Battle for the WestSide - Original Fiction

 

Battle for the WestSide

Adventure fiction by Peter Welmerink

Part One: Defense Down

Mayor Ondesen had brought all his men and women in and gained a foothold on the east side of the Grand. Downtown GR was theirs and the rumors of brainwashing the populace over there, with drugged food and water, making most lethargic slugs: all confirmed.

The men and women of Bravo Company and the few thousand straggling holdouts along the west side of Grand Rapids were all that survived with sound mind and body.

“I want those civilians off the street and under cover,” I yelled, not needing to do so with the sensitivity of the throat microphone encircling my neck. Hugging the wall of the old paint store at Bridge and Broadway, I waved my team back along with the WestSiders who scampered for shelter.

A rain of hot lead spat vertically from the 131 overpass over Bridge, pocking pavement and building as far down as the boarded-up Anchor Bar and GRFD Station 3.

Gruss, one of my Recon team, hunkered behind an old rusted Durango, filled my earbud: “They’re launching drones. They’re going to swoop in and ping us then send AP rockets.”

Ondesen’s hired goons--soldiers of fortune, mercenaries, the majority of them--had pulled this stunt before. Keep us on the down-low with gun fire while sneaking SOMETHING into our domain. Drones were the most common and most pesky.

“That’s why everyone needs to stay off the streets,” I replied as the enemy gunfire died giving me an eyeblink moment to peer around the corner and up at the expressway overpass.

There came a metallic groan from down Broadway, past St. Mary’s Church. We had set up heavy metal barricades on all entrances to the west side of town. Bridge Street. Pearl Street. Fulton Street. All had thick welded metal “gates” reaching the top girders of the expressway underpass in each area. I surely did not like anyone from the opposite side messing with our work.

“Drones launched. I have one in my sights,” Gruss said.

A squeal, then a metallic clang, like someone dropping a metal trash can lid onto the ground. I tried to peer beyond the trees and buildings at the Broadway barricade.

“Someone or something has gotten through the 196 barricade. I can’t see movement though. I can’t ID who or what has come through,” I yelled over the comm as more bullets buzzed in from the 131 overpass.

“Captain, you’re out in the open,” Gruss reminded me. “The drones…”

Even over the rap of machine gun fire and bullets cracking off the asphalt, I could hear the steady hum of the multi-propped aerial drones overhead. I glanced up, seeing a white-bodied aerial hum above and by my location.

A heavy assault rifle boom. Gruss’s shot dead-on. Plastic and metal fragments of the downed drone clattered onto Bridge Street.

Unable to re-load and nail the second drone, it zipped away west down Bridge. It assuredly was snapping pictures, capturing video and marking anyone on the street and their hiding spot.

“We need to get back to HQ, gather everyone. Whatever compromised the Broadway barricade…”

I saw movement behind me. It came up quickly around the corner of the paint store building, on the Broadway side. Soldiers. Mercenaries, dressed in Ondesen’s dark navy vestments.

“Shiii…” I started to say as the lead man, assault rifle drawn and aimed at me, stepped up.

A metallic groan emit from the Bridge Street-131 barricade. The ground rumbled. Something big was coming.

“I didn’t know there were big corn-fed girls on this side of the river,” the soldier said with gun aimed at me. A red beret on his head. Dark goggles covering eyes though I could feel his gaze running me up and down. A skull-face bandana covering his nose, mouth, chin. “I figured we’d have starved you out by this time.”

“Captain, SITREP?” Gruss called in my earbud.

“Name?” the merc said to me as his other cronies lined up behind him.

The machine gun fire from the 131 overpass had subsided though the heavy metal groaning of the Bridge Street barricade continued. Out of the corner of my eye, above, I could see the remaining drone hovering.

“Name!” the merc barked at me again, irritated, anxious.

I dropped my arms, lowering my own machine gun.

“Captain Rachelle Gibson, Bravo Company.”

The merc lowered his weapon as the others behind him had theirs still raised. He pulled down his bandana, letting it hang at his stubbled neck. A big toothy grin split his face. “Dang, gents, we’ve just caught the leader of the WestSide Rebellion.”

“Captain, answer me!” Gruss yelled again in my earbud.

The Bridge Street barricade collapsed with a groan and loud metallic BOOM, but the ground continued to tremble.

I took a chance to move a bit, even with all the guns on me, and peek around the corner onto Bridge, and up the street towards the 131 and Bridge Street overpass. If the machine gun fire still continued I would’ve gotten my face shot off.

I almost wished it would happen.

Driving across the downed barricade, flattening it further like pancake, a giant, armored and tracked beast grumbled and snarled into the West Side.

“Surrender, Captain. The day is lost,” the merc said with a evil sneer.

“Tank!” Gruss yelled in my earbud, seeing the same giant, modified M2A4 Abrams-Sully main battle tank slowly entering our locale.

I turned back to the merc.

“It’s all lost, baby,” the merc grinned.

I looked beyond him then smiled back at him. “Not quite,” I replied, balling my fist behind my back. “And don’t call me baby.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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Interested in reading more action-adventure by Peter Welmerink, contact him at authorpeterwelmerink@gmail.com

Also visit his Patreon page for more exciting material: www.patreon.com/pwelmerink

Battle for the Westside copyright 2020 Peter J Welmerink

Why writing West Michigan Apocalypse is fun

I am not a weirdo (yes, you are), or a doomsayer. I am not a negative person. I am not some guy that feels down, full of despair, and desiring of bringing people to the pits of fear, anguish and loathing.

I AM AN ADVENTURER, fictionally. I write ADVENTURE FICTION.

Why is it I enjoy writing post-apocalyptic tales of action and adventure based in and around my home state, and old hometown here in West Michigan? Why? WHY? Because...

Because I know THIS PLACE. I know my old hometown, and my locale here in western Michigan. I know the nooks and crannies, the towns and out-of-the-way places. The woodlands and the concrete jungle.

I do not have to go far along the roadway to get thought and inspiration on new tales of epic adventure to bring to my little warped mind, and to paper or blank writing screen. There can be a whole shite ton of adventure right where you are sitting if you ponder it long enough.

But why, you ask, why do you write that END O' THE WORLD stuff?

I don't write END OF THE WORLD stuff. If you read my material you know the stories don't end. Humankind does NOT disappear. Yeah, we get roughed up a bit, a few not make it, but the survivors keep standing up and moving onward. It's never a real END, just another opportunity to rise up and keep fighting the good fight... sometimes after a little rest from getting beaten down.

Sometimes my post-apoc material doesn't paint a pretty picture. That's reality isn't it? Sometimes it's not pretty nor smells great, looks great, feels great. But somewhere in the midst of the mud and blood, there is a spark of HOPE. The main characters might not survive their travels, but they certainly will have fought the good fight for others to live a new day and a potential brighter future.

I'm going to keep writing adventure fiction, and most likely keep venturing in the West Michigan fictional apocalyptic world.

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I carry my own stock of my books. Contact me at: authorpeterwelmerink@gmail.com if you hanker for some adventure fiction.

UPDATE Hunt for the Fallen Book Display

Hello all.

 

I wanted to show you where things are at with, at least, the tank centerpiece for my WIP book display for HUNT FOR THE FALLEN (TRANSPORT Book Two) live promo activities.

 

I am not done with adding detail...more gear, insignia, battle damage, etc., to the vehicle and final diorama base.

 

I also found a scale figure (1/18th) of a soldier in NBC gear (nuclear, biological, chemical) who is donning a full gas mask apparatus. May incorporate that figure into the scene.

 

So without further rambling, here are some pix...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it.

 

And if you want the book that is associated with the book display...

(Note: Only available in ebook format currently. Paperback will available hopefully by end of January)

 

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

 

 

 

 

And if you want to start where the series all began...

(Note: Available in all ebook formats and paperback)

 

B&N

Schuler Books

Amazon

Kobo

 

 

 

TRANSPORT: HUNT FOR THE FALLEN Rolls Out

My publisher has just announced TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN will be available in all ebook formats on Monday December 22nd just in time to freak you out for Christmas.

Seventh Star Press Book Release News

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Captain Jacob Billet

Journal Entry - Sunday April 5, 2026

It’s raining, it’s pouring, the undead are roaring…

Amassed at the UCRA east end enclosure, the dead strain the fence line while soldiers keep watchful eyes, the survivors on the opposite side of the rising river about to lose their minds.

It’s a crazy time: nonstop precipitation; everyone's up in arms; paranoid city council members with an asshat City Treasurer. Water, water everywhere. Zees dropping into the churning drink. Troops afraid of being stitched up and thrown back into the fray as Zombie Troopers. Tank commanders getting itchy to head out on their own after drug-laden shamblers. Reganshire insurgents trying to extract our west side civvies for some unknown reason, possibly pushing the city into taking heavy-handed action against them.

Then there’s some black-haired dead dude staring at me through the fence, grinning like he’s off his meds.

And I thought Lettner was a headache.

All this sh*t might give me a heart attack.

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TRANSPORT (Book One) is still available in ebook and paperback formats 

wherever quality books are sold.

 

TRANSPORT Book One Reviews

 

L. Andrew Cooper Horrific Scribbling

Bookishly Me

The Bookie Monster

Bee's Knees Reviews

The Rage Circus vs The Soulless Void

 

Interview in GRAND RAPIDS MAGAZINE regarding TRANSPORT

The October 2014 issue of GRAND RAPIDS MAGAZINE is out on newsstands now.

Unlike Dr. Hook, I did not get my picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone or the GRAND RAPIDS MAGAZINE, but I did make it on Page 20 of that latter mentioned magazine. :)

 Thank you to Julie Bonner WILLIAMS, Jason Conley, Matt Radick, Christopher Welmerink and Grand Rapids Magazine. You all rock!!

 

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TRANSPORT (Book One) can be found here:

AMAZON

Paperback

Kindle

BARNES & NOBLE

SCHULER BOOKS

Paperback

 

I did NOT pilfer this notebook 36 years ago.  :D

Fleshing Out TRANSPORT Part 1

The entire TRANSPORT novella series and short stories started with a desire to write something within the Military Thriller / Military Sci-Fi genre. I also have a big interest in all things Military. I decided to take a spin outside my usual writing of Sword & Sorcery, and roll into some Military action-adventure.

The world of TRANSPORT was born.

The story takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan circa 2025. After a pandemicly serious strain of H7N9 (avian influenza virus or bird flu virus), the world has been turned on its head. You are either fortunate enough to not be affected, or unfortunate and affected. INFECTED. If you are infected, you go one of two ways: you die, completely, dead-dead, or you become a walking maggot factory.

Grand Rapids, as most of the other LARGE cities in the country, has become a walled bastion for humanity of the true living type. Industries have moved back close to the hub of the city if they had been stationed in the outskirts. Other than the tall concrete walls, gates and concertina-wire fences, it is business as usual; day to day survival, luxuries still of home (just packed with more close neighbors)...

...But with that constant niggling feeling everything to drop into the shitter in the blink of an eye.

Why?

Because outside City Central, people, creatures, towns and smaller habitations fight BIG TIME for survival. The niceties and necessities of life are quite a bit more... challenging.

The mighty Grand River separates the east side of Grand Rapids (City Central, the hub) and the west side neighborhoods. As mentioned, on the east side, the Living. On the west side, the big city's undead roam.

Okay. Zombies. The walking dead. Rotters. Shamblers.

But these rotting-faced, face-chewing folk are something more.

I didn't want the same old ZOMBIE THANG going on. You know, people running around, running away from the undead, fighting the undead, the undead wanting to tear them up, eat their brains.

Nah.

The world of TRANSPORT takes place in a post-post (zombie) apocalyptic time. The virus is more or less a thing of the past (happens in 2013) and Humanity, so far as usual, has survived to live another day and try and start anew. The undead are still around. The unforunate Grand Rapids undead civilians are contained on the west side of town behind a huge fence line. They are fed doped meat to keep them docile. There are laws about the Military or anyone else shooting them, doing them harm as they are "less fortunate friends and relatives" who are still cared for. More or less. The living city folk let the Military have the crap job and go in and feed them and protect them if shit hits the fan.

There are still your angry FERAL zombies that want to rend you to pieces and sup on your flesh and blood. Outside the city limits, outside the barricaded villages miles away from Grand Rapids, these "wild dog" type zombies still wander and will attack if provoked or are simply hungry.

It is better to walk softly and carry a loaded machine gun than make a shit load of noise and attract every pissed-off undead thing in your vicinity. Even if you are in an armored vehicle, getting gang-piled by snarling, snapping Zees...not so good.

There are a few other types of ZOMBIES in the series/storyline that I think stand apart from the usual serving of the undead within the genre. I will talk about those and other things, like, why Grand rapids, Michigan? Why the Military? Why a 1950's gas station attendant zombie in my next FLESHING OUT posts.

Until next time.

Don't fear the dead, they don't have to deal with living like the living do.

ZOMBIE TROOPERS, a new TRANSPORT World related series I am working on.
No publisher yet but good Pos-Apoc Military goodness.

PETER WELMERINK: Five Things I Learned Writing TRANSPORT

 

The HURON, a 72-ton heavy transport vehicle and an army of four; tracked, racked and ready to roll, to serve and protect the walled metropolis of Grand Rapids — both her living and her undead. Captain Jacob Billet and his crew patrol the byways, ready for trouble.

 

William Lettner, the North Shore Coalition High Commissioner, has enemies from the mainland to the lakeshore. He needs to be covertly transported back home after a disastrous meeting in Grand Rapids. He has no love for a city that give unliving civilians the right to survive.

Assigned to bring Lettner home, Billet finds himself assaulted and insulted by the commissioner's venomous outbursts every mile travelled as they move through the treacherous landscape between Grand Rapids and the shore of Lake Michigan.

 

To complete the mission, Billet, the HURON and her crew will have to face domesticated zombies and the feral undead; marauders holding strategic chokepoints hostage; barricaded villages fighting for survival, and a group of geneticists who’ve lost control of one of their monstrous experiments.

 

Travelling through West Michigan was never so dangerous.

 

***

 

DREAM IT, DO IT
I have been writing stories about epic Sword & Sorcery tales and Military forays for as long as I could put pen to paper. When I got the idea pumping through my system about the TRANSPORT series, and wrote that first manuscript, and submitted it to a publisher, and got it picked up for publication; BAM! Dream come true.

 

If you have an idea, and it keeps burning in your mind, and you can't shake it from your system, or it simply doesn't fade away, then you HAVE TO DO IT! Set some time aside. Put your butt in the chair and your body to the drawing board, keyboard, paper napkin, in front of you and start getting that idea down. Make it happen, because, who knows, you might have a BAM! DREAM COME TRUE.

 

CLICHE? WHAT CLICHE?
I did not set out to write another ZOMBIE-engorged tale when I sat down to write the TRANSPORT series. It was first about writing a fictional, somewhat futuristic, post-apoc tale set in my old hometown GRAND RAPIDS and somehow mix a strong military presence into it with cool soldiers, big armored military vehicles and a lot of action. The zombie aspects were sprinkled in after a thought of: WHAT ELSE CAN I THROW IN THE STORY FOR ADDED CHAOS. I like zombies so, it was zombies.

 

But MY ZOMBIES ARE DIFFERENT.



Bob the zombie service station attendant

Illo by Tim Holtrop

I don't want my characters having to run away from zombies. No mass of brain-hungry rotters rampaging berserkly (new word) killing every living thing. Sure, I have the FERAL "wild dog" zombies on the outskirts of town, like giant biting pesky Horseflies always swarming about, but I also have "civilian" zombies...the unfortunate city folk who have succumb to the virus and trip-shamble about the large fenced-in retention area that is on the west side of Grand Rapids across the river from city central. There are laws to protect those undead, and they are fed doped meat to keep them "tranquil" while City Central tries to figure out what to do with them.

 

And then you have BOB the 1950's gas station attendant zombie.

 

IT'S EASY SOMETIMES WHEN IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD
TRANSPORT Book One was all in my head. The beginning, middle and end were all there right from the get-go. I knew what I wanted, when I wanted it, where to put it. I knew the characters though they came even more to life when I started writing them. Some characters and scenarios just POPPED ONTO THE PAGE when my main group entered their locale in the story stream.

 

Basically BOOK ONE was fully imagined before I wrote it. It was easy to write. It just flowed out of me onto the page.

 

Book Two (TRANSPORT: HUNT FOR THE FALLEN) was a bit harder to write. I think sequels are always a little harder to plop down on page because, it's like, you almost know too much about everything, how do you make this all fit now, what can you do to RAMP THINGS UP, escalate the story line, the plot line, to possibly make it even better than the first book.

 

I figured it out and after some heavy duty, thorough reviewing and revising, I really like how Book Two has come out.

 

Book Three (TRANSPORT: UNCIVIL WAR) harkens back to Book One. I know where I am going, where I am taking things, and it has been fairly easy to write, and I'm having fun doing it.

 

A COUNTRYSIDE FULL OF POSSIBILITY
I scaled my story down to mainly the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and West Michigan spanning an area on the west side of the state, from Grand Rapids then westward between Holland and Muskegon which are along the Lake Michigan lakeshore. If you look at this area on a map, you can see it isn't necessarily a HUGE area. IT IS ENOUGH FOR MY STORYLINE.

 

Besides having large cities and small towns peppering the region, there are also a lot of wild woodlands, farms, etc., scattered about West Michigan. Miles upon miles of opportunity for both urban and rural chaos.

 

And since I know this region very well, it made it the perfect place for the TRANSPORT series.

 

RESEARCH CAN YIELD NEW RESPECT AND KNOWLEDGE
I did a lot of research in the Military realm of things while writing TRANSPORT. I wanted realism even though the books and characters are works of fiction. I spoke with friends and folks who had either served in the Military or were currently serving. I read a lot of true real stories of battle across WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam and our more recent activities in the Middle East. They all added quite a bit of NEW RESPECT for the men and women in the field, for our veterans both past and present...and most likely, future.

 

I do have some worries about writing about the wins and losses of my fictional military characters as I am hoping I show no disrespect for our war fighters both past and present. I do not think I show disrespect, but when you have a new found respect for the real-life folks who forego a lot of pleasantries we take for granted, to serve and protect (this includes police and firefighters, etc.), sometimes I have a concern if I am doing this right. (I have gotten some feedback from some of these fine folks, and they say I am doing just fine. We all need levity from the real deal time to time.)

 

But then again, my military characters are honorable, fight for justice, serve and protect even in the most dire of situations and locals, just like the real-deal service folk.

 

I suppose, in a way, writing about my fictional MIL-characters, I am giving a respectful nod and salute to the non-fiction "characters" who are out there risking life and limb to assist and benefit our way of life.

A tank turret at the Russell Rd Military Museum

 

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TRANSPORT (Book One) can be found here:

 

AMAZON

Paperback

Kindle

 

BARNES & NOBLE

 

SCHULER BOOKS

Paperback

 

 

  

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Peter Welmerink (www.peterwelmerink.com) was born and raised on the west side of pre-apocalyptic Grand Rapids, Michigan. He loves his hometown and West Michigan, which is why he writes about it. He writes Fantasy, Military SciFi, and other wanderings into action-adventure. His work has been published in ye olde wood pulp print and electronic-online publications. He is the co-author of the Viking berserker novel, BEDLAM UNLEASHED, written with Steven Shrewsbury. TRANSPORT is his first solo novel venture. He is married with a small barbarian tribe of three boys.

Busy TRANSPORT-related Day

Hey all.

Mike Wilson, winner of the Sister Mirose print set

Well, so Michael A Wilson was the highest bidder for the Tim Holtrop-illustrated SISTER MIROSE print set. His bid of $100 won him the limited edition, signed 12x18 matted prints which reveal a scene from TRANSPORT: UNCIVIL WAR (Book Three) and a one-shot static pose illo of Sister Mary Mirose with the circa 2025 West Side Apostolate in the background.


The money went straight to the 746 House Flag Day Fundraiser today. Greg Cobb and his wife had a big to-do yard sale, which included Grand Valley State University mascot Louie the Laker and, later in the afternoon, Griff from the Grand Rapids Griffins hockey team. It was a beautiful day for a yard sale and there was quite a few cars coming and going from the place. I showed Greg the Mirose prints. He was very impressed and said he'd been following the news about the prints and the TRANSPORT book series.

Author Peter Welmerink standing outside
the REAL Westside Apostolate with the Sister Mirose prints

I also stopped at the actual, real-life WESTSIDE APOSTOLATE and showed the hard working crew there the print set. They were very stoked to see their building in the fictional setting that is TRANSPORT.  One of the viewers/workers said: "The building looks better in the illustration than it does now."

I pointed out that the IRL building doesn't have zombies or bullet holes like the illustration does...then I was directed to the three bullet holes in one of the front windows. Okay, well, at least they don't have zombies...or the massive, battle-hardened nun like Sister Mirose.

It was a pretty cool afternoon meeting the 746 House Flag Day folks and visiting the real deal Westside Apostolate and talking to all.

Special thanks go to Tim Holtrop for the artwork, Russ Colter and crew at CropMarks Printing for the awesome 12x18 prints, and Stephen Zimmer and Seventh Star Press for the opportunity bringing the TRANSPORT series to life for all to read and, hopefully, enjoy.

Roll out and roll on!

Pete



Sister Mirose copyright 2014 Peter Welmerink

Interview in MAHLE NORTH AMERICA COMPANY NEWS MAGAZINE

As part of MAHLE INDUSTRY, they put out a company "newspaper" every quarter. Each facility picks an employee to interview and show what they do outside of work, hobbies, etc.

I was chosen for the April issue.

The interview article is below: (As found on the back cover of the magazine. How cool is that?!)

TRANSPORT Book One Cover Art Revealed

All right folks. Here we go.

End o' last week, Seventh Star Press released an image of the cover art for TRANSPORT Book One.

Full release here:
http://www.seventhstarpress.com/category/peter-welmerink/

Cover art done by Mr. Jason Conley of the great state of Tennessee.
He did a fantastic job on all three book covers.
(And Tim Holtrop did the black and white interior art for all three books! Cool stuff!)

Book One is due out in May 2014.

Clear the streets! TRANSPORT is coming.

TRANSPORT 2 novella underway...and potential cover art?

Okay. I need to share this.

I have the first TRANSPORT novella completed, and subbed to a publisher.

I started the second TRANSPORT novella (tentatively titled TRANSPORT 2: HUNT FOR THE FALLEN) around May 13th, and about 3/4 done writing it.

I haven't started the third TRANSPORT novella, but have a good idea for the gist and guts of it including the ending.

But I wanted to share with you some very very cool cover art sketches for TRANSPORT 2 penned by the very talented Mr. Tim Holtrop. This is all concept art. Not sure if it will be used or not. (If I self-pub this stuff, hell yes, will be working with Mr. Holtrop for some finished cover art.)

The setup for what you are looking at:

Big ruckus between APC Ridgerunner Huron (the massive armored personnel carrier vehicular star of the stories) and an Abrams tank, churning up and spitting gravel and dust about a gravel pit off Butterworth SW, Grand Rapids, Michigan. A hit from the tank's 120mm cannon would be the end of the Huron so the APC keeps up close and personnel to the Abrams. Spc. Loutonia Phelps decides the only way to end this tracked madness is to make like a pirate and board the Abrams. Perhaps dual .45's shoved down the turret hatch and a "Please cease and desist your actions against us, or I'll let off some hot lead like bouncing bumblebee inside your interior."

Why Birds Need To Go

Journal Entry 402
May 22, 2025
Captain Jacob Billet
GRCC Transport Regiment 1

Bird shit everywhere.

I step out on my little balcony terrace and I am assaulted by a metal railing painted white and splatterings on the deck floor. I ain't touching it and it takes me a while to clean up before I feel like sitting out there and enjoying the view. After all, I enjoy a good mug of joe in the morning while looking out over the zombie-infested west side of town.

We need to use more birds for target practice. Get the big 30 and 50-cal machine guns warmed out and just start blasting the annoying winged monstrocities out of the sky.

Today marks the 12th anniversary of what the world now lovingly calls the day the zombie apocalypse began. Some kids, reading too many of those old Horror novels, think the Zee blight began after some satanic ritual was done, making the undead rise, and those that weren't dead, die and become the walking dead. Some uneducated think the dead just rose up and started their consumption of the living populace, you know, just rose up, no reason. Some say the wars in the Middle East and with North Korea, the detonation of "dirty bombs," terrorist attacks, started it all. Some think the government had something to do with it, an experiment gone awry or a means to reduce the population; always conspiracy theorists and theories trying to spread their black gospel.

Meh. Whatever.

It was the birds. Birds. BIRDS!

So today marks the 12th anniversary of when Influenza A virus subtype H7N9, originally reported  to be afflicting China and Taiwan, came into being. W.H.O. (World Health Organization) reported there had been no migratory birds infected, or that the strain would be so severe as initial reports of people affected and dying from it initially were very low.

WRONG. Have wings, will travel.

As I glance out from my perch from the rooftop balcony of the old Grand Plaza Tower, looking west across the Grand River, into the west side of Grand Rapids, where at least three thousand undead residents reside and shamble about...the W.H.O. (better to have been left one of the greatest rock bands than a group overseeing the world's health) was wrong. What the countries with the initial outbreak didn't report (and I couldn't have blamed them at the time) was that the poor folks who'd fallen to the virus, got back up and had to be put back down by force, ie, the roar of a pistol or rifle point-blank in the ole brain box.

Someone fires from another window a few floors below me. A pigeon flying by turns into a cloud of feathers. Heh. Other than the Colonel will hand their ass to them for using a firearm inside the barracks, someone's got the right idea.

The Human Race, the surviving, breathing, heart-beating living ones, has always endured calamities. This is no different I suppose. Those of us who stay on this side of the dirt keep pushing onward. You either survive or succumb.

Yeah, I have had my setbacks, and on some days they want to drag me to that Give Up state, and I sometimes think about letting it all bring me down and consume me (possibly in a literal sense if I were to just walk OUT THERE into our friendly neighborhood face-eaters). May sound a bit cliche here, but, yeah, my daddy and momma didn't raise no quitter. Though I've lost a lot, there are still people who need me, things to do, actions needing to be done to keep our heads above water...and the rot of the undead.

White wash cleaned off my little perch above my world, I step out with steaming cup of joe in one hand. Black and white Canadian honker just so happens to fly by. BOOM! The barrel of my .44 smokes. A pile of black feathers tumbles down, down, down.

"Keep on comin' ya flying plague bearers," I mumble.

As long as we got bullets, birds and Zees beware.

An Altered Grand Rapids begins here

Happy Holidays Folks!

A few announcements...

If you are interested in reading some good and dark fantasy adventure, you need to check out FADING LIGHT: An Anthology of the Monstrous.

The BIG book has a slew of great authors as well as great stories within. If you have a e-reading device like a Kindle or a Nook (or iPad, etc.), you can pick up the little BONUS book with yours truly within. The tale within is the FIRST "altered Grand Rapids" short story I have written and have to offer.

Link to the BONUS ebook with my altered Grand Rapids tale FINAL RIGHTS can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/Fading-Light-Anthology-Monstrous-ebook/dp/B0094IC7XC/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1356284985&sr=1-2&keywords=fading+light

The ebook edition of the BIG book is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Fading-Light-Anthology-Monstrous-ebook/dp/B0094IC60G

The print edition can be purchased here:

http://www.amazon.com/Fading-Light-Anthology-Monstrous-Marquitz/dp/1479213489/ref=tmm_pap_title_0/187-9833996-3311019

 





Next, if you are still hungry and interested in some great action-adventure tales from the mixed up mind of Peter Welmerink, you can find another alt-Grand Rapids tale set in the 1950's and featuring a Cthulhu-esque beastie rising out of Lake Michigan.

SIGNAL IN THE DISTANCE is currently offered in e-format only, and can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/Signal-In-The-Distance-ebook/dp/B00AGFISN0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1356285049&sr=1-1&keywords=welmerink

There is more to come with tales centered around Grand Rapids and West Michigan.

Stay tuned!