Excerpt from Beyond Olympus, “The Flight”

Mac shouted, “It’s all over. Everyone sit down and strap in, right now! We have wounded to attend to…”
Suddenly, the rocket boosters kicked in and Mac lost his balance. Several other passengers, who hadn’t strapped back in, were thrown around as well. More screams. The ship accelerated toward orbital velocity while Mac hung onto the
injured young woman. Even as the boosters fired, he managed to pull up
her blouse to look at the wounds. There appeared to be three deep stab wounds, bleeding freely. He applied direct pressure to try to partially stem the flow.
A few minutes later, though it seemed like hours, the boosters shut off . They were now weightless. Great. Michael and Marcus’s bodies floated freely as did the corpse of Gerard. The unrestrained passengers struggled back into their seats with the help of their fellow passengers. Mac hung onto the base of a seat with one hand, while he tried to hold Olivia down and maintain pressure to her injuries with the other. This wasn’t
working.
“Dr. Fitzpatrick!” Mac shouted, “I need your help right now!”
The old man got up immediately, and began making his way awkwardly back towards them, using the built-in handholds on the seats. “Mac, I need an emergency medikit, right away, but first we’ve got to get her to Jonathan’s office where I can have room to work on her. We can strap her to the sofa.”
“Right doctor,” the big man replied, though he was at a complete loss at how he could manage to maneuver the injured young woman in zero gee. Well, he would just have to get it done, somehow. Mac grabbed a seat handhold with one hand, and gently put an arm around her waist with another.
Olivia was very cold now, and that frightened him. It also filled him
with determination. A fine mist of blood floated around them. He pushed with all his strength against the handhold up and back, propelling them both toward the rear cabin door. He missed badly, and they bounced off of the ceiling. He pushed again, and managed to grab the top edge of the door with his one free hand. That gave him purchase to push off toward the sofa. This was like a bad dream. They floated past the sofa, but he managed to grab the leg of a small conference table bolted down just a few feet past. His heart was racing. One more push and he grabbed a handhold on the sofa, rolling her as gently as he could onto it…

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Excerpt from Beyong Olympus, “The Ghost Town…”

Now it was late afternoon and Valerian had decided to risk an early start, as he had seen no sign of Zealots in days. This day’s march had led him across a heavily forested plateau. Coming over the crest of a ridge, he had stumbled onto the panoramic view of the ruins of a rather large Ancient town nestled below in a river valley. The young man was at first tempted to veer back into the depths of the forest. Instead, this time curiosity
overruled his better judgment. He decided to cautiously explore the site. Moving down into the valley, he had first passed miles of completely collapsed structures, all arranged in neat rows that he surmised had once
been dwellings. Interspersed amongst the ruins were large oak trees and scattered shrubs. Running in front of these piles of wood and brick rubble were glimpses of smooth and even paved roads, largely covered now by
runaway weeds and wild grasses. Here and there, metal tubes, bent at wild angles, emerged from the
roads; some had twisted shreds of green or red metal attached at their tops. Also scattered at intervals on the roads were rusted-out metal carriages, most with broken windows all around. A few, he noticed, still contained
what appeared to be human skeletons. Rats scuttled everywhere amongst the detritus and a multitude of feral
cats stalked the rats. Here and there, packs of ragged and hungry wild dogs ran amongst the ruins. A few of the beasts approached him, but Valerian easily frightened them off with a shout and a wave of his lance.
After a time, the young traveler found what he assumed had once been the town square. At the center was a tight thicket of large trees and underbrush that almost completely obscured the remains of what might have once been a pavilion. Bordering this central area were the vestiges of a broad circular road. And arranged about the perimeter of this circle was a collection of larger buildings, most of which were constructed of brick or stone, metal and glass. Most seemed relatively intact. Valerian had become even more cautious in this area, concerned that
some of the buildings might still be inhabited. However, after scouting the area, he satisfied himself that there were no signs of current human habitation. As the sun hung low and red on the horizon, he carefully entered the largest building. It was an official looking structure made
mostly of granite. Climbing a great flight of stone steps, he made his way between huge stone pillars up to the entrance. The entrance itself was wide open, as it had once been made of glass, which now littered the entryway
in great piles. Carefully threading his way through the broken glass, he couldn’t really look around until he was well inside the structure. What he saw took his breath away.
The inside of the building was huge, far larger than the interior of any structure he had ever seen before. Pigeons roosted high above and were startled into flight as he entered. The sounds of his steps echoed through the large, empty space. He looked around with his jaw open. The floor was covered with large smooth stone tiles of green and black, the likes of which he had never seen before. Huge, faded murals and even larger cracked mirrors covered the walls. Hung from high above were many decorative objects made of hundreds of pieces of glass strung together. Scattered all about the floor were pieces of broken furniture made of heavy wood and metal. And amongst the pieces of furniture were the smashed remains of complex and intricate machines made of metal, glass and other strange materials that he could not identify. All was rather obscured by thick layers of dust and cobwebs. Four large staircases ran up to a second floor landing that extended all the way around. Valerian pondered…truly, who had these people been that could fashion such wonders? Valerian turned up a large chair, dusted it off and sat down on it. He was amused to discover that it had rollers on the bottoms of its legs, allowing him to move around at will, even as he was seated. He opened the drawers of a desk and examined scraps of paper and pieces of books that disintegrated at his touch. He handled some of the strange devices, trying to fathom their function, without success. So fascinated was the young man by all of this that he did not immediately notice when the light began to fade. As the shadows stretched across the floor, he suddenly realized that he had stayed too long. As the young man exited the building and began to descend the steps, he saw to his dismay that several packs of wild dogs had closed in on him, emboldened by the gathering gloom…

Free Preview of Beyond Olympus is available on Scribd!

You can now read the first 400 pages of my SF novel, Beyond Olympus, on Scribd’s new innovative e-book website. If you like what you read, you can download the complete book to your PC or mobile device for just $9.99! Just follow this link if you are interested: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31977614/Beyond-Olympus

Excerpt from Beyond Olympus (Now available on the Kindle!)

In the tent, just moments earlier, they had both heard the commotion: the shouts, the screams, people running about. When Crowe ducked out of the tent, Maya had instantly thrown her bowl of porridge down and tried

 

desperately to untie the thong securing her ankles. In the confusion, she hoped that she might be able to escape. Just as she seemed to make progress with her restraints, Crowe rushed back in.“We be’n raided!” he fairly shouted, “Gimme y’er han’s!”

Maya pulled back, but Crowe roughly grabbed her wrists. She struggled to get free. He slapped her hard, stunning her. Desperate now, he tied her wrists with a long leather thong and cut the one around her ankles. He led her out of the tent, pulling her by the thong around her wrists. He ran and she was forced to stumble behind. The young man didn’t want to lose his new prize. They had almost made it to the perimeter of the camp, when a big bearded man grabbed Crowe.

“Where ya’ goin’, boy? Drop that bitch down an’ fall inta line!”

Crowe tried to force his way past, but the Raider leader grabbed his shirt, pulled a big knife and put its point under the younger man’s chin.

“Do watta say, or I’ll finish ya’ here!”

The young Raider relented. Unexpectedly, he turned and hit Maya hard in the solar plexus, knocking to her knees. As Crowe ran to fall into the line of Raiders that was forming nearby, he shouted back to her, “Try ta run off an’ I’ll kill ya’!”

Someone shoved a lance into his hands. Maya, desperate to escape, tried to get up, but the wind had been knocked out of her; she was still stunned from the first blow as well. Everything swirled around her in total confusion. She fell to the ground on her face. She sensed, dimly, people running to and fro past her, some leaping right over her.

Gasping, she finally took a few deep breaths and then raised her head up. She looked about; Crowe was nowhere to be seen. She raised herself to her knees and then stood up. Her legs were still wobbly and she could barely breathe. Her ears were ringing. Chaos reigned all about her. She turned in a circle, looking for the most promising direction to escape. Toward the nearest edge of the encampment, through dust and smoke, she finally made out the men in uniform with lances raised. She had no idea who they were. Then a bugle sounded and, as one, the soldiers lowered their lances with a shout. She ran…

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Hi everyone! The e-book version of my novel, Beyond Olympus is now available on the Amazon Kindle (TM) for just $9.99! Free Kindle software can also be easily uploaded from Amazon to your PC, or to smart phones such as IPhone(TM) or Blackberry(TM). Just follow the link below to order your copy of Beyond Olympus:

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Book Signing for Beyond Olympus at Hastings in San Marcos this Saturday!

I will host another book signing for my scifi epic, Beyond Olympus, at the Hastings Bookstore In San Marcos, Tx this Saturday, Oct 10th from 3-5 pm. I will also have original works of art on display. Please stop by and say “Hello!”

Beyond Olympus book signing at Westlake Barnes & Nobel!

Had my third book signing yesterday at one of the larger Barnes & Noble bookstores in Austin. We had a great time. Met a lot of nice folks…sold quite a few books too!!!

Westlake Barnes & Noble with artwork

With Kathleen, Barnes & Noble store manager

Moonlight-A scene from Beyond Olympus

Book Signing for Beyond Olympus at the Westlake Barnes & Noble today!

Please drop by. My book signing will be from 2-4pm today at the Westlake Barnes & Noble. Original art (scenes from the novel) will also be on display. Hope to see you there!!!

Book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Westlake!

Saturday, Sept 5th from 2-4pm, I will be hosting a book signing for my scifi epic, Beyond Olympus, at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Westlake, (701 S. Capitol of Texas Hwy). Stop by and say hello!!!