Saturday, January 30, 2010

Shillin' like a Villain Awwww yeah...

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

Friday, January 29, 2010

Speaking Of Super Heroes...

I am really glad that you folks out there are reading and enjoying my LOCAL HEROES stories.

These are ideas and characters I have carried around in my head since I was a boy and I had long ago lost any hope of anything every coming from them.

This is a picture of them back i did back in 1986 from when I thought I could draw (I couldn't)




They say things never change and I guess when it comes to dreams that is especially true.

Thanks for reading and keep circulating the blog!

(Recommended Reads) leftbrainwrite: Thick With Memory

Daddy weaved over me, his eyes bleary yet indignant.

"Phoebe. Where’s the damn cheddar?” He grunted, then turned, the belt of his plaid robe trailing on the floor. I stumbled up, tripping over the afghan, and followed...


leftbrainwrite: Thick With Memory

(Recommended Reads) " Goldi-locks Part 2" by Ganymeder

The burglar glared at her jailers through the bars as the clock struck for the noonday meal...

click here to read the rest

(Recommended Reads) "Cain and Annabelle" by Amy Taylor

“I don’t do this often, you know…” I didn’t quite know why I was telling him this, but for some reason, it was important to me. It was important what he thought of me...

click here to read the rest

(Recommended Reads) " A Northern Swan Song" by Chance

“Get your lips tighter around it, you’re dribbling.”

This was the third time in the space of ten minutes I had to draw attention to Miss Rotterlicks’ technique. She looked up to me with those bugged eyes of hers, blessed with all the grace of a grasshopper. As she always did in these scenarios, she began to go faster...


click here to continue

(Recommended Reads) "Lament" by Karen Schindler

I'd seen the red ball before of course. Just yesterday as a matter of fact. Little Brianna was playing with it. Bouncing it on the building whap whap whap...

click here to read the rest

Adventures in Nerdliness: Nerd Girl of Note #47


One of my first and longest lasting crushes...

ELDRICH WAY has given me the CIRCLE OF FRIENDS award


I really do treasure these things, they are a sign that my work is being enjoyed.


Now I shall pass the award on to 5 other deserving souls who will than pass it along as well...

J Dane Tyler's Fiction Blog

The Suppertime Sonnets

Mazz In Leeds

Miscellaneous Yammering

Adventures In Nerdliness

Stop by and give them a read!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

THE LOCAL HEROES: 4-Color Cookout


4-Color Cookout

by
Al Bruno III

It was such a rare thing for the entire team to be together at the same time that the Local Heroes almost came to look forward to global crises. Not that any of the low-powered defenders of River City were ever called upon at times like this but since most citizens and criminals were hiding in their homes it was as good a time for a rooftop cookout.


“Now tell me again who is invading?” displaced luchador Fuego asked as worked the grill. He had once been a champion wrestler but satanic mobsters had robbed him of his title. Because of this he has vowed to wear his mask at all times until he was reinstated - he also refused to wear a shirt but that was more of a lifestyle choice.

“The Quablidoids,” Rusty Johnson, cyborg redneck pointed across the river. “You can tell by the honeycomb shape.” Years ago Rusty had been in a terrible accident, a passing group of friendly aliens saved his life but their unfamiliarity with human physiology had led them to combine parts of his body with parts of his beloved monster truck. The experience, and the resulting series of interplanetary malpractice lawsuits made him the team's expert in all matters of an intergalactic nature.

The cookout was taking place atop the town's second tallest building, a parking garage. From there they had a perfect view of the battle taking place over the night-darkened skies of Megalopolis City. Blasts of laser fire and heat vision flashed though the air like fireworks.

“Oooooo.” Hrothgar the Viking gaped at a particularly lovely explosion of antimatter, his sword in one hand a chili dog in the other. The heroic berserker could only escape from Valhalla so long as he kept his hand on the pommel of his magic blade, if he let go of the blade for more than a few seconds he switched places again with his mild mannered ancestor. While he was a nice enough fellow the team rarely needed the assistance of an asthmatic DMV employee.

Another explosion, another Quablidoid saucer careened wildly and crashed into the Hallenbeck River.

The Maven, Psychotic Kid and Amazing Ed watched the battle with high-powered binoculars while chewing on hamburgers. “Ok who is the new kid over there?” the Maven asked. She was slender and wore a dark purple costume and full face mask. She had to pull the face mask up to her nose so she could eat her hamburger. She was one of the world's greatest detectives and occasionally worked as a consultant for the more notable and powerful superheroes, mostly because beings that could change the course of mighty rivers rarely knew how to solve a murder mystery.

“Which one?”Amazing Ed asked. His costume was a pair of khaki pants, a dime store Lone Ranger mask and a T-Shirt was an 'A' hastily scrawled on it with magic marker. His only known power was his boundless enthusiasm in the face of horrible and regular beatings.

“The one made of fire.”

“Oh. that's Nova-Flame,”

Psychotic Kid wore a ninja outfit made from an American flag and his voice was a constant snarl; some said he sounded like Clint Eastwood with hemorrhoids but never ever to his face. “He applied to be a part of our team,” he said, “The Captain wouldn't have it.”

“Of course not.” Captain Hero said. He was the teams leader and he stood on the ledge of the parking garage, his hands on his hips and his cape billowing, He never wavered in his fervor to defend liberty and the American way, he also made one Hell of a potato salad, “Heroes with fire powers set a dangerous example for the youth of today.”

The Maven gave a little groan, “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I never kid when it comes to the youth of today.”

Fuego looked up from the grill, “Who wants cheeseburgers?”

“Me! Me!” said the woman wearing diaphanous robes and hovering about an inch off the ground. She was Erato, a minor goddess that dabbled in crime fighting and writing smutty novels. The Local Heroes only called upon her in the direst of circumstances mostly because the theological implications of her existence made some members of the team profoundly uncomfortable.

The Maven scanned the aerial battlefield and then stopped, she focused and re-focused her binoculars, “There’s Mighty Woman!”

“Oh cool!” Amazing Ed followed her gaze. “What’s she doing?”

“Bending flying saucers into amusing shapes.”

“Woah.”

Psychotic Kid snorted dismissively, “I hear all her powers come from her golden armor.”

Erato gave the all-American ninja a dirty look, “What’s the difference?”

“Commander Infinity doesn’t need to use special armor to change the course of mighty rivers.”

Rusty Johnson spoke with a mouthful of potato salad, “Yeah, and we all know how the EPA reacted to that.”

“It’s sexism,” the Maven commented, “no one wonders were Commander Infinity gets his powers from.”

“Well what else are we going to talk about when it comes to her?” Psychotic Kid said, “She doesn’t even have a rogues gallery. The number of villains out to kill you is directly proportional your awesomeness. Even Hrothgar has an evil nemesis.”

The viking glared at the ninja, “Are you mocking my blood feud with the Wal Mart legal department? That greeter scoffed at my helmet I tell you.”

“He put a smiley sticker on it for God’s sake.”

Amazing Ed sighed wistfully, “It makes you wonder doesn’t it? Here we are eating and bickering while greater beings decide our fate.”

“Don’t be talk that way,” Captain Hero turned away from the scene to gaze at his team, “what we do here is important. There are some that are destined to move the heavens and others that are destined to work humble miracles.”

Erato smiled, “That would have been more impressive if you didn’t have mustard all down the front of your spandex.”

The Local Heroes were all so busy laughing that no one noticed the Quablidoid mothership sounding the call to retreat.

Watch This: Trailer for Thai Horror Film 'Who Are You?' - Horror Squad

Watch This: Trailer for Thai Horror Film 'Who Are You?' - Horror Squad

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Seventy One

A flask of tequila, a citronella candle and a hypoglycemic lady wrestler was all it took for Monica to lose her security deposit.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Seventy

The boss might not have gotten all that upset at Scott for sleeping at his desk, but Scott liked to sleep in the nude.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Nine

It was a summer romance and he swore he would never forget her but by the fall he could only remember her name.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Eight

The mobster with baggy pants shouted, “You gotta have some stones to be messin' with Vito the Scrote!”

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Seven

Of all the tender deceptions, “If you loved me you would,” is the most dangerous.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Six

Amazing Ed lay crumpled on the ground cursing himself for not remembering to throw his grapple line THEN leap from the rooftop.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Five

“Demons...” Jason Magwier sneered with contempt, “the gold farmers of the supernatural world.”

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Four

She was a sex symbol, but the symbol was the same as the one used for biohazzards.

(Recommended Reads) "Chimera" by Maria Protopapadaki-Smith

Cosmonauts Zheng, Masters and Collins looked in disbelief at the images from the satellites.

“This cannot be happening.”
“They’re… They’re…”
“… all gone.”


click here to read the rest

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Three

Buying the lingerie was easy, getting his wife to actually wear it for him? That was going to be tough.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty Two

In 2012 Apple introduced the edible online integrated iCecream, Apple fans just melted but there were some headaches.

The 70's: A simpler time with profoundly complex shirts




Plaid Stallions : Rambling and Reflections on '70s pop culture: The Ugly Shirted Gentleman Strike Back!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

(Insane News) Lizards in pants costs collector

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A German reptile collector who was caught with 44 lizards down his pants has been jailed for 14 weeks and must pay a $3,540 fine for plundering New Zealand’s wild gecko and skink populations, a judge has ruled...

click here to read the rest


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty One

He had a successful run starring in porn films but was soon forgotten as audiences moved on to the next big thing.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Sixty

Jason Magwier hated working alone because he had no one to be cryptic to.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Nine

The CEO used a satellite video linkup from his private yacht to explain to the employees about his new cost cutting measures.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Eight

Zardek the Magnificent was a magician and an escape artist, naturally he had no trouble avoiding jury duty.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Seven

The round began, Reggie crapped in his hand and threw at his adversary. Xtreme Fighting had never been so extreme.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Six

If there was one thing Mark hated it was music, that was why he was the perfect radio programmer.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Five

Someone on the team should have realized that a surprise party for one of the world's greatest detectives was doomed to fail.

(Recommended Reads) " Who Are They?" By Kate Sherrod

My sister has no children; nor have I.
So where did these twin blonde-haired boys come from
That in my dream did greet me with a cry
And hug my legs until those limbs went numb?
Concerned they were with some fam'ly disease
Of which I'd never heard, and can't name now.
"Oh Auntie Kate," they cried, "Oh, tell us please,
Is this thing going to kill us? When, and how?"
I held them close but simply couldn't tell
What had them so disturbed. The anguish stays.
I still can feel their skinny forms so well
And feel their tears on my face. In such ways
A tired mind pulls something from the soul
Into the waking world. I've no control


click here to visit her site

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Four

Sherrie's wedding day turned out just as she imagined there was a fire, a limousine crash and she got a near fatal lung infection.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Three

“For the last time Judy,” Lorelei said, “being a Wiccan is more than not trimming your bush!”

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty Two

“Am I worried about facing the Juggler?” Captain Hero laughed, “No! He's got more balls than brains.”

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty One

By now she was running on fumes but that was what happened when you ate seven burritos before a marathon.

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Fifty

It wasn't until he had sex with a 4,000 year old Egyptian mummy that Abner truly understood what a dry hump was.

I know nothing about the plot to REVENGE OF THE ZEBRA MINISKIRT POLICE but I must see it!


But will I be wearing pants when I do?


Twitchfilm.net you are my enabler!

5 Second Fiction Eight Hundred and Forty Nine

Everyone suspected that aliens were visiting Earth in human guise, no one suspected it was because of their love of funnel cakes.

It's a creepy clown commercial cornucopia!

Pick your favorite!



Sunday, January 24, 2010

(Recommended Reads) "Nothing but a tree in January" by Estrella Azul

Consumed after a hard work day she lay down on the sofa and gazed at her Christmas tree...

click here to read the rest

(Recommended Reads) "My Name is Bill Franklin" by Lou Freshwater

When I was growing up I stayed with my Great-Aunt Sadie most all the time until I was about nine or ten. She lived down a dirt road in what used to be a town called Eufaula Alabama. Back then I thought it was the most boring place that had ever been forced on a kid. I didn’t want to be with an old lady and her old stories and old skin. I wanted to be with my mother, who was out dancing and charming the men of Eufaula and all its surrounding counties...

click here to read the rest

The Lightning Bug's Lair: For the Love of Price: Witchfinder General (1968)


The Lightning Bug's Lair: For the Love of Price: Witchfinder General (1968)

(Recommended Reads) "Real Monsters Don't Take Time Off" by Eric J. Krause

"Daddy, the monster under my bed says he gets Sunday afternoons off."..

click here to read the rest