Roscoe stood next. “I’m gonna take in the air.” He left the kitchen before anyone could protest and walked outside, back to the main garage. He stepped out onto the parking lot and gazed up at the night sky. The stars seemed brighter here than in LA. After a while, the door creaked open. Betty walked outside and joined him. “What’s up?”
“You’re worried about something,” Betty said. “I can tell.”
“I’m fine, sister. You should go to your room. Get some rest for the trip tomorrow.”
“Roscoe.” Betty stepped closer to him. “You’re not alone in this. Wooster, Angel, Felix―even the Captain. We’re with you.”
He wanted to give a flippant reply, but Betty didn’t deserve that. Roscoe gave her his best grin. “I’m fine. And you need that sleep. You’ve been poring over ancient books all day. Tomorrow we hit Vegas. I want you to be ready.”
She nodded weakly. “Okay, Roscoe. But if you’re worried about something, I’m always here.” She patted his shoulder, then drifted away, walking back inside.
Roscoe remained. He looked back to the sky and watched the stars. Tomorrow, they would leave for the next part of their mission. Roscoe didn’t know how bad the job would get. Betty was right about his friends always being there. But with what he had done―and with he was―did he really deserve them? The stars didn’t give him any answers.
After a while, Roscoe walked up to his room, hoping to enjoy what passed for sleep before they had to hit the road again.
Michael Panush has distinguished himself as one of Sacramento’s most promising young writers. Michael has published numerous short stories in a variety of e-zines including: AuroraWolf, Demon Minds, Fantastic Horror, Dark Fire Fiction, Aphelion, Horrorbound, Fantasy Gazetteer, Demonic Tome, Tiny Globule, and Defenestration.
Michael began telling stories when he was only nine years old. He won first place in the Sacramento Storyteller’s Guild “Liar’s Contest” in 2002 and was a finalist in the National Youth Storytelling Olympics in in 2003. In 2005, Michael’s short story entitled, Adventures in Algebra, won first place in the annual MISFITS Writing Contest.
In 2007, Michael was selected as a California Art’s Scholar and attended the Innerspark Summer Writing Program at the CalArts Institute. He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in 2008 and has recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz.
Other works by Michael Panush: Dinosaur Jazz, Stein and Candle Series, and El Mosaico Series.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Michael Panush live and die by your reviews, after all!
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Dead Man’s Drive: A Rot Rods Novel, by Michael Panush
(http://bit.ly/1zfpaKl)
La Cruz looks like an average Southern California small town, but it has some dark secrets – and it has its guardians. They are the supernaturally adept drivers of Donovan Motors, including zombie greaser Roscoe, who stand between La Cruz and chaos with only their wits and some fast hot rods to help them.
The Rot Rods series features monsters, muscle cars, magic and mayhem set in a fantasy-fueled 1950’s America.”
Stein & Candle Dective Agency, Vol. 1, by Michael Panush
(http://bit.ly/1JcYMdc)
Morton Candle is a hard boiled ex-paratrooper just back from storming across Europe. Weatherby Stein is a fourteen-year-old boy genius and scion to the greatest occult family in Europe. Together, they form the Stein & Candle Detective Agency—ready to take the weirdest jobs in the Freewheeling Fifties.
From a vampire’s decaying mansion to the mob-controlled streets of Havana, they’ll take on roadside attractions gone wrong, hordes of the living dead, and ride against the Devil in a high speed car race to the death.
El Mosaico: Scarred Souls, by Michael Panush
(http://bit.ly/1BBk4cA)
Clayton Cane is one of the most feared bounty hunters in the bloody American Old West. His scars earned him the nickname – El Mosaico. But the truth behind those scars is that Cane is no normal gunslinger. He’s a patchwork man, created from pieces of corpses sewn together and given life by black magic. And the blistering gunfights, heartless outlaws and legendary monsters that Cane encounters are far from normal.
In these ferocious stories of outlaw violence, Clayton Cane is pitted against the weirdest the Wild West has to offer, as he struggles to make peace with his own nature and ride the dangerous trail of the bounty hunter.
Billy Lovecraft Saves the World, by Billy Lovecraft
(http://bit.ly/1vYGSCK)
The last thing Billy Lovecraft’s parents sent him before the crash was a photo of something on the wing of their plane.
Now he’s stuck with a horrible and heart-breaking mystery: What was that awful creature, and why were his parents targeted?
It’s up to Billy to gather a team of like-minded kids and lead them through a dark new reality where the monsters are real, not everyone is who they seem to be, and an ancient alien wants to devour the world.
Appetizer:
Book Cover
Title Page
Main Course:
Chapter One: The Doomsday Road
Chapter Two: Hollywood Babylon
Dessert:
Closing
About the Author
Copyright & Publisher
More from Curiosity Quills Press
Detour to Apocalypse: A Rot Rods Serial, Part One Page 7