Date of Release: November 13, 2014
Cover Artist: Andy Garcia
Description:
The last thing Billy Lovecraft’s parents sent him before the crash was a photo of something on
the wing of their plane.
Now he’s stuck with a horrible and heart-breaking mystery: What was that awful creature, and
why were his parents targeted?
It’s up to Billy to gather a team of like-minded kids and lead them through a dark new reality
where the monsters are real, not everyone is who they seem to be, and an ancient alien wants to
devour the world.
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Excerpt:
Billy Lovecraft walks out the front doors of
Serling Middle School and down the steps. He tightens the straps on his big,
military ALICE—All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment—rucksack.
Classes are over and Billy's tired of everything right now. At least it's a
nice, breezy day.
Billy looks back at the school building. Serling
is three stories of brick nestled on Hillside Avenue between Orange Road and
Saint Luke's Place. He likes the big row of columns above the front and side
doors. The whole place gives off the vibe that it wants to be as important as the Roman Pantheon but can't quite
muster the courage.
He used to enjoy coming here. A little. The
teachers were pretty cool. Well, as cool as teachers could be. Then Sturn took
over and everything went bad after that.
The whole place feels sneaky and mean now. Like
there's a cloud of darkness and dread hovering above. Like the school and its
honchos are watching everything and looking for reasons to eat kids.
The ancient church across the street—with its
massive, looming spire and dueling columns—doesn't help Billy's nerves, either.
People don't scare Billy. Neither do their
threats. Or their arbitrary grasps at authority over him.
But darkness does scare him.
Fear. Fear is something Billy understands. It is
our oldest and strongest emotion.
Billy wants to defeat fear—his own and every
other kid’s.
Big Jim, Metal Max, Sweet-Tooth, and Jackrabbit
stand on the sidewalk near the street in front of the school.
Billy furrows his brow at the nerds. "I
didn't expect you see you guys. Mostly because you made fun of me." He
flips his index finger out. "And made fun of me." His middle finger
joins his index finger. "And, yeah, made fun of me." His ring finger
pops out last.
Big Jim shifts his weight from one foot to
another. "We talked it over. We're sorry. It wasn't fair of us." He
flashes a faltering smile—one that hints he isn't really sure what to do with
Billy. "What did Principal Sturn say? Do you still have all your internal
organs?"
"Principal Sturn is Principal Butthurt right
now. He suspended me for three days."
"What for? The fight?"
Sweet-Tooth gestures toward Billy. "Wasn't
much of a fight." He sticks a Tootsie Roll in his mouth and chews.
"So do we make friends with our enemy's enemy. That's kinda the thing.
Seeing as how he fought off Carlucci."
Jackrabbit rubs his black eye. "I hate
Carlucci. He's such a jerkwad."
Billy feels the weight of the ALICE pack on his
shoulders. "This is starting to sound like we're in bad movie. I am your
enemy's enemy, I guess. And Sturn will say
it was because of the fight, but mostly he just doesn't like me." Billy
claps his hands together. Jackrabbit jumps at the sudden noise. Billy grins.
"On the plus side, I get a long weekend! I don't even need to put on pants unless I feel like it."
Big Jim folds his arms. "A long weekend to
do what? Don't they monitor kids in, uh, in your situation? Especially ones
without pants. You'll be stuck inside."
"Nah, not as long as I divert important
calls to my great fake grandfather, Rusty." Billy cackles with a hint of
devilish glee. "You guys wanna see my house? You should come see my
house."
***
The quintet walks through Montclair under the
swaying branches of colorful trees. They stroll along the sidewalks that buckle
from roots pushing them up. They saunter in front of beautiful homes built on
the rolling hills that allow for a perfect view of the Manhattan skyline.
Billy kicks a stone. "Jim, why are you guys
so into 'Cthulhu Detective Squad' anyway? Don't you have better things to
do?"
Jim groans. "I still can't believe you
didn't play your parents' game."
"Bite me. My parents were going to teach me
everything themselves. They told me
that… before the crash."
Big Jim rubs his forehead. "All right,
sorry. Uh… well, I mean, it's fun. The game talks about all this crazy stuff.
It says monsters are around us all the time. And there are ancient aliens we
would only think of as gods. It's cool. It's definitely not like any other
game. Your folks based it off the works of The Writer."
"Who's 'The Writer?'"
"He was a guy who wrote in the early
twentieth century. People thought he was weird. He studied the cults and the
books. Then he, duh, wrote about it."
"I guess I should've played this game."
"No kidding. It teaches you to think
differently. You have to behave like a real Detective. You have to look for
clues and solve puzzles. Me and the other guys have gotten to be pretty darn
good Detectives."
"But do you guys, I dunno, believe in it?"
Big Jim shrugs. "Eh... I'm a scientist. I
don't believe in something I've never seen with my own eyes. Metal Max believes
in it, but he's more spiritual or whatever." Big Jim makes a noise like pft. "Sweet-Tooth and Jackrabbit
definitely believe in it."
Billy looks to Metal Max, Sweet-Tooth and
Jackrabbit. "You're perfect for this." He waits a beat. Grins.
"I have an awesome idea."
About The Author:
Billy Lovecraft is the young leader of the Cthulhu Detective Squad, which he formed after the
death of his parents when he was twelve. He is a writer, scientist, occult scholar, and frequent
savior of the world. The things in his basement will give you nightmares.
Find Billy Lovecraft Online:
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Blurb:
