Alma, an award winning CGI short. Very unique now posted on ImagineNation.

Saw this some time back and found it to be quite interesting. Very nice concept.

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Five is now posted on ImagineNation.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Samuel, Jimbo and Nanny found themselves waking up in a smoking forest, where the remains of the flying vessel were smoking and burning and pieces of it were scattered helter skelter, some pieces glowing red hot. A few body parts were scattered in the debris and they didn't look human. Pieces of arms that were a wierd green color and slimy, and smashed heads that were connected to a second head. One body was intact, but missing its head. The body resembled that of Seran's.

"What the hell just happened and why are we still alive?" Jimbo demanded.

Samuel groaned, holding his head between his hands. "Angelic rescue."

"I don't believe..."

"...in angels. I know. I know." Samuel retorted, but must you holler it at the top of your voice."

Nanny scooted over to Samuel and shoved his hands away. "Sam, you got a head injury."

"Am I going to die because of it?" He asked with a smile, forcing himself to stand on his feet.

Nanny growled at him angrily. "You should, you silly sonovua..."

Jimbo a finger to her lips, cutting her off. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

She smashed his hand away and turned on him, ready to swing at him. He caughter her hands and gave her a fierce look. "Samuel just saved your ass and you're complaining?"

"He said the angels did it!"

Jimbo snorted. "Samuel's too damned proud to take credit for his work. That's why he's poor..." 

Glares at Samuel. "...And why I'm poor...sort of."

"Ranch." Samuel said.

"Yeah, ranch." Jimbo admitted, then let go of Nanny who grumbled to herself, but  began to calm down. She started to walk, then realized she had just stepped into a pile of something gooey. She made a face. "Oh my God! It's a..."

It was a heart. A very, very big one and now collapsed around her right boot.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Like a Twinkie." Jimbo asked her, shoving a Twinkie in her face.

Nanny screamed and ran behind a shrug and began throwing up.

Samuel looked at Jimbo and Jimbo gave him an innocent look. Jimbo unwrapped his Twinkie and ate it down. "Just being friendly."

"Sure." Samuel accused, then realized what Jimbo was doing. "Where'd you get that?"

Jimbo pointed behind Samuel and he saw their backpacks in a nice heap. "Wow! We really did have some Angelic help."

"Not likely. But keep thinking that." Jimbo said, reaching into his backpack for another Twinkie.

Nanny came staggering back into view and Jimbo spun around and offered the second Twinkie to her. "Hungry yet?"

Nanny covered her mouth, then ran back for the bushes again.

Samuel wagged a finger at Jimbo. "You're a naughty, naughty boy."

Jimbo replied by downing the second Twinkie in one gulp.

They waited for Nanny to come out again and she gave Jimbo a look that could kill, but he softened it somewhat when she realized he was holding her backpack. She snatched it and gave him a dirty look.

He said nothing.

Samuel saw Al waving to him from their left and looked back at his friends. "I think we better get moving before another of our sky friends come looking for us."

"At least we agree on something." Nanny grumbled, and followed him as he led the way.

Jimbo dropped back and holstered his pistol, then he rethought it, took it out and kissed its barrel. "Ain't no love, like a hot guy, baby!"

Nanny looked back at him and scowled. "You idiot! Guns are for children."

"Tell that to the next Nazi we meet, honey." Jimbo responded.

She gave him an even bigger scowl, then hurried up and slipped an arm through Samuel's, taking him totally offguard.

"So, Sam, tell us about what got you into this business."

They spent the next three hours going deeper and deeper into the woods, talking about nothing deep or in particular, just gabbing to keep their minds off what had happened earlier. "How had they really escaped certain death. Who had struck down the ship?"

Samuel looked across at Al and M who were walking to his left. "Well?" He asked.

Al shrugged, but a smug smile was on his face.

Marilyn pointed and Samuel looked back to see Nanny and Jimbo having a merry time  conversing. "She's got a temper like a bottle of nitroglycerin, but she forgets like a child."

Marilyn nodded. 

Samuel sighed. "And as usual, I'm the odd man out."

Marilyn put her head against his shoulder and he felt a slight distubance as her ethereal body touched his. "Thanks, I needed that."

She smiled, then kissed him lightly on his cheek and vanished.

"Up ahead." Jimbo hollered.

Samuel snapped back into his body, letting go of his thoughts and saw a kind of structure intertwined with the trees ahead. 

He and the others made their way forward cautiously. The Hollow Earth hadn't been too friendly so far, and they weren't taking any chances. Jimbo had his pistol out and Samuel had his hand up, in case he need to use his powers.

Nanny gripped her Bowie knife. Jimbo looked down at that. "Where'd you get that toothpick?"

"From your backpack."

"Hey!" He cried out.

Ahead of them the structure lit up as bright as a Christmas tree.

"Fall back." Samuel warned and they fell behind one of the massive trees to see what happened next. 

Nothing happened for about five minutes, then two children came out and began playing in the light. They were both white haired and slender with long ears.

"Elves." Nanny cooed.

"Not likely." Jimbo drawled.

"You ruin everything!"

"I do my best." Jimbo replied to her with a scoundrel's smile. She smiled back, then looked forward again.

"My children won't harm  you." A man's voice spoke kindly from behind them.

Jimbo spun around with his pistol ready to fire, then lowered it. 

A man, who looked an awful lot like Santa Claus, wearing long suspenders and coveralls, with twinkling blue eyes, an axe and a bucket of water stood there looking at them with a smile.

"My wife should have dinner just about ready. We've been expecting you." He told them, then walked past and into the light.

The two children ran up and he set down his bucket and axe and swung them up into his powerful arms and swung them around and around to their delight.

"He's not Santa Claus." Jimbo finally managed to say.

"Sure, you just go ahead and tell yourself that, Jimmie." Nanny said as the man began to laugh like the archetypal Santa Claus does in all the videos  and movies they'd seen.

 

Journey to the Center of the Earth

San Francisco is struck by a tsunami and earthquake that level the city and kill millions.

The Golden Gate Bridge collapses. London's Tower of London, Big Ben and many other historical areas are flattened by a massive earthquake. 

Delhi, India is destroyed. Moscow, Russia is turned to rubble. 

Beijing, China is swallowed by the earth opening up beneath it. 

Billions die in a matter of minutes. The earth is no longer the safe place humans assumed it was. As new nations are formed and old ones reconstruct they learn that the Big One that caused the death of billions was intentional. 

Hurriedly, they gather together a crack team of scientists and military personnel called the Hollow Earth Special Forces Team. 

The Team must journey to the center of the earth and stop an event that will mean the end of all life on our planet. 

Journey to the Center of the Earth is an epic adventure of brave men and women who must overcome monsters, sabotage and beings with a hidden agenda intent on stopping their success.

Over 400 pages of stunning action, emotion and adventure as never before read. Available now at Amazon. Com and other fine retailers. Purchase now for $14.36.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Eight: Boomerang is now posted on ImagineNation.

A pose that struck terror into the hearts of the criminals he fought. Captain Marvel of the Golden Age of Motion Picture Serials.

I remember watching this and thinking how nifty it would be to fly without using any kind of mechanical device, like I do in my dreams.

Course it took Billy Batson to be befriended by a Mystic with magical powers, but these days it only takes a burst of complex radiation to X your way into the air. Go X-Men and Supe!

--John--

SHERLOCK HOLMES: Terror by Night (1946, 720p) - Full Mystery Movie now posted on ImagineNation

I remember watching these movies on an old black and white TV with my parents. The music and the noir were just scary. Loved Basil Rathbone. Certainly the quintessential detective actor at that time.

--John--

 Before Flash Gordon, before Tarzan of the Apes, before Star Wars, before Harry Potter, there was the greatest detective of all time....Sherlock Holmes.

Read some of his greatest adventures not told by the author in this beautifully bound paperback version sold at Amazon.

You'll discover a creature who lives in our world, but is not of it.

Experience a realm that is invisible to our own, but contains all the creatures of fancy and legend.

Unfold a plot to rule the world by a mastermind.

These are just some of the adversaries and adventures Sherlock and his friends, the Baker Street Adventurers, will investigate and face.

But it now on Amazon!

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Seven: Human Target

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Four is now posted on ImagineNation

Chapter Thirty Four

A door slid open in the side wall and they turned to see Seran enter, this time in a beautiful wrap of gold and white. He wore a kind of wreath about his hair that was dappled with glittering jewels of some kind. His face was more bronze and his eyes a deeper blue. He stood about seven feet tall. Intimidating to say the least to those in the room, who were not used to men of such gigantic stature.

Seran gave them a curt nod. "I was chosen because I am the shortest of my kind. I hope I am not dispositioning you too much with my stature. Normally, we have some of our friends from neighboring realms  introduce us first so we are not such a shock to our visitors. The last ones....French, I believe...almost died when they saw my father and brothers. They all stand over nine feet tall."

"And there were giants in those days." Muttered Nanny.

Seran turned to look at her. "Your mother will be happy to see you."

Nanny almost fainted on the spot. "My mother! Here?"

"Have you never wondered how you came to have so much occult abilities by the mother you knew in this life?"

"Actually...no." Nanny squeaked, trying her best to maintain her spunky character, but somewhat failing in it. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest she feared everyone could hear it. Her mother alive and here!

Seran smiled gently, then turned to Samuel. "And you, young man, surely you have wondered what created such fantastic genetics in your own spiritual body?"

"Actually." Sam almost said more, but Al was shaking his head vigorously no.

"Actually, no as well."

Seran's face fell. "That is sorrowful."

He turned to Jimbo. "I'm sure you know where your genetics came from, so I won't bother to regale you with any falsehoods."

Jimbo made fists from his hands, but held his temper at the arrogance of Seran's words. 

Suddenly, the old man's kindness seemed more and more a smokescreen for something darker and more malignant.

Samuel gave Jimbo a quick look and a secret signal with his right hand, which Seran saw, but did not comment on, but Jimbo, however, burst into a smile and relaxed. "No hard feelings about it. We Texans have enough pride in ourselves not to worry over such a simple thing as genetics."

"Too bad." Seran said with a tone of sadness. "Genetics are everything.

"Okay." Nanny broke in. "You obviously didn't come in here to give us a lecture on our fathers and mothers and gene code, so what are you really here for and why did you....beam us up?"

Seran laughed.

"Actually, we didn't beam you up. All three of you have been unconscious for about a week. It's a...."

"Say what?" Jimbo demanded. "Did you just say I've gone without double Whammies for a whole week?"

Seran gave Jimbo a blank look.

Samuel intervened. "Its a flat piece of meat made from cows and cooked in drizzles of barebecue sauce and flopped in a double layer on a toasted sesame seed bun."

Jimbo's mouth began to water. "Come to think of it, when do we eat?"

Seran half bowed to him. "I am being negligent as a host. We shall be landing soon and I shall make up for it with a full buffet."

"It better be big. A whole week is a long time on this fuel tank." Jimbo growled.

Seran laughed. "Oh, I suspect it will be more than enough."

"I must ask one thing of you before I leave."

"Anything." Samuel said calmly, even though he was getting bad vibes from Al and Marilyn who was making horns behind Seran's head.

"When we land, do not try to run away."

He motioned and the door opened again for him. He made it halway out, then looked back at them. His friendly eyes suddenly burned with a cold anger. "It might not turn out so well for you this time."

The door swished shut, cutting him from view of the others.

Samuel motioned to them to sit on the floor next to him. They did.

"What the hell was that all about?" Jimbo asked. "I've never  heard so much polished bull in my whole life. That was enough crap to fill the Yankee Stadium and overflow into the Hudson River."

Nanny nodded. "Did you see his eyes at the last. What happened to the wise old man?"

Samuel took her hand in his right, then motioned for her to take Jimbo's left and he Samuel's right. They formed a tight circle.

"Close you eyes." He told them.

They did. The moment they did, Nanny let out a shriek and broke the circle, jumping up to muffle a scream she felt ready to explode.

Samuel and Jimbo looked at her, calmly.

"You two are freaks!" She declared, but when they said nothing, she dropped beside them and took their hands again. "This better be good." She warned Samuel with an angry glare.

Immediately she found herself seated in the middle of a kind of temple room, with incense burners all around them, and torches hanging from the ceiling in very ornate, bronzed dishes. Guards stood at four doors. The guards stood about eight feet tall and had dog faces and eagle wings. They each held a crystal spear between their hands. 

"This is just..."

"Nuts." Jimbo said. He looked over at Samuel. "This time I know I've gone mad."

Samuel said nothing, his eyes were still closed.

Finally, Nanny nudged him with her knee.

Samuel opened his eyes. "Sorry, Al was telling me something."

"Who? Oh, him."

She saw Al standing behind Samuel with his arms crossed, giving her a stare of confidence.

"As long as we maintain this circle I'll be able to talk to you and we won't be overheard."

"Why should we worry about that?" Nanny asked.

Jimbo sighed. "Oh probably because we're in six hells worth of danger, and likely to die at any moment."

"Worse." Samuel admitted.

Jimbo sighed. "Some things never change."

Nanny almost let go, but Samuel grabbed her fast. "Hold tight. It's important."

"Okay. But don't get any ideas I like any of this, because I don't let go." She told him.

Samuel gave her a very stern look and she swallowed hard. The gentle, jovial spiritual guy she had come to know was replaced by an implacable warrior.

"These are not Mount Shasta inhabitants, and we are not going to the flying city. That city in fact does not even exist. It's an illusion they've cast to catch the unwary."

"You mean there's been more down here?"

"All those people you saw that came up the mountain and never returned. The ones you told us about in the restaurant. They ended up here. On this ship. They never left it. Alive."

Nanny almost shrieked again.

"But why would they want to harm us?" She demanded, like a petulant child, her lower lip quivering with anger. Her eyes squinted when she was mad and her cheeks turned red.

Jimbo moved closer to her, so his shoulder touched hers and she felt this sudden sense of well being and safety. She looked over at him and his eyes were filled with the need to be trusted. "It's not about why us, but why anyone?"

"Jimbo's right." Samuel agreed. "These people are not old. They are new to this inner realm. And they are shunned by the true inhabitants. The wise ones that live here."

"How do..." Nanny caught herself again as Al gave her the evil eye.

"All right. You know. But again, what do they have to gain by keeping us from leaving?"

"They're not ready to be exposed yet to the world." Samuel explained. "They have been hiding here since...."

Al looked over and held up two fingers. "World War Two."

"Oh my God!" Nanny said, suddenly realizing what he was getting at. The sybmols on this ship. "They're..."

"Yes." Samuel said. "They are."

"So what do we do next?" Nanny asked him.

Samuel looked at her. "Trust me."

"That's a hard sell." She said.

Jimbo looked at her sternly. "Nanny. This is no joke. Sammie and I have been in situations like this before and the ones we were helping...well, if they didn't listen..."

"They died." Samuel finished for him.

Nanny did freak this time.

She jumped up to scream and everything went blam and crazy!

 Before Flash Gordon, before Tarzan of the Apes, before Star Wars, before Harry Potter, there was the greatest detective of all time....Sherlock Holmes.

Read some of his greatest adventures not told by the author in this beautifully bound paperback version sold at Amazon.

You'll discover a creature who lives in our world, but is not of it.

Experience a realm that is invisible to our own, but contains all the creatures of fancy and legend.

Unfold a plot to rule the world by a mastermind.

These are just some of the adversaries and adventures Sherlock and his friends, the Baker Street Adventurers, will investigate and face.

But it now on Amazon!

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Three is now posted on ImagineNation!

Chapter Thirty-Three

"I am." A voice thundered in Samuel's head.

"Yeah. So am I." Samuel spit back, trying not to let his head explode in the process.

Gradually he began to see and feel again with his eyes and body. He found himself lying on something quite comfortable, miraculously comfortable. It felt as if he were...

His eye lids went open all the way and he realized he was not lying on anything at all. Nothing. He looked down and saw a metallic floor of a light orange, copper color with filgreed plating with ornate designs that illustrated every plate. He followed the patterns to another body floating in the air. 

Jimbo.

"Jimbo." He cried out.

Jimbo groaned and rolled over, his hand dangling in the air as comfortably as if they had been supported by a mattress. His eyes fluttered open and he complained. "Why must it always be when I'm about to have a nice meal?"

"You really need to get out more." Nanny pointed out from her side of the large room they were within. 

Samuel was able to sit up, but he still couldn't figure out how he did so. Nothing was supporting his butt, or his legs and feet and yet they felt as if they were compressed against something very gentle, but firm.

Nanny swam into view, like a turtle, using her arms and legs to aim and kick herself into view. She settled before Samuel and grinned at him. "If this wasn't so damned crazy, I'd say we were in outer space like an astronaut, but..."

Jimbo finally sat up, then noticed he wasn't seated on anything. "Holy Crap!" He sputtered, frantically trying to get a grasp on something, but only managing to cause himself to float upside down in a seated position.

"This stinks!" He complained.

Nanny coasted over, and gently tipped him the correct direction.

"You never told me you were an astronaut." Jimbo accused.

"I'm not. And to make things even here, big guy, you never told me we might get abducted by little green men either."

Samuel would have laughed, but his head hurt so much. "Make it stop." He groaned, trying to keep the sides of his head from exploding.

Jimbo gave him a worried look.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything. This place we're inside, the way we were captured...the vibrations. It's all...wrong!"

Samuel took a deep breath, then examined the room they were held within. It was shaped like a box, but with the outer walls curved outwards. They were also copper colored and very reflective. One large section seemed to be some kind of viewing device, for it had a flickering image on it, but nothing visible that was clear.

The ceiling was low, but also very metallic looking.

"I think we're inside the saucer."

"You think?" Jimbo asked drily.

Nanny shook her head. "From the center of the earth to outer space. Sounds like we entered a series of Jules Verne novels."

"Not quite." Came a very British sounding voice. 

They turned around slowly to see a man who appeared to be in his early sixties standing in front of a wall, dressed in some kind of odd uniform that was vaguely British looking. He had a very long mustache and beard, and pure white hair, but his skin was unwrinkled and flawless, his eyes a crystal clear blue and his body quite firm and athletic looking. 

He smiled at them and then sat down in the air, crossing one leg over another. "I hope you are all feeling rested...and better?"

Samuel almost jumped when the man seemed to flicker for a moment.

"Whoops!" He said. "I'm sorry. He appeared to lean over and adjust something invisible, then his image strengthened. "There. That should stop that nonsense."

He looked at them all again, then gave them a half bow. "My name is Seran Goodwalt. I am the Keeper of the Way."

"You wouldn't happen to have any decent burgers in this joint?" Jimbo asked when his stomach growled loudly.

Seran laughed. "My, my, my. I'm afraid not. We are all vegetarians here."

"My luck continues." Jimbo said with dripping sarcasm.

Seran laughed again. "Oh, your luck is quite good. If not for the two ambassadors you sent ahead of you three, we might have as easily disintegrated you as stunned you."

Jimbo stood up and almost tumbled over. He steadied himself. "I demand to see a lawyer!"

Samuel gestured to Jimbo. "Jimbo, I don't think they have those kinds of things here."

Jimbo growled. "They'd better!"

Seran sighed. "This is precisely why we don't usually let you upper surface people down here. You're so negative!"

Samuel spoke up as Seran looked ready to leave them. "Wait! Can you tell us where we are?"

"Right now. You stand at the gateway." Seran said solemnly. "I have been chosen to decide whether to admit you three, or deport you in a speedily manner."

"Which means what?" Jimbo growled.

"Either alive, or a reasonable fact simile." Seran said, his eyes hardening.

Jimbo shut up.

Samuel was finally able to stand up. He did so gently and a bit at a time. "We're not here to fight you. We came on a mission of peace."

Seran waved a hand and Jimbo's pistol appeared in the air. "Like this peaceful weapon?"

Jimbo felt the inside of his jacket. "Hey!"

Seran waved a hand and the pistol vanished again. "If we choose to allow you to leave peacefully, the weapon will be returned to you."

Jimbo relaxed.

"Maybe."

Jimbo's eyes blazed. "Don't I get any say in the matter?"

"Quite frankly?"

Everyone tensed as the old man considered Jimbo's question.

"No."

Seran pointed to the apparent viewing screen and it lit up clearly, revealing the flying city. "Our destination. We should be boarding in the next few minutes. "

Samuel smiled. "You intend to allow us to see it, don't you?"

Seran smiled back. "Samuel, your deeds are well known to us who dwell here. As are...your cowboy friends."

"Hey!" Jimbo cried out.

"And we find you amusing." Seran said, then vanished.

The screen remained lit up and the floating city grew closer and closer.

Whatever had been holding them up, vanished. They tumbled to the floor.

Jimbo groaned as he sat up. "No burger. No peace. It just ain't fair.

"

"Look on the bright side of it, Jimmie." Nanny consoled him.

"What bright side?"

"We could have been free falling atoms."

 

First novel of three on the adventures of Samuel Light and Jimbo, Hammer of the Gods, is now available in paperback at Amazon.Com.

Get it now for only $9.95.

A top secret project in Nevada goes horribly wrong. They've captured something far more powerful than known to man. Something that could take their very souls and crush it. A detective, Samuel Light, and his partner, Jimbo, a rascally Texan are led on a merry chase across Nevada and Arizona to find out what was captured and to right what could turn out to be a terrible mistake for humanity. From past lives of Atlantis to lost lives in the desert, Samuel uses his detective skills and extraordinary spiritual powers to battle unknown forces and seek the truth!

 Get it now for only $9.95.