It’s a spy thriller…no it’s an alternate history…well, maybe it’s both, written in classic pulp fiction style, with colorful characters, fast action and adventure. It all started from three paragraphs written by my son, Brett, for a school assignment. I looked at those three paragraphs and said, “Those would make a great beginning to a book!” And, before I knew it, that’s what happened. So I can take credit for everything except those first three paragraphs, which go like this:

The battered old greyhound bus wheezed into the stop. It seemed grateful for the rest, as if it needed to catch its breath. The door creaked open, and a single passenger stepped out.

He was tall and lean. His flesh only just covered his hunched bones, and though he was barely thirty-six, his eyes were sunken deep in his face. They were a very pale blue, nearly as pale as his skin.

Those pale blue eyes scrutinized the grassy airstrip as the bus rattled on its way again.

And that’s where the story takes off. It’s 1940, that single passenger stepping out of the bus happens to be Jake Turner, and there’s an old Ford Trimotor passenger aircraft about to land at that airfield, which he needs to board to get to D.C. to stop an assassination plot meant to engulf the world in war. But he doesn’t count on running into beautiful Maddie Turner, who will risk everything to stop him from getting on that plane…

If that sounds like a plot from a golden age of pulp fiction spy story, you’d be right! And there’s an added twist: What if at an obscure battle in the far east the year before Jake stepped out of that bus, the Japanese had rushed into production their vaunted “Zero” fighter plane to turn the tide against the Russians? How would that have changed the history of the world? Well, you’ll soon find out in the pages of The Heart of Darkness Code, because Jake Turner is living in that world, and he’s on a mission to save it before it kills him.  

The third book of the Goldrock series is now available on Amazon in either paperback or Kindle versions. Most of those I’ve heard from who have read it agree it is the best one yet, which is great to hear. The series keeps building, so the characters are developing more and more depth. Rapturia is really a mystery book wrapped in a western cloak and all done in the colorful “Golden Age of Pulp Fiction” style which is so much fun for me as an author to use.

The cover is a great example of this. People who see it do a double-take: “What the heck?! Is this even a western?” Then they see that the man in the foreground on that roof looking down over the garish, torch-lit scene is holding a Colt .45 Peacemaker. But if one recalls pulp fiction magazine covers that were so common from the thirties, forties and fifties, this would have fit right in!

Shooting that cover was quite a challenge, by the way. Directed by my son, Brett Horton, and photographed by Angad Chawla, the availability of the models dictated that we shoot it on what turned out to be a chilly and drizzly Oregon night. The rain had stopped temporarily–the forecast gave us a two-hour window to conclude our business before it returned with a vengeance. So we rushed into action and set up the scene. Then we brought in the models, who rapidly began freezing to death in their flimsy garments and bare feet. The wind threatened to blow out the fire pots, and the fire pots threatened to light our models on fire. And while becoming a human torch would have looked quite dramatic on film, doubtless the models and their union representatives would have objected.

Then, in the middle of all this, the woman who owned the house came home. We had the permission of her husband, but she had never gotten the word. Seeing this scene in her driveway, you can imagine what she thought and then said to us when she drove up! Fortunately for us she didn’t immediately call the police and have us thrown in jail. Public Performance of Satanic Rituals being frowned upon in our society as it is, I could just see it now, my hardened-criminal cell mate shifting over uneasily to get farther away from me after my reply to his question, “Heya, Mac, what’re ya in for?” 

As for what is really going on in that cover and why it’s going on, for that you’ll have to read the book. No spoilers here! But I can safely say that the action takes our usual heroes far from their little town of Goldrock and into an adventure that, pulp fictionalized or no, has a basis in historical fact. So while this never happened in the Old West, it is true that it could have. It’s no fantasy–it’s Rapturia…

Here’s where you’ll find this latest installment, in either paperback or Kindle:

Click here to buy Rapturia on Amazon!

Update on progress of Rapturia, the third book in the Goldrock series. The final editing is done. The manuscript is out to my five pre-publication reviewers (two women, three men, ranging in age from 20’s to 60’s). I will survey them after they have read it, make any final changes based on their info and then publish. I expect it will be available on Amazon in August.

If any of you are wondering about that fabulous font I’ve been using in my books (the printed versions), it’s called Bohemian Typewriter, by Lukas Krakora. They are free for non-commercial work. $70.00 for commercial. Here’s a link to not just that font but all the ones he has made: http://www.dafont.com/lukas-krakora.d1281