Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 32

This Mortal Coil: Part Four

Farraday City Bunker

“So,” Jenny says, “you’re a villain.”

Scrapper Jack doesn’t look up from his cards. “I figured the scar gave it away.”

“It is suitably villainous,” Jenny admits. It is—it’s a nasty, jagged thing that travels down the length of his left cheek, and it pushes the left side of his mouth down into a slight frown.

They’ve been playing cards all afternoon. Crossfire and CB are out running errands, and playing cards is better than just sitting around, awkwardly making small talk. It...

This Mortal Coil: Part Three

Esperanza Capital Library

All the thirst and hunger and pain and desperation crash down on him at once. His eyes are open but unfocused, unable to perceive anything but the color of the floor, and all he hears is a strange grinding, croaking noise coming out of his own throat. His body goes rigid, the world fades to white, and he is dimly aware that his head is repeatedly striking a brick wall.

A different sound filters into his awareness—muffled, but agitated. Someone yelling, perhaps? The whi...

This Mortal Coil: Part Two

Basement off Alley, NYC

Peter Travers peers through dirty curtains at the crime scene beyond. It’s now swarming with NYPD police and emergency rescue personnel, and he can see the beginnings of what will eventually be swarms of Federal agents beginning to arrive. Special Agent Phillip Henry is in the middle of it all, giving everyone something to do, and—more important—keeping everyone away from the basement where Travers and Special Agent Alan Grant are hiding.

Their basement is in an alley ad...

This Mortal Coil: Part One

July 20, 1992

Artemis LaFleur stares at the young man standing before him and realizes he’s staring at a ghost.

He’s certain he’s talking to David Bernard, but he’s not sure that the man is actually here. Artigenian should have sensed him—the physical presence of an unknown should have set off all manner of wards lain across the stone, and even in this fragment of time they would function. So Bernard’s presence is not what it appears.

“You’re not really here,” Artemis says. “How are you doing th...

Issue 21: This Mortal Coil

Story: Christopher Wright
Cover: Pascalle Lepas
Logo: Garth Graham

The Month Of Feverish Creation

Although February is significant for reasons far more worthy than my own, I am declaring that this February shall be my very own Month of Feverish Creation.

"What is a Month of Feverish Creation," you ask? It is a month where I spend every free moment creating. A month where I try to push myself as hard as I can to create as much as I can. How far can I go? How much can I take on? How much content can I create if I force myself to dive into it and stay there?

Comics, yes. Fiction, yes. Podcasts...

Is it Modern Literary Fiction?

Whom The Gods Would Destroy, They First Give Computers

There are a lot of reasons why a computer will die on you, and I think I may have experienced most of them. The truly frustrating thing about it—for me, anyway—is that so many of those reasons look exactly the same at the beginning. A hard drive dying can screw up applications the same way that bad ram can screw up applications the same way that a cracked motherboard can screw up applications the same way that a bad video card can screw up applications. When you take the time to troubleshoot...

Curveball Audiobook Podcast: Issue Two

CBAudiobookPodcastIssue02.mp3

Curveball Issue Two in mp3 format, as narrated by the author.

Curveball Issue Two: Homecoming

Duration: 52:03

File size: 47.8mb

In the wake of Liberty's murder, family gathers in preparation for his funeral. Meanwhile, darker forces meet in an attempt to learn what he knew, and who else might know it now.

The Drums of War: Part Five

July 20, 1992

The old man hangs in the air, frayed white linen hanging from his gaunt, feeble frame like the last drooping fronds of a dying willow. He’s lost track of how long he’s been there—months? Years? Long enough that he can barely remember anything else. The power that suspends him also sustains him—it is a prison, not a tomb—but it provides only enough sustenance to prevent his death.

As each day he struggles to master his hunger and his thirst, steeling himself to meet his captor, and...