Updates

My life has been grueling the past few months. I have written almost nothing because I had no spare time at all.

Three things:

1. I am probably going to do some consolidating by taking down the four smaller Ecto ebooks from internet publishers in favor of just promoting the big omnibus The Ecto Chronicles.

2. I'm finally going to give this site it's long needed face lift. In fact I've already started.

3. I'm currently about 15% into writing a new science fiction novel set in present day earth. More details to come. 

Book Updates

All of my ebooks on both Amazon and Barnes & Nobel have now been updated with nice across-the-board formatting and functioning front matter (table of contents links.) They are now $1.99 each. Also, Soulbond has been taken down from Goodreads as a free to read ebook. 

Writing Helloween Thirteen (Pt. 2)

(Highlight the invisible text to read spoiler trivia.) 


When coming up with a power for the main villain I wanted it to be something brand new to the series. If this is the last bad guy you see, he'd better be memorable. I had it narrowed down to either metal manipulation or blood manipulation. With metal manipulation, the bad guy would be able to control the shape and consistency of any metal he touches. He'd also wear metal bracers or gauntlets that he could morph into spikes, claws, blades or long sharp wire tendrils. He'd have similar capabilities to the T-1000 in Terminator 2. I ended up going with the blood manipulation power because it helped solidify the plot and it fit in perfectly with the overall horror motif. It also had an interesting mechanic that if he used his own blood as a weapon, he'd naturally want more of it to play with so he'd end up collecting it over time and storing it to use later. Specifically the idea for Helloween Thirteen being a game show came from the video game Silent Hill 2. In the hospital level while you wait in the elevator, a bizarre transmission comes over your radio. It's literally a game show with a host that knows your name and asks you questions. It comes out of nowhere and leaves with no explanation for ANYTHING. The challenge is completely optional. The correct answers correspond to a combo lock on a mysterious box in the hospital. If you get it right, you get a big stash of supplies. If you get it wrong, you get seriously injured. It was just one of those really odd and disquieting moments in a video game that stuck with me.
I wrote the actual game Helloween Thirteen to resemble a twisted version of a cadet's military training as described in the first chapter of the book. The game can be thought of as an obstacle course with a linear path through several challenges to an eventual finish line. Things like the presence of eggs, the fact that Travis dresses up like a private and relies on his training to accomplish specific tasks creates a scenario akin to a nightmare which has incorporated elements from his own reality.
Inspiration for the climax came from Hard Target. Hard Target is an action movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme which I've seen twice in my life. Once when I was probably ten or younger and once when I was 23. That's a big gap. I remembered absolutely nothing about the movie except the name and the climax with the Mardi Gras floats.
 
Six is killed in the way that Angela from the first book was originally supposed to be killed. Angela's cause of death was changed because I didn't think it fit the scenario even though I really liked it. I'm glad I got to finally use it.
Are Six's powers magic?
 
I really want to say no because I've written all of the previous books as if magic doesn't exist in this universe. This is a science universe where things that would be considered paranormal in our universe are more or less explained and controlled. So what is magic? In pop culture it's basically an unseen power with little or no explanation behind it that can be tapped into with a set of steps in some form of a ritual or discipline. Well isn't that unseen power basically what ether is? But ether is pretty much established as a rule or an ambient force of nature like plate tectonics or the Earth's magnetic poles. 
Then there's the aspect of Six using elements from magic books to enhance his innate abilities. That means one of two things. If I declare that ether is definitively science then Six has made a hybrid of science and magic by controlling ether manifestation through these old world spells. Or it means that these "magic spells" have graduated from magic to science because they were true all along and were actually based around the user being an ether channeler. That opens a whole new can of worms. 

Red Eye is an antagonist archetype commonplace in slasher movies and survival horror video games who is relentless, much more powerful and seemingly indestructible compared to the protagonist who can only rely on stealth and quick thinking to stave them off until an eventual showdown. Red Eye has the clothes of Jericho Cross, the eyes of a T-100 terminator, the concealed weapons of Baraka, the bandages of the invisible man, the ‘personality’ of Jason Voorhees but inspired mostly from Mr. X. (If you get all of those references, I’m impressed.) 

In Helloween Thirteen, Travis is in his early forties but has the body of about a thirty year old.

Influences and inspiration for Helloween 13 include Silent Hill, Saw, Die Hard III, Hard Target and The Game.Trinity is the first female not to be deliberately named after a video game character. Instead her name begins with ‘Tr’ just like her parents’ names. 

If Six were a Batman villain, he would be a cross between the Riddler and Calendar Man. 

The boogeyman that Trish makes up to scare her daughter is essentially Bobby Barrows, AKA “Scissorman,” from the Clock Tower video games.

The general scenario and quote “You miserable pycho!” from the scene where Travis comes across all of the eggs in the burning building is directly transposed from a scene in the cartoon SWAT Kats. In the scene, one of the protagonists is riding a missile through the sky launched by the episode’s villain. He knows in order to make the missile inert, he simply has to cut the red wire. When he opens the panel on the missile, he finds that the interior seems to be nothing more than a mass of red wires.

Writing Helloween Thirteen (Pt. 1)

(Highlight the invisible text to read spoiler trivia.)

Helloween Thirteen is meant to be a summation of the whole Ecto Series. If you look at book 1 and book 4 side by side, you'll see two wildly different worlds, geographically, technologically and sociopolitically. The main characters are different, not just different characters but they've also changed as individuals over time. It has elements of all of the past titles. Nirvana, killer robots, mischievous children, the katana, almost getting arrested in a cemetery, return of an old antagonist and the result of a story arc that started back in book one and went on behind the scenes, bringing everything full circle.  

This was by a large degree the most difficult book in the series to write. By design many of the chapters had to be treated as little stories within the whole that required there own plot development and setting. On top of that, there are three different perspectives/story lines, (sometimes more,) that intertwine through all of this and somehow need to flow together and not step on each other's toes. I have an extreme fear of plot holes and loss of continuity in the story or any of the rules I've established for the world. I can become fixated and obsessed with stupid minutia like how well known should movies from before the Great Outbreak be, are there safety barriers and security that make it impossible for people to run onto the subway tracks and can an advanced four-year-old really draw that well? In this situation it was easy to screw something up if I wasn't paying very close attention to everything. I've already said that I don't make outlines for stories and just write from start to finish what's in my brain but this time was going to have to be different. Things got hard and I took a long hiatus. Eventually I realized that I just needed to make a timeline of events so that I could keep everything straight and stop getting lost.

Even while writing the train fight scene in the first book I was wondering what was going to happen to the clones after everything was said and done. What a strange existence they'd have. The end of the train fight was left open ended in that the reader knows that at least one of these clones survives. I wrote it this way just in case I wanted to revisit it later but at the same time if I didn't do anything with it, it wouldn't leave a gaping hole in the story.

The story is set in New Chicago which is of course a new iteration of the Chicago Illinois that everyone knows. It was where the final battle took place in the end of the first book. I like the idea of going back to it and showing that it has a little bit of post war/battle affluence. Many writers like to use locations that they've lived in and are familiar with. I don't. Unfortunately the only alternative to that is using somewhere you're unfamiliar with. I don't really know much about Chicago other than the interior of O'Hare National Airport. If I was going to use more or less a real city with a mandatory site seeing aspect as a plot vehicle, I needed to do some research on it.

You can always bet on any large city having zoos and parks but what about iconic natural or man-made landmarks like the Chicago River or the Sears Tower. I need to know specific things about them if I'm to use them. For one it would be good to know that the Sears Tower isn't called the "Sears Tower" anymore. When did this happen? I didn't know that. It's the Willis Tower now. I decided instead of specifically using the tower, I'd sort of reference it in a parody type skyscraper.

When I checked to make sure that Chicago had a river running through it, I got completely distracted by how unnaturally green the Chicago River is. It's seriously the same hue as radioactive Nickelodeon slime. It's completely bizarre. I would NOT want to go swimming in it.

The last checkpoint challenge that I wrote was the buried treasure in the sand one. The rest of the story was more or less done except for this single challenge. I was really struggling to come up with a setting and concept new to the game. (That's what I wanted for each one of them.) I actually went to a Chicago tourism website for ideas. When I saw a picture of the Oak Street Beach, I knew that was the ticket.

When I came to the ending of Helloween Thirteen, I realized that it wasn't just the end of this book but also the end of the series. Assuming that nothing else was written after it like I'm planning, I needed to sort of sum everything up and end with the correct mood or lasting impression that I wanted. I couldn't leave things open or awkwardly unsure like in A Fistful of Ether. Part of the reason was that even with everything more or less ending well, this was still an incredibly dark book with some very ominous implications. Is this finally the last apocalyptic disaster that these characters have to face? Even if it's not, I still wanted this family to have an established sense of perseverance and an aura of invincibility.    

Helloween Thirteen on Nook

Helloween Thirteen is now available for digital download at the Barnes & Nobel website.

Happy Halloween!

Helloween Thirteen: Out Now!

The final chapter... uh... book of the Ecto Saga, Helloween Thirteen is finally out. It is currently available for download on your e-reader at Amazon. Feel free to buy twenty or so of them. It will also be coming to Barnes & Nobel momentarily.

Helloween Thirteen Progress

I'm making unprecedented strides in writing Helloween Thirteen. I seriously just wrote an entire chapter in one sitting. That has never happened before. Funny how being in between jobs and having no money seems to free up a lot of time. I guess that's how most books get written. Anyway, I'll be done writing it within a month, I'm certain. However this does not necessarily mean that the book is coming out in less than a month... But it might. 

Helloween Thirteen: Cut Chapter

        This was originally chapter six of Helloween Thirteen. It will not be in the final draft of the book because I decided to cut it. I still like the chapter but there really is no reason for it to be in the story. It's basically just filler about a baseball game and not only does it not do anything for the story but if you don't like or understand baseball then it won't even entertain you.

        Yes, the Cubs franchise did survive the apocalypse which makes them the oldest baseball franchise in the world. I would have written in a joke about them still being cursed but you know... as safe as that seems, I still didn't want to risk it. Anyway, please enjoy this completely pointless chapter... unless you hate baseball.   

BONUS CHAPTER

                               

        A sudden roar enveloped the train as it rushed into a black tunnel. This had better not interfere with the signal, thought Solomon. He sat with his feed glasses on, intently watching the last half of the last inning of what was potentially the last game of the Southern League Baseball Championship... But hopefully not.

        The announcer did his recap after the commercial break ended. Three to four, Cobalts in the bottom of the ninth and the Cobalts have to keep it that way to stay in the championship for a chance at going to the World Series. They missed an opportunity for an insurance run at the top so now it’s all up to Mendez close the game. Still in. He’s perfectly capable of pitching a complete game but has only gotten to do so once in the regular season.

        “Oh my God,” said Solomon in amazement. “Mendez is still pitching? They’re crazy.”

        Strong, first up for the Cubs. He's two out of four tonight... The pitch: big swing and a miss.

        "Strike him out, Mendez," he muttered absently.   

        Not a lot of action in the past four innings. Mendez throws... It's a hit. A broken bat and a line drive into right field.

        Solomon gritted his teeth as the first baseman missed a dive for the ball which skipped by into the green. "Oh no."

        Wayne picks it up. Strong stays at first for a lead-off single... A critical first move for the Cubs. Joyce up next...

        "O God, no." He watched as Joyce held out the bat for the pitch but retracted it at the last moment.

        First pitch is a breaking ball. Low and away for a ball. Joyce showing bunt. A little surprising.

        Joyce's stats came up on screen. "Why's Joyce bunting? He can hit." Whatever, thought Solomon. He might advance Strong to second but at least it wouldn't be getting a game ending home run.

        The ball ricocheted off of the bat and bounced in the infield dirt. The pitcher scrambled to pick it up but made a careful throw to first base.

        A successful sacrifice bunt from Joyce who’s out at first but puts the tying run on second. A replay came up of Strong watching for the bunt but already on his way to second. Strong was ready for it, already half way there when the ball crosses the plate... Werner takes the plate. Kramer on deck. One out.

        Mendez shot a glance over his shoulder to second base before winding up. Strong inched his way back.

        Werner swings; it pops back and fouls out of play.

        Mendez checked second again and saw the huge lead that the runner had taken. He quickly threw to the baseman who rushed to tag out Strong. Strong dove in the dirt to get a hand on the bag.

        “Get him!”

        Pickoff attempt at second. And it is very close but he's safe.

        “What? No! He was so out!” A zoomed in slow motion replay came on of Strong sliding on his stomach back to the base, the gloved ball slapping him on the arm. “Out! Look, I can officiate better over the damn TV.”

        Close call for Strong.   

        Mendez got the ball back and fired a low fastball. It landed in the dirt and Werner quickly stepped away from the plate, thinking it went to the backstop. The catcher stretched to smother the ball which bounced off of his glove and rolled in the dirt. He flung off his mask and feigned a panicky throw to third.

        “No!” Solomon winced at the bad pitch.

        The pitch skips in. But it’s blocked behind home plate and Strong does not advance. Mendez, having a hard time keeping Strong at second.

        Mendez was thrown a new ball. He rubbed his hands on it and adjusted his cap to squeegee the sweat from his forehead, trying to give himself a moment to realign after the nearly wild pitch. He looked at the dugout for signs from the manager. Then at the catcher. Then back at second. 

        Werner swings at a very low ball... And it rolls foul. Almost a golf swing. One and two. Werner will chase the low balls all day and Mendez knows it, whether or not he meant it to be that low. A good pitcher knows how to consistently hit the strike zone. But a great pitcher knows how to get the batter to swing at a terrible pitch.

        Pitch four hits the high and outside corner for a called strike three. Mendez's eleventh strikeout this game... Two outs and a man still on second.

        "Yes!" shouted Solomon. "One more! One more!" Solomon reveled in the replay of the last well-crafted strike. It was right in the middle of the grey zone, on the edge of the box and meant to look like a ball. 

         Kramer up. Last hope for the Cubs to come away with a championship here tonight... The first pitch is high. Ball one.”

         Solomon watched in horror as Mendez proceeded to pitch three balls in a row "Jesus Cristo! Get it together!"

        Toni and the pitching coach, Ron Gauss, run out to the mound to have a talk with Mendez.

        A close up of the manager in the Cobalts' dugout came up. His chin resting on the railing, he looked sullen yet relaxed, almost as if he had started the grieving process early just in case.

        I don’t think he even considered not letting Mendez finish. He did have a bit of a rocky start but since he took off, the Cubs have struggled to get anything off of him. He allowed three runs and four hits and the manager says put it all on Mendez. If this helps get them the series, he'll have several days of rest. If it doesn't... he gets even more rest.

        Toni, the catcher, jogged back to his stance behind the plate.

        Kramer takes it for a called strike… A three and one count.

        "I swear to God, if you walk him..."

        The sixth pitch… It’s in tight for a walk.

        “When is this going to end?” he breathed. "Why didn't he just hit him with the first pitch? At least then he might be injured." It seemed like the whole game had been like this. In fact every game that they had won against the Cubs had been like this. If they ended up winning this series it was because the laws of chance had turned in their favor, because technically they did not seem to be the better team.

        “Mendez!” somebody shouted over the train’s roar in frustration. Solomon looked over the top of his glasses to see who else was watching the game but couldn’t immediately identify anyone. It was kind of unusual to hear a Cobalts fan in a train in New Chicago.

        Men at first and second. Zane at bat now, who’s done most of the heavy lifting for the Cubs tonight with an RBI double in the first and a homerun in the third. Definitely not someone Mendez is happy to see right now. We may be looking at an intentional walk which will load up the bases.

        Solomon groaned and banged his head against the window, trying not to damage his glasses in the process. “It’s just one out. That’s all. It doesn’t have to be as hard as you’re making it. Stop screwing around.”

        Zane takes low and inside. Called strike one… I guess he’s going to pitch to him.

        “What? Why the hell are they letting him pitch to Zane now? Why the hell is he pitching at all? Walk him… Or send in someone else for God’s sake! Send in Holt! I can’t watch this anymore!” Solomon could no longer see the strobing tunnel lights coming in through the train car windows. He couldn't hear the roar either. For better or for worse, the game was going to end with this. He could feel it. 

        There came the crack of the bat.

        Zane hits one high and deep into left field.

        “No!” He clenched his fists and squirmed on the edge of his seat as the Cubs began to run the bases. He instinctively attempted to cover his eyes, which is what he usually did, until he remembered he was watching on glasses.

        McConnel, running all the way back. Will it clear the wall? McConnel, at the track. Caught by McConnel! Game over! Series tied! Cobalts take game six!

        "Yes!"

        A replay of McConnel making a ridiculous over-the-shoulder catch while running full speed toward the wall came on. Then the dugout reactions of both teams as their emotions flip-flopped.

        McConnel with an amazing catch... saved the game and the series. An incredible performance from Raul Mendez. Only his second complete game this season and what a pivotal game it was. No championship celebrations tonight. We'll have to wait for game seven for this series' conclusion.

        Solomon slumped back in his seat and sighed. “Dammit, now I have to watch them again tomorrow night,” he muttered. "I hate baseball." Suddenly he noticed the train’s open doors and the station name. “Oh, my stop!” he gasped. He grabbed his suitcase and quickly dragged it out through the closing doors and onto the platform

Official Helloween Thirteen Blurb

       In a world where one can read the back of any given book of fiction and be given huge plot twists before even opening the actual book, I'm going to give you a warning. Don't read the synopsis/blurb below if you haven't finished the 3rd book... or don't care. It has spoilers. I always hate writing these because it forces my hand. I have to divulge some important information in order to tell people what the story is about. I'd like people to just be able to sit down and read the story knowing nothing about the plot as I dole pieces out to them in the exact way and at the exact pacing that I want. But I also realize that that is completely unrealistic. The best I can do in this situation is to make the story sound entertaining while keeping as many secrets as possible. So, here we go...

        It is five years after the Sirius Incident and the bad memories have all but faded away. Trish and Travis Garret live and work in New Chicago, Travis as a drill instructor and Trish as a detective with the local PD. With their lives finally stabilized, everything seems to be looking up. But the appearance of a serial killer in the city could endanger their daughter and leave their lives in ruins. Nothing is predictable with a criminal who appears more than human... and perhaps even familiar. It's a battle against time as both Trish and Travis are pulled into a twisted game with the stakes as high as they get.

Helloween 13: First Chapter

       So I'm most of the way done with Helloween Thirteen. My progress has picked back up again and I'm moving along. I keep trying to think up things to post here but I've been drawing a blank. So I've decided I should just post some of the book. I should probably write some kind of summary/blurb for it but it would have to contain spoilers and I don't really want to do it just yet. Maybe in a little bit. So here is chapter one of the fourth book in its entirety.  

CHAPTER ONE

        "Listen close, kids. We’re doing something different today." Travis strode down the line of officer cadets, all standing at ease in the cool mid morning air. "You’ll be running the full obstacle course… with an egg. Each one of you will be issued one egg. Once you have your egg, keep it on your person at all times. Hold it in your hand. Put it in your pocket. Balance it on your head. I don’t care as long as you keep it safe and have it with you at the end."
        Travis stopped in front of one cadet and leaned in close to inspect his shoulder. A solitary piece of fuzz clung there. Was it new or had he just failed to notice it at the other lineups? He looked at the cadet who was staring blankly off into the distance and then back at the fuzz. Then he flicked the artifact to the wind, shook his head and continued down the line.
        "The objective of this exercise is to make it to the end of the course under six minutes without damaging the egg. The ones that can accomplish this will receive a ration of water. The rest will receive… Well, I don't need to tell you that you never want to be the rest."
        He shot a glance down. "Feet too far apart. That is not how you stand at attention." He yanked the cadet out of line by the shoulder. "On the ground. Twenty now. It's week three. I can't believe I'm still having to do this."
        The cadet dropped to the ground with his hands in the dirt. Travis stood there above him. "Are these instructions clear to everyone?"
        A unanimous "Sir, yes sir!" resounded from the line.
        Cadets never asked questions. They were usually too afraid.
        "Are we going to have a lot of fun today?"
        "Sir, yes sir!"
        Travis waited for his helper friend to finish handing out the eggs. He was getting special treatment for trying to stand out.
        The cadets were all dismissed to the course. Travis retrieved an old battered book from his pocket and opened it. "Today’s reading will be excerpts from Thoreau’s Walden." He conjured up his reading voice which was much softer and more eloquent than his drill instructor voice. It was good practice for him to switch back and forth. It helped him keep it a persona which was what he wanted. Something he could turn off and on when he wanted.
        "Solitude. This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in nature, a part of herself…" He spoke deliberately with careful annunciation and appropriate pauses into the tiny microphone which he had on his lapel. His words boomed through the outdoor PA system over the grunting men who were starting to sweat, some already bleeding from shallow barbed wire scratches. Very little of this sank in while they were in this state, he realized, but he liked to think that it at least made some kind of subliminal connection… though concepts like the solitude of nature were lost on most people in New Chicago.
        Out of his peripheral vision he saw them, much slower than usual, sometimes pausing at obstacles to readjust their eggs according to what they thought was safest. There were many large pileups. The objective had changed. Being the quickest and most agile meant a lot less now that they had to protect something fragile.
        Travis glanced up at the wall briefly in between sentences and saw a cadet at the bottom placing his egg on the dirt just against the side of the wall.
        Travis snapped his book shut. "Foster!" he exploded. "In front of me, now!"
        Foster turned with a start and began to run towards Travis.
        "With the egg, Foster! With the egg!"
        He quickly doubled back, snatched his egg from the ground and assembled in front of Travis.
        Travis leaned in close to scream in his face. "What the fuck did I just tell you? Are you hard of hearing?"
        "Sir, no sir."
        "Did I not explicitly say never to leave your egg?"
        "Yes sir, you did, sir." 
        "Then why did you leave your egg? Did you think I wouldn’t see? Do you think I’m stupid?" 
         "No sir, I don’t, sir."
        "I have eyes in the back of my head! Smash that egg over your head, cadet!"
        Foster took the egg from his side and slapped it over the top of his forehead. It exploded in his hairline and began to drip into his eyebrows.
        "One more, cadet!" Travis handed him another egg which he took with great speed and smashed over the other one. "Apologize to the eggs!"
        "I’m so sorry, eggs."
        Travis had to fight back a smile. "Now run laps double time around the track until those eggs are fried. I like them burnt."
        "Sir, yes sir!"
        Travis sighed through his teeth and reopened Walden, muttering the words as he found his place again. He wandered over closer to the course and began to read once more. "For what reason have I this vast range and circuit, some square miles of unfrequented forest, for my privacy, abandoned to me by men?"
        The heaviest cadet scaled the wall. Panting and face flushed. He pulled himself over the top and attempted to lower himself down gracefully with the egg in one hand. He landed hard but on his feet, only stumbling.
        Travis slapped him on the back roughly as he jogged by. He continued walking toward the end as he read, occasionally shooting suspicious glances at the cadets.
        "Garret," came a firm voice from behind him.
        He turned to see First Sergeant Lancer walking briskly toward him. They stopped and quickly exchanged salutes.
        "You have a moment." It wasn’t a question.
        "Yes," said Travis.
        They turned to walk along the course.
        "They really want you in that position," said Lancer in an unusually soft voice.
        "I like where I am, though," replied Travis. "I’ll just end up behind a desk somewhere."
        "You have a lot of experience that would be better appreciated in a higher position."
        He didn’t know what he was talking about, thought Travis. The vast majority of his ‘experience’ would be wasted. It would be much better passed on to soldiers as an instructor. He wished he could say this opportunity was because he was highly qualified but he ultimately suspected that the only reason they were doing this to him was just to get his name attached to the facility as some kind of promotional trophy.
        Ever since he had left Helios so many years ago, it had been difficult to regain the respect that he'd lost from becoming a deserter and not to mention perpetually looking like he was in his mid twenties. But now that he was aging again, he could at least look a little more experienced. This new assignment meant more money and a hell of a lot more time, and the time was by far the most enticing thing.
        "And what about them?" He gestured to the course. "Would you just pull me out in the middle of week three?"
        "Still early enough. Do you know how many NCOs we have floating around, ready to fill this assignment? The bottom line is that you’re the best we have for the position. If you’re only concerned about the continuity of the program, don’t be."
        "Can I think about it some more?"
        "Okay, but hurry."
        "I’ll have my answer by tomorrow."
        They parted ways and Travis jogged over to the end of the course. He waited there and watched as the first cadet climbed out of the dust. "Present egg."
        The cadet handed over his egg. Travis took it and turned it over between his fingers as he inspected it. A crack on the side. He shook his head, "Oh, too bad."
        The next cadet appeared.
        "Present egg."
        "I don't have it, sir."
        "Then where the hell is it, cadet?"
        "It fell on the ground back at the rope swings, sir."
        "And you didn't bring it with you. Go keep Foster company on the track until you remember how to follow instructions."
        This kind of taxing endurance training, was viewed as archaic and inefficient by many. But this was how he learned back in Greywall, and at a much earlier age. This was why he chose to work at a base infamous for its intense curriculum.
        As it turned out, he had to send a disappointingly large number of cadets to the track. He began handing out the promised water bottles to those that had completed the challenge. They were small bottles but greatly appreciated as they twisted them open and began to chug them.
        "Where's your egg, cadet?" He looked the egg over quickly and began to hand over the water but pulled it back abruptly from grasping hands. He squinted his eyes close to the surface of the egg, holding it up to the light and shook his head. "Tiny hairline crack right there, see? This water's mine." He twisted off the top and took a sip. Then he dumped the rest out into the dirt. He made an exaggerated sigh of refreshment and then turned to the rest of the line. "It takes around five days to die of dehydration and a month to die of starvation. That's a long time. Aren't we all thankful we only have to go one day?"
        "Sir, yes sir."

Book 4 Cover Art

This will likely be the cover art for the final book of the Ecto Series, probably titled Helloween Thirteen. What am I doing Photoshopping around instead of writing? Well... Let's just say I'm having a difficult time getting the story from point A to point B. Brainstorm in progress...