Chapter 4 - Hollywood Hills
“You want to go into LA?” Alex said. “The epicenter of the Inhabited Zone? Where the monsters are so thick that the US government gave it up as a loss twenty years ago, and the Warlord of the West took over?”
Clay stuck up his hands in a take it easy gesture. “It’s not like we’re going to rock up to his doo...
2022-11-18 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostI raced down the steps of the keep and out onto the front lawn where things were about thirty seconds away from escalating into a knock-down-drag-out ass kicking. There were two newcomers, both very clearly not human, and blocking their way forward was a wall of Fae flesh. Butterfly-winged pixies fluttered in the air with Quill sabers clutched in tiny fists, while gangly, spider-limbed trolls w...
2022-11-17 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe next couple of weeks were… Well, the best, and only way to describe them was sad. The Terrible Twelfth had gone to all four memorials, where they had to watch Wintersylver shed crocodile tears in public and smirk in private. It was so obvious she didn’t care. Marko, by contrast, was as weepy as a newborn. His tears were all too real and he cried every. Single. Time.
I pulled out a crystalline sigil pendent, draped around my neck, and pressed it against the heavy-duty door that barred the way into my new office, situated on the third floor of the keep. Crafted from cold iron and Mortka-forged steel, the door would stand up against an artillery barrage and thanks to the complicated runic sigils engraved into the metal, it would also keep out unwanted visitor...
2022-11-15 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
It's finally here! Release day! Super excited to say that Vigil Bound 2, Vigil's Valor, is live on Amazon and the Audiobook--narrated by the awesomely talented Luke Daniels--is also out today! I wanted to thank everyone for read...
2022-11-15 17:27:53 +0000 UTC View PostShadowcroft motioned for Logan to sit. Wintersylver was already in a desk next to Lolozi Webbs.
Professor Suresh’s white suit brought out the orange in his tiger stripes. A diamond necklace glittered around his neck. Equally as well dressed was Yullis Rockheart, though he had gone with formal red and black robes. He didn’t sit but stood hulking on the side of the room, grimacing.
<... 2022-11-14 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostAs promised, bonus chapter number 2!
No one spoke as they pulled into the Sooq and parked the dune buggy outside their little circle of tents. Clay hopped out of the back where he’d been riding as their gunner and offered his hand to Alex, helping her down from the vehicle. She accepted the proffered limb and didn’t let go of his hand even when her feet hit the ...
2022-11-11 23:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSurprise! In honor of Veterans Day, here's a bonus chapter coming at you and there's one more on the way later tonight. Happy Friday here's hoping you have a great weekend. Thanks to all the vets who served out there!
Clay swung the door open. The throne room was dimly lit with can lights, set high in the ceiling overhead, and more spook-rave music was pulsing in the...
2022-11-11 19:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“If you’re not ready to lay it all on the line out here, you won’t make it a week. The wasteland’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
Clay Jaeger finally has the chance to become the spellslinger he always wanted to be—the one his family needs him to be to survive the dangers of the wasteland. A teacup pig claiming to be a cursed Great Blue Wyrm has offered them ...
2022-11-11 18:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post“About time,” I grumbled, squeezing the stone as I dismissed the bounty notice.
After defeating a team of corrupt Vigils, uncovering a vast cult nestled inside the heart of the Citadel, and saving the city of Wildespell from a political coup, I’d received some very generous rewards from the powers that be. Among those rewards was a private keep within spitting distance of Wildespell...
2022-11-10 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostMonday morning, Logan went out early to the Akros Coliseum, well before six a.m. He hadn’t been sleeping anyway. The events of the previous day had made sleeping impossible. Even his moldy bed hadn’t been able to relax him.
He got into a meditation pose in front of Chadrigoth’s carbonite cocoon.
Logan was having trouble concentrating, though. From the footage, there was no que...
2022-11-09 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Damnit, Renholm!” I hollered, dancing backward as a fury body launched itself at my head. I shot a quick look at the Pixie-turned-Pookah. “I could use a little help over here.”
“You’re doing fine,” he drawled, not even bothering to glance in my direction. He was sitting on the back of his trusty steady, Sir Jacob Francis… filing his nails. I could’ve been bleeding out o...
2022-11-08 21:17:17 +0000 UTC View PostHey every, James here. It's been several weeks since my last post, but the dry spell is finally over and I'm glad to say I've got a lot more content headed your way. But first, updates!
1. Fulfillment: I'm behind on benefit fulfillment, but I'm shipping out signed books this week to folks at the $25 tier, so be on the lookout for physical copies of Vigil's Justice. ...
2022-11-08 21:14:49 +0000 UTC View PostIn spite of its collision with the Gearhead, the dune buggy was still in working order. Mostly. But Joe fixed everything that was wrong with a little elbow grease, a bucketful of Magick, and his handy-dandy, all-purpose screwdriver.
In next to no time, their little party covered the distance between Smilerfax’s dungeon and the Sooq, though they had to skirt around the outside edges of c...
2022-10-18 17:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Is he dead?” a small voice oinked.
“No, he’s just unconscious.”
“I never know what will end you puny humans. At times you seem so fragile, and at others, you are harder to stomp out than an infestation of kokopelis.”
Alex’s soft hands pulled Clay’s head into her lap. “Come on, babe, wake up.”
“You have to do it like this.” Joe slapped his cheek...
2022-10-15 17:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostIn his whirring mech suit, Flynn “Gearhead” Lynes stood seven foot tall and looked like a half-human tank.
Clay could vouch for the accuracy of that appearance, almost having been crushed to death by the angry Aussie in their last meeting.
“It doesn’t need to go this way,” Clay said, putting up his hands. “I know we got off to a rough start, but no one needs to die. Blow...
2022-10-11 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThen Clay was on his knees with his cheek flat on the strike plate of the strength tester game. Joe was positioned the same way opposite him on the plate. This time instead of being tied down by cord cobras, they were locked head-first through a pair of guillotines. The blades glinted in the moonlight.
Alex stood over at them with the sledgehammer in hand.
“I must say,” Bacon Bi...
2022-10-08 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThrough sheer determination of will, Logan pulled himself up from the floor, body mangled, pain beating at his senses like a drum. He stood in the middle of the pile of broken conveyor belt parts. The two raiders, Hellmutt and Petula were on the platform above, looking down smugly while their tortoise friend was trying to rip Inga’s throat out.
Logan had to help her. He was missing an a...
2022-10-07 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostAnd immediately found himself standing outside the carnival’s heart shaped archway. Joe stood at the turnstile with Chonk on his shoulder, looking confused and a little annoyed.
“Smilerfax didn’t have much of a grasp on what ‘fun’ meant,” he said when he saw Clay. “I’d even go so far as to say that starting this whole place over again is lame.”
“What,” Alex sai...
2022-10-06 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostLogan had been worried about Mariah being stationed on the Good Ship Smartie. However, the Lupine Fury still hadn’t realized that she wasn’t a statue. Nor did they discover Inga’ s Golden Centipede Spartan hiding away in a secret compartment on the boat. A Kurrybooboo had healed him, but they were saving him for the final battle.
Inga had finally come up with an unofficial nam...
2022-10-05 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostClay took aim and led the tangled knot of cords that seemed to be the lead cobra. With his new level of dex, he probably could’ve made the shot, but it was hauling ass toward Alex. He let the M4 hang on its sling and ran for his wife, pulling his K-Bar.
A thick coil whipped around Clay’s legs, tangling him up and ripping his feet out from under him. He hit the dirt, slamming all the a...
2022-10-04 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostShellex Aldabra and the rest of Lupine Fury found themselves in a long corridor—four doors on the left, four doors on the right for a total of eight doors. All were a bright pink and looked exactly like bubblegum. A sign, canted at an odd angle, declared the corridor the “Delicious Hallway of Bubblegum Doorways.” Shellex wasn’t about to see if they were actually gum. He just hoped they ...
2022-10-03 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostIn the dune buggy, the last ten miles to Soledad Canyon flew by. They weren’t going to win any stealth achievements the way that beast was growling, but they were covering a lot of ground. Not walking for once was great, but Clay hadn’t realized how much he’d missed cruising along at highway speed with the wind whipping through his hair. Even with the bouncing suspension and dust blowing ...
2022-10-01 17:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostShellex Aldabra milled about in his human form, though he wasn’t human. Never had been. That would be too gross. He was a shifter, an onyxback tortoise shifter to be exact. He’d come from the dry desserts of Galapaygus, a whole world of various reptilian shifters, and a place with several Celestial Nodes, which flooded Galapaygus with life-giving energy.
Shellex loved his homeworld—...
2022-09-30 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Look at what terrible thing I am about to unleash upon the world! HAHAHAHAHA1 This cover art for Wasteland Warlord 1 makes me cackle uncontrollably. Just Joe and Chonk, chainsaw buddies for life. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.
2022-09-30 14:00:56 +0000 UTC View Post“Can’t believe Griff got to be the one chained to a tiki bar,” Joe muttered for the thousandth time that night around the campfire. “I was right there!” He stopped sharpening Bertha’s chain to throw up one hand in disgust. “That could’ve been me forced to drink booze and eat peanuts until you guys got back.”
“Something tells me wasteland lumberjack isn’t Tajira’s s...
2022-09-29 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLou Shador, the A-Class Rank 1 cultivator of legend, stood in the newly refurbished Situation Room of the Scarlet Paradox Dungeoneering Guild. The clutter was gone. The magical crystalline holo table was at the center of the room, as it should be, and around it were a dozen high-backed chairs made of polished pompwood with gemstone accents.
Shador had paid for the chairs and furnishings h...
2022-09-28 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe idea of wading into a potentially hostile dungeon—even one composed of RVs and motorbikes—without their weapons made Clay’s skin crawl. Every survival instinct he had said this was a terrible idea, no matter how friendly the creatures in the Sooq seemed to be. But after a quick nod from Griff, he reluctantly slipped the M4 sling over his head and motioned for the others to do the same...
2022-09-27 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostInga finally relented. <Very well, Logan. We’ll call it a murder factory, but we can’t use the name Willy Wonka. Thanks to all of your culturally specific references, I’ve taken it upon myself to extensively study copyright laws throughout the multiverse. While dungeoneers are bad, IP attorneys are so much worse. Even I’ve heard of Disney.>
Logan didn’t even blink at that ...
2022-09-26 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostTheir eclectic party headed deeper into the urban sprawl, following Bacon Bits’s directions. Instead of being overshadowed by taller and denser buildings the farther in they got, they found themselves surrounded by higher and higher piles of rubble. Huge swathes of the city looked as though they had been carpet bombed. Burned-out vehicles littered the street—where there still was street to ...
2022-09-25 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post