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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Lantern Road a science fiction novel
by John T. Cullen
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22
Ramy woke a few days later. Jory stayed outside for the first few hours while Ramy was taken to Human Less Acute, where human nurses fussed over her. They had not told her about her sister's death, or about Jory. Ramy was still on i.v. fluids, and very confused, but she received her first cup of citrus juice.
Dr. Pern met Jory in the hall. "Our young lady is doing fine. Now would be a good time to gently appear and take her hand. We'll monitor her respiration and other vital signs."
Jory stepped inside. Ramy did not see him yet. He heard her speak in Oban, asking for her sister. She sounded dazed.
Jory rounded the corner and stood before her bed. Ramy seemed not to recognize him. She wore a plain white smock that barely covered her torso. She was Ramy in a human incarnation—her sister's immense gift of atonement.
Ramy stared at Jory and her face betrayed a distant recognition, a horror. She reached up with both hands and touched the astropath plates. She made an unpleasant face. She reached anxiously around the side of her neck, on both sides, looking for the sex organs that weren't there any more. She must have realized the full story just then, for she let out a long wail of grief that rose up and down like a siren, like an animal keening for the loss of its mate. People held their ears. She threw herself on her back, then on her front, pounding the bed with her fists. A Ruandap doctor came running, as did a Fril nurse and human nurses. Dr. Pern stepped in with a look of concern, of speculation, weighing one plan against another.
"Leave her alone," Jory told them all. "She is grieving for her sister. There is nothing we can do until she is ready to receive our comfort."
Ramy screamed and threw herself on her back. She felt her mouth with both hands. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and screamed again—hoarse, anguished screams of rage and denial—she'd died in her natural body, and now awakened as an alien. She grew silent with shock as she probed her belly with both hands, looking for the male-taking hole that wasn't there. Her fingers didn't dally over her new navel, for Shurians had that too.
Then she discovered that, before everyone, she'd let her new bladder and her bowels go, and she held up her hands which were smeared with blood and feces. She swayed from side to side, uttering a distressed animal's groaning.
Dr. Pern clapped a curtain shut, cutting Jory out. "She wouldn't want you to see her like this." She added: "Not the scene we'd hoped for, is it? But she's alive, and she's got normal function. And she has spoken. I suspect she is in total shock, and it will take time. Will you work with us?"
"Of course."
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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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