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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The Sibyl's Urn
a novel
by John T. Cullen
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XXXVI. A NIGHT OF LARES AND PENATES
At last, when Marcellus is satisfied that you will not find Romulus and Remus, Amalthea leads you along the Via Albana in the direction of the Alban Hills. Polybius has agreed that you will seek the city of Alba Longa, legendary birthplace of the twins. Along the way, Amalthea stops at an isolated farmhouse. She knocks on the heavy oak door. You wait, while dogs bark outside and voices shout inside. The farmhouse sits atop a hill, with a view of the surrounding countryside. You can see the distant volcanic cone of Monte Cavo and the Faete Range, looking dark blue in a water-blue mist, now swirling in the blood-orange of the sun’s afterglow amid thick, low cumulus clouds. You smell food cooking, and wood burning. A stocky man comes to the door, holding a sword in one hand and wiping his mouth with a napkin with the other. He is chewing food; his cheeks glisten with fat, and crumbs are stuck in the black bristles of his beard. He wears a plain grayish tunic, and is bald on top but has long gray hair over his ears and neck. Behind him stand two teenage men with clubs, looking ready to either greet you or beat your head in.
"Praise the gods, what is it?"
"Good evening," Amalthea says. "We are traveling to Alba Longa, and we wish to ask directions. Forgive us for interrupting your dinner."
The man looks at the boys, who put their clubs away at his glance. "You want to travel at night?"
"We don’t wish to, but have no choice. Any chance we could crash in your barn?"
The man looks you all up and down, trying to judge whether his positive impression is real, or if you are scam artists who want to kill him and his family and steal their valuables during the night. "It will be much safer for you," the man says.
"We have horses that will need water and feed, and we can pay you in metal," she says holding up a good iron dagger with decorative handle. The man holds it in both hands and looks it over closely. For a moment, you think he might bite it to see if it is real. You spend a ghost-haunted night in the farm house. Remembering the Villa of Priscus, you’re prepared for the penates rumbling around in the kitchen, and the malevolent gray shades of the lares wandering full of silent moans in the corridors.
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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 ggreatly enhanced their experience. Preorders start Spring 2008.
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. Don't miss it! Preorders start Spring 2008.
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