Chapter Nine

The interior of the store reminded me of a museum, just a whole lot dustier. I sniffed the air, aware of the dust bunnies, and very nearly launched a nasal assault of sneezes.

He also kept the inside of the store dimly lit with the blinds drawn. He would probably say that the intense sunlight might harm the paintings that hung on the wall. I thought it would be because he wanted as much privacy as possible.

A little jingling bell went off as I walked in; a two-dollar alarm that worked better than the musicians Hjelm paid to set up shop outside. I smiled at the irony and waited for him to show himself.

While I waited, a quick glanced told me that the vast majority of people entering this place didn’t have the necessary coin to afford any of it. I saw a Japanese katana that looked like it bore the tang stamp of Masamune, supposedly the finest swordsmith that Japan ever produced. It was probably the only thing in the entire store that didn’t have a thin layer of dust coating it.

“You have an appreciation for swords?”

I turned and found myself staring at Hjelm only three feet away. However old the guy might have been, he was stealthy as hell. I’d have to remember that in the future or else he might easily get the drop on me.

I pointed at the blade. “It’s a Masamune, isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” said Hjelm. “Do you know of his work?”

“Just that his blades are supposed to be quite good.”

Hjelm sniffed as if I’d just suggested he take up proctology as a hobby. “Forgive me, but saying that his blades are supposed to be…quite good, as you said, is like saying Albert Einstein was supposedly good at science.”

I smiled. “Well, perhaps a bit of schooling would be in order.”

Hjelm grinned. “Goro Masamune is widely considered the supreme swordsmith of Japan. Most of his work was done in the fourteenth century and his blades – both the longer graceful curved tachi and the short tanto knife style – were reputed to have been forged with the inner peace and calm so often missing from other smiths of his day and later years.”

© 2010 by Jon F. Merz All rights re­served

Get the rest of Chapter 9 RIGHT NOW – sign up below!

Chapter Eight

We rode most of the rest of the way to Itasy in silence. The revelation that Joobah was Andrian’s brother didn’t make me feel particularly comfortable, but then again, I’d known other families with worse secrets.

I was still trying to fathom all of mine.

“When did you see him last?”

Andrian shrugged. “What you mean when was the last time we had words for each other? Before he kidnapped her. Afterward, there seemed to be no point to it. We went our separate ways.”

“Until now.”

Andrian considered this. “Things do seem to be coming to a head, I suppose.”

He seemed pretty nonchalant about things considering Joobah, in the short time I’d known him, had managed to track us, shoot RPGs at us, hunt us in the jungle, and seemingly move heaven and earth to find us. It made me wonder why we were rating such interest. I asked Andrian.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, it can’t be you,” I said. “Otherwise, he would have dealt with you before Zero and I touched down. That tells me there’s something else going on.”

“It might have something to do with Hjelm and your mission to get to him.”

I nodded. “You heard anything about Joobah and Hjelm working together? Maybe they’re bosom buddies now.”

Andrian wheeled us down another road. I could see the beginnings of more residences and suspected we were coming into the Lake Itasy area now. After a few minutes of driving us past progressively larger buildings and advertisements for canoe rentals, Andrian sighed. “I suppose it’s possible that they are working together. But I can’t be sure. Joobah does not strike me as being someone who would be willing to forfeit control in a partnership.”

“Maybe Hjelm promised him something that was enough to give up that love of control.”

“You think so?”

“Sure. Everyone has a price. Just a matter of finding it. Once you do, there’s very little that they won’t consider doing.”

Andrian frowned. “He may be using Joobah to hunt us while Hjelm goes into hiding.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. If Hjelm went to ground, the chances of finding him were even more remote than when we’d started. And with Zero out of the equation, that just made my job a helluva lot harder.

© 2010 by Jon F. Merz All rights re­served

Get the rest of Chapter 8 RIGHT NOW – sign up below!

It’s always a good idea to remind readers that they can order or get a lot of my stuff still at various venues (my website is actually being moved to a new platform & once it’s done this will all be streamlined much better than this, but for now…)

Let’s start with the Lawson Vampire stuff:

THE FIXER graphic novel debuts in October, but it’s very VERY important to get pre-orders in now. Use the button below to order it: Cost for this gorgeous trade paperback is $15.95 + $4.00 shipping anywhere in the world. Estimated publication date is October 2010.

THE MADAGASCAR MATTER is an on-going e-serial spanning all of 2010 (although this week we went on hiatus because I’m haulin’ butt to finish the first draft of a new novel) $7.95 for the entire year, delivered each week to your email. Order below:

Amazon Stuff

PARALLAX – my first psychic thriller which has consistently garnered amazing reviews. Click here to buy it for the Kindle!

VICARIOUS – supernatural thriller that people love. Click here to buy it for the Kindle!

Prisoner 392 – my short story originally featured in FROM THE BORDERLANDS. You’ll love it. CLick here to buy it for the Kindle

The Brank of Khosadam – another old-timey short guaranteed to thrill. Click here to buy it for the Kindle

You can also order any of the above as an ebook if you don’t have a Kindle. Drop me a line by emailing jonfmerz AT verizon DOT net and I’ll be happy to tell you how to order.

So, go on and have some fun this weekend – grab some of my stuff!

I just returned from dropping my son off at preschool. Today is much like yesterday in that the weather is abysmal. Rain is coming down in sheets; it’s cold; windy. In short, not a nice morning to be out if you don’t have to be.

I happen to live in a town where everyone feels safe. We have a very, very low crime rate. In fact, most of the time the police stay busy by doing community events or responding to medical emergencies. And because the town I live in is one of the more affluent in the area, the population here feels as though crime is something that happens everywhere else except for here. If you scooped up everyone who has that mentality of, “well that sucks, but something like that will never happen to me” and dropped them somewhere, you’d probably have my town. Minus the one dude whose family has a much more real-world pragmatism about personal safety, ha ha…

I’ve tweeted about the encounters I’ve had before with mothers who think nothing of leaving their kids alone in the car (sometimes with the engine running) while they drop another child off. In all of these instances, I’ve spoken to them about how careless that type of behavior is. Within a mile radius of the elementary school, there is both a Level 2 and a Level 3 sex offender living. This comes as a wake-up call to some of the mothers I’ve spoken to. To others, they simply bury their head even deeper in the sand and scream “nyah nyah nyah” as their way of dealing with the reality that Yes, Virginia, even a wealthy town has sex offenders.

This morning, one of the mothers that I’ve come to know and like over the past few years came rushing in and then said to the child she was dropping off, “I’ve got to go now, honey. Meghan and Ken are still in the car.” Meghan is this woman’s brand-new newborn baby girl. Ken is a few years older. I groaned inside because here again was yet another person who has forsaken the safety of her children for the convenience of not having to drag them all inside with her. What made it even worse is the fact that she acknowledged that she was a bad mother for doing such a thing to another mother. But then she started a new conversation with that mother and promptly forgot all about her urgent need to return to the car.

Here’s the thing: I understand that it’s a pain in the ass to drag three kids out of a car and hustle them inside, especially on a crappy day like today. I get it. You’re just going to be a few minutes. You don’t want to deal with the hassle of it. “I’m just going to have to put them all back in their car seats again.” Or “I don’t want to expose them to the rain.” These are all the excuses I’ve heard before and then some.

But you know what? It takes literally seconds for someone to come into the parking lot (which isn’t large at all) cruise around, see a target of opportunity, and nab that child and then be gone.

SECONDS.

I’ve known plenty of people who have willfully chosen to remain ignorant of their personal safety over the years. Trying to explain to nouveau riche mutual fund managers that a threat against them is, in fact, serious and no, his protection escorts will not be carrying his luggage is an experience in and of itself. And my attitude toward people like this and others (say, those who go jogging at 3 o’clock in the morning through a shadowy urban area with their iPod headphones blasting) is one of acceptance. If they want to be that stupid, then so be it. More oxygen for me and my loved ones.

But when it comes to children -little children, especially – I have no such acceptance or tolerance. It’s fine to forsake your own safety, but kids have nowhere else to turn to. They look to their parents as their source of safety, not knowing how to protect themselves. And a parent’s first priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of their children. It is NOT to see how easy they can make their own lives.

I’m the first one to admit that parenting and convenience do not go hand-in-hand. But that’s the deal you strike with the universe when you make the conscious decision to bring another human being into this world. You are saying, “yes, I know this isn’t going to be easy, but the joy of raising a new soul is worth whatever challenges and heartache I might face. I want this.” If you’re not comfortable with giving up your streamlined schedule, your 3 martini lunch, or your two o’clock massage with Diego then DON’T BECOME A PARENT.

If there’s one thing that my background has taught me it’s that bad things can happen ANYWHERE. It doesn’t matter how rich your town is or how gosh-darn-comfy-safe you feel in your McMansion – all it takes is for you to open yourself up and give the wrong person the opportunity they need and everything changes in a heartbeat. And suddenly, all those martinis, tennis lessons, and massages don’t mean shit. Because you just fucked up and now you’ve got to live with the consequences of that stupid decision.

Don’t force your children to deal with the consequences of your stupidity.

Don’t sacrifice safety for convenience.

I’m very pleased to announce the first chapbook in what I hope is a fun series – NINJA (yeah, not exactly a big surprise given the martial art I study, lol) from UK publisher Ghostwriter Publications. This is going to be a crazy fun series, mixing authentic ninjutsu with swords & sorcery like you’d find in the works of Robert E. Howard (if you like his Conan The Barbarian and Solomon Kane adventures, you’ll love this) with an Eastern flair.

Ran, the hero, is a recent graduate of the Komugakure-ryu Ninjutsu training school hidden deep in the fog-enshrouded mountains of a land to the Far East. As a newly-minted genin field operative, he must travel the wilds of the world and test his skills against the harsh realities of life. Encountering a wide variety of races, cultures, and bizarre creatures, Ran will pursue perfection of his mind, body, and spirit while battling evil in every form.

This chapbook series will hopefully lead to larger works, so early interest is obviously very important. News on the publication date will be released soon. Retail price is 1.99 GBP or about $3.07 US – you can’t beat the price for a high-quality chapbook filled with a extraordinary amount of fun. I hope you’ll come along and keep Ran company on his many wild journeys!

I’m very happy to release this preliminary sketch of THE FIXER graphic novel cover. It’s going to be an amazing cover, painted by artist Brian McCulloch. Interior art glimpses coming soon. Remember, this may well be your only chance to own this incredible book, so please get your orders in now by using the convenient button below. Cost for this gorgeous trade paperback is $15.95 + $4.00 shipping anywhere in the world. Estimated publication date is October 2010.

So, to recap for the new folks following me on Twitter and Facebook:

1. I have a new deal with St. Martin’s Press for the Lawson Vampire series. Book 5 comes out in Spring 2011 and I’m thrilled to be with a major publisher and awesome editor.
2. A special 3-chapbook series of Lawson missions called DARK OPS will see print in April 2010 from UK publisher Ghostwriter Publications. Pre-orders should be up soon.
3. A Lawson graphic novel is coming in October. Cover art and interiors are being sketched right now. Details when I have ‘em…
4. The Lawson e-serial THE MADAGASCAR MATTER is on-going. If you haven’t subscribed yet, use the form below to get in on the fun:

5. BOSTON NOCTURNE has been redesigned as a 10-page monthly magazine featuring free fiction, non-fiction, reviews, etc. but you need to subscribe by Emailing Me to get your copies.
6. THE FIXER TV series is moving ahead, albeit slowly. More news on the next release date of teaser #2 as soon as I have it.
7. More ROGUE ANGEL novels written by me will be coming out over the next few years.
8. My website is being redesigned again and will debut fairly soon.
9. The first installment from HELLtalkers (co-written with Joe Nassise) is available by going HERE!.
10. Be sure to check out my PublishersMarketplace Page for some exclusive video clips.

Thanks for catching up with me!

Chapter Seven

“Cursed? How the hell is that possible? No one’s been near him since I touched down except for you and me.”

Andrian waved his hand. “I am only repeating what the shaman tells me. I have no idea how anyone would have gotten to him. But there is always the chance that they employed an unusual method to do this.”

I wasn’t sure any of this made sense. I’d heard rumors of magic and all that crap before, but at the Academy, the instructors focused on real world problems rather than the stuff of legends. “Yeah, but wouldn’t a curse have to be done with the person close to Zero? I mean, he was fine until we rolled the Rover. It was after that that he went bonkers.”

Andrian translated for the shaman who clucked her tongue twice and then rattled off a machine gun of Malagasy that I couldn’t even begin to start to translate. Andrian waited until she’d finished and then turned back to me.

“She says that whoever did this knew exactly who they were targeting. Being in the same location is not necessary to exert will over him.”

I looked down at Zero’s body. “So, could this guy we’re running from – Joobah – could he do this?”

Andrian frowned. “He could not back when I knew him much better than I do now. But many, many years have passed since we were close. And anything could have happened in the ensuing time.”

© 2010 by Jon F. Merz All rights re­served

Get the rest of Chapter 7 RIGHT NOW – sign up below!

This finally came out:

“Jon Merz’s THE KENSEI, in which a fixer for the vampire council whose role is to ensure that their race remains hidden, returns from a pair of deadly assignments, beaten and bruised and looking for solace-through-training from a master in ninjutsu; despite his seclusion in a Japanese village his past has found him, to Daniela Rapp at St. Martin’s, for publication in Spring 2011, by Joe Monti at Barry Goldblatt Literary (NA). ”

Very, very happy about this one! Lawson is BACK!

Announcing DARK OPS: Unsanctioned – The Lawson Vampire Missions, a special 3-chapbook set complete with a beautiful slipcase from UK publisher Ghostwriter Publications. In this special set, you’ll read three never-before-seen missions where Lawson is forced to operate off-the-books and without approval from the Council. These are Dark Ops, the kind that can get him killed…but sometimes, you just have no choice.

Book 1: The Cairo Connection brings Lawson to the Middle East at the request of his old mentor Zero to help track down a vampire acting as moneyman for various terror groups. But why hasn’t he been sanctioned by the Council before? A startling revelation means more heat than just the weather in this sizzling foray.

Book 2: A Forced Disappearance pushes Lawson to the edge of his operational ability when he’s asked by the Lycanthrope Elder Belladonna to find her missing protegee Monk. The trail leads Lawson exactly where he least expects it – back to his own people – and more shadowy conspiracy than he can stomach.

Book 3: Canary Trap sees Lawson getting himself declared Rogue in order to flush out a leak within the Fixer service. Now with all active Fixers looking to put a bullet in him, he’s got 24 hours to find the traitor before his former friends find him first.

3 chapbooks all bound with their own gorgeous cover surrounded by the beautiful slipcase seen above. This collection will be published in April 2010 and costs just 4.99 in British pounds, which equals about $7.81 – it’s a great deal and the order page will be going up very soon.