Madman Chronicles: The Warrior by Tom (WordWulf) SternerHowe (Reviews & First Chapter of Novel)
A compelling read!
Daniel Meyer
Texas (12/27/2004)
An epic and compelling adventure. An artful blending of motorcycles and the unique souls who ride them, clashing cultures, family love, the loyalty and honor of friends, stunning betrayals, and inconceivable evil all swirling in a land teetering between apocalypses. Join Wulf as he leads his people into the labyrinth, part of which is a futuristic underground habitation that just might be their salvation...or something much, much more.
Excellent!
Sherry
Vero Beach (3/5/2004)
Immerse yourself in this voyeuristic world with a junket through a timeless labyrinth and an abyss of imagination. The book is like an all day multi layered tasty jawbreaker – very complex and delightfully mystical down to the very last bit. The story opens at the conclusion of the world conflict in the year 2010 with Wulf saying a farewell to his loved and trusted friend, Hood. The farewell is an elaborate high ceremony at the Stone Mountains behind the City of the Rock. Wulf is a descendant of the North American Peoples and a member of Lord of the Dragon. He created a community known as the Cave of the Dark Heart. With help from the ancient Book of the See, Wulf along with his staunch companion, genus Cajun Angelo, boldly search for a secure haven for his people. The reader will jump in and out of dreams into nightmares in a flash of a thundercrack. In one mad dream Wulf experiences an intense vision of “ a worm crawled out of her mouth, white and fat, burrowing itself between her bleeding lips, feeding.” Meet the soul hopping Patron who is “fueled by hate and a burning lust for revenge”. There is nothing cookie cutter about this book. It has a distinct style all its own. It is written with an elaborate herculean and provocative style. This book aggressively takes on in limitless futuristic action the very human elements of mistrust, fears, abuse, sex, tenderness, love, and the dynamics in all relationships. This is not a book you can skim. The author vibrantly interweaves creativity, intensity and exquisite detail. Mr. Sternerhowe also provides music that may be downloaded from his site that correlates to the chapters in the book. A unique concept that should not be missed by the reader. The Madman Chronicles: The Warrior offers an adult cerebral momentousness makings of a first rate epic. Sherry Russell Author/reviewer
Warrior,The Madman Chronicles
Maggie
USA (2/10/2004)
Having read just three chapters, I knew I needed to add it to my collection. This is a fast paced, well thought out book with multi themes that require you to read slowly. I am looking forward to its arrival. The characters are not only drawn well, but have had flesh and blood added to them everyone. I am looking forward to the whole book.
Warrior, The: Madman Chronicles
Christy
Arvada, Colorado USA (1/24/2004)
What a ride! I couldn't put it down! The characters are so real that you feel what they feel as if you're one of them (you definitely want to be). This novel keeps you on your toes anxiously waiting for what will happen next! You'll ride a rollercoaster of emotions from cheering to crying! Thanks to this thrill ride I've been to the Great Stone Mountains, the family Wulf spiritual ground, and felt the hope of After Earth. Read this novel and you'll have been there too! I can't wait for the next one! To the author...Word! Wulf!
Madman Chronicles: The Warrior
Paul
United States (12/3/2003)
" Madman Chronicles : The Warrior " By Thomas Paul ( Wordwulf ) Sterner Howe Reviewer : Paul Berube, Author/Poet SternerHowe's novel is a futuristic shocker containing something for everyone. This excellent work of fiction will keep you on the edge of your seat and glued to it's pages from start to finish. Join SternerHowe in this wild ride through the bat and giant spider infested caves of THE LABYRINTH or the beauty of AFTER EARTH. Walk walls with Wulf and Andrew or leap into a soul or two with The Patron. Enjoy the cajun humor of Angelo or the eroticism of Lila and beauty of Jennifer. Cry, laugh, love and sing with the entire cast of characters or just fly through Vera's world of Cyberspace. Whatever your preference you are truly in for the treat of a lifetime. This novel is definitely an outstanding read.
A true man
Brandie
Illinois (11/17/2003)
You will absolutely marvel as you join Wulf in his action packed journey in the not so distant future. Witness the heroics as him and his comrade the Cajun, Angelo perform heroic feats and obstacles. This book is sure to keep you at the edge of your seat just waiting to turn the page. The details make you feel as if you are right there living this adventure with our new found friend Wulf. Thomas Sternerhowe shows great talent and skill in his writings. This is most definitely a book you will want to read again and again!!
To my Child... all of them.
What follows is a true account to the best of my knowing, a chronicle of
desperate people living in a desperate time, held together by the haunting
auspice of hope, a proud People unwilling and unable to give up and
finally...unable to forgive. The right and true names of persons and places,
timelines, have all been changed to protect the guilty. So falls the warrior
down.
Counting the dead
in the eye of the dragon
tear stains
blood
Chapter One
Farewell to Hood
Once and forever blooded.
Never mercenary... forever tired
After the Great Conflict Wulf’s friend, Hood, was buried with high ritual
ceremony. At the conclusion of the conflict a final body count was made.
Hood was on the list of the missing. After two months of no contact and the
body never having been found, he was considered missing in action and
presumed dead. Over five thousand soldiers gathered, representative of all
of the thirteen tribes of the Cave of the Dark Heart. They appeared at the
gathering place in ones, twos and tens. At the time of leaving they made way,
riding two abreast. Snaking through the city at the feet of the Great Stone
Mountains, over five miles of unleashed lightning and thunder, they made
way. Never had the gooseflesh claimed Wulf as it did that day. Five thousand
hearts strong, he felt them breathe as one. As they mounted their steel dragons
he felt himself swallowed by raw sound, pure muscle and blood, mechanical
fury. He was lost to those moments as he had never been lost before, drowned
in a living flood of roaring engines, brotherhood and tears. Wulf was only a
man, a man born to the See...
They rode high into the Stone Mountains behind the City of the Rock.
When they reached the top and at the moment of the rising of the sun they
tore a hole in Mother’s skin, their hands bleeding into her. Hood’s favorite
dragon was brought forth, black and silver, flames burning on her smooth
skin. His riding leathers, boots and favorite personal weapons were tied to
her sides. She was wrapped in chains and ten men made a solemn procession
as they bore her to her final place of rest. She was lowered slowly into the
warm embrace of the earth.
Then a viewing was made and five thousand men dropped pieces of
themselves into the earth that she would not walk the other side alone,
searching for her lone rider. The Lords of the Dragon would be with her. She
would have maps and words, messages from those who had loved him and
fought beside him, golden keys for her gates. Wulf cut all the hair from his
head and face. On top of this he dropped six ears severed from the heads of
their mutual enemies. Finally... a golden tear from the trap at his throat and
the leather strap and worn buckle from the shifting leather of his favorite
fighting dragon.
Hood was one of the twelve who had shared with Wulf the mystery and
challenge of the House of Discipline as eleven year old children, facing one
another and the other eleven chosen each and every day for seven solid years.
For twenty- five years they had ridden, fought and loved as brothers of the
blood. Wulf had combed the field of battle inch by inch, searching for his
friend. It was unbearable for him to bid farewell to Hood’s empty suit of
armor... but he was gone... The ritual and offerings devoured all of the first
day and half the night. In the midnight, under the cold light of a hard full
moon, the hole was sealed... to be healed.
Wulf found a smooth stone bathed in the full light of the moon. He rubbed
and cleaned it with his bare hands and tears falling, chanting over and over...
“Ty Ke Yi Yut Te... Ke,” the death song of the Cave of the Dark Heart. He
knelt in the center of the grave, taking two tiny glass vials from a small
leather bag on his belt. One vial contained a dark-colored liquid. Wulf
uncapped the vial and drank deeply, consuming half its contents. He then
recapped it. The other vial was full of the white staying-powder of war. Wulf
opened it and laid a thick line of the fine white crystal substance across the
blade of his field knife, again leaving the vial half full. He paused in his
chanting and inhaled the powder through his nostrils, cleaning the blade
with his tongue, then driving it deep into the earth in the center of the grave.
He continued chanting... “Ty Ke Yi Yut Te... Ke.” With his thumbs he pressed
the vials into the freshly turned earth on each side of the blade. He held the
moonstone in both of his hands, turning and caressing it. His chant became
louder, more intense, his kneeling body rocking back and forth with the
rhythm, the sound and strength of his voice, a voice both beautiful and mad.
It became a keening thing, wailing, disembodied and howling forth as he
raised the stone of the moon high over his head. With a final gut-wrenching
scream, he brought the stone down with all his weight, burying the blade and
vials beneath it. He stood slowly, reverently, backing away, whispering, “Ty
Ke Yi Yut Te... Ke.” His eyes wild and uncomprehending, he collapsed at the
edge of the circle of men surrounding the grave.
The Captain of the Guard made a chopping motion with his arm and
explosives were detonated causing a small mountain of stone four times
Wulf’s height of six feet to fall on top of Hood’s grave. The silence of five
thousand fighting men paid quiet homage to the humble pile of stone standing
as a shrine over the tomb of Hood. Many brothers, Wulf included, wrote
messages of farewell in their own blood on smooth faces of the stone. Wulf
made a haiku:
Soldiers
Across the dark night,
once and forever blooded,
we are bleeding still.
After the explosives and writing of the blood many great fires were made.
The families, women, Children and elders of those mourning, were coming
to join the warriors of their blood. At first sight of the fires, a prearranged
signal, they made a caravan and sometime later began to arrive. They made
a grand feast and celebrated with wines, bitter dark beers and the peace of
the smoking pipe.
For seven days and seven nights they reinvented, remembered and relived
their lives and times with the Hood. They praised and cursed him, laughed
for him and cried. Most of the men remained awake throughout with the aid
of the fine white waking-powders manufactured for the long nights of the
war.
Finally, exhausted and spent, they rode five thousand strong into the
seventh night. Across one hundred and fifty miles, riders split off in ones,
twos and tens to make warm the fires in the caves of their homes. Having
been host of the event, Wulf rode the circle. He took the Nomads and those
who chose to linger with him to his home outside the City of Stone. His
children made them welcome, all seven waiting expectantly for the arrival of
their Father. One more night the men sat up, telling the younger ones of the
ritual and glory of the man they laid to rest, Wulf with a Child on his lap the
entire time.
After a few days of rest the men fell into a routine as most men do. They
would spend the days attending to the needs of the dragons, formulating
future plans of rendezvous, trading stories and secrets. They would ride across
the long nights, into the City of Stone and other small mountain towns where
they would attend the drinking rooms, cards, games of chance. Their favorite
recreation by far was gathering in the smoky rooms, underneath the low
lights, where the night ladies made their danse.
By the second week of Autumn the last of the Nomads bid Wulf a fond
farewell. His final guest, a Cajun by the name of Angelo, made the decision
to winter in the City of Stone. He endeared himself to Wulf in his own peculiar
way, “‘Sides mon ami, I got nuttin’ goin’, we be mekkin’ dis a coo’ winter. I
done made up m’ mind!” Wulf insisted Angelo stay in his home, which was
only a couple of miles outside the city proper.
© 2005 Tom (WordWulf) SternerHowe
Madman Chronicles: The Warrior now available at:
http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?catalogid=3425
To discover the most dangerous writers alive, go to www.howlingdogpress.com and www.howlingdogpress.com/OMEGA.
There, in OMEGA 4, Weapons of Mass Deception, you will find a selection of poems by Tom (WordWulf) SternerHowe.
Websites: http://tomsternerhowe.freeservers.com
http://pages.prodigy.net/sterner-howe
Music: http://truefire.com/list.html?store=original_music&viewauthor=3554
| Posted: February 17, 2005 |
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