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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Welcome—please enjoy all the reading material here, free of charge and without any obligation other than to enjoy. Remember that all text, images, and underlying code are intellectual property protected by copyright law. This website offers over a million words of free reading material. from acclaimed and multi-published author John T. Cullen.
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Nebula Express by John T. Cullen - a screenplay in the tradition of "Alien" - a character-driven, plot-hammering feast of wonder, horror, and a battle for mankind's soul. Full treatment soon.
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LOG LINE:"Nothing seems right/Near the speed of light"
Opening: A strange, disjointed little start: a man and woman (the woman is wounded and staggering, the man helps her, both are out of breath and exhausted) are on the run for their lives in a claustrophobic maze of tunnels that resolve into a vast, rusting derelict space craft full of dead ends and shadowy, whispering corridors. The man and woman are armed, but in terror as they are pursued by shadowy beings that are not quite alien, not quite human, but certainly nightmare creatures (the 'Cleaners'). The woman falls and dies. The man hovers over her, while the Cleaners press around them. He lets loose a few shots, empties his gun, throws it aside, leaves the woman, runs for his life. He comes to a window in a rusty wall dripping with slime and water and covered with white and red angry looking fungus growths. He is clawed and bleeding by now. He slams his hands on the window and yells inaudibly, as if warning those inside who cannot hear or see him. He slides down out of sight, dying, in a trail of blood and gore.
Cut to: we are in the cozy crew quarters (like those in the movie Alien, which is a reference for this movie). Everything looks just perfect as the cargo ship Neptune Express appears bound on a routine two-year journey from Luna to Neptune and back. Aboard are eight engineers and techs, among them Ridge and Brenna who feel a strange and unspoken attraction despite the fact that they are happily married and have spouses and children back on Earth. At the moment, the com systems are down, so they can't send a last-minute video message to their loved ones, but they review yesterday's happy messages from spouse and family. We get to know all eight techs in little cameos that slide by easily...
...and then it's time to begin a routine work day. A small object has struck a distant section of the ship, and repairs must be made. A mobile platform is right outside the crew quarters, and the eight board for what they think will be a routine day at work, followed by yet another relaxing evening of banter, tango music, and video entertainment in Work Pod 01.
Think again. Welcome to a living hell, a nightmare without beginning or end, a black dream from hell. Welcome to Nebula Express, lost in deep space and crawling with mutated beings who have eaten the cargo of thousands of humans - the last of humanity, fleeing a destroyed Earth. But that's where the horror only begins. Because none of the eight are who or what they think they are. Ridge and Brenna discover the hopelessness of their situation as their mates die one by one, and they will end the same way - but there may be a way to block the cycle of death that has governed his nearly-dead ship for thousands of years. If they live long enough, and if they can find a mysterious refuge on board called Largo, they may be able to reverse their own tragic fates - and save a doomed mankind in the bargain. The stakes are ultimate. Never before has a ship been so lost, or a human situation so hopeless - far out among the cold and hostile stars, where 'nothing seems right/near the speed of light.'
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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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