Trapped By Monsters

JETHRO’S ACE OF HEARTS – Slice 7 of 13

16 November 2009 By Sam Enthoven 4 In Illustrations!, Stories!

JETHRO’S ACE OF HEARTS

a thirteen-part story, EXCLUSIVE to Trapped By Monsters

(Click here for previous slices: 1st ; 2nd ; 3rd ; 4th ; 5th ; 6th)

-Seventh Slice-

‘Hearts?‘ said Jethro, and turned his head to face his host at last.

‘Ah, splendid! So nice to see each other again, yes? Yes: hearts,’ said Mr Theophilus. ‘I remove them, roast them for not less than eight hours until the meat is completely tender, then I eat them with various special sauces of my own devising.’

There was short silence.

‘Eight hours?’ spluttered Jethro, finally.

‘Why, yes,’ replied Mr Theophilus. This commendable show of curiosity clearly pleased him. ‘The timing’s rather crucial, actually. While the heart is undoubtedly an organ best consumed rare, anything less than a full eight hours is, frankly, impractical.’ His green eyes twinkled, laughter lines deepening around them. ‘I see that what I say surprises you.’

Jethro 7

Jethro did not reply.

‘Well,’ said Mr Theophilus, taking a deep breath and fixing his eye on the middle distance, ‘it’s simply because the human heart’s so astonishingly tough. You follow? It’s the job, all that pumping all the time. The heart is solid, gristly muscle by its very nature, because expanding and contracting is really all it ever does.’

He turned to Jethro, smiling broadly.

‘Take Joan of Arc. I’m sure you recall the story about her. No? French lady? Led a rebellion, claiming she was under orders from the saints? Well, anyway: in 1431 she was burnt at the stake, and when they put out the fire the only thing that was left of her was her heart. No matter how hard her executioners tried, the bally thing just wouldn’t catch light. Now: why do you think that was, hmm?‘

-Click here for Slice Eight-

Barry discusses Barry

15 November 2009 By Barry Hutchison 7 In Video

I decided to shoot a new video blog yesterday, so stuck the camera on the tripod, removed the lens cap, and flicked the button marked ‘Record’.

It was at this point that I realised I had absolutely no idea what I was going to talk about. I spent three or four nanoseconds debating whether I should switch off the camera and plan what I was going to say, but I decided just to blunder on and talk about whatever came into my head.

The result is the wandering, semi-coherent video you see below. If nothing else it has taught me that planning videos is just as important as planning stories. Next time I’ll be figuring out the subject of my video blog BEFORE I start shooting it.

Go, Joshua! Go!

14 November 2009 By Mark Robson 5 In General

Invisible City

If given a taste of the first in her new Joshua Files series, anyone could be forgiven for thinking M.G. Harris was a male writer. I wonder if it was a tactical ploy to only give her initials in an effort to get those young boys on board who normally read books by Anthony Horowitz, Robert Muchamore, Charlie Higson, Chris Ryan and (of course) Joe Craig. If so, then she’s one smart lady. From the outset Invisible City sets itself alongside many of the books by these writers. The main character gives the feeling of a young Jason Bourne, discovering his true identity for the first time.

M.G. starts the story in the UK, but it is obvious from the outset that the real mystery lies hidden in the home of the ancient Mayan cities, somewhere out in Mexico. Hidden behind the garish orange sleeve lies: murder, theft, UFOs, rumour of an ancient Mayan codex, government agents, police investigations, car chases, martial arts and more. Add to this that it’s written in an easy to read style and with enough mystery to keep you guessing right to the end and I’d say that M.G. has come up with a winning formula.

Ice Shock

I’ve just now finished Ice Shock as well. Wow! It’s breathless action from the start. More undercover agencies, secret cults, mystery and murder – great stuff. This time the story seems to have more of an “Indiana Jones meets Dr Who” feel to it – two of my all-time favourites. Needless to say this series gets a huge thumbs up from me. Well done, M.G. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

JETHRO’S ACE OF HEARTS – Slice 6 of 13

13 November 2009 By Sam Enthoven 2 In Illustrations!, Stories!

JETHRO’S ACE OF HEARTS

a thirteen-part story, EXCLUSIVE to Trapped By Monsters

(Click here for previous slices: First ; Second ; Third ; Fourth ; Fifth)

-Sixth Slice-

When Jethro awoke, some seven hours later, the first thing he saw was himself – or rather, the reflection of his disembodied head looking back at him from the mirror above the slab. I believe this startled him: his eyes widened for a moment until he realised this was only an illusion cause by the hospital gown, which covered his body right up to his chin.

‘Splendid!’ he heard from the other side of the room. Perhaps Jethro also heard the steps coming closer, the click of steel toe-caps on concrete. ‘You’re right on time,’ continued Mr Theophilus, closing his pocket-watch with a soft snap. ‘Not too late, and not a moment too soon. You should regain the power of speech right about… now.’

Jethro 6

‘Wh- Where am I?’

‘The guest room of my humble abode, dear boy. Where I always receive my visitors. And…’ A flash of awkwardness crossed Mr Theophilus’ face. ‘Well, I’m afraid I have a confession to make. You remember I told you I knew the truth about Jack the Ripper?’

‘Yes?’ said Jethro.

‘I lied. I’m sorry old chap, but there it is.’ Mr Theophilus pulled up a chair by the slab, and sighed. ‘To be honest, I’ve always been baffled as to why the man still attracts so much attention. No one knows who he was, that’s true – but why do we still care? His crimes seem so cruel: so brutal and, well, so pointless. Whereas I, on the other hand, am a specialist.’ He paused, relishing his favourite line:

‘…A heart specialist.’

-Click here for Slice Seven-

It’s the little things…

12 November 2009 By Sam Enthoven 0 In Boredom Buster!, Video

…that make me happy. Little things like an apocalypse huddle, black smoke knotting around a crucifix and four minutes forty-eight seconds of fabulous giant robot destruction. Check out Ataque de Panico, this stunning short film I just watched three times here. Director Fede Alvarez is clearly a name to watch. SNEE HEE HEE!

It’s Great Up North!

12 November 2009 By Tommy Donbavand 0 In Author Events!

I’ve just managed to escape and spend two wonderful days running events at the Northern Children’s Book Festival – first in Stockton, and then in Thorntree. Thanks to everyone involved (especially Karen and Michelle) for ensuring I had just a wonderful a time as the kids!

Obviously, the monsters found me and dragged me back to the cave (that’s one disguised as my sidekick Eddie in the picture). If I can get out again, here’s to more fun at NCBF next year…

Tommy

12 November 2009 By David Melling 2 In General, Illustrations!

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Just look at this beast that some kindly (and talented), child gave me recently.

Awesome!

The Horror of High Ridge

12 November 2009 By Barry Hutchison 4 In Brilliant Books!

The Horror of High Ridge was one of those books which I devoured over and over again when I was about 8 years old. It was a Choose Your Own Adventure story, and my favourite one of the bunch.

For those of you who don’t know what Choose Your Own Adventure stories are, they were made up of short sections of story – often just a page long – and at the end of each section you were given a choice as to what should happen next. This went along the lines of: “If you decide to run away from the flying midgets, turn to page 41. If you want to offer your young brother as a sacrifice, turn to page 18.”

And so this continued until you reached an inevitable yet entirely unpredictable death on some random page or other. Usually there would be no warning that the option you selected was in any way dangerous, until you flipped to the right page and discovered you were done for. This would usually lead to you backtracking to the previous section and choosing the other option, pretending to yourself that this was the choice you had intended to make all along.

Although it never became possible to accurately predict which story path would lead to your untimely demise, the more you read a CYOA book, the more chance you had of making it through to the end. This was because you ended up dying so often that you soon began to remember which pages of the book contained the death scenes. So when you reached the next set of options and spotted one of those page numbers listed, you knew to avoid it at all costs.

In many ways, Choose Your Own Adventure and books of its type were the forerunner to many modern video games, as they placed you right in the heart of the action and let you decide the fate of the character you were ‘playing’. The stories were written in the rarely used Second Person Perspective (“You open the door and step inside. A strange man smiles at you as you enter” type thing) which took a bit of getting used to, but you soon found yourself drawn right into the action.

Certainly that was the case with The Horror of High Ridge. It was a cowboy-and-indian ghost story featuring all manner of scares and unpleasant deaths. You want a tomahawk through your skull? You got it. You want a hundred dead cowboys to shoot you to pieces? It’s here.

More scary than all that, though, was the main character’s neck. It is quite possibly the longest neck ever to appear in literature, and although it is never mentioned in the book, it’s there in all its full horrifying glory on the front cover. And remember, you are the main character in the story, so the freakishly long neck you are about to witness belongs to you!

The neck. My God, the neck!

Told you. It’s not just a neck, it’s a neck-and-a-half.

You can pick up a lot of these old books at car boot sales and on Amazon marketplace, and they’re well worth a read. I lost my copy of High Ridge long ago, but I’m very tempted to order myself another one to see if it is still as spooky as I remember.

JETHRO’S ACE OF HEARTS – Slice 5 of 13

11 November 2009 By Sam Enthoven 3 In Illustrations!, Stories!

JETHRO’S ACE OF HEARTS

a thirteen-part story, EXCLUSIVE to Trapped By Monsters

(Click here for previous slices: First ; Second ; Third ; Fourth)

-Fifth Slice-

Jethro looked out of the window again, but now there was nothing to be seen except blackness.

‘Before we proceed any further,’ he heard, ‘there is one small thing I’d like you to do for me.’

Jethro turned and saw Mr Theophilus adjusting the fit of a dainty pair of white gloves. He looked up to his face quickly.

‘No cause for concern, dear fellow,’ said Mr Theophilus soothingly. ‘I simply wondered if you’d indulge me by passing your nose over this flower in my buttonhole.’ He pulled it from his lapel and held it out for his guest. ‘They’re extremely rare. A scent fit for angels, I believe, but do tell me what you think.’

Jethro took the flower, bringing it slowly up to his nostrils, and straight away the colour drained from his face.

Jethro 5

One can imagine how he felt: the powerful aroma of almonds expanding inside his skull, until the air seemed to bulge before his eyes. He would have noticed the sharp tingle of pins and needles in his hand: if his pupils had still been able to focus, he might have seen that the delicate stem of the flower had wrapped itself around him, curling affectionately about his fingers. He might have seen the plant swaying steadily and slowly, lazily, opening its pale petals. But…

‘Take a good breath. A good, deep breath, that’s the way,’ Jethro heard. He obeyed. And immediately everything went dark.

Really, too easy.

-Click here for Slice Six-

The Dark Hunter lives!

10 November 2009 By Andy Briggs 2 In Illustrations!

It’s always nice to receive fan emails here in the caves. It gives us authors something to do rather than work down the mucus mines for the monsters, or play endless games of “Boggle” or “Where’s my Shrew?” So I was utterly thrilled when Matty Worthy sent me some artwork he’s created depicting Jake Hunter, the lead character in my VILLAIN.NET books: