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.
|
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.
|
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.
|
Mars the Divine
a novel
by John T. Cullen
|
|
15: Washington, Indiana
Coming around the corner, we saw before us a train station. We were looking into another world. It was night there, in the middle of nowhere. Stars shone abundantly in a sky with a single large scythe of bright yellow light. The station consisted of a single concrete and brick platform, and a single pair of rusty steel rails laid over a bed of heavy ballast gravel and bolted to heavy wooden ties soaked in tar.
"What is that?" Trini started to say, pointing at a blue metal sign that hung from weather-shelter overhang. In white letters, we saw the legend Washington, Indiana.
"What does that mean?" I started to say, but the air was thick, too thick, and we started to gag.
"An illusion?" I started to say. I doubled over, coughing.
"No, this is real. I smell...vegetation."
"It's like...hydroponic," Trini said. She holstered her gun. She choked and her face turned purple. Our eyes were enlarged as we stared at each other in panic.
"Back! Back!" Trini said, pulling us each backward by our belts.
I started to turn, so I could run back faster. Sindi fell to one knee, and Trini and I towed her with us. All this happened in seconds. We did not, however, make it back to the giant machine under Mons Olympus on Mars. This was another moment, like in the turret, when everything changed. For me, I mean literally the universe would never be the same again, because my eyes were opened to truths at which the good religion of Mars the Divine could only hint.
We would only gradually learn what happened to us in that brief moment as we stepped into the Temporale.
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
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.
|
= 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.
|
