The Diary of Jackson Red Horne

Progress

2012-01-12T12:13:00.001-05:00

Did get some work this morning. Which is good. I should be ready to start filling in the blanks in a few days.
I'm on PTO the last week of January- I do have a few projects around the house that need to be addressed, but other than that, my time will be devoted to the book (and maybe some Uncharted 3 on the PlayStation 3.)

Hopefully, I'll have the first (second) part ready for mass consumption by the beginning of March.

Duh, working...

2012-01-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

Three thousand words into a fairly detailed outline, drafted from a screenplay I wrote nearly ten years ago...

The movie was supposed to be my homage of sorts to the late great H.P. Lovecraft. I've been a fan for twenty years, him and Robert E. Howard. The screenplay got a lot of "wow!" from the people I was going to shoot with, and then...

People started bitching about the casting. The cast spent most of the few rehearsals drunk and making out with each other, so I pulled the plug.

I'd been playing around with the Red Horne stuff for a while and as it evolved, I realized that with a little tweaking, the screenplay could be adapted into Book 2.

And Book 2 will be done in a few short months.

So how will you be able to read it?

Haven't quite worked that one out yet. More than likely, I will self-publish through Kindle and other e-readers. For a few bucks, download the file and enjoy it. If it sells digitally, I may do a limited hard-bound edition. And if I'm really feeling industrious, I'll do a few hand-bound copies.

So, enough talk... gotta go eat and then get back to it.

About This...

2011-12-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

Howdy.

Anyone who stumbled on this without knowing me is probably wondering what in the hell this is all about.

Well, about 15 years ago, I had an idea for a Lovecraftian tale. And I've been kicking it around for that long. I have reams of notes, a whole stack of maps I've drawn up, and more than a few sketches. Now I'm putting it all together in book form. The plan is to self-publish via e-readers, internet, etc. If it takes off, I'll see about having it bound up as a physical tome.

So what's the story about?

A Texas Ranger in 1955 goes looking for the murderer of a county sheriff. The deeper he digs, the more he realizes he's been involved in the case well before he stumbles upon the first crime scene. The tale bounces from a sleepy west Texas cow town to New Orleans, Houston, Argentina, Mongolia, Antarctica, Mexico and several other places you'll have to read the book to find out about. Ancient cities, portals to other worlds, blazing guns, fast women with blazing guns, angels, demons, hot rods, long lost family secrets, life, death... past, present, future...

Everything.

I'm using this blog to tease the book with excerpts & to share my progress. I make no promises as to the regularity of posts- I've got about six other projects going at the same time. But rest assured, this story- or at least the first and second books, will be finished and ready to go before the end of 2012.

Thanks for checking it out.

-J.K.

Morning, sunshine...

2011-12-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

The sun had been up for maybe an hour when Red stirred in the back seat of his Mercury Monterey. He scrubbedthe stubble of his beard and rubbed his eyes. The girl lying on top of himclucked softly then began snoring again. He slid out from under her and overinto the front seat. He found one of his cigars in the glove box and pushed thelighter into the dash. He ran a hand through his jet black hair and yawned deep enough to make his neck pop. The lighter wasn't working- Red checked theignition key and remembered he’d left the radio on last night while he and hislady friend had a good time.

He realized he was as naked as the day he was born.

He’dpicked the girl up down at The Barn- a local watering hole right on the river.He’d only planned on a little necking before squeezing the information heneeded from her, but she was more than willing and Red hadn’t been with anyone in a long,long time. She got what she wanted. Red got more than he needed- after robbinga bank in San Antonio, her brother was hiding in Crystal City.

CaptainAndrew Jackson ‘Red’ Horne, Texas Ranger, was hunting him down.

Red reached over into the backseat for his pants, just in time to see the girlslamming the door shut. She had his clothes in her arms as she ran to a trucksitting about twenty yards away. Three men were walking towards the Mercury;one had a bat, another- a rope, the third- the girl’s brother- carried aThompson machine gun slung over his shoulder.

Redswore to himself as he remembered locking his badge and gun in the trunk, underthe spare tire. He’d been undercover for a week and hadn’t really expected anytrouble so soon. Naked as a jay bird, he got out of the car.

Nothing to do but to get to it.

Found Documents

2011-12-21T09:59:00.000-05:00

Hoyle County, TX circa 1955
Found among Capt. A.J. Horne's personal effects, Antarctica, 1958

Escape from the Field of Woe

2011-11-30T12:03:00.001-05:00

The clouds gather above, the ground below, barren and flat, seems to coil itself in anticipation without moving.

A single drop ofrain falls to the cracked dirt. Dust explodes up and out, a miniature,momentary crown lit by a strobe of light and then gone before the afterglow fades.

With a peal ofthunder, the sky opens.

Rain pours from theheavens in waves, a once-in-a-thousand-years rain- centuries of moisture waitingfor this one moment to be unleashed, all at once.

Lightning flashes,thunder rolls, illuminating and booming across the Field of Woe – sick flowersa mile high, spread across four hundred square miles of desert. The gas-bag succubae and theirhosts sway and tumble in the winds, kept from blowing to the four points of thecompass only by heavy chains rooted to the ground. The parasites strain to freethemselves to float to safety above the clouds. Many become tangled with eachother. More than a few are vaporized by the thunderbolts flung down fromOlympus.

After three yearsimprisonment, Red Horne finally works his hands free from his bonds and pullsthe roots of the parasite from his eye sockets, his throat, and his ears.

Bloodied, blinded, deaf, but wholly aware of everythingaround him, Red climbs down the chain, five thousand two hundred eighty twofeet to the ground.

A guard, a glorifiedgardener that barely passes for human, passes by, unaware of his doom.

Red pounces fromabove, snapping the guard’s neck with a savage, ragged yell that quietsthe thunder from above. He stands slowly as the rain washes down his naked body.More guards rush in- the first wave never hesitates, the second turns and runs in fear. Red flexes his bare hands and kills them all, one by one,leaving them in broken and mangled heaps.

Red earns his namebefore the rain can wash the blood from his hands.

His body is clean whenhe walks from the Fields an hour later; morning has come, the storm has gone, and the sun has quickly dried the land. Buthe is far from right.

Far from home.

Far from himself.

Far from sane.