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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Robinson Crusoe 1,000,000 A.D.
a novel
by John T. Cullen
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42.
Day after day he returned, each time growing bolder as he got to know his terrain.
In the hills above the valley, the forest was sparse and level, and sound traveled well over the mossy, leaf-strewn ground. That made it hard for him to be stealthy, but it also played against his adversaries. If a pack of rippers were to try and stalk him, he was pretty confident he’d hear them in time to react, whether that meant to stay and fight or to run. Perhaps there had been a fire up here in recent years, for the trees had thin, young trunks. Between that and the ground cover of ferns and low bushes, there was little place for him or anyone else to hide.
He trudged the mile or two of ridges carefully, holding his bow and arrows ready to shoot.
Good thing too, for one day a large ripper did rear up suddenly from nowhere, it seemed. The animal had been lying in wait in a depression, very still, until he drew near. With a roar it loped toward him. He could see the triumph and hunger in its mean little eyes. He could see mucus bubbling in its black nostrils, and he could see the furry pinkness of its tongue amid serrated inch-long teeth. He managed to unload two arrows into its neck and jump aside as it faltered on and came to a crashing end in the leaves behind him.
Close call; he stood trembling and breathing hard. He was glad he’d had the sense to come armed to the teeth and tense as his bowstring itself. The animal lay gasping its last ratcheting breaths, staring up at him with accusing eyes, and out of mercy—and so it wouldn’t summon any more of its fellow travelers—he loosed a third arrow hard into its heart. It died in mid-breath, growing limp, and he kicked dirt over it to slow the spread of its blood and innards smells in the air.
He was nearly unnerved enough to leave here and never return. This had been one of his closest calls ever, but then again he rarely ventured this far into their territory. He told himself he could not give up if there was any hope of finding what he sought.
Day after day he returned, and he managed to outflank or avoid any further ripper meal-seekers.
One day, his perseverance paid off in both the brightest and darkest of ways.
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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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