Excerpt: Jersey Ghouls by A.L. Sirois
JERSEY GHOULS
A.L. Sirois
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Azure Spider Publications
Publication Date: June 15, 2018
Publisher: Azure Spider Publications
Publication Date: June 15, 2018
A disabled cop and his ex battle giant centipedes and ghouls in a small riverside community that's about to be flooded out.
The rain-drenched riverside town of Sherwood's Landing, NJ is invaded by a species of centipede from Central America armed with psychedelic venom. Former cop Lafferty "Hoff" Hoffman and his ex-girlfriend Beatrice St. John are swept into terror as their neighbors are enslaved by a centipede-generated group mind. Those remaining free must band together to survive the onslaught of ravenous ghouls.
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Excerpt
The school bus pulled up at the end of the Bonetti driveway just before 6:30 in the morning. Its door swung open. Kerry Bonetti was not there waiting. Jack Rosenberg, the driver, sighed. He wanted a cigarette. He hated the job, but it was easy enough and he was an unashamedly lazy guy. Behind Jack, the seats were about half filled. The kids, all bound for Central Hunterdon High, shouted advice.“He’s not there,” Sandy DeJulio said. “Keep driving!”
“Yeah, step on the pad, dad!”
“Let ’im walk in the rain.”
Jack ignored the wisecracks and taunts. Every kid got thirty seconds’ worth of his time at a stop. If he or she didn’t show by then it wasn’t Jack’s problem. Whereas, if he spotted one of the little so-and-sos on the run toward the bus, he’d wait.
Kerry Bonetti wasn’t a popular kid, he knew. Jack felt a little sorry for him – he was thin, undernourished, and really not all that bright. Though Jack figured the kid couldn’t weigh more than a buck ten soaking wet, Kerry was at age fourteen almost six feet tall. The other kids called him “Stick” or “Gawk.” He never said a word back.
Jack reflected that he probably knew better. Any response short of silence would get him shoved or tripped. Kerry was one of those kids made for bullying.
Just as Jack was about the shut the door Kerry came walking down the driveway. He wore a long raincoat much too big for him.
The kids on the bus jeered at him out the windows but he gave no sign that he heard them. Jack watched him approach, frowning. Kerry walked with a different gait today, slowly, with deliberation, unlike his usual uncoordinated amble. Something else was different – he carried no schoolbooks or knapsack.
As he came up to the bus and stepped inside, Jack noticed a spot of blood on his cheek.
“Kerry,” he said, “your face...”
Kerry said nothing, but reached out to the door control and closed it on his own. Jack was so surprised by this action that his mouth fell open.
At the same moment, Kerry tore off his coat. Wrapped around him like foul tinsel were the biggest thousand-leggers Jack had ever seen. One of them reared its head. It looked straight at Jack, chitinous jaws dripping, and his hackles went wild. The monstrosity launched itself at him as the others wrapped around Kerry’s body shot out toward the children.
The kids closest to the door screamed. Soon, the closed bus filled with thumps and shrieks.
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About A.L. Sirois
A.L. Sirois is a writer, developmental editor, graphic artist and a performing musician. His publication career began in 1973 with the appearance of the short-short story "War Baby" in Fantastic. (It would be called "flash fiction" nowadays.) He has gone on to have fiction in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Fantastic, Amazing Stories, and Thema, and online at Electric Spec, Mystery Weekly, Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Online, among other publications. His story "In the Conservatory," from Thema, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In addition to JERSEY GHOULS, other Sirois works include a children's book, DINOSAUR DRESS UP (Tambourine Press / William Morrow), a graphic novel, THE ENDLESS INCIDENT (2014), and a fantasy novel, THE BOHEMIAN MAGICIAN, published in 2017.
As an artist, he has hundreds of drawings, paintings and illustrations to his credit. Al has contributed comic art for DC, Marvel, and Charlton, and has scripted for Warren Publications. He wrote and drew "Bugs in the System" for witzend #12, the famous comics fanzine started by for MAD artist Wally Wood. He lives in Rockingham County, North Carolina with his wife and occasional collaborator, author Grace Marcus. Together they are writing a Young Adult novel set in ancient Egypt.
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1. Print Copy of Jersey Ghouls by A.L. Sirois
2. Color Rough of the book cover, painted in acrylics on illustration board
3. Drawing of the book cover on tracing paper
4. Drawing of the book cover on layout bond paper
2. Color Rough of the book cover, painted in acrylics on illustration board
3. Drawing of the book cover on tracing paper
4. Drawing of the book cover on layout bond paper
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