Happy February 28th. It’s a snowy/icy/slushy mess here in Toronto. What’s it like where you are? As far as Feral/Mad Quill updates, Kevin Manklow and I are close to finalizing the outline for the next instalment. If you’ll remember, we decided to head back to the drawing board (writing board, in my case?) to ensure the storyline and characters we were developing worked. They were both a little weak before, and some solid teamwork has resulted in what’s close to a final outline. Good news.
(Other) stuff to watch out for…
Outside of our own material, there’s so much great stuff on Kickstarter these days.
Specifically, if you’re looking for a fantasy RPG, comic, and colouring book all in one, look no further! Oneshi Press (Jayel Draco and Lynsey G Lagsalot) are kickstarting those very things. You should check it out. Now. Or later. But now is better, because there are only 16 more days left in this campaign. You should probably go now. It’s ok. I’ll wait here…
Back? OK, well I might just send you back again because if plush toys are your bag, you should check out Rob Multari’s cute and cuddly werewolf voodoo doll plush toy inspired by the hit indie comic book series, Night Wolf.
If horror is your thing, you should also check out SINK: CUTTHROAT Deluxe Edition (SINK #11), which marks the long-awaited return of the critically acclaimed pulp crime horror saga SINK and the first thrilling installment of an all-new terrifying arc telling The Gorbals Vampire Saga! Only 10 days left in this campaign, so check it out. Unless you’re too scared…
Alright, that’s enough promoting other people’s stuff. Here’s the next instalment ofof “Hungry Harry,” part five of my prose short for Attic Door Media’s Tales from the Chimeranverse, which you can get online.
Hungry Harry: Part 5
By Mike Connell
New Hope, 1998
“Oh, Hi Harry,” said Stephanie Sullivan, Sully’s younger sister. “Hungry?”
“Haha. Sully home?” She was nice. Pretty. Funny. Smart. Not too much of each. He liked her in that she’s-only-15-and-by-best-friend’s-sister kind of way.
She glowed brightly. He almost had to squint. Relatively high-level Chimeran. A flier.
“He’s out back. You can go on through. Don’t eat any of my mix tapes, okay?”
Maybe not so funny.
New Hope, 2000
Stephanie Sullivan had been missing for over two weeks. Sully’s parents had given up hope.
Sully had not.
“I’ve got an idea,” Sully told him quietly. They were sitting in Sully’s backyard, drinking beer.
Smoking. Always smoking.
“You can find her. I know it, Harry.”
“Me? How can I find her? The police haven’t found her. All those search parties? It’s been two weeks, Sully,” Harry said, pulling hard on his cigarette.
“She’s alive. I know it. And you’ll find her. You can do your thing. Track her.”
Except for his Mum, Harry had never told anyone about his ability to see auras. Not the ICA. No one, except Sully, and his mother.
“You said she was really bright, right? You could see her from miles away.”
“I… I don’t know. It’s strong, sure. But I’ve never really tried to see them from far away or anything.”
“Try, Harry. Please…”
So he did. Day and night, for two days straight he sat on the roof of his house. Scanning the east-west horizon of New Hope. He was shivering in the late October evening. He hadn’t eaten anything for most of the day, which seemed to make the auras pop a little more.
Sully. His only friend. Was depending on him.
And then he saw it. A faint glow off in the distance, towards New Jersey.
“SULLY!”
They found her in a small hunting cabin near Allentown. Over half an hour away.
It took Sully a while to convince his parents to drive out that way, and to bring Harry. All without giving away Harry’s secret. He didn’t know why Harry didn’t want people to know he could see auras, but it was Harry. And they were best friends.
New Hope, 2002
Sully had graduated from the police academy with honors. Ever since Harry had helped him find his sister, and they had locked away the creep who had kidnapped her, he was obsessed with keeping people safe.
Harry, on the other hand, had been floating from one job to another, so when an opening at the crematorium opened up, Sully put in a good word. Harry was his best friend, after all.
Sully worried about Harry. He’d been working hard and hadn’t had a lot of time to spend with his best bud. But where Sully had the academy, Harry didn’t have anyone. His mother had passed away a couple of years prior, and Sully became the sole source of human contact Harry had. He seemed to like it that way, which is why the crematorium was a lock, Sully surmised.
“Just don’t eat any of the bodies, okay,” Sully laughed drunkenly, as they celebrated Harry’s new career, tunes playing in the background.
Darken the city, night is a wire
Steam in the subway, earth is a afire
Do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo
Woman, you want me, give me a sign
And catch my breathing even closer behind
Do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo...
Sully loved Duran Duran. Classic.
“Ha. Ya. No eating bodies. Just burning bodies. Gotcha…”
A thought hit Sully. “Could ya? You know… eat a body? What would happen??”
Harry laughed out loud. Forcefully. Hard. A little too hard, Sully thought.
In touch with the ground
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a crowd
And I'm hungry like the wolf…
“I can eat ANYTHING, you know that, Sully! But just because I can, doesn’t mean I do… I could eat shit, right?”
Sully let out a drunk giggle. Then a burp. Pretty much at the same time.
“But have you? Would you?”
“Pass me ‘nother beer, okay, this is stupid,” Harry said, with a grin on his face. But Sully was like a dog with a bone.
“Harry?”
Harry downed another beer. And then another. Sully joined him. Harry finally started talking, and the rest of the night became a blur.
The next morning, Sully woke up with a killer hangover and a slight sense of dread. Harry. Was that real? He was his best friend. Nothing had changed, he told himself. Or was that a question?
Straddle the line in discord and rhyme
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Mouth is alive, with juices like wine
And I'm hungry like the wolf...
Watch for more “Hungry Harry” next time. When that will be, who knows? But soon. Very soon. And let me know what you think!