Saturday, January 23, 2010

"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

While I watched and enjoyed Conan O'Brien's work over the years I never became a fan of him until tonight. He dealt with his situation with a lot more dignity and humor than I would have managed. Hell I'm still bitching about the fact I failed 9th Grade.

So from now on, no matter where Mr. O'Brien's career takes him...

Friday, January 22, 2010

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Eight

When death comes for you,” the fortune teller warned, “its breath will be minty fresh.”

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Seven

He was into the whole getting tied up thing until she started setting his leg hairs on fire. Actually he was still pretty into it.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Six

“Look,” Judy said, “I'm not here because of a silly legacy or scholarship. I'm here because my mom is screwing the Dean!”

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Five

Glam rocker/superhero Roy Ramses didn't have a secret identity but he was terrified of being seen without eyeliner.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Four

“To see the flaws in the capitalism go to a shopping mall, to see the breakdown of the social contract visit the restrooms.”

(Recommended Reads) "A Bat For Mr. Roxby" by Karen Schindler

Through the open window the screams were as loud as if they were on the tv two feet away. He had to imagine that the screams were coming from some fictional place like the tv or the radio or he'd go mad. He pointed the remote at the screen and increased the volume to max…. that's how most tenants dealt with the screams on hot nights. ..

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5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Three

Pam worked exclusively from the spell-book she had bought in El Paso. All her hexes came from Texas.

(Recommended Reads) "Combustion" By Lily Mulholland

Jo was awake before her eyes opened. She could hear a low hum but couldn’t identify its source. The dandelion hairs on her tummy were dancing to a gentle breeze; she was stark naked. Without moving, Jo understood she was strapped down to some kind of bench. Metal, she thought, judging from the way it cradled her body; cold, like a mortician’s slab...


click here to read part one of this series

click here to read the rest of "Combustion"

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Two

Captain Eagle of the Space Patrol found himself at a moral crossroads, so he blew up both planets.

Paracinema...The Blog: Student Confidential


Paracinema...The Blog: Student Confidential

Oh no! I had forgotten about this movie!

(Recommended Reads) " Falling Star" by Olivia Tejeda

Diego Bendigas tries squeezing his way through the tourists packed onto the terrace waiting for the cliff divers. “Con permiso,” he says courteously, “Con permiso,” but no one moves. It is not until they see his dark brown body covered only with a tiny blue swimsuit, that they realize he is one of the divers, and in awe, they make way as if he’s a movie star...

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5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty One

Professor Lindquist had long searched for a way to combine laptops and sea life, then he invented the wireless cod.

(Recommended Reads) "Time's Faux Pas" by Laura Eno

Chronos looked over to see if his companion heard him. Death sat in a recliner, flicking peanuts from a spoon and catching them in his eye sockets...


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5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty

As if his self esteem wasn't bad enough he had recently joined Facebook- the high school reunion that never ends.

And now... a shill...

IN THIS TWILIGHT tales of lost gods and fragile transformations

This collection of 13 stories transports you to a world where both dreams and monsters lurk in the shadows, where love and forgotten rituals fight for control of the human heart, and where the madness of eternity can be glimpsed in a single segmented eye. This anthology collects some of the best stories from Al Bruno III's website and includes the novellas 'Chad's Oracles', 'Fully Vested' and 'The Mask Collector', available for the first time anywhere. Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.

IN THE MIDNIGHT OF HIS HEART a novel of horror and obsession

To all outward appearances John Sig is just an old man living a quietly in an empty old house. His one pleasure is when he heads down to the local diner and visits with his favorite waitress Angie. When Angie disappears, John sets out to find her. For an ordinary old man that might seem like a foolish idea but John Sig isn't human, he's a monster living in the shadow of a nightmare thirty -five years old.

In The Pit
This is the comic book I wrote, that sadly it never made it past the first issue. Too bad I had envisioned a fantastic tale of serial killers, Canadian pro wrestlers and exploding toilets. Still though I think you might enjoying reading the first issue, it is still available as a PDF file. There are also some preview pages at the sight below.
Order away and weep for what might have been. Some of my best work is available from the fine folks at Eden Studios. My contribution to their game lines has been mainly in the area of fiction. The rules and setting information was written by other very capable folks like Richard Dakan, CJ Carella, Jack Emmert, George Vasilakos and M. Alexander Jurkat. Believe me, they did all the hard work. If you are a fan of role-playing games or a fan of zombie movies then the books below are going to be right up your alley.
ALL FLESH MUST BE EATEN main rulebook
Enter the dark world of survival horror. The Dead walk among us. This role-playing game allows you to play in a world infested by the walking dead. The main rulebook includes rules for character creation, combat and everything else you need to play in a world of survival horror. Also detailed are the multiple campaign settings so you can customize the type of "deadworld" you wish to explore.232 pages.Hardcover.Cover Art by Christopher Shy. Click here for ordering information
ZOMBIE MASTER SCREEN
A must-have reference for All Flesh Must Be Eaten, the Zombie Master's Screen is filled with charts and tables. From fear to weapons to outcomes, every reference that a prepared Zombie Master needs is packed onto a four-panel screen. The flip side of the screen scares and delights the players with full-color zombie images. The Screen is packed with a 48-page booklet, including a ready-to-run adventure introducing the Cast Member to the horrors of a zombie plague, and pregenerated characters with complete bios, statistics and resource information. Cover Art by Christopher Shy and George Vasilakos. Click here for ordering information
ENTER THE ZOMBIE
Written by Richard DakanThe first supplement to All Flesh Must Be Eaten opens whole new vistas for a walking dead campaign. This tome brings together the thrills of Hong Kong action films and the excitement of flesh-craving horror. The match of these two genres may not have seemed obvious at first, but the pleasures that arise from it are undeniable. After all, zombies and Hong Kong style action make a perfect fit. What better match is there for a relentless series of lightning kicks and a hurricane of bullets than a target that can’t die? The pulse-pounding danger just never stops. Besides, what martial arts master worth his salt doesn't ache for the ability to use his own intestines as a deadly whip? For the undead, no problem!Softcover.Cover Art by Christopher Shy. Click here for ordering information
TERRA PRIMATE
Written by Al Bruno III, CJ Carella, David F. Chapman, Patrick SweenyBased on the original concept by George Vasilakos and Ross IsaacsEdited by M. Alexander Jurkat, David F. ChapmanCover art by Jeff ReitzInterior Art by Storn Cook, Thomas Denmark, Talon Dunning, DW Gross, Jon Hodgson, Chris Keefe, Jason Millet, Matt Morrow, James Powers, Gregory Price, George Vasilakos From the creators of All Flesh Must Be Eaten, similar in style but this time . . . with apes! Terra Primate has no specific setting. The only constant is the concept of intelligent apes. Planet of the Apes is a movie about intelligent apes, but then again so is Congo. As long as the characters are interacting with intelligent apes -- or are intelligent apes themselves! -- the game could be set in the pulp era of adventure, on a post-apocalyptic Earth, on a faraway alien planet, or downtown on Main Street. The main rulebook includes rules for character creation, combat and everything else you need to play in a world where man is the missing link! Also detailed are the multiple campaign settings so you can customize the type of "Apeworld" you wish to explore. Click here for ordering information

MY SUPA LIFE goes for a joke I might not have! (oh who are we kidding here... of course I would have!)




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Monday, January 18, 2010

(Recommended Reads) " Doomed" by Ganymeder

He posted his latest tweet as he heard the villagers pounding outside the gate to his crypt. Thankfully he could read the Twitter app well enough since his cell phone was backlit. The darkness of his coffin was comforting, but he wasn’t fooled. Soon the mob would break inside, discover his hiding place, and he would be doomed...

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5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Thirty Eight

One man creates all of the sleazy sexual metaphors used by the porn industry, his name is Craven Moorehead.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Thirty Seven

Cyborg superhero Rusty Johnson's greatest technical challenge was installing a cloaking device on his monster truck.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Thirty Six

Lorelei Miller had faced vampires, zombies and ghosts from the future but she wasn't sure if the was ready to attend a frat party.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Thirty Five

Every day Magic Marvin visited the Kingdom of Make Believe and Adventure, at least until the hospital staff made him take his meds.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Thirty Four

“No more asking me to make sheep noises in bed,” Yasmine warned her husband. “This means ewe.”

Sunday, January 17, 2010

(Recommended Reads) " Willpower" by Lily Mulholland

Sarah had saved the new skin for a special occasion, growing it with the obsessive care of an orchidist. Determined to keep it blemish free, she had kept her left arm encased in cotton for the past two weeks. She wanted nothing to spoil its pearlescent purity...

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(Recommended Reads) "The Bubble" by Jessica Rosen

She never wore much make-up before him. Now she had to layer it on to hide how much he loved her from the rest of the world...

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(Recommended Reads) "The Right Thing To Say" by CJ Hodges MacFarlane

Her friend pulled the truck up to the doors of the hotel. She glanced over at him and said, “Thanks for the ride.” Not bothering to acknowledge his hurt look at the brief comment, she got out, shut the door and walked through the double glass doors and into the hotel lobby. To her right she saw her mother, father and friends, some already standing, waiting for her to join them. The look on every face was of raw concern, whether smiling through it or just frozen in place, like so many deer in the headlights. She couldn’t deal with them right now – she needed to be alone...

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(Recommended Article) "Gods, Monsters, and Ernest Thesiger" by Frankensteinia

Ernest Thesiger was born on January 15, in 1879. His family was a storied one, with barons, war heroes and a famous explorer among his ancestors. As a young man, Thesiger worked or socialized with some of the great British artists, among them George Bernard Shaw, Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward. The famous American-born painter John Singer Sargent, the leading portrait painter of his era, captured a smiling 32-year old Thesiger in a charcoal sketch in 1911...

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(Recommended Reads) "Homecoming" by Peggy McFarland

"Where to?"

"Forty-two Trenton Street."

The rearview mirror revealed his raised eyebrows under the ball cap's brim. Teri ignored his look, reached for the door handle. Static shocked her fingertips. Stale sweat and old fried onions assaulted her nose. The meter's click jolted her. She shut her door. It had been a long time since she'd ridden in a cab. In any vehicle.


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(Recommended Reads) "Nature/Nurture" by Maria Protopapadaki-Smith

“Daddy, I broke my stick. Can I have another one?” Tessie asked, ponytail swinging as she hopped from one foot to another to emphasise her need for a new stick. She knew he wouldn’t refuse her, but the action earned her an even bigger smile...

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