Coming Soon. Wonder Worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Wonder Worlds...my homage to the Golden Age of Science Fiction and Fantasy will be published soon in paperback and digital formats.

A second volume will be released close to the same time.

Each one features a complete novel and three short stories.

--John--

Superman Promo

Video Three of the video series diving into the mythology of Mount Shasta as it relates to my novel The Shasta Caper on ImagineNation blog.

Wow! Can it get anymore way out there.

Yep!

But before you dismiss everything, something I'd like to point out. When I was a kid in school my physics teacher told me we'd never go faster than the speed of sound.

Science doesn't know everything and many in the field of science have more to lose than gain by hiding from the truth.

If it was known that Western Civilization as we know it is but a kid compared to some of the older civilizations that came before, and if it was known that humanity had had death rays and atom bombs before, then we'd have to question our course on this planet, our footprint's originality and our true destiny as expressions of God.

Not to preach, but to remind, that truth can be told many ways. Just look at what Hitler did, Saddam Hussein, Assad and all the other dictators of the world. If you keep people in ignorance, they don't question. If they don't question, they they can be manipulated.

An open mind opens more doors than a closed one....and also sleeps better at night.

--John--

Video Two of the Mount Shasta/Hollow Earth mythology behind The Shasta Caper novel I'm writing. On ImaingeNation blog now.

Flying Saucer over Mount Shasta

Since you've been reading so much about Mount Shasta and the Hollow Earth, I thought I would post a bunch of videos related to my story.

I don't necessarily believe everything that is revealed in these videos, as there are so many who will do anything for attention and others who are a bit on the crazy side, but where there's smoke there's fire and I do believe that there's some truth to be had if you  use you logic.

Anyway, they're posted for fun and somewhat of an education in the occult and otherworldly nature of how Mount Shasta has been perceived through the years by Americans and others.

--Enjoy--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Seventeen is now posted on ImagineNation.

Chapter Seventeen

Sherelle gave him a big hug and kiss as he got ready to board Flight 999 for California with Jimbo. "Sure you can't hang around a few days more, I could show you some of the more fancy spots abouts here."

Samuel's heart fluttered. It always did when she did that. But Al and M were both already heading for the passenger door. Al stopped and looked back and shook his head.

Samuel was not destined to be with Sherelle. Not now. Maybe not ever.

Jimbo didn't understand it, but he respected Samuel's respect for his sister and not hurting her as he might have, should he have hesitated.

Samuel took her hands in his and pressed them warmly. "I promise I'll be back soon."

She smiled with a glint of evil in her eyes. "You always say that and vanish for a long time. At least let my little brother come back once in a while."

 

Jimbo grunted. "I'm at least two feet taller than you."

Sherelle glared at him. "And that's two feet more you can fall two, you big slab of ham!"

She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight and he kissed her forehead, then pressed away gently. "Love you."

"Love you two." She returned. She looked at Samuel, but said nothing. Her eyes said it all. He felt this incredible desire to stay, to tell her how much he cared for her, when he felt this pressure on his right shoulder. He turned that way and Al had his hand on him and shook his head. He was smiling.

Samuel sighed, then gave Sherelle a quick kiss on the lips and headed for the exit to the plane.

She turned to Jimbo. "You keep that silly man safe, you hear?"

"Oh, I can do that all right, but who's going to keep me safe?" He said with a lighthearted tone, his eyes dancing with amusement, as he gave her one last long hug, then ran after Samuel, who was greeting a Hostess at the jet's passenger door, then entering.

Jimbo's heaviness at leaving melted away when he saw it was the same Hostess that he had seen on his last flight. He muttered to himself. "All right, Jimbo. Let's see if that Texan charm is still working."

He reached the door and gave her his brightest smile. "Doll, I don't know why heaven keeps putting you in my path, but I'm thanking God for it tonight."

She laughed and took his ticket, then followed him with her eyes as he went down the long aisle towards the seat where Samuel was seating himself. 

"Oh yes." Jimbo laughed inwardly. "There is indeed a God in heaven!"

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe movie on Imagination!

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe and the public back in the thirties, forties and fifties.

Buster Crabbe, the Olympic athlete, knocked the socks off the ladies, and got all the men jealous because of his natural good looks and jock capabilities.

Loved it then and its classical music ripoff made it much more memorable than it might have. Sort of how John William's classical approach got Star Wars into orbit.

Enjoy!

--John--

Flash Gordon movie trailer with Sam Jones as Flash on Imagination.

Here's a trailer from the movie.

Rock on!

--John--

Flash Gordon Music Video is now posted on Imagination

The Italian version of Flash Gordon was cheesy, over the top and in some places, actually quite delightful, though lacking in depth.

Many find the movie to be quite entertaining and those of older folk who saw the original cringe when we saw it, but still, there was hope for more.

It actually was going to have  a sequel, but in house squabbles pounded that to death.

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapters 15 and 16 are now posted.

Chapter Fifteen

Samuel slumped down beside the outhouse, his head hurting and tears swelling up his eyes. He wept a long time. He had felt all the pain of poor Jebediah and the family. He had felt everything they had went through.

The outhouse was quiet.

Jacob and Jimbo gave him wary looks, then hefted him to his feet.

Samuel nodded. "It's done. I feel suddenly, very, very tired."

Even as they helped him, he collapsed into their arms and went to sleep. An oblivion free of pain and suffering that our world is so deeply immersed in. For a few brief moments he floated in a mist of white light and he saw the family again, but this time he could see Jebediah clearly. They smiled at him. They were at peace. He was at peace.

Then everything faded into darkness.

Chapter Sixteen

Samuel felt this gentle pressing against his forehead, cool, soothing, reassuring and gentle. Like the hand of an Angel gentling his soul. He wanted it to go on forever, but like most good things, it came to an end.

"Open your eyes, handsome." Sherelle encouraged him.

Samuel's eyelids fluttered open. He felt like he had just been put through a meat grinder and spit out as a hotdog, which for him, was not so bad at all. Her eyes were staring into his, when he looked up. Indeed an Angel had found him. 

All that shattered when Jimbo pressed his face into view,  hogging the space that Sherelle had just inhabited. His face was thick with whiskers. 

"Don't you ever shave?" Samuel asked a bit grumbily.

Jimbo's lips curled into a smirk. "Sis, I think we got a launch."

He stepped back out of view, and Samuel felt his back being eleveated. Soon he realized he was laying on a lawn chair inside the living room of their home. Jimbo came back around and smiled at him. "Closest thing to a hospital bed we have here."

"I'll take it." Samuel quipped back.

Sherelle stood up next to Samuel and let go of his right hand, which he hadn't realized she had been holding, until she let go. It was like a light switch had been turned off. He felt totally at a loss for several seconds. She smiled. "I do that to guys,  you know. Light them up."

Jimbo almost broke into rib splitting laughter. After he recovered he looked at Samuel, who was blushing a deep red. "Sis sure knows how to pour on the pig poo, Sammie."

Sherelle punched him on his right arm, but he shrugged it off. He patted her on her butt and scooted her towards the kitchen. "Now go be a good little annoyance and scramble us some eggs and bacon for breakfast."

She went into the kitchen and a moment later a frying pan came flying out at Jimbo's head. He caught it expertly, then winked at Samuel. "It's a little game we play. Big brother, little sister." He went into the kitchen and Samuel heard Sherelle shriek angrily, then burst into giggles.

He smiled. He sure had missed being with his family. Though not his physical family, he was closer to them than his own, who were...well gone.

He threw his legs off the lawn chair, then noticed he had a thick Serape over his legs. He lifted it off and folded it up. It was Jimbo's. He never shared it with anyone. That made  Samuel realize that  his condition must have frightened his friend. And he could understand why. He had been having these pastlife experiences a lot lately and it was taxing his system.

"Breakfast is served." Came Jimbo and Sherelle's voice in unison.

Samuel got up the rest of the way. He hadn't realized he had been dozing off again. He wiped at his eyes and went into the large kitchen. It was the pride of their home. All hand burnished wood brought in from the Redwoods of California. Cabinets, floor, walls, ceiling, even the kitchen table and chairs. All hand crafted by Jacob and put together.

Samuel sat down at the far end of the table, and Jimbo slapped down a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, with a heap of toast slathered with butter and fresh raspberry jam and a plate of whole wheat pancakes and sausage, and a large glass of orange juice and a mug of coffee.

Sherelle brought in a plate of rolls she had baked, along with some doughnuts that Jacob had made. Jacob rolled in a few minutes later wiping at his face with a towel. He had just finished shaving.

"Where's Twain?" Samuel asked between bites. He was mostly a vegetarian, but at times like this, when he was so weak he knew his body need more protein and nourishment than simple grains and nuts could provide.

Jacob sat down and began heaping his empty plate with pancakes from the center of the table where they were stacked on a clay platter with Sioux Indian bird symbols. He slid half a dozen sausage off the plate next to that, snatched a handful of crisp bacon and dumped it unceremoniously into his mouth and began crunching it.

Sherelle punched him. "Mind your manners, little brother."

Jacob snorted. "I'm at least a foot taller than you, sis."

"And big guys fall further." She snapped back with flashing eyes.

He snorted again. "That'll be the day."

So their conversation went through most of the breakfast, with Samuel loving all the fancy play on words and silliness they played out for him and themselves. There was no mistaking the love these people had for each other. He still wondered where Twain was though.

Jimbo recognized that and finally finished shoveling sausage into his mouth between gulps of orange juice, wiped his beard and lips, then leaned on his elbows and looked at Samuel. "Your color is coming back. Twain is in Tibet."

Samuel's eyes widen.

Sherelle finished her coffee, got up and poured some more from a sparkly pot on the antique stove that sat in the back of the kitchen.  "He's got this notion of becoming a Buddhist Monk or something."

Jimbo tittered. "Yeah and last year, he went to stay with those meditation hoppers so he could learn how to fly."

Samuel smiled. He knew that group. He had taught them how, then their Master had acted as if he had known all along and began selling the technique for money. No one flew after that, just hopped. You had to have pure motives to fly.

Samuel never flew. He knew better. He had no radar, and his intuition told him that he had better stay on the ground. Also...

He turned to his right and Al and M were seated on the kitchen counter watching, their eyes dancing with approval. Also his friends in the Light disapproved. Al told him that Angels flew to help humans learn to believe in God, but man flew only when he had to save himself or another. And Samuel had to be careful to use his powers wisely, or they would be taken away, like it is from many psychics who misuse God's gift.

Samuel didn't miss flying. He did plenty of it in his sleep, and that sufficed.

"You never know, it might happen." He commented.

Sherelle laughed. "Always the optimist, Sammie."

"So now what?" Jacob asked. "Your job's done here."

He looked at Jimbo. "Still hot for a little cave exploring?"

"You bet. Long as I can bring my Mickey Mouse flashlight and..." He unholstered his huge Texas Colt Special..."This!"

Chapter Fourteen of The Shasta Caper is now online.

Chapter Fourteen

Samuel found himself standing at the edge of a frontier town, with a hammer and saw in his hand. The hammer was heavy, a huge piece of wood with a crude piece of metal squashed over the head of the wood. Obviously hand made and forged metal. The saw was very rough, and about four feet long, touching the bare dirt at the foot of his boots.

A very tall man stood over him, looking down his nose at him. "Jebediah, you are not wanted here anymore. Your work stinks. You stink. Get out!"

Samuel found himself answering for the man's body he now inhabited. "But sirs, I have no other way to feed my family. The three of us depend on the money I get...not that it's so much..."

The very tall man grew angrier. "Now you're trying to blackmail me as well!"

"No sirs, not at alls. I just wants to make a living for me and my family. My little girl is hurting, sick, I don't know why and without money to get the pain killer Doc prescribes I'm afraid for her life."

The very tall man shoved his cowboy hat back from his forehead, revealing a nasty scar just below his hairline. It looked like an axe had been taken to it.

"I don't care if the lot of you rot in hell. You're done in my city. In this state. Move back to the hell hole you came from!"

"Sirs, wasn't no hellhole, it was Arkansas's."

"Join the Okies then. See if they want you back!"

"No sirs. They don't like us blacks either."

"You calling me a bigot!" The very tall man cried out.

Now other town citizens were slowing down to watch the argument. A fight was brewing. Many some blood. None of it white. 

Samuel felt his heart grow cold. He knew that look. It was why he and his family had moved so many times. Why did people hate people just because they was different? He thought.

Just when it looked like the crowd was ready to hang him, he heard his wife shout for him. "Jebediah, you get your skinny ass over here and help our daughter!"

The crowd burst into laughter when he blushed a deep red. He hurried between them. They actually made way, thinking his wife was going to give him more hell than they ever possibly could. And she could. She was one big Mama. She stood over him by a foot and was built like a barrel of molasses.

He stopped next to her and his daughter was clinging to her right leg, looking pale as a ghost, but frightened as well.

"I'm ah gonna smack you to kingdom come!" She swore at him, winking at the same time so no one could see it.

He backed up, knowing what was going to come next, and she took a punch at him. Just close enough to his stomach so he could feel it, but without it connecting.

He fell to the dirt and screamed in pain.

The crowd burst into laughter. 

"Give it to 'em, Big Mama. A cowboy yelled, taking a draw from a liquor bottle afterwards.

Big Mama pretended to kick Jebediah and he flew to his other side, as if struck hard and balled up into a fetal position. "Pulease, Big Mama, don't hurt me any more or I'm gonna die!"

She towered over him, fists on her large hips. "You ever anger these people again and you're gonna wish God was killin' you, cause no mercy will be coming from me, that's fer certains."

She hoisted him up as effortlessly as a sack of potatoes and flung him into the back of their beat up old wagon. She put her daughter beside him, who flung herself over him, wrapping her arms about him, crying.

Big Mama climbed into the driver's seat of the buggy and urged the horse pulling it to hurry off. "Get yer fat ass movin', horse." She cried out.

The town people all cheered, laughed and applauded as they drove off.

He could hear them and it made him fill with so much anger and remorse he felt like he was going to explode.

He put an arm round his daughter, Blinka, and hugged her close. "Don't pays no mind to all this silly business, little one, it's all an act!"

She stopped crying and wrapped her arms around him tigher. He held her close.

Big Mama didn't bother driving home. There was no more home there and she knew it. The town people laughed now, but the very tall man would anger them again and they would come for them, just as they had in the last town. She kept the horse pulling them, until they vanished in the desert sun.

They went on for days that way, not stopping, fearful they were being followed, but luckily they were not. But now they were in another problem. They had no provisions except the potatoes in back Big Mama had bought with his last wages. No water. No vegetables. No grains.

Seven days went like that and he knew they were going to die out there in the desert. Texas was a huge place and plenty of room for graves there. Soon, they reached a semi-covered huddle of rocks and Joshua Trees, and made camp for the last time.

He peeled several potatoes. Their last and squeezed them for liquid to give to their daughter. She had been feverish the last several days. Finally, she looked up into his eyes and smiled. "It's all right, Daddy. I'm going home now. And it's beautiful." She whispered.

He hugged her and cried as she whispered her last breath into his ears.

Big Mama sat on the other side, too weak to move or comfort him or her daughter. She lay down beside her dead daughter and enveloped her in her huge arms. "Is all right, tiny baby, I'm gonna walk right up that sunlit path wit yous."

She closed her eyes and died then too.

He managed enough strength from the remaining two potatoes to bury them with his own hands. On the last day he heard horses coming and looked up from where he lay.

The very tall man rode up on a very large horse and looked down at him."You better pray God has a place for you to stay, because you ain't staying on my lands!"

He hefted a rifle and shot him in the head.

WHAM!

The Phantom, Chapter One of the motion picture serial based on the comic book

Movie Trailer for The Phantom starring Billy Zane

Chapter Thirteen of The Shasta Caper is now online.

Chapter Thirteen

"Sherelle Matilda. You still put a lot of bang into that shake." Samuel said, pretending she hadn't noticed the jolt of energy. She had, but she was very shy about talking about it with her brothers listening in, though both felt something up.

"You're so handsome and courteous as always." She told him back, hiding the gleam of knowing on her lips as she turned to Jacob. "You know the cows haven't been milked for two days. What in hell's name were you thinking, big brother?"

He hunched down, cowering a bit behind Jimbo, who smiled. "Sis, it's not like that. Someone had to go out and bury the pieces."

"Pieces?" I asked.

Jacob looked at Samuel. "Don't ask and then you won't have to tell."

Samuel didn't have to ask. It had to be the man they had machine-gunned down. "Won't the Sheriff be coming looking for him eventually."

Sherelle put an arm around Jacob's waist and leaned into him. "The Sheriff likes out blueberry and raspberry pies a lot, don't he, Jacob?"

"Oh indeed he do." Jacob said with a grin.

Samuel said no more. 

Later, they sat around the dining table, which was made from Joshua trees burnished to a high polish. It was about ten feet long and four wide, supported by eight legs made of highly polished iron that had been hand made.

"I don't remember this." Samuel said, eyeing the beauty of it.

"Jacob's shy about his work." Sherelle said with a wink. "Like someone else I know well."

He blushed, then turned to Jimbo, who was polishing off the four steak that had been over the barbie out back. 

Jimbo swallowed his food with a big gulp from a huge bottle of ginger ale, then burped. "She's got you pegged, Sammie boy."

Samuel blushed again and then yet again when she nudged his leg with her right foot. This time there was no WHAM, which made him both embarassed, curious and puzzled.

She put her chin in the palms of her hands that she cupped together and smiled. "Not everyone has all the goodies, Sammie."

He never got a chance to ask her what that meant, because a horrible howling came from out back.

Jacob got up, his face turning red with anger. "It's them damned ghosties again. They always wake up, just when we're getting ready to go to bed. It's like clockwork. None of us has gotten a good night's rest around here for days now."

Jimbo got up stretched, then eyed Samuel. "Let's go earn our meal, partner."

Samuel nodded and pushed away from the remains of his meal. Vegetarian. Soy meat with flakes of coconut and Stevia on top, a mild soy sauce pooled around its base. He had made it himself. Even Sherelle had had some, as well as Jacob, but Jimbo was having none of it. He was strictly a steak and potatoes man. Occasionally, a lamb.

"Take me to your leaders." Samuel punned.

Jacob eyed Samuel with disdain. "If that's the best you can do, then we're all damned to hell."

They went outside through the back door, closing it behind them. Samuel noted that the back porch was cleaner than usual.

"Me." Sherelle admitted. "Since I graduated from the University of Texas, I've been bored as hell. Nothing to do out here, except milk cows and rope horses. And the occassional dude."

Again she nudged him, but with her elbow. Still no WHAM!

Now Samuel was really puzzled.

They took a short path behind the barn and there stood a two story outhouse with three seats inside. All spanking new.

"We overhauled it nicely, don't you think?" Jacob asked.

"You going to the bathroom or moving in?" Samuel asked.

"Both." Jacob quipped.

Jimbo cuffed his younger brother and he was cuffed back. Both young men grinned at each other until the howl came from the haunted outhouse again.

As they neared the outhouse a flare of blue light shot out its moon shaped windows, casting the desert ground about it in a bluish glaze of unearthly color. The walls of the outhouse began to shake, then expand like something alive and breathing.

"Samuel, if you would do the honors?" Jimbo asked.

Samuel hesitated. "Looks like a Category One haunting." Samuel said.

"All the more reason to clear it out. I'm not going to the bathroom in any haunted house. Day or night!" Sherelle reasoned.

Samuel took a deep breath and slowly went up to the wall of the outhouse. A horrible scream came out and the wall seemed to leap at him as he reached out a  hand to touch it.

WHAM!