Welcome Back, Mr. Nightcrawler
- Thread starter Nightcrawler
- Start date
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Red Tornado
Member
Another Johnny-come-lately to the party, but just had to say what a great job you guys did. That was fabulous! I'm eagerly awaiting the next one.
Correia, is there a notification list for when MHI comes out? If so, I'd like to get on it.
Thanks for all your work guys, it's made for one of the most enjoyable reads I can remember.
RT
Correia, is there a notification list for when MHI comes out? If so, I'd like to get on it.
Thanks for all your work guys, it's made for one of the most enjoyable reads I can remember.
RT
Hmm... I've had enough people ask that I should probably start putting together a list.
Oleg is finishing up the cover artwork, and then it is off to the printers.
And thanks, I'm glad you liked it. NC is cleaning up his early work, and we're working on ideas for another project.
Oleg is finishing up the cover artwork, and then it is off to the printers.
And thanks, I'm glad you liked it. NC is cleaning up his early work, and we're working on ideas for another project.
PaladinX13
Member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2002
- Messages
- 747
First time in this thread... is there a collected version in some format to be read straight through without interruption?
mohican
Member
Correia - where can I purchase your book?
Mohican, I got behind schedule since this thread was last updated. Right now the last thing I'm waiting for is Oleg to finish up the cover artwork, and then we're rolling. Monster Hunter International should be available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble in (it's looking like) February or March.
I'll be sure to post updates to this mega thread, and I'll also post it other places also.
Thanks for your interest.
As for the Nightcrawler saga, NC and I are currently brainstorming on the next one.
I'll be sure to post updates to this mega thread, and I'll also post it other places also.
Thanks for your interest.
As for the Nightcrawler saga, NC and I are currently brainstorming on the next one.
FSCJedi
Member
Are the existing two stories proof-read and adjusted for continuity purposes and ready to email to awaiting readers?!
Nightcrawler
Member
Couple people have emailed me asking this.
I'm not just proof-reading and updating. When you get the two stories, you're getting a completely redone version of this story, as well as an all new, full length prequel to go with it.
Please be patient, everyone. I'll do my best to make it worth the wait.
I'm not just proof-reading and updating. When you get the two stories, you're getting a completely redone version of this story, as well as an all new, full length prequel to go with it.
Please be patient, everyone. I'll do my best to make it worth the wait.
qlajlu
Member
Not to worry, Nightcrawler. With the holidays on us and all we know it is busy for you and especially if you are redoing the whole story. Wow. It is getting hard to wait, but it will be worth it.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Nightcrawler
Member
Tell me about it. I'm working a 12-hour shift on Christmas Day.
Yaay.
Anyways, thank you. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Awesome Kwanzaa, and Super Winter Solstice to everyone who's given me their generous support. (And everyone else, too, I suppose.) Oh, if I missed anyone, please forgive me. Happy Decemberween to everyone else!
crashm1
Member
Wow!!!!!
Excellent work sirs. Really. Now that that is out of the way.. I read a lot of books (A really lot) and this is most definitly as good as Michael Crow, Barry Eisler, Richard K Morgan or several others I could mention. Publish it and I like many others would happily buy so I could read it anytime I got the urge. Correia I am now officially on the hunt for Monsters. NC, dude you need to be writing a book or twenty. I have to go to bed now Istayed up till 2 last night reading this, went to a coffee shop with internet access today for lunch so I could keep catching up, and haven't done a thing since I got home but finish the tale.
Excellent work sirs. Really. Now that that is out of the way.. I read a lot of books (A really lot) and this is most definitly as good as Michael Crow, Barry Eisler, Richard K Morgan or several others I could mention. Publish it and I like many others would happily buy so I could read it anytime I got the urge. Correia I am now officially on the hunt for Monsters. NC, dude you need to be writing a book or twenty. I have to go to bed now Istayed up till 2 last night reading this, went to a coffee shop with internet access today for lunch so I could keep catching up, and haven't done a thing since I got home but finish the tale.
fiVe
Member
NC/Correia: You guys are so cool.
wildburp
member
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out. It was so hot, in the distance I could see two trees fighting over a dog. Knowing any respectable literay agency would sneer at my drivelings, I decided to pick my teeth and go to bed. Good night all, and
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
wb
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
wb
Nightcrawler
Member
preview
...of the prequel. Flashback sequence.
******
“Hey Mike,” Matthew said.
“Hopper.”
“What?”
“Call me Hopper. My name’s Hopper now…Corwin.” He grinned at me.
“Okay, fine, Hopper. Have they started yet?”
“You can hear the radio as well as I can, dude. I don’t think so.” We were crouched behind the ruins of a stone wall, about thirty meters from the back door of the warehouse. I sniffed the air; the scent of dust and garbage filled my nostrils.
“Mexico stinks.”
“Yeah,” Matthew/Corwin agreed. “I can’t believe we’re really doing this.”
“Yeah…it’s weird, isn’t it? I keep thinking that this isn’t real. It doesn’t feel real.” I looked down at the Kalashnikov rifle in my hands. I pulled the charging handle back slightly, confirming yet again that there was still a round in the chamber. I was nervous. I leaned to my left and peeked out from behind the wall. The warehouse was still quiet.
“What the hell are they waiting for?” I asked aloud.
“Who knows?” Corwin said. He shifted again. I could tell he was as restless as I was. We were both wearing black body armor vests with steel plates front and back, as well as load-bearing vests over that. Mine was green, Corwin’s was black, and had a built-in holster on the left side that held his Beretta 92FS pistol. I took off my glasses and wiped my brow again. It was ridiculously hot for September, at least by my standards. It was probably normal for Mexico, though. Mainly we were just nervous.
“EXECUTE EXECUTE EXECUTE!” Decker’s command sounded harsh over the radio, and the quiet of the night was shattered as gunfire erupted from the warehouse. I leaned back over, trying to keep most of my body behind the cover of the wall, and leveled my rifle at the back door of the building.
I couldn’t see much of anything, and aside from muffled gunshots from inside the building, I couldn’t hear anything either. But I knew what was happening. Decker and Hawk entered from one side of the building while Aryeh and Doc Ramirez entered from the other. They both tossed flash-bangs in after they breached the doors, and were clearing out the building. Corwin and I were providing rear guard, since this was our first time out, while Melinda stayed in the van monitoring police channels.
Melinda, I thought to myself as I aimed my rifle, trying to use the sights in the darkness. The beautiful young computer hacker was interesting, to say the least. She was kind of Goth, I guess, and kept her hair dyed purple with black ribbons in it. I didn’t know where Decker had found her, but she was there the first time Matthew and I were introduced to SWITCHBLADE. Apparently she was some kind of genius, but she didn’t talk to us much. I don’t know if it was because she was shy, or if maybe it was because being the only girl on the team was weird, but she kept to herself. Corwin had a huge crush on her, though. I didn’t know. There was something different about her, but I couldn’t…
My thoughts were interrupted when the back door of the warehouse burst open, and three armed men came running out. I didn’t even realize it, but I’d moved my rifle’s selector switch two clicks down to the semiauto position.
“CONTACT!” I yelled as I squeezed the trigger. The rifle barked loudly, and my hearing was shot. I was aiming at the first man out the door who was running right at me. I fired a second shot, and then a third, and he fell to the dirt. The man behind him froze, and began to raise his weapon, but I kept firing. Four, five, six, then seven shots, and he went down as well. I had no idea how many of those actually hit him. The third man ducked back behind the warehouse door frame and fired at us with his Uzi. I ducked back behind the wall and clenched my teeth as bullets impacted it and the dirt near my feet.
Suddenly, Corwin stood up, shifted his MP5 submachine gun to his left shoulder, and leaned out from behind the wall. He fired off a long burst, probably ten rounds, then two shorter bursts. I was pelted with hot brass as he did so, and swore aloud when one of them went down my collar. He ducked back down and tapped me on the shoulder.
“I got him! He’s down!” A moment later, as I was trying to dig a burning cartridge casing out from under the collar of my body armor, our radios crackled to life.
“CLEAR! ALL CLEAR!” It was Decker again. “Hopper, Corwin, safe your weapons and get in here, we’ve got work to do and we don’t have much time.” I squeezed the microphone clipped to the right shoulder of my vest and replied.
“Roger!” I looked over at Corwin. “C’mon, Matthew, let’s go!”
“Corwin.”
“What?”
“My name is Corwin now, remember…Hopper?” He was grinning, and I grinned back at him. I put my rifle on SAFE but kept it held at the low-ready as we moved towards the building. My ears were still ringing, and I could hear my own breathing as well as I could hear anything else.
I paused as I approached the first man that had come out of the door. He was Mexican, wearing a dirty t-shirt and blue jeans, and on the ground next to him was the folding-stock Kalashnikov he’d been carrying. He was laying face down in a pool of blood, and two exit wounds were apparent on his back. One was low and on his left side, the other was higher and right in the middle. I looked like it had gone through his spine.
The other man was on his side, with only one hole in him. The bullet had entered right where his collarbone was and had exited out his right shoulder. His eyes were wide and his jaw was slack. Looking ahead, I could see the third man just inside the door, laying in a pool of his own blood. I looked up at Corwin, who looked over at me. I realized then that I had just killed two men.
I didn’t see what the big deal was.
But as we entered the warehouse, I noticed that my hands were shaking. I didn’t make it five steps in the door before I threw up.
****
...of the prequel. Flashback sequence.
******
“Hey Mike,” Matthew said.
“Hopper.”
“What?”
“Call me Hopper. My name’s Hopper now…Corwin.” He grinned at me.
“Okay, fine, Hopper. Have they started yet?”
“You can hear the radio as well as I can, dude. I don’t think so.” We were crouched behind the ruins of a stone wall, about thirty meters from the back door of the warehouse. I sniffed the air; the scent of dust and garbage filled my nostrils.
“Mexico stinks.”
“Yeah,” Matthew/Corwin agreed. “I can’t believe we’re really doing this.”
“Yeah…it’s weird, isn’t it? I keep thinking that this isn’t real. It doesn’t feel real.” I looked down at the Kalashnikov rifle in my hands. I pulled the charging handle back slightly, confirming yet again that there was still a round in the chamber. I was nervous. I leaned to my left and peeked out from behind the wall. The warehouse was still quiet.
“What the hell are they waiting for?” I asked aloud.
“Who knows?” Corwin said. He shifted again. I could tell he was as restless as I was. We were both wearing black body armor vests with steel plates front and back, as well as load-bearing vests over that. Mine was green, Corwin’s was black, and had a built-in holster on the left side that held his Beretta 92FS pistol. I took off my glasses and wiped my brow again. It was ridiculously hot for September, at least by my standards. It was probably normal for Mexico, though. Mainly we were just nervous.
“EXECUTE EXECUTE EXECUTE!” Decker’s command sounded harsh over the radio, and the quiet of the night was shattered as gunfire erupted from the warehouse. I leaned back over, trying to keep most of my body behind the cover of the wall, and leveled my rifle at the back door of the building.
I couldn’t see much of anything, and aside from muffled gunshots from inside the building, I couldn’t hear anything either. But I knew what was happening. Decker and Hawk entered from one side of the building while Aryeh and Doc Ramirez entered from the other. They both tossed flash-bangs in after they breached the doors, and were clearing out the building. Corwin and I were providing rear guard, since this was our first time out, while Melinda stayed in the van monitoring police channels.
Melinda, I thought to myself as I aimed my rifle, trying to use the sights in the darkness. The beautiful young computer hacker was interesting, to say the least. She was kind of Goth, I guess, and kept her hair dyed purple with black ribbons in it. I didn’t know where Decker had found her, but she was there the first time Matthew and I were introduced to SWITCHBLADE. Apparently she was some kind of genius, but she didn’t talk to us much. I don’t know if it was because she was shy, or if maybe it was because being the only girl on the team was weird, but she kept to herself. Corwin had a huge crush on her, though. I didn’t know. There was something different about her, but I couldn’t…
My thoughts were interrupted when the back door of the warehouse burst open, and three armed men came running out. I didn’t even realize it, but I’d moved my rifle’s selector switch two clicks down to the semiauto position.
“CONTACT!” I yelled as I squeezed the trigger. The rifle barked loudly, and my hearing was shot. I was aiming at the first man out the door who was running right at me. I fired a second shot, and then a third, and he fell to the dirt. The man behind him froze, and began to raise his weapon, but I kept firing. Four, five, six, then seven shots, and he went down as well. I had no idea how many of those actually hit him. The third man ducked back behind the warehouse door frame and fired at us with his Uzi. I ducked back behind the wall and clenched my teeth as bullets impacted it and the dirt near my feet.
Suddenly, Corwin stood up, shifted his MP5 submachine gun to his left shoulder, and leaned out from behind the wall. He fired off a long burst, probably ten rounds, then two shorter bursts. I was pelted with hot brass as he did so, and swore aloud when one of them went down my collar. He ducked back down and tapped me on the shoulder.
“I got him! He’s down!” A moment later, as I was trying to dig a burning cartridge casing out from under the collar of my body armor, our radios crackled to life.
“CLEAR! ALL CLEAR!” It was Decker again. “Hopper, Corwin, safe your weapons and get in here, we’ve got work to do and we don’t have much time.” I squeezed the microphone clipped to the right shoulder of my vest and replied.
“Roger!” I looked over at Corwin. “C’mon, Matthew, let’s go!”
“Corwin.”
“What?”
“My name is Corwin now, remember…Hopper?” He was grinning, and I grinned back at him. I put my rifle on SAFE but kept it held at the low-ready as we moved towards the building. My ears were still ringing, and I could hear my own breathing as well as I could hear anything else.
I paused as I approached the first man that had come out of the door. He was Mexican, wearing a dirty t-shirt and blue jeans, and on the ground next to him was the folding-stock Kalashnikov he’d been carrying. He was laying face down in a pool of blood, and two exit wounds were apparent on his back. One was low and on his left side, the other was higher and right in the middle. I looked like it had gone through his spine.
The other man was on his side, with only one hole in him. The bullet had entered right where his collarbone was and had exited out his right shoulder. His eyes were wide and his jaw was slack. Looking ahead, I could see the third man just inside the door, laying in a pool of his own blood. I looked up at Corwin, who looked over at me. I realized then that I had just killed two men.
I didn’t see what the big deal was.
But as we entered the warehouse, I noticed that my hands were shaking. I didn’t make it five steps in the door before I threw up.
****
Mandirigma
Member
oh man NC, you always do this to us. And now the wait begins again!
Nightcrawler
Member
Oh alright. One more. But this is all you guys get for awhile. I don't want to give it all away!
*****
“So what can I do for you, Ms. Ling?” I asked, sipping my soda. She smiled at me again, but her eyes considered me carefully.
“There is a shipment of human cargo coming through here on Saturday. A tractor-trailer full of slaves, crossing over from Canada. We do not usually operate in the United States, muchless an unlikely place such as this. It was our good fortune that you happened to be living in exile here. Will you help us?”
“There’s a lot of road between here and the International Bridge,” I said. “How do you know which way it’s going?”
“We…extracted that information from one of their receiving clerks,” she replied, contempt dripping in her voice. “He was very helpful. There is a distribution center of sorts in Des Moines, and from there they’re sent to their final destinations.”
“I can’t believe that this goes on here and you never hear about it,” I said skeptically.
“They don’t operate in large numbers in America. Slave labor is cheap here. Drug addicts and illegal immigrants provide the vast majority of the manpower, whether they’re prostitutes on the street or workers in a sweat shop. These slaves are different, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re all girls, Mr. Hopper, the oldest being seventeen. They’re extremely valuable in the American market as sex slaves. They were never officially in the country, so they can’t very well be reported mising, can they? They’re smuggled into the underground system, and from there to rich pedophiles, black-market porn rings, and high-end child prostitution rings.”
“Jesus,” I said, looking down at my burger. You hear about this stuff happening in the third world, but you’d never think it’d happen here in the States. It never ceases to amaze me how sick people can be.
“Will you help us?”
“What is it that you want me to do?”
“I was not able to assemble my usual team,” Ling replied casually. “We’re down three. I can’t very well stage an assault with just three of us.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Your team? You’re one of their shooters?”
“Yes, Mr. Hopper. I am a small unit leader. This surpises you?”
“A bit.”
“Because I am a woman?” she asked, an edge in her voice.
“No, because usually the negotiator isn’t a trigger-puller. It’s poor operational security.”
“Perhaps, but EXODUS is an old organization, and we do cling to our traditions. It gets tiresome sometimes, but it helps keep us grounded.”
“Just how old is EXODUS?”
“The organziation was founded in eighteen thirty-six. We had a larger presence in the United States in the old days, working with American abolitionists.”
“Is it true that you kill every slaver you catch?”
“It’s no less than they deserve.” Ling’s eyes could’ve bored holes in me.
“You seem…committed…” I replied carefully. I was wondering if she actually bought into all of this, or if it was just her sales pitch. Ling surprised me by rolling up her left sleeve. Tattooed on her forearm was an eight-digit number.
“I was once a slave, Mr. Hopper. Committed doesn’t begin to describe my feelings in this matter. Will you help us or not?”
*****
*****
“So what can I do for you, Ms. Ling?” I asked, sipping my soda. She smiled at me again, but her eyes considered me carefully.
“There is a shipment of human cargo coming through here on Saturday. A tractor-trailer full of slaves, crossing over from Canada. We do not usually operate in the United States, muchless an unlikely place such as this. It was our good fortune that you happened to be living in exile here. Will you help us?”
“There’s a lot of road between here and the International Bridge,” I said. “How do you know which way it’s going?”
“We…extracted that information from one of their receiving clerks,” she replied, contempt dripping in her voice. “He was very helpful. There is a distribution center of sorts in Des Moines, and from there they’re sent to their final destinations.”
“I can’t believe that this goes on here and you never hear about it,” I said skeptically.
“They don’t operate in large numbers in America. Slave labor is cheap here. Drug addicts and illegal immigrants provide the vast majority of the manpower, whether they’re prostitutes on the street or workers in a sweat shop. These slaves are different, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re all girls, Mr. Hopper, the oldest being seventeen. They’re extremely valuable in the American market as sex slaves. They were never officially in the country, so they can’t very well be reported mising, can they? They’re smuggled into the underground system, and from there to rich pedophiles, black-market porn rings, and high-end child prostitution rings.”
“Jesus,” I said, looking down at my burger. You hear about this stuff happening in the third world, but you’d never think it’d happen here in the States. It never ceases to amaze me how sick people can be.
“Will you help us?”
“What is it that you want me to do?”
“I was not able to assemble my usual team,” Ling replied casually. “We’re down three. I can’t very well stage an assault with just three of us.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Your team? You’re one of their shooters?”
“Yes, Mr. Hopper. I am a small unit leader. This surpises you?”
“A bit.”
“Because I am a woman?” she asked, an edge in her voice.
“No, because usually the negotiator isn’t a trigger-puller. It’s poor operational security.”
“Perhaps, but EXODUS is an old organization, and we do cling to our traditions. It gets tiresome sometimes, but it helps keep us grounded.”
“Just how old is EXODUS?”
“The organziation was founded in eighteen thirty-six. We had a larger presence in the United States in the old days, working with American abolitionists.”
“Is it true that you kill every slaver you catch?”
“It’s no less than they deserve.” Ling’s eyes could’ve bored holes in me.
“You seem…committed…” I replied carefully. I was wondering if she actually bought into all of this, or if it was just her sales pitch. Ling surprised me by rolling up her left sleeve. Tattooed on her forearm was an eight-digit number.
“I was once a slave, Mr. Hopper. Committed doesn’t begin to describe my feelings in this matter. Will you help us or not?”
*****
Mandirigma
Member
/me does a little happy dance
tackleberry
Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
- Messages
- 26
Hey!!! I live in Des Moines!!!
and this is happening right under my nose!!!!!
and this is happening right under my nose!!!!!
Nightcrawler
Member
Not at all! The second sneak-peek I posted takes place in late 2003. The flashback takes place in late 1999.
When the story ships, you'll find out what happens to the slave hub.
I was just scroll along and I found out you are doing the Nightcrawler trilogy.
I know, I know, I should be reading all the posts but I was just getting to the good stuff. LOL...
Can you please put me on the list too when you get done with it?
I know, I know, I should be reading all the posts but I was just getting to the good stuff. LOL...
Can you please put me on the list too when you get done with it?
tackleberry
Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
- Messages
- 26
Not at all! The second sneak-peek I posted takes place in late 2003. The flashback takes place in late 1999.
When the story ships, you'll find out what happens to the slave hub.
lemee guess.....low income housing
When the story ships, you'll find out what happens to the slave hub.
lemee guess.....low income housing
ilcylic
Member
Nightcrawler said:
Is she originally from Tokyo? I hear that's a style there...
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