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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Monopol City
a novel
by John T. Cullen
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35.
Tedda awoke alone in this derelict hotel room. She was naked, and her clothing lay neatly folded on a chair. There was a white enameled bedpan with blue insides next to the bed, and she vomited into it. Retching repeatedly, she lay helplessly looking at her own distorted reflections in the white enamel top of the bedpan. She saw the same blood as before. Her teeth ached, and her rear end felt as if she'd sat in acid. Still retching, she reached down weakly with one hand, and probed with her fingertips to see what they had done to her bum hole. She grimaced, touching raw surfaces. They had apparently put lots of salve on, for her hand came away feeling greasy, and smelling faintly of lemons and some sickly flower smell. The smells made her vomit again and simultaneously cry.
A tray with a plastic water bottle and a plastic glass wrapped in sanitary cellophane stood on a stool. With trembling fingers, she fumbled until she got her self a glass of water to drink. Again, she let a gob of spit escape into the water, and watched the twirling, rusty-colored galaxy of blood. She threw the water against the wall, refilled the glass, and drank it all down. Clutching the half-full bottle, she gingerly got herself sitting up, and started to think about dressing. As she did so, she sobbed quietly to herself. Blinded by tears, she keened softly as she picked up her stockings and pulled them up her legs. She felt violated and angry. She'd seen so much that she was past being hurt or outraged. Part of her wanted justice for all this, and part of her just wanted revenge. A larger part wanted this all to be gone and never come back, but she knew the nightmare she was trapped in must lead her to yet further surprises. She used an edge of the bed sheet to wash her face gently with water from the bottle.. Her mouth hurt and felt swollen, and her gums were on fire. Her teeth throbbed, particularly the molars. She found her jacket, but the weapon was gone. She also found a box of painkillers, with directions to take two every two hours. She took four and washed them down with water.
She eased out of the room, cautiously looking up and down the dingy hall. Seeing no other soul, she quickly went to the nearby stairwell, and clattered down a rickety flight of wooden steps. She exploded her way out of a nondescript wooden door below and found herself in someone's grassy back yard. She heard some kind of plaintive accordion music, heard people speaking a foreign tongue, heard chairs scraping and laughter. Children' toys littered the lawn, and chairs stood about on a dismal concrete patio under a bare light bulb. Still spitting blood, she hurried out of the yard and into a street full of people. There, looking alike any other drunk, she blended in rather easily.
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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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