sipping coffee while Jack paced around the room downing can after can of Mountain Dew. 

Jack broke the building silence. “I would think the first thing we need to do is contact the other Stalwarts that hopefully are still with us.”

“I contacted Blaze, through Email,” Phillip said. “He’s still kicking. He has a secure site base that’s spread over the web so he can’t be tracked.” Phillip looked up from his steaming cup and met Jack’s eyes. “But he did a little net-running for us and told me that our cells, and such, are tapped. He said that if we need to contact anyone a face to face would be safer. At least that way they won’t know we’re coming as quickly, but he also said that he thinks Lanna and Felix are being watched.”

“Well at least that means they are still alive.”

Cleo spoke up. “They have probably been left alive so they can be used as bait to catch us. We killed a bucket load of Xemmoni. I’m sure we hit number one on their shit list, real quick.”

Dead Wood

“Let’s table them for now,” Jack said. “Whether we get more help or not, we need to think about our chief goals.”

“Which are?” Cleo asked.

“My gut reaction is to do what they’re trying to do to us, to them.”

Phillip made a face. “You want the three of us to try to make Boston Xemmoni free?”

Jack stared back at him. “Yes. I’m not as worried as much about some random Selector living in a sewer as much as the real members of Vile’s crew.”

Phillip massaged his forehead. “Now I know we kicked some serious ass out there, but those were low level thugs that couldn’t pierce our Damage Protection well. But if we go up against that same amount of powerful Xemmoni they can disperse our flesh to the winds before we get within thirty feet of them.”

“I am aware of this. That’s why I don’t intend to fight fair. What if we head in, ambush a few of the bastards, and then escape the city before sunrise.”

Cleo spoke up. “I see a few problems with that plan. Firstly, we won’t be able to come back here or everyone here will end up dead.”

“Agreed.”

“Secondly, the Darcarre are huge in Boston and then can sense Stalwarts better than any other race of Xemmoni and for that matter there’s some evidence that Glooms are the runners up for this skill. Surprising these guys is just this side of impossible.”

“And, if I might add,” Phillip said. “If we’re fleeing we have to get past their range or then can just follow us wherever we go.”

“They might think differently when they see where I take them.”

The Dionysus worshippers eyed each other.

Jack smiled. “When I said I wouldn’t fight fair, I meant it. We have all the cards stacked against us, so screw these pricks. I’m not saying we will wipe out the whole city before they get wise, but the first few times I want these Darcarre and they allies to follow us out of the city. It will be the last thing they ever do.”

What Waits in the Wood

“Whittling down their numbers wouldn’t be the worst idea,” Phillip said.

Cleo looked at Phillip and then Jack. “This idea only seems appropriate if this is what we’re really trying to do. Are we really going to try to take back Boston?”

Jack answered her. “I know no city can ever be completely Xemmoni free, but we can make this city too costly for Darken. Besides if he’s trying something big in Boston, we can at least make sure he won’t be able to do it on our world. We owe it to… well our other selves.”

Phillip downed his coffee. “Okay, I’m in. What the hell. It’s my city and no one kicks me out of my home.”

Cleo drew a deep breath. “You know you’re both nuts right?” She paused. “Okay, count me in too. Everyone has to die sometime.”

To be continued next Monday

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started Here!

Nith the Darcarre Bitch

In Charge of My Own Demise Part IV

“There’s a woman on line two Dak. She says it’s urgent and will only speak with you. Her voice sounds familiar.”

Dak hurried to answer the phone thinking it was probably Erin. Instead it was the reporter Law talking in a quick self satisfied tone. “Hello Captain Dak. I’m calling to let you know that I’m doing you a favor, something that will help start your new position off with a punch.”

“And what would that be?” He fumbled for his smokes. He had a feeling whatever it was; he wasn’t going to like it.

“We caught our first one or should I say I caught him. It was easier than I thought. I have him all safe and snug here and I saved you the trouble of a blood check. My personal doctor has already checked a sample of his blood and he came up positive for Jumping. I intend to give you full credit in return for an exclusive interview. When can you get over here?”

                                               *        *        *

As he went up the flight of stairs leading to the hotel room Law had indicated, he questioned his choice of heading over alone. He wouldn’t put it past her to make up the whole story as a ruse just to get him alone in a hotel room, but doubted it would be that easy.

Law met him at the door smoking a short cigarette and wearing only a thin silk shift. Pointing the way with her smoke, she lead him into the main room. Her long perfect legs proved impossible to ignore. Looking over her shoulder, she caught him staring and smiled. Her teeth were flawless and bone white. Besides Erin he had never met a woman whose body was so perfect, so close to the feminine ideal. 

Lucy Law

Placing her back against the doorway, she wordlessly gestured him into the suite’s bedroom. Passing within inches of where her erect nipples pressed against her loose slip, he entered the room and didn’t like what he saw.

In the center of the luxurious bed, was a bound, and most likely drugged, man. Since he was completely naked, Dak noticed his tattoos before he even took in the shadowed face. The battered man’s eyes slowly rose to meet his own. 

It was Mace, the Skinjumper agent who had worked along side of him as Fosters before Bly had his turn steering the dead man’s clone. Mace was more importantly one of Maxwell’s chief agents and also a friend of Erin’s. Hell, the man had just personally helped save Erin’s life when the assassin had almost blown her leg off. Since all three of them worked for Maxwell the leader of New Cluster’s Jumpers, this situation could quickly become a major problem, a problem with no apparent solution.

Mace was no fool. He played it up like they had never met. A string of obscenities flew from his mouth mostly aimed at Lacy’s and his mother’s virtues. Part of Dak wondered if Mace might be enjoying a chance to be able to insult him so furiously. Dak had certainly decked him for less.

Mace finished with, “And what has this whore talked you into now Enni?”

“Nothing yet punk and if you don’t keep that mouth of yours closed, I’ll stun you ass just so I can find the space to think.” Mace shut up, but eyed him with the intensity the situation warranted.

“What’s there to think about?” Law said, as her bare feet moved silently across the lush emerald carpeting. “I told you. My physician already checked out his blood. He’s a Jumper. Let’s take him in as soon as my camera crew gets here.”

She turned towards Dak tilting her head to the side. “Too bad you didn’t take me up on my offer for dinner. It left me feeling bored. I’m sure you appreciate that as much as I would like to lay claim for catching this freak myself…ah certain questions would be asked that I don’t care to answer.”

“Like how you slutted yourself out just to bag one of us,” Mace blurted out.

Dak silenced him with a wave of his hand. “Can I ask why you did this then?”

“Just doing my civic duty,” she smiled.

He just stared. “Okay, I just wanted to see how hard it would be. Besides I’ve learned more than a bit about Jumping from my new friend.” She ran her finger over Mace’s bound arm as she spoke, and he looked like he wanted to bite it off. “I’m thinking about doing a new special. The Jumper threat.”

Moving closer to Dak, it was his turned to be touched. Her hands felt cold, like the rest of her was as frigid as her heart. “I figure that you owe me an interview now.”

“Because of this loser?”

She turned away looking cross, but he was just happy her fingers were away from him. “Not because of him as much as for keeping my mouth shut about this bust and giving you all the credit.”

“What’s to keep me from just letting him loose and pretending the whole thing never happened.”

Either she really was aghast or she was a better actress than he would have given her credit for. “But he’s a Jumper. It’s your job to take them in.”

He shared a look with Mace who was making a foolish face behind her back. “Alright lady, why don’t you start getting yourself ready for your camera man. I’ll wait to call in the boys until you say your crew is in place.”

Approaching him once more, she ran his fingers down his neck. They were just as cold as before. “There is a bed in the front room. There’s no real hurry if you would like to…” Her scarlet lips were only inches from his.

“Ms. Law I know you think that rounding up this dreg is a major accomplishment, but I have a real agenda… so if you wouldn’t mind.”

Her eyes shot icy daggers at him, but with a flourish she retreated into the suite’s main bathroom.

Dak wasted no time, making his way to Mace’s side. They spoke in subdued tones. “Hurry up and untie me. Get me the hell out of here.”

“Not so fast. I can’t just let you go.” He paused. “Is there anyone you can call? Who would you call for help, if I wasn’t here?”

“There are some people I know, but I’m not sure we have enough time.”

Looking towards the bathroom door for a moment, Dak turned back to his bound associate. “If there is one thing I learned about pretty women, they take forever to get ready.”

Mace exhaled deeply. “Just call Erin. Tell her to dial in a code 10 and give her this address.” 

Learn more about the Skinjumpers of New Cluster Here!

 

Book Review of Mayhem, By Sarah Pinborough

Mayhem, by Sarah Pinborough is an Urban Fantasy story set in London during the time frame of Jack the Ripper's murders. Although some of the characters are involved with investigating Jack's slayings, this book does not focus on that nitrous serial killer. Instead we follow Doctor Bond as he investigates not only Jack's killings, but another set of slaying that are, if anything, more sinister and disturbing than Jack's.

Doctor Bond is a troubled man. He pines for a sweet engaged woman far too young for him and is also in the throws of losing the battle against opium addiction. Add to this the horror of seeing the victims of two sets of killers, both of which the police can not stop, and it is easy to see how he might be losing his grip.

At first things seem as normal as any drug addict hunting dual serial killers life could be, but when Bond meets a strange priest with a withered arm and later a disturbed Polish hairdresser, he is exposed to the idea that there is a supernatural cause to the string of second killings. These men claim that an evil creature called an Upir has attached to a host and is making this host commit these horrible atrocities.

The plot is told from several points of view, which gives the reader a well rounded feel for the tale, but does primarily focus on Dr. Bond. This is done while still keeping the outcome a secret, so the reader can piece the mystery together as Bond struggles to. The characters are rich here and it is easy to become immersed into gas lit London.

Drawbacks are hard to spot in this one. It is a bit of a complex plot. I would not suggest reading this one in bursts over time or it could be possible to lose the thread of the tale. It is a good page turner and would be best to read on the faster side so every detail is clear. There are also some leaps in time which, particularly near the beginning, are a little disorienting.

Pinborough's London is a drab scary place that is well set for Horror. An inventive monster keeps us interested and guessing. Mystery readers that do not mind a scare would enjoy this one. Also horror lovers that like things more subtle and atmospheric would also find this to their liking.


Learn More here

Review

By

Michael D. Griffiths