GZ Legends 1, 2, and 3

Just to help others catch up and share the whole story, I will post a catch up blog like this one once in a while.  So be sure to check out the story in order to catch up on what's going on in GZ legends.

1: The Temple in the Sand

2: Vengeance and Grief

3: Lights Out!

I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. If you think what happened in number 3 is crazy, this is just getting started!

Links to the Showcase short stories

In case you missed any of them up to now, before I post the first of GZ Legends. Here are the links to all the showcase short stories so you can read and catch up. I hope you enjoy them!

Boston Masters, Dealing Death

The Last Nursery Rhyme

Demon Jack

Becoming Osiris

The Target

Road Rage


Very soon here I will be posting GZ Legends number 1. This is just to get folks a way to catch up on the stories that have been done.

As I explained in my last post, the stories that are coming up will all be linked together. Just wait till you see how.

Thanks for reading and following and adding your "likes". It's all very much appreciated!

Galaxy Zento wants YOU!

This is what is about to happen.

Many of you have been reading the Showcase Short stories and I thank you.  Now to step it up a notch.

Starting this weekend I will be posting a short story series I'm calling GZ Legends. I plan to post a part 3x a week.

And we need YOU to help it get around. Share links, share on facebook, give it a twitter tweet, email it, whatever it takes. We need to make some noise! Can you make some noise?

We need to see likes climbing on the Facebook page. If you "liked" Galaxy Zento, make sure to pass it around. Make sure to check it out regularly because the kid gloves are OFF.

Yesterday we recieved a response from an agency checking out the Chessmen novel and Galaxy Zento. While they wrote they were highly impressed with the world building of both, they still had to decline.  What's awesome about this is that I made them take about four extra weeks to struggle with that decision. That tells me I'm doing something right and it's time to light a big ol bonfire with this. You can help!

Not only do we need the likes on the facebook page, but COMMENTS! We want your interactivity, right here on this blog and right on the facebook page! Chime in and be active with us!

Where does Galaxy Zento really expect to go?

Current goals are as follows!

1: Publish at least one series of novels (but more are in writing phase and planning right now!) and currently that's the Chessmen series. Unlike GZ Legends, you will only see excerpts of the Chessmen.

2: Publish several games based on the GZ universe. This includes a revision of the current role playing game (which may be tested ONLINE in post by post format) and a card game.

3: Graphic Novels are on the table for discussion but require more from an artist that I am capable of. So that is in idea stage.

4: Circulate to all of you and go the convention circuit with even more cool products to show off for GZ and all it's original characters and alien races.  This includes Gencon, Dragoncon, Wizard cons, and Comicons.

5: Finally, I want to do good things with Galaxy Zento to give back. That's why I will be contacting Autism agencies and offering the support of Galaxy Zento and it's creator (me). I don't know what that will entail right now, but I'm going to do it.

For some of this, I'm sure I'm going to be needing a new Galaxy Zento team of people willing to put into this as it's built. So be watching. And even if that doesn't happen, I'll be right here building!

Products and T-shirts are already available and will help support efforts of Galaxy Zento.

So watch closely, and remember, you will want to know what happens next!

Showcase: Boston Masters, Dealing Death

                It had been a long night, but he was accustomed to waiting. He stood in the shadows across the street from the gangster party house in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Inside were several targets he had been sent to kill. He wasn’t hired by a rival gang or any of their victim’s families. He was sent by Death himself. Boston Masters had served Death since the late 1700’s, balancing the scales where ever he was directed. This gang had been on a wild killing spree, unstoppable by local law enforcement. It was time to balance the scales of life and death by ending their lives.

            Boston looked like something from the American Civil War except that his uniform was black and sported a golden skull on his hat and belt. His hair style and thick mustache were also relics of the old West. His hard ghost blue eyes could pierce the soul of any man. As he watched the party, his right hand gripped his 1860 Colt 44 revolver. It was a weapon blessed by Death that never needed to be reloaded. Sideways, in the small of his back, was his black bowie knife, but he seldom used it.

            Hours went by and finally the lights went out at 3 am. None of his targets had left and he would wait another hour to make sure he could catch and kill them all.

            At 4am he walked in silence to the front door and grasped the door handle. The door swung open freely, unlocked. Not surprising for overconfident thugs, not that a locked door was much of a barrier to him. He stepped into the living room of the small three bedroom house and looked over all the bodies of drugged out and drunken fools draped over all the furniture and across the floor. Straight ahead, he saw the back door and to the left the hall to the bedrooms. The kitchen was next to the back door and some fool lay on the kitchen tile.

            Boston reached back with his left hand and drew his bowie knife as he held his pistol ready. He flipped the bowie in his hand so he held the blade, took aim and threw the knife. It stuck in between the back door and the frame with a thud. This woke two men who started to look around in a daze. That’s when Boston started firing. To say that Boston Masters was fast with a gun, would be like saying Babe Ruth was merely good at baseball. The first six shots hit their marks in less than a second with fatal accuracy. One man managed to grab the back doorknob, but didn’t have time to turn it. That was the man from the kitchen floor.

            Three or four men pulled out guns and one actually got to fire at Boston, missing by wide margin. Then they started to come out from the bedrooms. Only a few left at this point, so Boston started moving in that direction. Boston never stopped slapping his hand across the hammer of his revolver like an old West gunslinger, putting a mystically generated iron ball in each target. As Boston stepped into direct angle of the hall, the destruction became more focused. Plaster exploded from the walls and picture frames shattered around the gangsters falling bodies. As he came to each doorway he fired shots into the room at any who tried to hide. He shot one man through a door and another who tried to climb out a window.

            As he finally entered the furthest room to the back, everyone in his path lay dead. But one man had escaped out the window and ran hard and fast down the street. Boston took careful aim but then lowered his pistol. He would let this one run.  Sirens were blaring and getting closer, it was time to leave.

            When authorities arrived, Boston wasn’t there, nor was there any trace of him. Despite all the holes in bodies and walls made from black powder iron ball projectiles, there was nothing to be found of any ammunition. The only evidence was holes everywhere and the mark of something that held the back door shut.

            Boston Master’s emerged from the run down hotel not far from the scene around 10 pm. He had stayed out of sight and was ready to move on since he hit all the marks he was sent for.  Suddenly, two cars and a beat up SUV pulled into the dusty lot and gangsters poured out of them. They aimed guns of all kinds in Boston’s direction. So the one that got away, got a look at   Boston after all. Boston lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it. He casually breathed the smoke into the air and it floated up around his black hat like dark flames.

            “Is that him?” one of the gangsters asked of the one who got away.

            “Yeah, that’s him!”

            “Yo, man, who you think you are?”

            Boston took another drag on his cigarette, “You weren’t on my list and you still aren’t, so I’m going to give you just one chance. You want to know what that is?”

            “Can you believe this dude?” said the first gangster who spoke, “Yo, what before we shoot you all up?”

            Boston Masters showed no emotion and didn’t even blink his cold blue eyes, “You have one chance to get back in your cars and drive away. Just one chance, because if I have to deal with you, I’m going to have to drop my cigarette. If I drop my cigarette, you’ll all be dead before it hits the ground.”

            This was met with laughter and the one who spoke, seeming to be their leader, said, “What? Man, you gots one gun and we gots all these guns. We awake, unlike our friends you shot up. Nah, man, we got dis here. You the one who’s dead.”

            Fingers tensed on triggers and Boston could feel each one of them, “Have it your way,” he held up his cigarette in his fingers and flicked it straight upward, spinning into the air.

            Before their fingers could get half way on the triggers of their weapons, Boston had fired three times. The cigarette still spun in the air above his hat. As hammers and firing pins moved, Boston fired three more times. The cigarette was almost starting to fall. As bullets emerged from barrels of the guns, Boston fired another three times. As gangster bullets reached the halfway point towards their target, Boston fired twice more and twice again as the bullets hit the wall behind him. The cigarette was about to fall past the brim of Boston’s hat. As the last three men tensed to fire a second shot, Boston fired three times again, snatched the cigarette from the air at eye level and put it between his lips. Boston breathed in from his cigarette as the last three men fell. None of their shots connected with him.

            “And I never waste a good cigarette,” Boston muttered.

            Again, before authorities arrived, Boston Masters vanished, his mission complete. The balance had been maintained and for now, Death was satisfied.

Where can you find Galaxy Zento?

The question is becoming more, "where can't you find Galaxy Zento"? Because it's spreading around.

First of all you can google it and find all sorts of links as Galaxy Zento has a decent little internet presence. Not huge, but a darn good start.

If you are on Facebook, you can see the publicly accessible fan page and we do need more people to hit the "like" button on it and show some love. Even so, we are super happy for everyone who has. Still, here is the link:

Galaxy Zento on Facebook

That's where I started posting but quickly realized that cross networking is the tool I need. To do that, I need to rub elbows with fellow artists so added DeviantArt.com to the networking list. Since there's been some happy followers on the artwork side of GZ, the artwork there is available to purchase on Postcards, mugs, posters, magnets, mousepads, and more (but not T-shirts, that's later below). So, all that art you've seen on the Facebook page? You can get it on what ever you want (that's available and fitting) on DeviantArt. Here's the link:

Galaxy Zento on DeviantArt.com

Well, someone said, T-shirts. So now some of the artwork is available on Cafe Press. Not all of it, so if you don't see what you want, you have to request it. Because Galaxy Zento will always support Autism Awareness and similar educational stances (like anti-bullying) there is a special section for awareness. One day, when I make enough to do more than just support me and GZ is real name for itself, there will be donations and more support. But you can get cards and jewelry to show your support and help educate others right there on site. Plus, I take requests! You have an idea? I'll draw it up and make it available there! Anyway, here is the link for the Cafe Press page:

Galaxy Zento at Cafe Press

Then of course you have right here on the good ol official Galaxy Zento blog. Here is where the upates are and showcase short stories. I would love to see more comments but the fact that people are reading is a very happy thing. I just hope people enjoy it. I thought about writing something here more of a series of shorts that tie together. I would love your feedback on that idea. If enough people like it, I may just do it!

Not content with just that, you can get to know the characters you see much better by checking out their profiles on the wiki! Yep, Galaxy Zento on Wikia shows profiles and soon much much more! It's a lot under construction but I do hope to get a lot more activity there soon. Anyway here is that link too:

Galaxy Zento at Wikia

And more than just the artwork, we have the bookwork. With my novels up for publishing grabs and being sent to agents, there is always hope for more to take off. I still have a lot to learn on all the sites and more art to do. I even have a request or two to bring the role playing game online somehow! Whoa.

Now, you can help GZ get around by passing on to your friends, sharing on Facebook, and linking. GZ certainly isn't ready to stop yet, we're just building up steam and momentum. There will be more to come and we hope you will be with us to enjoy it!

Showcase: The Last Nursery Rhyme

The Last Nursery Rhyme

Roddy looked anxiously up and down the dark street before walking up to his front door. It was a quiet night on the little London street. Roddy would have preferred some noise. The silence was too unsettling. One more glance before he turned his key in the lock and he quickly slipped inside. As he shut and locked the door, he breathed a sigh of relief and reached for the light switch.

As the light came on, rough hands grabbed him from either side. Two large men had ahold of him. Roddy let out a cry of surprise and fear as they spun him around to face his living room.

“Now, now, Roddy,” said the man who sat in Roddy’s favorite arm chair. “Don’t want to annoy the neighbors do we?”

The man wore a red striped barker’s jacket, straw hat and white pants. From his jacket breast pocket, a glossy candy cane stuck out. He wore round wire rimmed spectacles and held a cane made entirely of finger bones. Roddy knew this horror to be the crime boss called, Mother Goose. Since this was also his boss, Roddy felt cold.

            “We have something important to discuss, don’t we, Roddy?” Mother Goose smiled with un-nerving calm.

            “I didn’t do nuthin’, MG, I swear. I been good for you, real good,” Roddy pleaded.

            Mother Goose stood up, “Is that so?”

            Roddy nodded fast, hoping his boss would buy it.

            “That’s not what I heard,” Mother Goose shook his head slowly with an exaggerated frown, “You know, Roddy, we had a very large shipment come in from New York last week. A shipment we were very careful to conceal in every way.” Mother Goose moved closer to Roddy, “Oddly enough, however, that shipment was seized.”

            Roddy eyed the cane and hoped that all he would have to do is lose a finger to it. Most mistakes were made up for that way because Mother Goose like the Yakuza way of doing things. But Mother Goose was far more sinister than they could ever be.

            “You listening, Roddy ol boy?” Mother Goose tapped Roddy on the forehead with the cane.

            “Yeah, Mother, but I had nothing to do with it, I swear. Whoever told you I did is lying to protect himself, MG!”

            Mother Goose leaned in close and dropped his voice to a whisper, “Do you mean to accuse the Hag of being a liar, Roddy? Would you like to say that to her face then?”

            At this point, Roddy didn’t know which way was out of the frying pan and into the fire. No one messed with the Hag, not even Mother Goose. Roddy shook his head ‘no’ as the color drained from his face.

            “Right! So we’ll just deal with this right here! That means just one thing to do!” Mother Goose smiled

            Roddy prayed to lose a finger, even a hand.

            “Tie him to the chair in the corner boys and make it nice and tight. We can’t have him moving a single muscle,” Mother Goose ordered.

            “What?” Roddy cried out, “Ah no, MG, not Little Jack Horner, anything but that!”

            “Well, what did you expect, Roddy? I have a mult-million dollar shipment to retrieve. Did you think one of your fingers was worth that much? Your whole arm isn’t worth that much.”

            “Take em both!”

            The two rugged men tied Roddy down to the chair around his torso, legs and arms. They even put a strap around his neck. The chair had been bolted to the floor earlier. Roddy couldn’t do much but wiggle fingers and turn his head slightly.

            Mother Goose lifted a pie from a nearby table, “I hope you like this, Roddy. I made it just for you.” He set the pie in Roddy’s lap where Roddy shivered and stared down at it in horror. Mother Goose continued, “Now do be real still and set a good example, won’t you?”

            “Please, MG, come on! I can turn this around!”

            Mother Goose smiled and walked out the door with the two henchmen Next to those men, Mother Goose was a small man, but neither of them would cross their boss like Roddy did.They closed the door behind them and walked out and across the street. Across from Roddy’s house was an adjoining street and the three men walked down that way a good distance from the house to a waiting red sedan.  Mother Goose turned to look at Roddy’s house and reached into his pocket.

            Roddy’s face streamed with tears and he glanced around desperately and finally began to shout, “Help meeeee! Somebody help m….”

            The explosion brought daylight to the little street as Roddy’s house became a giant ball of fire and debris. The concussive force of the blast shattered windows on cars and nearby homes. The house next to Roddy’s was caught up in the blast and on fire. Next came the clatter of falling debris and car alarms.

            “Ahhh, fireworks and music,” Mother Goose mused, “how beautiful. Well, off we go boys. Mother has work to do.”

            The three men climbed into the sedan and drove away. Roddy made a terrible mistake and for that, earned his last nursery rhyme.

Showcase Origin: Demon Jack!

The Origin of Demon Jack

DJ Wilde 2012

Carter Henderson grasped a fist full of weeds and pulled them from the well churned earth of his garden. The pumpkins were getting big and soon neighbors would be buying some of them from him. He grew all sorts of vegetables in his garden and shared much of them.  After long hours working for the post office, Carter’s way to unwind was gardening.

After pulling a few more weeds he edged forward on his muddy knees to reach some more. No weeds would be choking out his plants this year. The next one was a thick weed. He grasped it and pulled. It resisted. Thinking it must have a long root, Carter adjusted his grip and gave a good hard pull.

In the first split second, his back felt like it was hit with a sledgehammer. In the next split second he saw flames and the sound of the explosion deafened him. With nearly instantaneous results he saw bright fire and knew only searing agony, then darkness.

People around Carter’s block stepped out of their homes wondering at the sound. The column of smoke could be seen for blocks.

“Hey, that’s Carter’s yard!” people exclaimed and from deep in a dull state, Carter could hear them.

Carter moved a leg first, then an arm. He felt no pain, but still saw flames. He also felt something else, something in his mind that moved. It was the strangest sensation Carter had ever known.

Neighbors burst through the gate to the back yard but came to a stumbling halt at the sight before them. The crater was nearly 20 feet across and the garden was gone. Something in the smoke was still burning, and it moved toward them. As it came into view, the neighbors started to scream. What Carter understood even less, was the eerie laugh that seemed to be coming from his own mouth.

Miles away, in downtown, New York City, Larry Peters entered a federal building with a package. He dressed in his usual black leather jacket and jeans. His long blonde hair draped around his shoulders. The receptionist smiled and buzzed him through the security doors. Larry was well known in the offices of the FPA (Federal Protection Agency) as the member of an special response team called PAC (Parahuman Activities Commission). He was better known by the name Blacktide.

Blacktide rode the elevator, wishing they would change the music and soon stepped onto the floor of his office. At his desk he saw a large dark image that looked like a shadowy werewolf with great black wings. Despite the muscular bulk of the creature called Nyhtwulf, he balanced on the edge of a desk on the balls of bare though clawed feet.

Blacktide handed Nyhtwulf the package, “You really need to use a chair,” he teased shadowy partner.

“Chairs and my wings don’t fit so well,” Nyhtwulf said as he tore open the box, “Ah you got just the ones I like!” Nyhtwulf pulled out a handful of foil wrapped cubes of cream cheese and popped them into his wolfen mouth.

“I don’t care what you say,” Blacktide poured himself a cup of coffee, “I am never eating anything with the wrapper still on it; especially cream cheese.”

“But it’s so delicious that way!”

“And it’s all yours.”

Blacktide and Nyhtwulf

“Blacktide and Nyhtwulf!” came the earshattering shout of Commander Henry P. Larratus, “In my office!”

Though the shout was enough to make most people run with conviction, the two put down their morning edibles and walked back to the office of their manager.

The balding man at the desk in the large office banged his smoldering cigar into an ash tray as they walked in. “Did I sound like you should take your time? You both need to head to this are of Great Neck right now! You’ve got a live one.”

Larratus tossed a paper across the desk that Blacktide scooped up. As he did the paper disintegrated in his fingers slightly. Blacktide controlled the power of his energy aura in time not to destroy the whole paper.

“Isn’t the wolf in your head to help you restrain that?” Larratus asked.

“Well, yeah, but things can still get singed, Boss. That’s why I still don’t shake hands. We’ll get right on this. Looks like there’s no time for my motorcycle. Nyhtwulf, you’ll have take us.”

Nyhtwulf put a clawed hand on his partner’s shoulder and the two of them vanished like dissolving shadows.

“I hate it when they do that,” Larratus chomped his cigar, “gives me the creeps.”

Back in Great Neck, the first police car screeched to a halt before the haunting scene blocking their way. It stood tall with humanoid arms and legs of green and had huge pumpkin enveloped in fire, hovering over the body as its head. In the pumpkins face appeared a wide mouth with natural and sharp looking teeth. Its eyes were angled in cruel rage but its laughter echoed. Within the view of mouth, nose and eyes, all that could be seen was fire. Unlike a jack-o-lantern, the features were disturbingly natural.

The two officers watched as long thorny vines extended from where they were wrapped around the thing’s forearms. It drew back and arm and sent the end of the vine at the car, like cracking a whip. The impact crumpled the front of the police car and both officers leaped from the vehicle for their lives. Right after that, a jet of fire came from the pumpkin’s mouth and turned the car into an inferno.

From within, Carter watched it all in horror. This was his body and he couldn’t understand how to make it stop. He screamed but the only sound that made it outside was the despicable laughter.

“Geez, who ordered the salad flambé?” Blacktide commented as he and Nyhtwulf appeared on the scene.

“I’ll come in from the air,” Nyhtwulf spread his wings and jumped into flight.

“And I’ll take him from the ground. Let’s wipe that smile off ol’ Jack’s face.” Blacktide couldn’t help but think of a jack-o-lantern as he rushed forward. He could see that it noticed both of them.

“I don’t suppose you’d care to give up?” Blacktide asked as the air around his fists darkened with disintegration energy.

In response, the fiend lashed out another vine that hit a nearby telephone pole. The pole snapped like a toothpick and fell toward Blacktide who just stood there. Blacktide carries an auro around his body that disintegrates any solid object before it can touch him. In the past, it’s been very useful against bullets and other weapons. The remains of the pole fell around him on the ground.

Blacktide could see his partner was ready to swoop in on their opponent. Blacktide held back a fist and threw a shadowy projectile at the beast, hitting it in the chest. It staggered backwards slightly with what seemed to be a cry of pain. Nyhtwulf flew intangibly through the creature’s body. Normally, when Nyhtwulf does this, he can scramble brain waves and life force of any living being. This time, he found himself thrown down the street.

Nyhtwulf regain his footing with natural agility and shook his head to ward off the effects of the severe dizziness this attack gave him.

Blacktide watched in amazement as the hole in the creature’s chest sealed up and that distraction cost him. A thorny vine wrapped around his throat and the thorns bit into his skin. They smouldered, but did not disintegrate as most things did.  It pulled Blacktide toward it and spoke.

“Must pull the weeds,” Its voice crackled with the roaring flame around its head.

Nyhtwulf flew into the air to rescue his partner and the pumpkin head spun in the flames to face him.

Fighting Demon Jack

“Yes, come closer, I’m going to kill him anyway,” it rasped.

Nyhtwulf veered to his partner and grabbed him. Nyhtwulf made his friend intangible just like him and flew him to a rooftop. Blacktide knelt on the roof choking as Nyhtwulf used his supernatural abilities to heal his friend’s neck.

“I think those thorns were poison,” Blacktide said, “I was blacking out. Thanks, partner.”

“My pleasure, you are healed, but there is bad news.”

“About healing me or the Mr. Halloween party?”

“The second one. There are two minds in this creature, one is human and filled with terror. The other is demon.”

“Demon? You mean like you?” Blacktide asked.

“Not like me, but demon all the same. When I tried to fly through it, the combination of life energies repelled me.”

“Great, so we can call him Demon Jack and he has multiple personality disorder.”

“Come back weeds!” Demon Jack called from the street as he lashed away at buildings and parked cars. Thorns flew like bullets and even stuck into brick walls and metal. “Weeeeds!”

“Well, I can’t disintegrate an innocent person, we have to do something else.”

“I don’t think I can separate them, but if you can distract it, I may be able to switch the minds that are in control.”

“Distract it,” Blacktide said, “Great, my favorite part of the job.”

The roof they stood on shook.

“Okay, I’m going to drop through the roof and come out the front. I’ll get Jack’s attention. You do what you can do.” Blacktide increased his disintegration aura so that he dropped through the roof and into the pharmacy below. He rushed past toward the front of the store and noted the fire extinguisher on the wall. He grabbed it on the way out.

Most of the area was evacuated except for a small shop across the street with a crowd of onlookers inside. Blacktide hated it when people didn’t follow emergency proceedures, but he didn’t have time to worry about them now. He ran into the street and came up behind Demon Jack.

“Hey!”

It spun to face him with vines reaching like thorny tentacles. “Ahhhh, there you are, weed.”

Blacktide aimed the canister like a fat magic wand instead of bothering with the hose. “Careful, contents under pressure!” With his disintegration ability, Blacktide swiped a hand across the top of the fire extinguisher, releasing everything in it at Demon Jack’s head. It was a direct hit and Demon Jack’s vines flailed in all directions as he fought to get the fire retardant off of him.

Nyhtwulf swooped in and hovered behind Demon Jack. In his intangible form, the vines couldn’t touch him. Nyhtwulf thrust both of his hands into the back of the flaming pumpkin and endured a shock like grabbing a live powerline. He held on and could feel the two minds within. Thanks to the distraction of the fire retardant, the mind of the demon was preoccupied and unprepared to deal with Nyhtwulf’s intrusion. As mystical fire mixed with extinguisher filled the street with smoke. Blacktide had to back up in order to breath. He covered his face with part of his leather jacket.

After agonizing moments, Blacktide heard the wingbeats of his partner, forcing the smoke away to reveal the more humble looking, Carter Henderson. Nyhtwulf had ahold of Carter by either shoulder.

“Oh, help me,” Carter cried, “It’s still in me. It wants to come back.”

“We know of a hospital that might be able to help you, but we have to know what happened.” Blacktide said.

“I don’t know. I just pulled a weed and it exploded in my back yard,” Carter looked around at all the damage, “I couldn’t stop it.”

“Yeah we know, where’s your yard?” Blacktide pressed.

“We don’t have much time,” Nyhtwulf said, “What I managed was temporary.”

Carter hadn’t gone far from his home and led them to his yard quickly. They surveyed the scene of the crater that used to be Carter’s garden.

“I just pulled a weed right here.”

Nyhtwulf flew into the crater that was easily ten feet deep, “It was no weed that did this.”

“What you got?” Blacktide called after his partner.

Nyhtwulf held up a chunk of half glowing stone. “A meteorite. It must have struck just as he pulled that weed. He never knew what hit him. I sense traces of the other mind on it.”

“Oh no!” Carter stumbled backward, “he’s coming!”

Quickly, Nyhtwulf jumped out of the crater and phased a hand through Carter’s forehead. Carter trembled with a few spasms and fell over. “We have to get him somewhere, quickly. I scrambled his brain waves but he will recover soon and change.”

Blacktide nodded. “Take him to the hospital.”

The Powers University Hospital was the place to take people with powers that needed help in anyway. Blacktide had once committed himself there to keep his powers from hurting others. But that was before meeting Nyhtwulf.  Now the University took in Carter Henderson and worked quickly to see if they could hold Demon Jack at bay. As for if they did, that is another story.

Profiles and more: update

So, I 've been working on the wikia pages and have a lot on there now. Still not everything and I still need to figure out how to put up some kind of menu that helps with navigation. That has me kind of stuck. However, whenever you see a notice on my facebook page, it links to the picture on the wiki, and in turn links to the profile.

I really hope that I'm making my character profiles entertaining to read. Many of them have book plans on my desk. I can only hope that by continuing to do what I do, something will come of it somewhere. Hopefully something good. For those who have commented to me on these, THANK YOU! I'm so glad that you are enjoying the show.

I'm going to post some links to the wiki pages. What you will notice in these teams pages is more links to the members of that team. Everything should be completely linked back and forth so you can navigate easily regarding every member of the team. These are the links to the Team pages so far:

Ankhforce

Chessmen

The Darksiders

Jordain Family (Maestro)

Crusade

Carnival of Fear

The Fables

There are a few single characters in there as well and I will have to post some updates later on them. But each team page has a full list of all members.

I'm still networking on my project both locally and on Facebook and DeviantArt. There are some places that aren't working out for that, but you can only do what you can do right? So I hope you'll check out the work at the wiki. It's still under construction but more is on the way.

I'm still brainstorming on showcase short stories. I want to work up a schedule that will mesh with my other writing. It's a juggling act but well worth while. And please note that on the wiki or here comments are welcome!

Guest Artist: Lordwormm!

Today I want to share a new guest artist with you who has his own established style of character artwork. I only know him by his screen name as stated in title, but you should check out his page at this LINK.

On his page you'll find that he gives Original Characters their due with awesome fan art in the Lordwormm style. He's been on DeviantArt for 3 years and drawing much longer than that.

But what's all this wormm business? Well, he has his own original characters and amongst them is  his hero called "The Worm". You can see a gallery of this guy at this LINK.

There are lots of people out there who have created their own heroes, their own universes and you don't get to see them by going to the comic book store. You do get to see them here on the internet. Lordwormm breathes life into original characters with teamups to his own universe or just as you saw in the picture. It enjoy seeing other peoples creative universes, there are some really amazing characters out there.

Now I'm going to tell you a bit about the picture. The characters he drew are (from left to right) Mage, Carousel, St Freedom, the Chemist, and the Engineer. I especially like how he managed to do great work on a character I only drew the face of! I think I'll stick with his idea of giving her red shoes for one of her outfits.  Below you can see the original pics of those characters.  My major thanks for the drawing of my characters and I plan to return the favor with a crossover pic, so be on the lookout!

And check out original characters and their universes, you don't get to see them anywhere else (yet).

Achievement! Short Story wins Honorable Mention

Writer's Journal has been doing contests on short stories for four years or more (I only found till 2008 on the link I will soon post). Even so, Writer's Journal has been around for a long long time (according to back issues, 32 years!) and I hear they've always done these contests, respected amongst the writing community.

Sadly, Writer's Journal went out of business after doing the judging on the last contest that I had entered. So it's lucky for me that they did that. I won't get to see my story in a magazine (yet), but it's pretty awesome get the win I did. No small feat people! You can learn more about the mag's situation HERE.

Here is a link to the Winner's List so long as it will be there: LINK


Here is a screenshot for when it's not there anymore. And a huge congrats to all the other winners too!

As my main pic suggests, the story that won honorable mention is about the Gator, one of my Galaxy Zento Characters. It's the story of his origin. I'm not posting that story yet because we are considering the possibility of trying again to get it into magazine status. As you can imagine, no magazine will take it if it is published elsewhere.

This is a great accomplishment for my writing and for Galaxy Zento. For those who aren't following yet, I hope you will and here are all the links for the project.
Facebook
DeviantArt
Wikia
Twitter
This will keep growing and you can witness that for yourself! Great thanks for all of you who have clicked LIKE on the facebook page or are following this blog or twitter!

I'm going to close this with my two latest additions, Youtube videos about the characters and if you haven't seen them yet, I hope you enjoy them!

Firing up the Wiki!

I'm taking the advice of a few other internet pros and using a wiki for the character profiles instead of a full website. While doing a big website would be awesome, it's just not financially available right now.

Honestly, all the marketing and anti-marketing that goes on between hosting companies doesn't make it any easier, but that's for another discussion.

At Wikia, you will find the Galaxy Zento Wiki! On this wiki you will find the pics you've seen so far along with brand new full character bios. Now you can learn all about the characters you've seen. This blog will still contain information too. Short stories will be posted on occassion as time allows. Currently, I'm up to my eyeballs in projects. The front burner projects are:


Chessmen book 2
Illustrations
Wikia profile pages

Everything else I do has to be worked into the schedule from there. Of course, new illustrations will be posted at DeviantArt (where you can purchase magnets, postcards, and more of any art you like), Facebook, and EVERYTHING gets noted at the Facebook fanpage. Hey, that's enough cross-reference to knock out a politician!

So far I have over 20 profiles up to enjoy and comment on. Hope to see you there!

Showcase: Becoming Osiris!

Rubber wheels rolled across uneven pavement as Marvin Hauck pushed the rims of his wheelchair.  It was a backwoods little town, lost in Kentucky where few knew of it. The sidewalks were cracked and sprouting weeds. All the streets were little more than dirt and crumbling asphalt. Marvin grew up in that little town, and that wasn’t an easy thing to do. 

Every day, Marvin made a trek to the small diner where the most beautiful girl he ever saw would serve him coffee and a sandwich.  Today was special, today he carried a gift. Today he would have the guts he never had before.

He pushed his way through the heavy front door of the diner. Its rusted hinges squealed in protest as always. Lori looked up from a newspaper with a smile.

                “Hey!” she pushed back her red hair with one hand, “There you are. I have your coffee ready. You want a ham sandwich today?”

                “Sounds great,” Marvin said as he rolled up to his usual table. 

                “Oh look,” an irritating voice floated from across the room, “it’s wheelie boy.” 

                “Shut up, Kenny,” Lori retorted.

                Kenny and his two friends laughed. They had been a source of torment for Marvin since elementary school. Kenny’s two friends made for a strange trio of bullies. The skinnier one than Kenny had only two large teeth in the front of his mouth, so they called him Tooth. The bigger one than Kenny was Kegger. Whenever the trio went drinking, Kegger always carried the keg. Kenny was the brains of the crew and that still didn’t say much for him. They often ran afoul of the law, but seldom did anything come of it. Kenny could what he wanted since his father was the Sheriff. 

                Marvin hated their leering faces that sometimes haunted him in his sleep. He couldn’t count how many bruises and abrasions they had given him. He couldn’t count how many times he had to struggle back into his chair after they dumped him out of it. 

                Marvin struggled to push the trio out of his mind as Lori came up with his sandwich and coffee. He looked up to her and smiled.

                “I brought you something,” he almost stammered, but held it together. 

                “Really?” Lori almost blushed at the thought, “Well, what is it?”

                Marvin pulled the small box out of his backpack that he kept on his chair. He opened the little box and showed her its contents. Lori gasped as she took the box and lifted out the jeweled heart pendent.

                “Marvin, that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she kissed Marvin’s forehead, “I’m going to go try it on in the mirror. I’ll be right back.”

                That kiss was the most awesome thing Marvin had ever felt. He was lost in the thought, dazed, but then it was shattered.

                “What do you think you’re doing?” Kenny now stood over him with a hateful scowl. The punch came out of nowhere and rolled Marvin backwards. “That’s my girl, retard.”

                Another punch, and then another hit him. Lori’s scream stopped the assault.

                “Kenny! You monster! Get out!” Lori ran to Marvin. “Oh my God, let me help you.”

                “No, no, I have to go, please, I’ll see you later.” Escape was the only thing on Marvin’s mind and he went as fast as he could down the street to get home.

                Amazingly, Kenny and his crew didn’t stop get in the way. Kenny was too busy trying to sugar talk Lori into forgiving the bad behavior.  Marvin could hear her shouting at them from blocks away. Years of their abuse flooded back to him as he rolled into home. He washed the blood off his face and looked in his mirror. 

                “No more.” He said to himself. “No more.”

                Marvin lived alone, his mother and father were long gone. The only thing he had left of his father was the twelve gauge shotgun in the closet. He knew a little about shooting a gun, but he hardly had any skill. Still, he grabbed the gun, loaded shells, and headed back out. He made way down the street with rage and purpose. He almost didn’t see Kenny’s truck as it pulled up in front of him two blocks from the diner.

                Marvin struggled to pull up the shotgun from his lap as the trio got out of the truck. The stock of the weapon got stuck in the arm bars. Kenny grabbed it away before he could do anything about it.

                “Wow, lookit here! Marvin’s got a shotgun. How about you step into my office, wheelie boy,” Kenny stepped into the alley they happened to be in front of.  Kegger grabbed the handles of Marvin’s wheel chair and shoved him in behind Kenny.  Tooth followed with a sledgehammer.

                The alley was a dead end with a dumpster and a few trash cans. Garbage littered the ground in the form of beer cans, bottles, paper and leaves. 

                “I have to hand it to you, wheelie, this is a nice gun,” Kenny said, “I’ll be taking good care of it, don’t you worry. But, I get the feeling you planned on shooting me with it. Are you that stupid, retard?”

                “I’ve had enough of you. You’re nothing but a tormenting monster. You won’t do Lori any good. Heck, you’ll just smack her around,” Marvin said through gritted teeth. The back of Kenny’s hand stung across his face.

                “Wow, you really are stupid,” Kenny’s friends laughed and repeated the word stupid like a couple of parrots. “You aren’t getting out of this one. I have to teach you a lesson.”

                The first blow of the sledgehammer was to the mid-section. Marvin couldn’t scream if he wanted to. The next broke one of his useless legs, then a hit landed on a shoulder. After that, Marvin couldn’t hear their laughter anymore and a blow broke his jaw in three places. Even after he was thrown to the ground the beating continued. Blood spattered the ground, surged from his mouth and a rib punctured a lung. When it finally stopped, Kenny turned to the wheelchair and exacted his vengeance on it. Kenny smashed the chair beyond use or repair. Marvin didn’t hear them leave him to die.

                All Marvin could see at first was his own blood covered hand. He moved his fingers slightly and coughed. He knew he needed to call for help, but it was getting dark and he couldn’t make a noise. No one would see his body until morning. He thought of Lori, the girl he would never have and cursed himself for being stupid. 

                The night was still and hot and Marvin didn’t know why he found the sudden cool breeze odd, but he did. First a leaf and some paper started to blow around in a small eddy, then the wind rose. A tin can clattered by and a bottle rolled noisily under the dumpster.  At first it was dim and he thought it a trick of his dying mind. Then the blue light grew brighter as the wind rose to a deafening torrent. Trash cans fell over. Marvin struggled to lift his head and see what made the light. As he saw the floating blue pyramid spinning in the air, lighting flashed through the alley. The wind now threw trash clear out of the alley and something lifted Marvin’s body into the air. 

                Whatever had him in front of the pyramid now grasped his body like giant invisible hands. The moved him as if handling a broken toy. Bones snapped back into place and the rib was pulled from his lung. The pyramid pulsated blue light and then a bright beam blinded him. Now the true changing began. His arms grew and legs lengthened. Sinew of muscle formed across his body and stripped his bloody clothing away. For what seemed and eternity, his body bathed in the blinding blue light.

                As the light faded, something set him slowly to his feet, almost gently. Marvin felt himself gasp as if breathing for the first time ever and he dropped to one knee.  With awe and shock he stared at his new large hands and couldn’t believe what he had become.

                Back in front of the diner, Kenny and his friends waited for Lori to come out. They stood on the sidewalk with special plans for Lori. Kenny wanted her to understand who she belonged to once and for all. The sudden crash and spraying of glass sent all three of them sprawling to the ground.  Kenny leapt to his feet and stared in shock at the windshield of his truck and the destroyed cab and hood. There, embedded in the midst of it all, was a wrecked wheelchair. 

                The sound of heavy and deliberate footsteps caused them all to turn and gaze down the street.  What they saw was Marvin Hauck, and yet it wasn’t. He now stood over six feet tall, broad shouldered and with emerald green skin. Where skin couldn’t be seen was covered in an Egyptian armor of green and gold. On the front of his headdress a golden ankh was mounted and it had an eerie glow.  He continued to move toward them.

                Kegger grabbed the shotgun out of the back of the truck and fired three times before he ran out of shells. Not one of the shots fazed the new Marvin at all. Marvin strode up and backhanded Kegger much like Kenny had done to him. The other two stared in horror as Kegger’s body landed across the street in a shop window. Marvin stared hard at Kenny as he reached out a fist and hit Tooth in the face. Then Marvin reached out, and closed a great hand around Kenny’s neck, lifting him from the ground.  He couldn’t believe the satisfaction he felt at the sight of Kenny’s terrified face.

                “Um, excuse us, but you probably don’t want to do that,” a voice came from behind him.

                Marvin turned in surprise to see two who were dressed similar to him.

                “Hey there, I know you must be really confused, but we’re here to help, really.” Said the one with the head of a hawk.

                “Who are you?” Marvin dropped Kenny who pressed against the wall of the diner, hoping not to be noticed again.

                “I’m Horus and my dog-faced friend is Anubis,” Horus gestured a thumb at Anubis.

                “Oh, even you with the dog jokes, bird brains,” Anubis said.

                Marvin stared from one to the other more confused than ever.

                “You’ve been chosen, and not for revenge,” Anubis continued.

                “Then for what?”

                “A new purpose. It looks like the Powermid chose you to become Osiris,” Horus offered.

                “I don’t understand any of this.”

                “We know. That’s why we want you to come with us. We’ll help you,” Anubis said. “We were chosen, just like you.”

                Before Marvin, now Osiris, left with them, Anubis walked over to Kenny and leaned over him with eyes glowing.

                “Would you like to see us come back?” Anubis gave a toothy smile.

                Kenny shook his head as tears flowed down his face.

                “Then you better find a way to never hurt another living thing again, or we will.”

                As the left in a cosmic ray of light, Marvin saw Lori watching from a window. He waved, but knew that now his life was taking a direction into a greater unknown.