John T. Cullen has authored over 20 books, including The Generals of October (Simon & Schuster, 2004)—pulse-pounding political-military suspense fiction set in a near-future U.S. Constitutional crisis.
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John T. Cullen also writes screenplays, including one for Nebula Express (adapted from his SF novel) and the violent, darkly glistening, utterly strange tale of a serial killer in Scorpion.
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If you like what you read here, please send at least two other avid readers here so a growing readership can enjoy these books. That would be a great, painless, easy way to provide a huge assist. If you'd like to do more...click.
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The Generals of October
a novel
by John T. Cullen
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26
Maxie had just finished her part of the drug inventory inside Flight 1 when the radio crackled. Major Chavez, the pilot, had a brief conversation, then turned and hollered: “All Up Alert. We’ve got a live one.” The engines throttled up and the airframe began to tremble. The nurses quickly secured loose items that bounced around on the curettage counter. All together, they turned off the lights and flipped the counter up, locking it secure. Then they strapped in. As Chavez and Dash prepared the roaring, straining helicopter for flight, the rest of the air crew hurried on board—a flight surgeon, two physician assistants, three EMT’s, and two flight crew. The EMT’s had smuggled in coffee and donuts, which they handed out after they’d all strapped themselves into seats and benches. “Where are we headed?” someone asked.
“Don’t know yet,” someone else said. “There’s a new plume of smoke down there.” Several arms reached out and fingers pointed toward the northwest part of the District, past Rock Creek Park, toward a settlement of old brownstone townhouses jammed daintily together in tree-lined neighborhoods. Maxie sipped her coffee and watched disinterestedly, ignoring the smell of sugar and fat emanating from the donuts. Ilitch’s red lipstick had parted into a circle of enormous size, as the woman stuffed in an eclair the size of an eyeglasses case. Ilitch’s eyes became correspondingly large, almost desperate, slightly crossed, as if they wanted to meet around the back of the eclair. And she wondered why she had three chins. Maxie resisted the urge to giggle quietly. She wished she had a camera.
“Bomb explosion,” Chavez announced on the p.a. “Some secret Army installation just got the patriot treatment. They’ve got burns, amputees, stack of bodies. Better inhale those donuts. This looks like a busy day.”
Slowly, Maxie remembered that—wasn’t that the part of town where David worked? Silence reigned in the ops bay as they finished their coffees and stared out of the windows. Maxie saw tall flames rising from one building, smoke from the building beside it whose roof had fallen in. Civilian police cars and ambulances were there. Chavez’s voice crackled on the intercom: “Few survivors below. Flight 1 is going in. ETA in two minutes. Flights 2 and 3 are turning back to base. Be advised, that’s a highly restricted area down there. Don’t talk with anyone.”
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If you like what you're reading, please send at least two other avid readers to this website.
—Thank you! …Your grateful author, John T. Cullen.
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Other gripping books by the author:
Copyright © 2005 by John T. Cullen. All Rights Reserved.
John T. Cullen has been a pioneer in digital publishing since 1996. He is listed by digital publishing historian Karen Wiesner as the sixth digital publisher in history, and the second person to publish serialized chapters on line (starting 1996). His web magazine Deep Outside SFFH was the first to be listed along with the professional pulps in Writer's Market (1999) and was at one time the oldest professional SFFH magazine in the world. John T. Cullen continues to explore new ways to adapt the primordial power of storytelling to emerging new digital opportunities as the Third Millennium springs to light.
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A Walk in Ancient Rome John T. Cullen (Simon&Schuster May 2005) innovative, acclaimed walking & teaching tour—explore every corner of the Imperial capital at its zenith almost 2000 years ago; learn its history—smell and taste the very air of Classical Rome.
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= Summer 2008 =
A Walk in Ancient Rome, Second Edition John T. Cullen (Clocktower Books 2008)—New! Many new maps; images from the unique scale model of AndréCaron of Quebec. Read this innovative book, with its acclaimed walking & teaching tour. Explore every corner of the Imperial capital at its zenith almost 2000 years ago; learn its history. Smell and taste the very air of Classical Rome. The new edition is bigger, like an atlas. Some people have carried the 1st edition with them to Rome, and found it greatly enhanced their experience.
Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado, 2nd Ed. John T. Cullen (Clocktower Books, San Diego, Summer 2008). John T. Cullen has tackled the mystery of the ghost at the Hotel del Coronado. He has assembled a dramatic new theory about how and why she violently died on the back steps of the hotel in 1892. A first-class ghost story and whodunit wrapped in one.
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