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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Monopol City
a novel
by John T. Cullen
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33.
As Tedda drove back toward town, she saw one reason why no police or emergency crews had come. There was a pretty obvious reason why this part of town had been abandoned to its anarchic fate. The outer edges of Monopol City must be breaking apart, and Tedda did have some foggy notions about why that might be.
Tedda drove around yawning jagged black fissures in the street. Finding the way was otherwise pretty simple. She noticed now that the outer edges of Monopol City had lost much of their glow. Only the central part with its parks, theaters, avenues, and of course the main Monorail line remained fully animated.
There was some sort of national holiday in progress, and the inner streets were barricaded. Tedda abandoned the taxi and made her way on foot. She carried Hadley's assault micro under her jacket with the carrying strap over her shoulder, under the jacket. The earlier rain was gone, and a kind of humid heat filled the air. Tedda stripped off her jacket and carried it under one arm, with assault rifle wrapped up inside. With its spidery folding stock and components, the rifle was luckily compact enough. She had about two dozen rounds left in the magazine, about half of its full load. The ammo alone weighed more than the weapon.
Much like on the game board, the stations of the main line were arrayed in a great square throughout the city. She spotted the high, illuminated billboards advertising each station in glowing neon in the appropriate color: Green Station, Blue Station, Red Station, Yellow Station, White Station, Orange Station. There were more as the row of distinct signs faded into distance and fog (and mosaic breakup? she wondered), but these were all she could make out. Mulling such thoughts, she threaded her way among conga lines and samba dancers, costumed party goers, and elegant men and women sipping demitasse while violinists played cloying love songs.
As she sauntered tiredly along carrying the heavy weapon, she noticed too late that several men and women had fallen in line behind her. When she walked right, they followed; walk left, and they followed; speed up, same; slow down, still there. She was just about to turn around and tell them all to fuck off, when she became aware that one had walked up real close and stuck something in her neck. She reached up to touch the thing, whose bite felt like a bee sting.
Dancers reveled around her, laughing and singing, clapping their hands and regarding her with increasingly bizarre faces. Concentric circles began to rotate hypnotically in their happy eyes, and their teeth gleamed like ice bergs, until she fell over the edge and into the sea…
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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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