Absolutely Some Cool Sh*t

I am usually very low key about tooting my own horn when it comes to my literary work, but I have to say I am very proud of these two newest West Michigan-based works.

BULL is a continuation of the JOE CROSS: URBAN SALVAGE ENGINEER series started with RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL via Peninsulam Publishing.

FACES IN PERDITION is a collection of four short stories/novellas of material either published and out of print, or submitted-for-publication, almost-made-the-grade, never-before-in-print work. All the stories are locally-based, featuring a fictional future with characters fighting the good fight and sometimes winning and sometimes...not so much.

#

What's BULL about?
Note: You do NOT have to have read the TRANSPORT Series to enjoy this book. But I won't complain if you do. :)

Joe Cross is part of the Reganshire community during the events of TRANSPORT (Book One). He knows some bad sh*t happened to a entourage of Reganites who ventured out to the sprawling Valley State University campus where a commune of crazed geneticists had created something...not-so-good for them or the surrounding countryside...and IT got loose and stomped the bejeezuz out of everything and everybody.

The creature, a giant, mutated, undead (??) bull had been run off by a local military transport and her stalwart crew. (As seen in TRANSPORT Book One)

A year later, Joe is heading out of town on a special salvaging trip, after the events of TRANSPORT: UNCIVIL WAR. He happens across two Reganshire soldiers who are considering going AWOL. They hold Joe at gun point, tell him he WILL take them out of town, they run into another soldier--this one bloodied, torn and half-crazed--and things get chaotically amped-up from there.

Joe always enjoys being a pull-toy behind a gigantic, raging creature of POST post-apoc West Michigan.

Umm, yeah. Not so much.

#

What is reflected in FACES?
(See what I did there. LOL)

Four main short stories and some commentary about what and why I do (write) what I do. The four stories are:

FACES IN PERDITION
A young woman, trying to survive in post-apoc West Michigan, starts to have issues with her current "job" with collecting and distributing drug-toting zombies. As her close peers see her potentially going soft, she gets tested in the field one final time. The odds are against her but with the eyes of past victims haunting her, she won't go down without a fight.

FINAL RIGHTS
A far-flung future Grand Rapids is fighting for survival as the lights are going out all over the globe and dark, ferocious creatures stalk along the lines of shadows waiting to consume Humankind. A young sharpshooter, battling cancer, must rush to New Holland on the lake shore to bring his remaining sister and her son back to the city... before the ebon tide and death swallows them whole.

REVENGE OF THE ROADKILL
The crazed geneticists from Valley State University have been dumping the carcasses of their failed (and grossly successful) experiments into the Grand River valley. A small group of GRCC troops (Grand Rapids Central Command) find out first hand that sometimes you shouldn't stop to inspect the mooshed rabbit-thingie on the side of the road. Oops.

SIGNAL IN THE DISTANCE
A 1950-esque, post-Korean War alt-history story. An ex-soldier comes out of his underground bunker on Grand Rapid's West Side to find what he believes to be the Chinese Red Army infiltrating his wartorn city. His path leads him out to Grand Haven, to the Lake Michigan lakeshore, where he gets to be the first living human to witness the rise of a Cthulhu-esque Old One from the 900 foot depths of the big lake.

NOTE: I don't write doom and gloom to write doom and gloom. Hell, my main goal isn't to write doom and gloom at all. I write stories of strong characters facing survival and often impossible confrontations, BUT they keep moving forward no matter the odds. It is a goal I believe in...KEEP MOVING FORWARD AGAINST ALL ODDS...and it is what I try to instill in these stories of intrigue, action and adventure.

#

Anyway, I am proud as hell of these two new books because, simply, they kick ass and in the style the Midwest hasn't seen or been part of...and now, they...YOU...are!

You can order the books online through Peninsulam Publishing or Amazon, or ask for them by name via your favorite bookstore. Or you can come see me and say hello and grab a copy or two at any upcoming book gig (B&N Muskegon Oct 28 6-9 and Comic Signal Nov 12 11-2).

This is exciting and cool stuff. It is.

Thanks for your time.

--Peter

JOE CROSS: URBAN SALVAGE ENGINEER copyright 2015-2016 Peter Welmerink

Cover art by Russ Colter

Cover art by Peter Welmerink & Peninsulam Publishing

Other illustrations by Tim Holtrop, Jason C Conley

Editing credits: Julie Bonner-Williams, Scott Sandridge, Rodney Carlstrom

Billet, Joe Cross and Captain Wells to respond to THE COMIC SIGNAL

August 6, 2016, from 12-4, I will be at THE COMIC SIGNAL on Plainfield--4318 Plainfield Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI, to be exact--signing books and talking to people about a POST post-zompoc West Michigan. 

No doom and gloom. It's all about MOVING FORWARD NO MATTER THE ROAD BLOCKS.

Will have copies of my TRANSPORT Series and JOE CROSS, and also my Lake Michigan lakeshore SciFi yarn RETURN TO STRANGE HOME featuring Space Voyager, Captain Paul Wells.

Stop by and say HELLO.

(Plus its a dang cool comic book store...and more.)

Running with the Devil: The first JOE CROSS Novella

 

 

Introducing

 

 

Based in the same POST post-zompoc landscape as the TRANSPORT Series, Joe Cross comes to West Michigan in 2025 to work: "salvaging" and finding items for people for trade and survival.

 

In West Michigan, he only finds TROUBLE.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to West Michigan, 20205.

 

Joe Cross, the "Best Salvager in the Midwest," unwittingly falls into the clutches of Reganshire: a small, thriving, but vicious, town on the outskirts of Grand Rapids.

 

To keep his head from atop the gruesome pikes lining the township's fence line, Joe sets out with two local Urban Salvage Engineers only to find they've been stealing from the very town they serve.

 

New to the area, Joe has little choice but to assist the thieves. He must act swiftly in order to thwart his captors and survive, although they have the upper hand... and the guns... to put him down in case their mission fails.

 

Meet Joe Cross, Urban Salvage Engineer. The right man for the job when you need something found.

 

#

 

Publisher: Peninsulam Publishing

Cover art: Welmerink/Richardson

Inside Cover Interior Illustration: Tim Holtrop

 

Paperback (Peninsulam)
http://bit.ly/1QYKsrN

Ebook
http://amzn.to/1XXMbhw

 

Via AMAZON
Paperback
http://amzn.to/1Sgplxx

Kindle
http://amzn.to/1XXMbhw

 

 

 

 



 

 





Alone

Alone

The small fire is warm. I keep it small. No need rousing the neighbors who can sometimes find the light annoying, especially when the dope they are fed starts to run out of their system. They get as agitated as their feral brethren.

I call this third-floor attic my home, my refuge. No roof above me. That caved years ago. But I like the view, able to lay here or stand here, unmolested and without care, for hours looking up at the starlit heavens on a clear night such as this.

Down at the driveway below, encircling the house, wandering aimlessly along the street and sidewalks, the doped undead hiss, and mew, and whine, in their garbled, tortured vocal cord way. I know they are talking to each other, talking to me, talking to others who aren't there. Many of them, those rotting, poor ex-living civilians of the city, are still "living" and "seeing" their former lives as they shamble and teeter about.

I feel for them. That's why, I suppose, I live among them.

I have been cast out like them. Jobless. Homeless. The living city had no place for me, and I was tired of the awful stares and unkind words whispered as I passed: my shopping cart full of my last earthly goods.

I paid a GRCC gate guard an old diamond bauble from my late second or third wife (I forget which now). She, the kindly soldier, let me through the gate, into the UCRA enclosure. She may be the only one who knows I am in here. Bless her soul for keeping me secret. (With the recent fighting in the city, and what I hear from outside the city, I hope she is still alive and well.)

I feel at peace with these citizens around me. We are all the poor, the lost. Cast out and quarantined from the opulence of the Living and Thriving community on the other side of the river, I am at least one with THESE downtrodden people, even if they are somewhat considered not "human" anymore.

The stew is almost done. The can of doped meat, label burned away. The can is red hot. I boil away whatever the chemical slurry is in the processed meat slop. To a still living, breathing goof such as I, ingesting the doped meat is like drinking too much alcohol, followed by a week-long hangover that feels like it will never end. The shit was not meant for LIVING human consumption.

But a dreg like me has to eat. And I've found cooking the piss out of the meat slop makes it almost palatable. Almost. But it's better than starving to Undeath...as I fear is the direction I may go if I let go of my living, breathing, mortal coil.

Old Miss Karo sings her death knell below. She isn't dying. She's already dead. But she knows that I am up here. Her and her "children" are hungry. Even with a rotted brain, she knows me, knows who I am, what I am about. She trills all the louder as I take a moment to finish my own meal.

I dowse my small fire, not wanting to burn my only refuge down, at this old home on Lake Michigan Drive.

I take up some pre-opened cans of uncooked meat slop, make my way down the attic steps, then down the second floor steps to the first floor.

I go to the old enclosed porch. Tall, bulging, overgrown arborvitae trees and bushes block what must have been a nice view of the street from the porch's full sized windows.

Miss Karo is at the porch door, dragging her black, bony stubs weakly against the aluminum porch door.

"I'm comin', girl. Hold your horses," I say, my throat a little numb and scratchy. I must not have cooked the meat thoroughly.

But the cans I slip out to Miss Karo and her small mewing, grumbling children, it's the real deal. The real doped meat slop. The Z-rations as the military call it. She won't have to wait for the next pass-through from the big growling vehicles that come through twice a week, dropping off crates of the stuff for the first-come-first-serve undead denizens of this west side neighborhood.

Miss Karo scratches at my arm. It is her way of saying thanks. The razor sharp index finger, just a bone tip, hurts like hell, but I know it's her way of--perhaps in her own rotted mind--grasping my forearm and thanking me up and down for my generosity.

It is those black, weeping scars along my arms that tell me, at some point, I am not long for the Living world.

True death would be great.

Undeath, well, if I can stay in here, fed and protected...I guess that wouldn't be so bad. The city does watch out for her local undead.


I see Miss Karo off, then lock up and climb, wearily, back up the levels of steps to my attic abode. The night is going to be a cold one. A four-sleeping-bag night.

It's okay though. I get to lay there, alone, free, alive, and stare up at the starlit sky.

It's okay. Really.

#

The TRANSPORT Series can be purchased here:
TRANSPORT (Book One)
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

TRANSPORT (Book Three) UNCIVIL WAR
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

If you are in the Grand Rapids Michigan area, Schuler Books has paperback copies on their shelves (in SciFi/Fantasy section). Store location is:

2660 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
Phone: 616.942.2561
http://www.schulerbooks.com/

Another Day in the UCRA: St Marys Church Area - Turner & Broadway

By Captain Jacob E. Billet

I sit on the church steps. The hot church steps. The summer sun has warmed them nicely though its punished everything else with its relentless brilliance and heat. The steeple above casts its pointy shadow over myself and my team giving us, at least, some relief.

Stokes, Phelps, Mulholland and an additional trooper load of twenty congregate around the HURON, taking a break, having a bit of luke warm water from canteen or slurping a delicious and nutritious Meal, Ready-to-Eat. I sit next to an old wrought-iron railing which leads up to the massive oaken doors of St. Mary's Catholic Church; the church sealed up tighter than a whorehouse after a VD outbreak. The railing, painted black at one time, stands slightly akimbo, at an angle, base with concrete bolts rusted and ready to pop off the steps.

<<Latest news from WOOD radio correspondent Matt Furley, there's been another small riot on the streets of Grand Rapids as anti-zombie protesters quarreled with pro-zombie civilians.>> The radio squelches from the HURON PA system. <<High tempers exploded on this hot day and a bloody fist fight broke out in front of City Hall.>>

"Damn, can't we all just get along?" Stokes grumbles, steps up to the stairway where I sit. A stump of one of his retched cigars hangs from the corner of his mouth, a crumpled, empty container of MRE "mashed potatoes" in hand.

I wonder how much of the cigar butt the sergeant has swallowed while eating the meal at the same time. Meh.

"The answer is, NO, Sergeant," Loutonia says. She leans against the HURON, rubbing at the side of the armor hide with a dirty rag. "We, as human beings, cannot get along."

"That's a pretty negative statement," Mulholland replies, seated atop the HURON. His M4 rests in his lap.  He watches a pair of shambling locals walk-stagger in our direction.

"Um, you read much history, my friend? One of the earliest records of people getting up in arms and beating the shit out of each other is back in Mesopotamian times 3100 BC," Loutonia returns. "Nothing negative there, other than the many instances of Humankind wreaking havoc upon themselves."

"That's what we're here for, kids," I add my two cents. I wipe my forearm across my forehead. My arm comes down and looks like I've just ran it under a garden hose. It is a sweaty, hot gawddang day. "Keep the peace. Make sure no one gets out of line, living or..."

The pair of UCRA civilians stop in front of us. Stokes picks up a can of "Bram"--the doped and processed meat slop given to the local undead--pops the top, tosses it aside. The can hits the hot asphalt of Turner Avenue, bounces, rolls and spills the red, moist puree in the street. The zombies sniff the air, then hobble-shamble after the nasty food stuff like toddler's-first-time-walking. It would be funny if it wasn't so damn pathetic, and your thoughts weren't wrapped around, "That could be me."

As the dead civilians approach the upturned can of drugged slop, Stokes unholsters his sidearm, and fires in their direction. Our jaws drop as the Sergeant, well known for his shitty marksmanship, hits the can squarely, sending into a gentle, spinning arc. The civilians, unfazed, tattered limbs reaching out, comically pursued it.

"That is," Loutonia screeches, "exactly what I am talking about!" 

With rag still in hand, she makes a fist and slugs Stokes squarely and solidly in the arm.

"Hey!" Stokes bellows, rubs his arm while keeping an eye on the woman in case she reels back to swing again. He holsters his sidearm. Thankfully.

"Kids," I say, getting to my feet. Even that little action makes the sweat dribble down my forehead. "No fighting among each other. We fight against dirt bags and miscreants trying to do us and the city harm, not one another."

It was time to get rolling. Three square miles, on a boiling hot day, trying to avoid mashing shambling civilians into the pavement when they hobble out in front of your 72-ton vehicle... Patrolling the UCRA wasn't what one could call a good time.

"Everyone mount up. We're oscar mike," I say, moving past my crew members and the other troops, and head towards the Huron.

"Dirt bag," Loutonia hisses at Stokes.

"Miscreant," Stokes returns fire.

I roll my eyes. 

Gonna be a long day.    

#

The TRANSPORT Series can be purchased here:
TRANSPORT (Book One)
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

TRANSPORT (Book Three) UNCIVIL WAR
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

If you are in the Grand Rapids Michigan area, Schuler Books has paperback copies on their shelves (in SciFi/Fantasy section). Store location is:

2660 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
Phone: 616.942.2561
http://www.schulerbooks.com/

Strangeness All Around

By Joe Cross, Urban Salvage Engineer*

Yeah, I know I shouldn't be over here. Definitely too close to the big city. Could get my head blown off, or brutally attacked by some of the Ferals that congregate on this side of the fence line. But I've been hearing a lot about the goings-on in Grand Rapids from my Reganshire "friends," and since I probably won't be getting inside the city without the aforementioned getting my "head blown off" (Grand Rapidians and their military persons don't take kindly to Reganshire folk nowadays)...

My little look-see, parked here on Interstate 196 overlooking the darkened UCRA and the glimmering lights of the LIVING downtown Grand Rapids area... Yes, this is close enough.

They have the expressway in and around the city fenced off big time. I checked for cameras and motion detectors before I rolled in here. At 2am, I don't expect any major patrols or anything from the city, but I didn't get to be 39 years old, in this day and age, without being cautious. And probably a little bit lucky.

Electrified on the western edges of the expressway fence line, insulated gloves and, well, a "borrowed" key to the Market Avenue vehicle entrance, got me to this location without issue.

So I sit here, me and Albert, my little brown bear traveling companion, checking out the big city of Grand Rapids. Their local undead moan and howl--like someone with their head underwater--on the darkened west side of town where they are caged, and let to roam about while waiting for--what?--a cure to their dilemma? I get the whole "don't hurt them because they are the unfortunate, afflicted family and friends of the city" but, umm, hey, you living city folk...THEY'RE FUCKING DEAD! 

Yet, yeah, as I sit here longer, listening to the sounds of those doped-up undead folk so protected by the city, hearing their lone calls in the night... Shit, I gotta admit, it kind of gets to me, softens me up when really thinking about it. I mean, if there would've been a way to preserve my own family like Grand Rapids is doing below, even if I knew they weren't coming back to any truly LIVING sort of existence... I don't know, I'd probably be okay with them being part of the UCRA also, kept doped up and tranquil, fed by the city some sort of drugged meat slop, clothed and welcomed by a bunch of nuns at some sort of zombie outreach ministry center, and protected by the city's military organization: the Grand Rapids Central Command.

"And then the city has quarreling civilians and city leaders, some wanting to erase their local undead from the city's slate, while others simply want to leave their Unfortunates alone. All sorts of fucked-updom going on around here," I say to Albert.

I shift in my seat. My jeep rocks. Albert's dusty little brown shoulders seem to shrug and his head lolls forward and back a few times until the vehicle stops rocking.

"Glad you agree with me, partner," I bod also. "Let's meander out of here before a patrol or some Ferals stumble upon us."

I start up the engine, wince a little at its initial loud growl. I quickly put it into LOW 1, and quietly turn and get us going in the direction we came. There's some old storage compound out Hudsonville way I want to get in and out of before morning, get back to Reganshire, maybe have a place to sleep again if I salvage something good. I hope there's no one living or unloving there. I hate wasting ammo but...

The world's a strange place now, and a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

"Right, Albert, ole buddy?"

We hit a bump in the crumpled asphalt roadway.

Albert's head falls backwards like he's exasperated.

He's heard it all before.

#

The TRANSPORT Series is a Military Thriller, with zombies, set in a Post-POST zompocalypse world. We're still here. They're still here. There's more trouble with the living, breathing folk trying to beat their neighbors to a pulp than the shambling denizens on the outskirts of town.

Enter Captain Jacob Billet, his crew and their 72 ton M213 Heavy Transport Vehicle, The HURON. They'll complete their missions, or turn undead trying.

TRANSPORT (Book One) and TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN are available now through booksellers everywhere.

TRANSPORT (Book Three) UNCIVIL WAR is due out the 2nd week of September 2015.
Published by Seventh Star Press.






*Joe Cross: Urban Salvage Engineer is copyright 2015 Peter J Welmerink

Summer in the Urban Civilian Retention Area (UCRA)

By Captain Jacob E. Billet

 

 

 

I remember my youth, wandering the west side streets of Grand Rapids. We'd ride our bikes down Lake Michigan Drive, the hot asphalt sucking at our rubber bike tires. My mother would bring us kids to the West Side Public Library on Bridge Street, we'd get some books, read for a while under the shade on the front lawn of St. James Catholic Church next door. A few bucks saved, my young friends and I would ride or walk over to the Dairy Queen on Fulton Street, get a Peanut Buster Parfait or a Dilly Bar. We'd go swimming at the Lincoln Park pool: ice cold water and heavy chlorine smell.

 

The only smell near that old pool nowadays: the city's local undead.

 

Other than the feeding runs and surveillance patrols, the moment the weather gets warmer, where the heat and sun can start to "bake meat," the city has us load up with 50 gallon drums of cool, refreshing water, an extra air compressor, generator and several heavy duty garden hose. It's not for our sake, to cool down us, or to play "wet habit time" with the nuns at the WSA. (Cripes, Stokes is really getting to me. That's something he'd only say, though not in the company of those battle-hardened, holy sisters.)

 

Shower time is for the UCRA civilians. The folks on the other side of the river, the living populace, with their "care and concern" for their undead neighbors, want these poor, rotting folk on THIS side of the river to enjoy a cool misting of water.

 

Sure, I understand why. Sun baked zombies equals hellacious smell, dried out, peeling flesh (nothing worse than a rotter shedding their skin, or in this case, a entire populace of undead littering the streets with orange-peel flesh...it's like Autumn with leaves blowing about the streets), skin frying and sticking to pavement.

 

So we hose them down.

 

We drive up and down the streets, main ones first--Bridge, Stocking, Fulton, Lane, Lake Michigan Drive, Valley, then sweeps up Butterworth back to downtown.

 

It can be a day long excursion with us doing nothing else but giving the locals a soap-less shower.

 

Still, I'm almost glad the city cordoned off this neighborhood. It has kept most of the places of my childhood from being destroyed.

 

Yeah, I can't simply walk about like the old days, but sometimes it's just nice to see the old places. Though maybe NOT some of the old faces.

 

No one informed me that Mrs. Van Duin was undead and upright, still living in the corner house, two houses down from where I grew up. Used to wear heavy make-up back in the day. Ugh. She could use it now for sure.

 

###

 

For Captain Billet's further adventures in the UCRA and about Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2025, check out TRANSPORT. Available in ebook and paperback through most booksellers.

 

TRANSPORT (Book One)

Amazon http://amzn.to/1DOQNPl

B&N http://bit.ly/1xDXMck

 

TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN

B&N http://bit.ly/1titw5T

Amazon http://amzn.to/1vq0ORF

 

TRANSPORT (Book Three) UNCIVIL WAR

To be released July/August 2015

 

Publisher: Seventh Star Press LLC

 

Info:

grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com

peterwelmerink.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LCpl Loutonia Phelps in Action and Action Figure

Been a while, my friends.

 

Just so you know, TRANSPORT: UNCIVIL WAR (Book Three) is done being written and in editing stage. My publisher, Seventh Star Press, is shooting for a July 2015 release. The cover art is done. (Jason Conley from TN) The interior art is done. (Tim Holtrop fro MI) And with the editorial assistance of Mr. Scott Sandridge, hopefully we can make this last book in the TRANSPORT trilogy rock the house.

 

In the meanwhile, I have found some military action-figures that I have been messing around with. I will show you the HURON's crew shortly.

 

I couldn't find a good Loutonia Phelps figure so my talented friend, Mr. Russ Colter, who is a 1/18th scale figure kitbasher did up a "Loutonia Phelps" for me. (I had tried. Failed miserably with a much too "manly" Phelps figure so he stepped in. Fortunately.)

 

Way back in the day, before the TRANSPORT Series was even picked up by a publisher, I was talking with master artiste Tim Holtrop about the series and my ideas of characters, action scenes and such. He did a sketch of a scene out of TRANSPORT: HUNT FOR THE FALLEN where LCpl Phelps makes a leap of faith from the 72-ton HURON to the 68-ton DEVASTATOR to try and stop the tank from blowing the HURON and her friends to Kingdom Come.

 

Recently, I met a digital artist through my day job work place, Mr Lee Trevino, who said he muck about with the actual scale vehicles and figures I possess and try some "character shots."

 

Putting it all together, here's some of the cool, fine work done by friends and fellow TRANSPORT enthusiasts:

 

(All art 2014-2015 copyright their respective owners.) 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

January 29th Local Author Night at Schuler Books Grand Rapids Michigan

I will be there. Will you?  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HUNT FOR THE FALLEN (TRANSPORT Book Two) available now

 

 

 

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.

 

 

#

 

 

1. TRANSPORT (Book One) takes place in September 2025, in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, 12 years after a viral pandemic has changed life...and unlife...as we know it. To protect and help rebuild some of the larger grottos of humanity "post apocalypse," the military has been restructured and dispersed to remaining large metropolis like Grand Rapids. The series is centered around Captain Jake Billet, his wily crew and their massive M213 Heavy Transport Vehicle, the HURON.

 

Where does HUNT FOR THE FALLEN...well...fall in the scheme of things?

 

Crazed author: HUNT takes place about 7 months AFTER the events in Book One. Billet and crew are back in the West Michigan area after avoiding the place for a while. The covert mission details of the late NSC High Commissioner William Lettner have gotten out to the media, the mission and those involved is not longer a secret, and Billet, the GRCC (Grand Rapids Central Command) and Grand Rapids are seen as both heroes and villians.

 

Though Captain Billet is seen as more a hero for doing what he did to bring Lettner to justice, he doesn't like that kind of spotlight. He wants to keep his head low.

 

And with loyalists of the Lettner out and about, still pushing for the eradication of Zombiekind, causing whatever kind of annoyance to people who do not think in those terms, as the man seen responsible for delivering Lettner to his execution, it might be a good idea for Billet to keep his head low.

 

Oh, and it is April 2026, and has been raining nonstop for weeks. The Grand River, running between the big city and the area where her local undead are retained, is heading to major flood stages.

 

2. What's introduced in HUNT FOR THE FALLEN?

Insane writer: We see more of the GRCC, namely in another big military vehicle and its commander, a Abrams MBT (Main Battle Tank), the DEVASTATOR, and its TC (Tank Commander) Major Jeremy Pike.

We are introduced to the illegal drug trade of the times where you can buy any mind altering chemical you want, just have you handheld tracking device and search for the dead creature with your substance of choice sown into its empty abdominal cavity.

We get to peek inside the workings of the Butterworth Test Facility where mortally wounded soldiers are stitched up and brought back into service as ZiTs, Zombie Troopers.

The HURON has gotten an upgrade: a 25mm remote-controlled cannon and turret AND a new navigator who may not survive their latest excursion.

Oh, and Billet is feeling severely under the weather, both psychologically and physically, which may not bode well for his future functionality.

3. Would you classify the TRANSPORT Series as a Military Thriller or a Zombie Horror fest? L. Andrew Cooper, one of the reviewers for TRANSPORT Boon One, expressed it more as "zombie fantasy."

Twitchy Word Scribe: I would probably call it a nice mash-up of both, with leanings more towards Military Thriller and/or Action-Adventure.

TRANSPORT was always intended to be a story about the soldier and his/her armored vehicle dealing with the "new" world around him/her, about how they cope and maneuver in what I call this POST-post zombie apocalypse world the series takes place within. The zombies are there, in the background, shambling and lurking, while it seems the real menace is Humankind who struggles to get back on their feet...and pursuing it any way possible, often times not for the good of others.

Perhaps it should be called a Survival story wrapped in Zombie Fantasy sticky paper.

4. How long did it take you to write HUNT FOR THE FALLEN? Do you consider yourself a diligent and focused writer?

Non-diligent, non-focused writer: I started writing HUNT FOR THE FALLEN roughly May 2013 and, with a poppin' re-write I decided to do, capped it off June 2014.

The thing with TRANSPORT, I have a fairly good idea of where I want each book to go. It is easy to write, an easy map to follow, when you have a good idea of the route. In this way, I guess you could say I am a focused writer.

Diligent? No. Where TRANSPORT Book One was very easy to write because everything just flowed, Book Two sometimes slogged along for me writing-wise like the torrential rain and soggy lands within Book two's landscape. Book One hit me so hard and fast, Book Two was like OH SHIT, UMM, NOW WHAT?

Thus the re-write, self-re-polishing of HUNT FOR THE FALLEN after the initial writing. I feel the re-writing made Book Two really stand up on its own, shift into overdrive, and spin a big rooster of mud, action and zombie guts into the air. It POPS, enough so that when my editor (Rodney Carlstrom) got his hands on it finally, he said (in a good way): WOW!

5. What's the deal with the book covers? They seem to link together. And is the cover art and interior art done by the same artist?

Happy-as-a-clam author when seeing cover and interior art: I was very fortunate when my publisher, Seventh Star Press, hooked me up with Jason C Conley. I gave him the gist of the series, what it was all about, what I slightly foresaw on the covers, and next thing I know he does this FAN-EFFIN-TASTIC triptych cover montage that hit the thing wa-ay out of the ball park. The colors, the atmosphere, the pandemonium within the frames... Jason killed it in the best way possible.

The triptych cover pieces, all together, make a kick ass 24 x 36 poster.

Seventh Star Press typically works with one cover artist and interior artist who are one in the same. Again, I got extremely lucky to work with a separate cover artist and separate interior artist.

The very talented Tim Holtrop did the black and white interior illustrations. This was definitely a one-on-one work relationship where we dialed things in and, mainly, got great illos of Billet and his crew, and a few key scenes, fleshed out. I wanted to make sure the reader had good imagery of the main story characters, in some form of action pose, to bring them (the characters) to life.

Like Jason hitting it out of the ball park on the covers, Tim made another home run, crushing the ball over the stadium roof and miles above the city with his fantastic interior illustrations. (Again, kick ass poster quality work.)

6. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Unstable author: No problem. I'm Batman.

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HUNT FOR THE FALLEN: TRANSPORT Book Two is available currently in all ebook formats via all prominent online booksellers. The paperback will be available very soon.

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

TRANSPORT Book One is available in ebook and paperback formats at all booksellers. Ask for it by name and author, or go here to purchase:

 

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

SchulerBooks

TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN Book Display Part 1

For TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN, I am working on a book / table display with a theme that goes along with the cover and essence of the series, ie, zombies, military, wasteland.

I will be posting pictures and info on the progress, here, on the pages of this wonderful little blog spot. Some will be parts of the display build-in-progress, other pics will be just for grins...as the ones below.

Enjoy.

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After a long day of patrolling the west side of Grand Rapids and its borders, after a long day in the midst of zombies and other unsavories, it's nice to take a little break and crack open a cold (or semi-warm) PBR.

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TRANSPORT, a post-post zombie apocalyptic series, military heavy, adventure rife, set in a near-future dystopian Grand Rapids, Michigan, is available wherever fine books are sold.

(Ask for it by name if bookseller does not carry it.)

TRANSPORT (Book One) can be found here:

AMAZON

Paperback

Kindle

BARNES & NOBLE

SCHULER BOOKS

Paperback