Excerpt from Run to Ius

It's Memorial Day, 2021 and I've finally finished the edits for "Run to Ius'. It has taken nearly two years of story collection, five rounds of edits and a Beta read return to get to this point. After much consideration of advice received, and re-reads and polish edits, I have concluded that to push the story to further pages would in many ways detract from the impact of, or at the very least dilute the message. As such, I am content to deliver this tale as a novella.

 

"Run to Ius" is a story of a man's struggle to keep his family safe amid world-wide crises, corruption, pandemic and even person-to-person conflict. It is a Sci-Fi/Noir story told from the standpoint of a single person, Jak Wilder, who's character arc evolves from a meek-mannered husband and father, through various stages of grief, insecurity and guilt, to eventually rise as a pivotal person in a global revolution.

 

I'm in the final stages now of putting together a cover, a book blurb and promotions. My inclination is to self-publish, as I did with my first book, "Sparrow's Flight", book one of a fantasy series on which I am actively working with book two expected to be ready to release this Fall. But that one has yet to reach a wide enough audience to garner much attention.

 

Whether or not to continue to self-publish or rather try my hand at the traditional route has been a major struggle for me. I would gladly welcome any comments on the matter. But first, let me post a tiny excerpt of the story. A taste of what you, the reader can expect:

 

 

I shut the door behind me and pointed the pistol at the naked one. Turning to the guy in the chair, I hissed, “Where are the kids!”

 

“Kids? Wh-wh-what kids?”

 

I pointed the gun back to him. “Don’t take me for a fool! The girl who was brought in with me and the boy Backus has kidnapped!”

 

“Mister wait…I can’t go against Backus! I won’t live to see tomorrow!”

 

I put all the menace I had, fueled by the beating I'd suffered at the hands of Grunt and my frustration over the past few weeks. “You won’t live another minute if I don’t get answers!”

 

“Hang on, mister! Okay, okay. The girl is in a room with the skinny dude, two doors down. I don’t know anything about any boy.”

 

I threw the duct tape at naked boy. “Tie him up and tape his mouth!”

 

“Wait, wha…?” I trained the gun right between his weeping eyes.

 

“Not another word.”

 

As soon as he was tied, I conked naked boy on the head with the pistol and he fell to the floor unconscious. I turned back to the other fellow. “Now you can say you were accosted and forced at gunpoint to spill.” 

 

Then, I turned and left the room. But not before I noticed the puddle under his chair. Poor fellow didn’t deserve the likes of me, but at least he had a chance to survive the night.

 

No light shone under the next door down, but I checked it anyway and found another storeroom. Scuffles came from the door after that one. The one the clerk indicated held Kimi and Geo. 

 

I could hear Kimi’s muffled cries against him through the closed door.

 

“Stop struggling you little bitch! You’re daddy’s dead by now anyway!”

 

Not bothering to check if the door was locked or not, I kicked the knob with all my anger and the door crashed open.

 

Geo turned at the commotion and I put two rounds into his face.

 

The silencer on the gun and the music beating down the hall completely obscured the reports from the pistol.

 

Kimi pulled her torn shirt back on and leapt into my arms.

 

“Did he…?” I couldn’t finish the horrific sentence or the thoughts behind it.