“Countdown” is a companion story (not a sequel or prequel) to “Departure.” I’ll have links to it once Amazon approves it!
“Countdown” published!
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Tag Archives: crime
Gaming the System (short story)
(Probably rough, hasn’t really been edited yet, just sort of banged this out tonight! I could probably expand this to a novella if not more. Maybe a serial?)
ONE
I listened as I stood in the darkness, but the only sound I heard was the thumping of my heart and my own breathing. With my back against the wall, I inched forward as quietly as possible. The killer was somewhere ahead of me, armed with a chrome or stainless automatic. I wondered where the fuck Tillman was. My partner and I had split on at the entrance, with me taking the stairs while he went around back.
It was stupid, and we were going to catch hell for it. Sergeant Hines would be just the first in a chain of superiors taking a piece of our ass for chasing an armed gunman into a nearly-finished office tower without waiting for backup. The they didn’t watch this guy execute two men less than twenty feet from us either. They didn’t see the look in his eyes as he stared at us while putting a bullet in the second victim’s skull. The perp was insane, or he was the hardest of the hard-nosed killers that organizations like the Russian mob used to take care of problems.
Then there’s the fact that Tillman and I had each burned through an entire twelve round magazine from no less than fifteen feet away, and this asshole only started laughing as he turned and ran across 5th Street and into a construction site. Neither of us spotted a blood trail, which means we wasted twenty-four bullets at almost point-blank range and came up empty. Last time Tillman and I hit the range, we were thirty out of thirty at thirty feet, and twenty-six out of thirty at twelve. Twelve feet and a moving target that randomly swiveled to present an inch of surface area to hit.
I heard the soft scraping of feet ahead of me. I counted to three then hit my flashlight, hoping to blind him. I barely thumbed the switch on the flashlight when my vision whited out from the continuous fire that belched from his weapon.
“Fuck you!” I screamed after diving to the floor and behind a pile of drywall sheets. “Emerson P.D.! Drop your weapon!” I prayed Tillman heard the shots and was running his ass off to get to me. Continue reading
Read Indies – Find Good Indie/Self-Published Books!
The gang over at ReadIndies is going to attempt to read one of my travesties. Haha, good luck on that. Betting lines are open that two reviewers will go insane before someone contacts me and threatens legal action ;). Here’s some info, go give their lists a shot and find something good to read. It HAS to be better than the drivel I vomit up.
Have you heard about Read Indies (http://readindies.blogspot.com/) where you can find book selections, top picks, and recommended reads? If you’re looking for something new to read, a great place to start is Book We Recommend (http://readindies.blogspot.ca/p/books-were-reading-recommend.html). There are also pages for specific genres:
Best Fantasy Books (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/best-fantasy-books.html)
Best Horror Books (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/best-horror-books.html)
Featured Authors (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/featured-authors.html)
Hot Reads (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/hot-summer-of-indie-reads.html)
Top Picks (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/top-indie-reads.html)
Best Sci-fi Books (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/best-sci-fi-books.html)
Best Mystery Books (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/best-mystery-books.html)
Best Romance Books (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/best-romance-books.html)
Best Children’s Books (http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/best-childrens-books.html)
Best Fiction (http://readindies.blogspot.ca/p/fiction.html)
Read Indies started out as a place where indie authors go to learn about important writing-related issues. Now it’s also a great place for readers to learn about great books. Periodically, you’ll also find recommendations from international bestselling author Robert Stanek (http://.www.robert-stanek.com/). In particular, Robert will be highlighting hidden gems, overlooked books, unsung heroes, and new favorites. Robert Stanek will also be helping to shape the following lists: Best Fantasy Books, Best Horror Books, Best Mystery Books, Best Thriller Books, and Best Children’s Books.
Stop Rape Culture: Teach Your Sons That NO MEANS NO.
Parents, teach your boys/young men that NO MEANS NO. Stop blaming women/victims.
It doesn’t matter how much she’s had to drink.
It doesn’t matter how short her skirt was.
It doesn’t matter how much of her tits were showing.
It doesn’t matter if she initially said yes then changed her mind.
It doesn’t matter about anything other than when she says no, it means STOP.
If you think this is a bunch of bullshit, imagine your mother, your sister, your wife or girlfriend, someone close to you being sexually assaulted, and tell me you still think rape isn’t a ‘big deal.’ Imagine the rage you’d feel, how you’d want to probably go murder the rapist, or at the least, put him in the hospital.
If you know this is going on and you choose to do nothing, you are just as guilty as the person committing the actual crime. Again, think of your mother, your grandmother, sister, wife, girlfriend, niece, any female that you are close to. You’d want to beat the shit out of someone for rape/sexual assault without even knowing if it was true or not when it involved someone you care about.
Why should someone you don’t know or don’t care about be subject to such a crime when you could have prevented it?
Fuck Patriarchy.
Teach your boys to not rape or sexually assault or even pressure anyone. Any other reply/answer to this other than “okay” means you trivialize women and the horrendous act of rape.
In fact, don’t counter with any other argument unless you want everyone to know that you support rape culture and refuse to teach your boys how to be real men instead of rapists.
How would you feel as a parent if your precious boy was arrested for rape/sexual assault? Would you blame it on the victim?
And while you’re at it, maybe teach them that if they see some shit like this going on, to STEP UP and be a man and put a fucking stop to it. Too many stories involve a bunch of dipshit dude-bros standing around egging someone on, or just not doing anything to stop it.
This isn’t society’s fault. This is the fault of parents not teaching their sons that this is an abhorrent crime that should NEVER be committed, and it should NEVER be tolerated if they know it is happening.