Well, July is almost over. Here in Texas summer's half gone and the new school year is fast approaching. June bugs are still hatching and flying in my back door, too. Someone needs to tell them that June ended several weeks ago, though my cats are certainly enjoying the feast.
Over at Abandoned Towers Magazine we added a nice selection of goodies to the online pages and released issue #3 as well. To recap the month, Here's just some of what came in and is waiting for you to go spend a few minutes reading.
Three Wishes in the Iraqi Desert by Stephen Patrick in the General Fiction Section
Reflections on Time by Ashutosh Ghildiyal in the Poetry Section
The Grey Div by David A. Hardy in the Fantasy Section
Elcano Syndrome by Gustavo Bondoni in the Audio Stories Section
Buy the Sword by Timothy A. Sayell in the Fantasy Section
Buy the Sword parts 1 and 2 by Timothy A. Sayell in the Audio Stories
Zatana vrs. Ms. Marvel by Eric S. Brown under Comics by Eric S. Brown non-series articles
The Goddess of Ganymede under Odd Reviews by Oddcube
And of course we have some great classics hidden around for you to find. Buried treasures and you don't even need a map. Or a shovel. Just a little bit of time.
I thought I'd share a few bits and pieces with it of some of the gems you might not have discovered yet. This excerpt is from a story in the Science Fiction section.Written by Doug Hilton, it's called The Billboard.
The dark blue sign crackled into existence around 4 P.M. on the first Thursday of June, near the westbound lanes of Interstate 565 in Madison Alabama. It was 60 feet by 40 feet, surrounded by a neon red border, but anyone could tell that it wasn't really there - it was clearly some kind of holographic projection, but from where? S
oon, strange characters appeared on the billboard and a few cars pulled off to see what was going on. The rush hour traffic slowed to a crawl at the mile marker, and the sign changed from dancing alien letters to dancing alien beings. Pictures from a faraway place flashed and bounced across the billboard, which now doubled in size. I-565 was stopped by now, and Alabama State Troopers were trying to sort out the mess. Two of them were forcing eastbound traffic to stop, and one was blocking westbound traffic.
A Channel 48 news chopper showed up, and one of the troopers used his bullhorn to tell the news team to stay away, but they couldn't hear him from the chopper. They circled low over the sign. The strange creatures disappeared and things that looked like cans of blue and yellow soup filled the billboard and seemed to spring right out of it. Red lasers shot tracers at the cans from the billboard, and they seemed to open up and spill their contents out onto the gathered masses.
Everyone was taking pictures with their cell phones. By now, traffic was backed up into Decatur, to the west and Huntsville to the east. The Troopers talked to each other by radio, and the crowd swelled. The exploding soup cans turned into strange-looking flowers that grew from microscopic dots into flowers that ate up the entire billboard, and then faded into fireworks of small dots. This went on for 3 hours, and then the billboard went away. Just like that.
If you'd like to read the entire story, just wander on over to the Abandoned Towers website, which you can find easily by going to google and searching on abandoned towers magazine. Once you're on the home page, click on the spot that says "click here to enter" and that'll put you on the table of contents page. Look to your left for the button marked Science Fiction, click on it and then click on Stories. You'll find The Bilboard right at the top of the list.
While you're there, take a few minutes to listen to some of the audio stories we have online, watch a few videos or read the Abandoned Towers blog. You can find those under the drop down menu called Things To Do on the Table of contents page.
And don't forget all the very cool serial stories we have for your enjoyment. Among them are:
Clock Work by Erin Basset
When Esther St. Claire rejoins her sophomore year a semester late she expects a relatively quiet return. But odd things begin to happen even before she can get to campus; starting with a strange encounter with a new student that escalates to an attack on Westin Academy’s student body. An other worldly battle is going on and somehow Esther is the key.
Gas Lantern Shadows by Malcolm Laughton
Gas Lantern Shadows is a series that stems from the short story Vennels and Wynds which appeared in Abandoned Towers print magazine issue 2. In that story the protagonist is looking at a print of a photograph of old Glasgow and is drawn into the past.
And Scion of the Immortals by Jared Evers
Scion tells the story of Razian, a man with uncommon talents and knowledge. The world of the dead holds few secrets for him, yet without a link to one of the five holy Orders there is little explanation for his skills. Few truly count him as a friend, but his protective nature and unique abilities ensure he is rarely forgotten. For better or for worse.
Coming online on August 1 we have a brand new serial as well. Dark InSpectre.
In a near-future society where "normals" fear and mistrust those with telepathic ability, Jack Garrett leads a special police unit of telepaths with the unique talent of contacting the psychic awareness of the dead. Seven years after solving a notorious murder spree that culminated in the killing of his best friend’s daughter, Jack starts receiving visits from the murdered girl. Determined to follow her paranormal clues, Jack uncovers a web of police corruption that threatens to end his career and his life the closer he gets to the truth.
So take a few minutes out of your busy day, wander on over to Abandoned Towers Magazine and spend a few minutes with an enjoyable read. You'll be glad you did.
And until next time, have a nice day.
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