Nighthawks
by Jeremy
Flagg
GENRE: Sci-Fi
(Dystopian)
BLURB:
His debut exhibit
features the transformation of his high school friend, Sarah, as she went from
a shy, soft-spoken girl to a Child of Nostradamus—an individual gifted with
extraordinary abilities. Living in a society where the Children of Nostradamus
are captured by the government, Conthan’s exhibit draws attention from
officials and protesters alike.
A government psychic
may be dead, but that doesn’t stop her from manipulating the future…
The deceased White
House aide is only remembered for her failed assassination attempt on the
president decades before Conthan was born. Foreseeing her own death, she
scribed letters to bring together specific Children of Nostradamus on a mission
that will change the world.
On the night of the
gallery exhibition, Conthan receives one of those letters…
Whispers from the
past direct him to visit Sarah, the subject of his paintings, who like many
Children of Nostradamus, is being detained in a government research facility.
It’s there he finds himself aligned with a rogue group of Children on a mission
to prevent a dark future.
As a dark future
unfolds, there's only one hope to stop the destruction of the world...
The Children of
Nostradamus.
EXCERPT:
“Class I identified,” said the Corps
soldier. “Immediate termination.”
Conthan looked up, confused, and
realized that the gun was pointing directly at his face. He watched as the
soldier pulled the trigger and the pain surged through his brain.
“Not today.” It was his voice, but
he wasn’t speaking.
He realized he wasn’t in control of
his actions as he held up his hand and pushed the pain through his body to his
palms. The black spot returned and he watched as the laser emerged from the gun
and vanished into another dark hole. He could see a similar spot appear just to
the side of the soldier. The laser projected outward from the darkness, searing
through the soldier’s head.
Conthan felt the pain release his
body. He fell to the ground. He lay next to a gasping Jed Zappens. Conthan
turned his head to see the man. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
Jed sucked in a ragged breath and
blinked several times, tears beginning to stream down his face. He reached into
his breast pocket and dragged out an old folded envelope. “For you,” he said
through clenched teeth.
Conthan voice had left him. He
wanted to scream for a medic but he couldn’t find air enough to fill his lungs.
He started to reach for the envelope but hesitated before snatching it from the
dead man’s hands. He crushed it in his grasp as he watched the light vanish
from the artist’s eyes.
“Run,” said a voice.
Conthan rolled his head to see that
there was nobody left standing in the alley. He sucked in air and tried to sit
upright. “Hello?”
AUTHOR
INTERVIEW:
What are four things you can’t live
without?
- My
laptop – This thing is where my ideas are stored. I’d like to say it’s
just a machine, but we have a weird relationship. It knows all my browsing
history secrets and listens to me when I want to talk and be alone. It’s
probably unhealthy, but I’ll be buried with this computer.
- My
cell phone – I work with high school students, and their bad habits
frequently rub off on me. I can text at speeds that are bordering on
superhuman. A wealth of information is stored on there. It’s my lifeline
to the outside world. I also would be pissed if I lost my Clash of Clans
game!
- My
sketchbook – I keep a small moleskin notebook in my backpack. There are
times when I’m working that I just feel too connected to the outside
world. That’s when I shut my computer and begin to draw by hand or write
down ideas. It allows me to settle comfortably in my own head and push out
ideas. It’s a great mental retreat for me.
- My
car – I grew up a nomad. My father was military and we rarely stayed in
one place very long. I still suffer from wanderlust and find it difficult
to stay somewhere long before I start to feel trapped. Last time this
happened I got in my car and draw from Maine to Vegas. 11 days of driving
and I felt at peace as I soaked in the experiences. Sometimes I need
locational therapy.
If you could be any character, from any
literary work, who would you choose to be? Why?
Can
I choose my own? I know this will sound egotistical or bizarre, but I would be
Conthan from Children of Nostradamus. He’s my main protagonist, has a
background in art, is doing his first gallery show, and then his life explodes
and the adventure begins. He’s the best of my personality and this weird
idealized image I have of myself. He can also perform superhuman acts, so that
helps. There are times when my life just seems boring and I’d love to have this
push for adventure. If I had to choose another character, it’d be Bram Stoker’s
Dracula, because let’s admit it, he’s a suave badass.
What have you got coming soon for us to
look out for?
Children
of Nostradamus is going to be the focus of my writing life for a while. I’m
hoping to have the second book out pretty fast for the fans. My self-published
series Suburban Zombie High is wrapping up and the last book should be out at
any time on Amazon along with the box set. I think most of my writing side
projects are going to focus on short stories to explore another series I’ve
been dwelling on. We won’t see that for a while since the Children of Nostradamus
has a sequel and prequel slated for release soon.
What books or authors have most
influenced your own writing?
My
background is in art and art history, so when Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code came
out, I had to read it. While I scoffed at some of the illogical leaps in the
history of the book, I was captivated. He took a seemingly boring character,
applied some outside stimuli and we watched this character flourish. I was also
fascinated that unlike my epic fantasy novels, his story took place in a couple
of days. This discovery is seen in almost all my books now. All three novels in
the Suburban Zombie High series take place in three days and even Children of
Nostradamus the timeline is very condensed. I find this allows the pressure to
be turned up and we don’t have to have an uncanny amount of downtime. It also
allows seeing people at their best/worst as they suffer from the pressure in a
small period of time.
AUTHOR BIO:
I’m
high school graphic design and marketing teacher, at a large suburban high
school in Massachusetts. Working as a high school educator and observing the
outlandish world of adolescence was the inspiration for my first young adult
novel, “Suburban Zombie High.”
My
inspiration for writing stems from being a youth who struggled with reading in
school. While I found school assigned novels incredibly difficult to digest, I
devoured comics and later fantasy novels. Their influences can be seen in the
tall tales I spin.
I
took the long route to becoming a writer. For a brief time, I majored in
Creative Writing but exchanged one passion for another as I switched to Art and Design. My passion for reading about
superheroes, fantastical worlds, and panic-stricken situations would become the
foundation of my writing career.
I
participated in my first NaNoWriMo in 2006 and continue to write an entire
novel every November. Now I am the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison to the
Massachusetts Metrowest Region. I also belong the New England Horror Writer’s
Association and to a weekly writing group, the Metrowest Writers.
LINKS:
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4 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Really great post - I enjoyed reading it :). Thanks for sharing!
A great excerpt.
I really enjoyed reading your interview, thank you!
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