The Blacker Death: An Ebola Thriller (22 page)

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If you enjoyed this story, please take a look at my other works of fiction on the following pages. All are available in eBook and paperback. Samples can be found at amazon.com.

And please consider leaving a review on Amazon. I appreciate your feedback.

Four Years from Home
is the story of Tom Ryan, the firstborn of five in an Irish Catholic family. Smart and acerbic, he called himself the future king of the Ryans. Harry, the youngest, was the family’s shining star. Sensitive, and caring, he was destined for the priesthood until something changed, and he abandoned his vocation. When he left for college, he left for good. He never called. He rarely wrote. It was as if he had ceased to exist and the shining star had been but a passing comet in the night sky.

The story begins on Christmas during Harry’s senior year at college. The Ryans have gathered for another bittersweet holiday without Harry. When an unexpected gift arrives, Tom must make a reluctant journey of discovery and self-discovery into a mystery that can only end in tragedy.
Four Years from Home
defines brotherly love in a darkly humorous and poignant tale told by an unlikable skeptic, Tom Ryan.

A Cape May Diamond
was the recipient of a 2013 Independent Publishers Book Award in eBook fiction. Sequel to the best seller,
Four Years from Home
,it picks up the Tom Ryan story two years after its tragic ending in the discovery of the fate of Tom’s youngest brother, Harry. It is not required that you first read
Four Years from Home
before
A Cape May Diamond
, since it is recapped in brief in the first chapter of the sequel.

The result of a chance encounter,
A Cape May Diamond
can best be described as a story of life, love, and a journey of a thousand years.

This is a story of how things never quite work out the way you think. You might find a love story in here somewhere. You might not. You might find a message hidden in one of the nickel pop bottles collected by the beachcombers from some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world. You might even find a little mystery, but life is a mystery, isn’t it?

A King in a Court of Fools
begins with a book —
The Book of Tom
— a journal writing assignment from Tom Ryan’s sixth-grade teacher, Sister Jeanne Lorette. That’s what she called it. Tom called it punishment. In it, he chronicles the adventures of the Caswell Gang, a group of siblings and friends with two things in common — their love of adventure and their allegiance to Tom, their king.

The 1950s book was misplaced a long time ago, and all the children have since grown up, but Harry, Tom’s youngest brother, still remembers it and retells for us one of its stories in a nostalgic, heartwarming, and humorous way that will have you wishing for adventure, too.

Buffalo Nickel Christmas
is the story of a special day. It begins with an ordinary boy in an ordinary world, but as a monster storm approaches, and Christmas Eve finally arrives, the boy discovers that he is anything but ordinary, and that the world is a very magical place indeed.

You will meet some unusual people and hear unbelievable things. You might even see a wizard and a king or two. Sixteen forevers will pass in this book. That’s a very long time, and many magical things can happen when it’s sixteen forevers and still no Christmas. Whatever you do, don’t listen to that little voice inside your head that tells you it’s illogical, that it doesn’t make sense. Listen for the whistling teakettle and be ready with your wish.

12|21|12
- The world ends for someone every day. One day it will end for everyone.

Walter Stickle and the Galactic Rangers

One ordinary man, one extraordinary adventure...

Universal Encyclopedia
(713th edition, page 32,603 - Galactic History)

On Sidereal 1031.42, as time came to be measured, our galaxy's five central worlds formed the first Congress of Planets. Headquartered in the city of Jandu on the planet Argon, they were tasked with governing relations between the known worlds.

Walter Stickle knows all about this.

(entry continued...)

On that date, Congress enacted the Articles, a comprehensive system of laws regulating trade, civil, and interplanetary matters. These Articles have existed for over a thousand sidereals.

And though Walter could recite many of these Articles from memory, he feels no particular compunction to obey any of them.

(entry continued...)

To uphold these laws, the First Congress of Planets formed the Galactic Rangers, guardians of peace in the galaxy. (See related entry, page 45,984 - Galactic Rangers)

Walter could also tell you that, for over a thousand sidereals, the Galactic Rangers have faithfully carried out their mission to maintain order throughout the known systems. Their deeds are legendary and their devotion to duty and the law unshakable. He knows this because it's his favorite comic strip. It’s science fiction. It isn’t real.

Universal Encyclopedia
(713th edition, page 158,129 - Classified Mission Logs)

Location - Beta Sector, Sol System, Third Planet

Entry date - Sidereal 2153.65

Scout Ship - Iota

Mission - Planetary Survey

Disposition - Unknown

Report - Redacted

Or is it?

Walter Stickle's story begins with an ordinary man, a pair of mismatched socks, a woman with the ugliest glasses on Earth, and a comic strip. When a series of unusual events blurs the line between the normal and the extraordinary, between the real and the unreal, and between science fiction and science fact, it ends with the adventure of a lifetime.

Walter Stickle and the Goldotti of Deamus
 
The parasitic, mind-controlling Goldotti, the most feared creatures in the galaxy, have broken through the containment zone surrounding their home world of Deamus, threatening to spread across the stars like an incurable disease. They will stop at nothing in their mad quest for total domination of all intelligent life.

Only two things stand in their way. One is the most powerful force in the galaxy, a group of soldiers from the planet Argon who will journey to the ends of the universe and back to protect us all. They are the Galactic Rangers. The other is some guy from Pitville, New Jersey, who doesn’t even own a car and who thinks it’s an adventure to order something other than pancakes at the diner. He is Walter Stickle.

Follow the Galactic Rangers in their latest adventure as they battle the Goldotti and search for lost comrades on the hostile alien world of Gin-Vedra. Follow Walter in his continuing misadventures as he battles his annoying neighbor, Steve “Floodlight” Williams, and searches for better cell phone reception in the most normal town in America. Enjoy the twists, turns, and the surprising conclusion when their worlds collide.