I’m in the final stages of writing my first novel, The Golden Crystal. As I’m working without an agent or publisher, the book will be self-published through Lulu.com. Here’s a little more information about the project and the book itself:
The Golden Crystal is a product of my imagination, curiosity, and love of action-packed thrillers. I’ve been an avid reader my entire life, and some of my favorite books (actually, most of my favorite books) are fiction mass-market thrillers.
I started the project as a concept back in 2010, but really didn’t do any of the research or writing until July 2011. Now, I’m over 100,000 words, have a trailer in the works along with a marketing campaign outline, and have been finalizing the initial drafts of the novel to use as a Christmas gift for my dad.
In all, the novel took about two months to write, and it was quite an amazing experience. I’ll certainly be writing more fiction in the coming years, and the plan is to eventually get to the point where I’m actually bringing in some money with the books. Until then, I’ll be happy just getting the copies out to some of you avid readers out there!
During the second World War, American military scientists discover some fascinating properties of the hydrogen atom and its link to an ancient mystical number. The exact findings are never published, but a national laboratory is built in 1943 to further their research in covert silence. America is told it is a defense project, code-named ‘The Manhattan Project.’
An ego-maniacal entrepreneur and his company, Vilocorp, will stop at nothing to build the “perfect” human specimen. His firm’s research has been getting closer every day, but they seem to have uncovered a horrific, ancient secret that has been locked away for thousands of years.
Now, it’s up to Cole to understand the mystery surrounding the events and ancient symbolism before Vilocorp unleashes a hellish fury upon the earth; one that hasn’t been seen for ages…”
Karn smiled almost imperceptibly, and stood. He reached behind Corinne and grabbed a wad of her long, red hair. With a yelp, she was brought to her feet, and Karn pulled—forced—her with him toward the far wall behind their table.
As they got about twenty feet away from the table, Professor Jensen screamed in pain.
“What the hell—!“ Corinne said, as Jensen’s chair fell backwards and he clutched his side. He heaved on his hands and knees, crying out in short gasps.
“Help—I—can’t breathe… Please!” He gulped for air, his right hand clutched tightly over the bullet wound in his side.
Vilocek, calm and collected, explained the situation. “Professor Jensen, you were not shot with a ‘normal’ bullet last night. We have developed here at Vilocorp a very unique instrument—one based on the same crystal piece our Founding Fathers had in their possession.
“Along with its miraculous healing properties, we’ve found that by bonding the synthesized crystal with particular elements—this time, lead—we can cause some interesting effects. In this case, you’ve been shot with a lead-infused synthetic crystal that acts as a ‘magnetic force’ of sorts—dormant when near another piece of lead-crystal like it, but when pulled a certain distance apart, it becomes active, turning into a heated piece of metal. You are wearing on your ankle a counterpart piece of this crystal substance, locked to your leg.” Corinne looked down in horror, just now noticing the small handcuff-like metal band, with a grayish-clear rock attached to one side of it.
“Your uncle is experiencing this activity firsthand,” he continued, motioning carelessly to the writhing figure of Professor Jensen, “and eventually, if you get far enough apart, it will become so intense that it will literally burn a hole through his body.”
Her head snapped back up, tears in the corners of her eyes. “You bastard—“ she vehemently spat toward him.
“And don’t worry, Ms. Banks—we are each carrying an identical crystalline substance, and each are triggered to react with your uncle’s bullet inside of him. If you try to get farther away, alone, from the men on my team, he will be no more good to you than a dying cat.”
The terrible implications of the news still reached Professor Jensen’s ears as he silently rocked back and forth on the floor, still seething in pain.
