Blog
Pre-orders coming this week!
Preorders* for the limited and lettered editions of HERETIC - Book One in the Templar Chronicles should be available this week at the Full Moon Press website.
Word is that Don Paresi is one of the potential artists for the trilogy and I’m very happy to hear it. Don has done some excellent work on my friend Dave Wilson’s limited editions and I know he’ll bring a terrific look to the Chronicles. If you aren’t familiar with Don, here’s a sample of his black-n-white artwork. This one is entitled Pandemonia and trust me, this low-res image doesn’t do it justice…
I can’t wait to see Don’s take on some of the scenes from HERETIC - like where Knight Commander Williams and Sergeant Duncan find themselves in the Beyond, facing off against a swarm of hungry spectres!
I will post the preorder link right here as soon as I have it.
*If you aren’t familiar with this process, let me explain. Specialty press books like these are all printed in limited numbers to enhance their collectibility and make them more valuable over time. With only 500 copies of the three books in the series to be published, you might want to take advantage of the preorders in order to ensure that you get a copy. Preorders are usually taken while the book is still being developed and printed, so understand that it will take several months (sometimes 6 or more) before the book is actually released and shipped to you. However, by preording, you can be assured of not missing out on a title that gets snatched up quickly once the announcement is made that it is actually available.
That Cleansing Fire - Part Six
While the others stood guard, Cade knelt down beside the pole and gently touched Bishop’s face. The man’s skin was icy cold.
They had gotten here too late.
Keeping one arm around his teammate’s body, Cade leaned around the back of the pole and cut through the cords that bound the body to it with his knife. With its support suddenly released, Bishop’s corpse slumped against him. Cade gently eased Bishop onto his back on the floor.
Just to be certain, Cade leaned in close and listened for a heartbeat.
Only silence was returned.
Cade raised his head and looked down at his teammates dead face, burning it into his memory, another victim he would now have to avenge.
Bishop’s eyes suddenly popped open.
His gaze met Cade’s confused one and a wicked grin scurried across his lips.
“Sorry, boss,” he said, without a touch of remorse, and his hand whipped around toward his former leader, a razor sharp set of talons extending from his fingertips and seeking Cade’s face.
At that exact moment, most likely the result of some undisclosed prearranged signal, the rafters suddenly vomited a scurrying, seething horde of ravenous creatures that descended the walls with spider-like grace and came rushing across the warehouse floor toward Olsen and Riley.
“It’s a trap!” Cade yelled, throwing himself away from Bishop and out of reach of those deadly claws.
His warning was unnecessary, however, for Olsen had already caught sight of the swarming horde. Without hesitation the Templar opened fire with his MP 5, pouring 800 rounds per minute into his foes. Riley followed suit, his combat Mossberg booming in the echoing confines of the warehouse in sharp contrast to the buzz of Olsen’ weapon.
Cade rolled away from his opponent and came up in a crouch, his pistol held securely in his right hand. He could see that Bishop had already risen to his feet and was snarling in rage at having missed his target.
As his enemy came charging toward him, Cade triggered his Sight.
In the Beyond, the warehouse was a darker, more ominous place, full of the shadows of pain and suffering caused by the slave-driving mentality of its owners. Here, the true nature of the team’s attackers also revealed themselves, as their thirst for the team’s life force was an almost physical presence pulsing out from them in waves of need and desire.
There was no mistaking the fact that the warehouse was full of very hungry Ch’iang shih.
Nor was there any doubt as to what had happened to Bishop.
Cade calmly noted his former teammates altered condition - his savage hunger, his unholy rage, and his dual existence in both the real world and in the Beyond - and then he was out of time. As his formed teammate rushed in to savage him, Cade fired point blank into the man’s face.
Bishop went down, hard, with a bullet hole just beneath his right eye.
In the fifteen seconds it had taken Cade to dispense with Bishop, Olsen and Riley had littered the warehouse floor with vamp bodies. The staccato stutter of Olsen’ weapon was interspersed with the booming tones of Riley’, but still more of the creatures swarmed off the rafters high above and charged toward them. Worse yet, many of those who had gone down were now starting to get back up.
While Bram Stokers’ fictitious creations had access to regenerative powers, the Chaing ‘shih did not. Yet such powers were not really necessary, for their bodies were really nothing more than animated corpses give new life by the hunger and desire of their souls. As such, bullets, even high powered ones from a weapon like Olsen’ MP5, did little to actually stop them. Those Chaing ‘shih who had gone down under the Templars’ onslaught did so more from the sheer velocity of the striking ammunition than from any physical harm the bullet might have caused them. A bullet hole to the chest was of little concern for an undead creature and was nothing more than a few moments worth of inconvenience as they were knocked off their feet.
Cade quickly took in the situation. “Go for their legs, ” he yelled to the others. When it appeared they did not hear him, he stepped up between them and directed his own fire at the legs of his opponents. It only took a moment before his companions caught on to what he was doing and followed suit.
The warehouse was filled with a cacophony of sound; the bark of Cade’s handgun, the booming sound of Billing’s shotgun, the shrieks and wails of the Chaing ‘shih as they were cut down in mid-step by the precision shots of the knights. Conversation between Cade and his men was next to hopeless. It was only the steady training and discipline that Cade enforced on his team that allowed them to operate as a cohesive unit even in the face of such an overwhelming assault. As one man’s weapon would run dry, the others would step up their volume of firepower, allowing him to reload and rejoin the fray.
Soon, however, their supply of ammunition began to dwindle and then disappeared altogether.
As one, the knights dropped their weapons and drew their swords. The vamps closed in, anticipating an easier time of things now, only to discover that the knights’ still had plenty of bite left to them.
In the face of the savagery of the knights’ defense, the vamps retreated to the darkness among the machinery in the far corner of the warehouse. Those wounded that could walk followed suit, while still others, unable to walk due to shattered legs and kneecaps, used their arms to drag themselves along the floor in pursuit.
The three knights took a moment to catch their breath.
English versions of the Templar Chronicles trilogy!
From this week’s edition of the Full Moon Press newsletter:
****************************************************
Full Moon Press
Joseph Nassise’s “Templar Chronicles”
We are very pleased to announce that we are sending out contracts for Joe to sign for all 3 “Templar Chronicles” novels this week!
We will have artist announcements and a preorder link for “Heretic”, the first book in the series next week and we will have a very cool promotion for this series as well!
These books are international bestsellers and we expect them to be very popular FMP titles!
More details will follow next week!
******************************************************************
I’m very grateful to Full Moon Press for making the decision to publish all three of the Templar Chronicles books in English. At long last, all of my original fans will be able to read the continuing adventures of Knight Commander Cade Williams and his Echo Team comrades.
Now, that said, I can’t stress how important it is for the first book in this series to sell well. I know just about everyone out there has read it and that you are all anxiously awaiting books two and three. But the publisher and I wanted to do this as a complete three-part set and sales of the first book are clearly going to impact how quickly we get the next two out to the market.
So it would be great to see a good number of pre-orders come in next week when Full Moon makes the announcement that things are ready to go. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed - these books are going to be beautiful!
If you haven’t signed up for the free Full Moon Press newsletter, you can do so at their website so you won’t miss the announcement when it happens next week. (I will be echoing the announcement in my own newsletter as well.)
That Cleansing Fire - Part Five
Leaving Olsen on guard, Riley and Cade did a more thorough search of the church, looking for anything that might indicate what had happened to the missing advance team, Bishop, or the church staff.
After an hour of searching, they came up empty-handed.
Which left the body itself and the need for more drastic measures.
Cade bent over and examined the corpse on the altar before him. The priest had clearly been middle-aged; his thinning gray hair and liver spotted skin gave evidence to that. A close look at the shrunken flesh of the right side of his face revealed a large bruise. The black cloth of his shirt and pants was ripped and tattered in certain places, mainly about the arms and lower legs.
Cade removed his gloves and placed them in his pocket. He checked to be certain his men had control of the situation, receiving a nod of confirmation from each of them, and then turned back to face the altar.
It was time to go to work.
There was no way Cade was going to use his Talent on the body itself. The priest had no doubt suffered greatly at the hands of the Ch’iang shih and Cade had no desire to relive any of that experience, not like that. Instead, he was going to take a reading from the surface of the altar itself, in the hopes that it would filter enough of the horror out of the encounter to allow him to understand just what had happened here.
Cade took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the task ahead. Using his Talent was never easy. It physically drained him of energy at an alarming rate, leaving him weak and disoriented for several long minutes afterward. The need to constantly guard against being overwhelmed by another’s thoughts and emotions made it mentally demanding as well. Staying immersed too long in the flow made it difficult for him to regain his own identity, and though he had never tested the theory for obvious reasons, Cade believed that his physical form could be affected by what he was seeing through his Gift as well.
When he was ready, he reached out and laid his palms flat on the altar’s surface.
Hands.
Hands carrying him, perversely caressing him, while others seize hold of his arms and legs and haul him bodily into the air.
Our Father, who art in heaven…
Movement, the whisper of bodies parting to get out of the way, a low murmuring of anticipation filling the air.
He’s dropped onto a hard surface (the altar?) and his limbs are pulled out and away from his body, his captors’ claws clicking against each other as they expose the skin of his wrists and legs.
Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with me…
The cloying scent of rancid meat hangs in the air.
More hands seize his face, forcing his jaws open, the taste of something metallic as an object is shoved into his mouth while gnarled fingers snatch at his tongue.
Pain, terrible pain, as his blood flows freely, filling his mouth…
With a sudden cry Cade snatched his hands away from the altar top, the coppery taste of phantom blood sharp in his mouth. His turned his head and spat on the carpet to clear it.
When he looked up, Riley and Olsen were looking at him expectantly.
“Chiang Shi, all right,” he told them, as he pulled his gloves back on. “A lot of them. And they left us a calling card.” Cade reached out, held the corpse across the forehead with one hand and, with the other, yanked the pieces of duct tape off the corpse’s mouth. The man’s mouth remained locked open, so Cade peered inside and then reached in with two fingers to draw something out.
Cade held the object out for the other men to see.
It was a gold signet ring set with a ruby stone in the shape of a cross. It was identical to the ring that each team member wore on their right hands, the same rings they were given on the night of their initiation into the Order. On the reverse side, directly beneath the stone, were the initials JKB.
“Bishop’s ring,” Cade said.
Riley swore.
Cade handed the ring to him, removed the glove on his right hand and then extended that hand back toward his teammate again.
“You sure you want to do that, boss?” Riley asked.
Cade nodded. “We don’t have any other choice. They obviously want us to know they have Bishop. The ring might be able to tell us if he is still alive, and if he is, where they might be keeping him.”
Shaking his head in resignation, Riley gently dropped the ring into his teammate’s open palm.
This time, Cade’s Talent was a bit more generous.
Pain.
A deep, throbbing pain that pulsed in his left side, right where the vamps had slashed him with his own weapon. He knew he was still bleeding; the wet trickle that marched down his ribcage and under the waistband of his pants clearly told that story. His right wrist hurt as well, where two of the vamps had locked their vile mouths on his flesh before their leader had stopped them from draining him dry.
He was bone-weary, evidence that the two junior vamps had taken a fair amount of life force from him before the stronger one had intervened. Still, he was alive, and while he was he had no doubt that his team would make an effort to rescue him.
Which meant he had to stay that way until they could get to him.
He knew he was in the warehouse district; he’d seen as much when they’d grabbed him at the church. While he’d been unable to determine the exact location of the building to which they had brought him, he had been able to catch a glimpse of the sign out front. “Markhams Slaught..” was all he’d been able to see before they’d dragged him inside.
A quick search of a phone book was all they needed after that.
That Cleansing Fire - Part Four
The St. Margaret Catholic Church occupied a small, half-forgotten lot sandwiched between two abandoned tenements. It was made of brick that had long lost its newness, coated as it was by the dust and grime of the city. A small, squat rectory was attached to it by a short covered walkway. A broken-down chain link fence surrounded the property. Here and there small piles of wind-blown trash could be seen trapped up against the fence in the light of the now risen moon.
Cade parked the Explorer along the curb in front of the grounds and the three of them got out. The streets were quiet, hushed even, as if the buildings around them were holding their breath, waiting to see what these intruders would do in their domain. Cade could feel the electrical tension that comes from being watched, but couldn’t identify were the feeling was coming from.
They pushed open the gate and made their way over to the church entrance. Once they drew close, they were able to see that the heavy, oak doors of the sanctuary were left partially open. Considering the neighborhood, it was a clear sign that all was not right here.
They entered the church like it was hostile territory.
Riley shoved open the door and let his companions slip inside before taking up a position behind them. Stretching out before them was a large central aisle that extended to the altar fifty feet ahead and divided two sets of pews into equal parts, with aisles stretching down the outside of each section against the walls. On either side of the altar, two small wings formed the horizontal axis of the cross and stretched out of sight. The building was shaped like a cross and the team had entered at its base. The interior was semi-dark, lit only by the soft breath of moonlight that were streaming in through the four windows that were evenly spaced along the left hand wall. The red beams of their laser sights danced about in the semi-darkness like the lights at a rock concert before swiftly coming to rest on the body that had been left lying across the altar at the front of the church.
Making certain that the building was clear was the first priority, however, and so the body would have to wait. Without a word, Riley moved to the left-hand aisle and Olseny moved to the right. Cade waited until they were in position and then gave the hand signal for them to advance simultaneously toward the altar. This would allow them to provide fire support to each other while at the same time make use of the wooden pews as cover should it prove necessary.
They made it to the foot of the altar without incident. Riley and Olsen circled the outer wings without finding anything out of the ordinary before rejoining Cade at the apex of the central aisle. Only at that point, once they were satisfied that they were alone, did the three of them advance on the body lying on the altar.
The man dressed in the black casual clothing and white clerical collar of a Catholic priest. One leg was draped over the front of the altar, the other hung over the side, bent at the knee. The priest’s hands were arranged on his chest with an antique wooden crucifix clasped upright between them.
If it hadn’t been for the condition of his skin and face, you might have almost been able to believe he was sleeping, Cade thought idly. Of course there was no way you’d ever make that mistake once you’d gotten a close look at what had been done to him.
Had the man spent the last two hundred years baking in the Arizona deserts, he couldn’t have looked any more drained of substance than he did now. The skin of his face was stretched tightly over his skull, as if the flesh beneath had been sucked away, leaving just the thinnest barrier between the air and bone. A quick glance down at the man’s hands let Cade know the condition extended there as well and from that Cade guessed that it extended across his entire body. The man’s eyes were gone, the empty sockets staring at the ceiling far above. From the position of the man’s jaw, it looked like his mouth was frozen open in a silent scream, but the several strips of grey duct tape that were wrapped around his lower face made it difficult to tell for certain.
Olsen was the first to speak.
“Vamps!” he swore, using the common name for something that was in truth far more vicious than the blood-sucking monsters immortalized by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. “I freakin hate vamps!”
“Ch’iang shih,” Cade corrected softly, using the proper name for the Chinese creatures, but he agreed with the general sentiment. If the blood cult they had supposedly been called in to investigate actually turned out to be a pack of Ch’iang Shih, he and his team were in for a nasty fight in the not so distant future.
While his team had never had to face this particular supernatural menace, he had been thoroughly briefed in the past. He did his best now to recall what he had been told.
Also known as the Gui Ren, or Demon People, they were some of the fiercest supernatural creatures ever encountered by the Templars. They had their origins in China and were routinely seen throughout Central and Southeast Asia, but they had rarely been encountered here in the States. According to Asian tradition, they are formed when an individual has an outstanding karmic debt that must be paid, a debt so enormous that it prevents the soul from moving onward through the Great Cycle and forces the body to rise again from death. More often than not, the higher, rational aspect of the soul, the Hun, becomes dormant, leaving the P’o, or the lower, bestial aspect of the soul, in control of the resurrected creature. Neither truly living nor dead, the Ch’iang shih are creatures without Chi, the essence of life, and therefore must constantly steal it from the living in order to sustain their existence while they seek to redeem their debt and rejoin the Great Cycle.
The drained, lifeless husk that is left behind after such a theft had become the Ch’iang shih’s signature the world over. No other creature left such evidence of its passing in their wake, making them easily identifiable for hunters like Cade’s team.
Identifying them was the easy part, however.
Finding and defeating them was another matter entirely.
