Blog Tour: DEDKODE CONNECTED by Chad R. Hunter
DedKode - Connected
by Chad R. Hunter
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GENRE: Science Fiction / Horror
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BLURB:
Withoutwarning, the demonic computing device rose up. Red arcs of crackling electricity snapped out from the server and struckthe men and women in the chest. Involuntarily, they each screamed out in dying shrieks. Each worshiper hovered off the floor,transfixed and held for feeding.
DedKodemoved forward but James knew it was too late. He placed his hand out and stayed the young, undead hacker.
Theworshipers continued to undulate and now fluids ran from their orifices; heavythick drops collected in puddles beneath each of them.
Facessunk in.
Eyesrolled back.
Limbstwisted and cracked.
Afterwhat seemed like hours, but was only minutes, of watching these men and womensucked dry of their lives, the bodies collapsed to the flooring. Several landed in the pools of their bodilyfluids - that which the server did not demand.
Theserver hovered still, humming like a thousand computer room fans and thesinging of a damned chorus. The crimsonenergy that had drawn life from the worshipers crackled and snapped inoscillating arcs around the device.
Theroom was still empty as DedKode's hacks were still running and fooling thesecurity systems.
"What'sthe plan now, Devon?" James asked, keeping his eyes on the demonicequipment hovering either obliviously or without care at his presence. "Do we still try to shut this thing downand take it back or—"
SuddenlyDedKode held his hooded skeletal head. Palladino's attention shifted to his teammate.
"Whatis it?"
Therewas a feeling that stirred up from a buzzing between where DedKode’s ears oncewere to a deafening roar he could not ignore. It was an energy, a swelling that circled the room, and DedKode couldfeel it in part. "Shit, King James,look —"
Hepointed a gloved bony finger towards the now pulsating vibration only he couldfeel. The zombie hacker directedPalladino's gaze to the dead, robed corpses.
Theywere rising to their feet.
Theirhoods fell away and it was clear that they were once alive and were nowresurrected dead. Jaws were sunken in,eyes pulled back into black sockets completely void of life. Mouths hung in slow, smacking moans andpatches of hair fell with each step, covering the floor along with tears ofdesiccate flesh.
Armslifted up and bony hands reached out in trembling grasps.
Ahoarse cry rumbled from within breathless, shrunken lungs.
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Excerpt One:
The street wasonce Lake Shore Drive.
It had beenconsidered one of the most beautiful stretches of road ever constructed. From nearly any point on the arterial Chicagoroad, one could stop and see the lake, Museum Campus, and other aspects ofsheer magnificence.
Testaments tohumanity's architecture, designs, and vision literally reached up to thesky. Willis Tower was legendary. Floors and floors of beautiful windows thatonce caught the rising sun were now almost completely shattered. Unimaginable amounts of flesh-cutting shardsof shining triangles littered the streets.
The Cloud Gate,lovingly referred to as "The Bean," was a mind-boggling,visually-stunning stainless-steel sculpture that had once captured theimagination of both locals and visitors. Its mirror-like surface played trickswith reality, reflecting the city's vibrant life in mesmerizing ways.
Now, the Beanwas covered in scarred marks and awash in dark splotches of foul-smellingliquids. Instead of laughing faces andoptically-twisted visitors, what reflected in the artistically crafted curveswas now a sea of countless reddish white deathly stares of layers and layers ofskulls laying under the landmark.
The air waslayered with gut-churning rancidity not unlike the reek of meat left exposedatop rank garbage in offensive summer heat.
Even on achill-bitten fall night, the gore was overpowering to all aspects of humaninteraction.
Nearby, theCrown Fountain had once captured onlookers with its interactive art, projectingthe faces of Chicagoans on towering screens, spouting water from their mouthsinto the reflecting pool below. Tonight,the fountain did not spray immaculate pristine waters but instead bubbled fromtime to time, as would a swamp. Thefluid within was greenish in color and reeked of acidic bile and vomit. Flieshad made the site a place of egg laying and maggot rearing.
The AdlerPlanetarium once world-renowned for its celestial studies was a brokenhalf-dome. Immense cracks ran atop theonce majestic structure that had brought countless visitors from across theglobe.
The FieldMuseum had been a cauldron of the past and the present with future aspirationsand wonder. It was once the place wherehistory was held in honored perpetuity. Now, whatever remained of mankind's history had violated and pulled fromthe museum's halls.
Glass cases hadbeen shattered.
Exhibits hadbeen torn out and thrown asunder.
Red, pink andwhite littered the stairs as intestines, blood and bone made a carpet atop themuseum’s walkway.
Chicago was acity known for its sides - its South Side, North Side and West Side. Each wasunique from its ethnic communities to its dominant food vendors and carts toits well-known struggles of parking. Yetnow, there were no sides anymore.
Now all thatwas gone. Sides were identical - eacharea of the city, like each area of other metropolitan sprawls across the globe- were miles and miles of death.
What do I like best about this genre?
I like the flexibility of creating within ahorror/science-fiction environment. There are literally no limits to the world building that you cancreate. There is no up, no down, no leftand no right if you choose to remove those basic concepts. You can create your own mythology or buildatop real-world legends and apply your own spin. However, a writer has to tie parts of worldbuilding in horror and sci-fi to real world aspects so that readers havetethers that allow them to connect, to understand and empathize. You can’t have a story that is so alien areader cannot relate.
I also enjoy creating rules within this genre and making whatI hope is something worthwhile within the walls I give myself. It’s a challenge and one that I really acceptand relish.
Additionally, horror and science-fiction allow you to make readerslook at themselves, at society and everything they think they know. Theyare the only genres that can use such a wide variety of tools to move peopleinto introspection. Horror andscience-fiction can terrify, can thrill, can disgust all in the name of makinga reader think and feel. Humor, romance,etc., are great genres but the horrific and the fantastic themes of these writingshave endless tools.
What I also really like about these genres is making peoplefeel very human emotions despite non-human or inhuman situations andcharacters. For example, even thoughDedKode is a sentient zombie, you will feel his emotions, his challenges, hishopes, his fears, etc. DedKode:Connected will stir up human emotions in readers despite being a work ofwild, zombie-filled, technologically weaponized, fiction.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
About Chad Hunter
Chad Hunter was born in East Chicago, Indiana. Raised by a singlemother in the city's Harbor section, he is the youngest of four. Growing up inthe Midwest and a proudly self-proclaimed "Region Rat," Hunter haswritten and published several books and novels. He has written for magazinesand newspapers throughout North America and has been published in severallanguages. His writings have been called sophisticated yet humorous, sharpwitted and unrelenting.
Most often, Hunter's writings have been considered so wide anddiverse that they span a scale that would include multiple writers withmultiple forms. If anything binds his varied styles, it is Hunter's theme ofthe human condition, humor and family closeness - all to the backdrop ofromantic love, vibrant remembrance and even monsters themselves.
Website: www.dedkode.com
Blog: https://dedkode.wordpress.com/
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/DedKode1
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dedkode3
Join the community list - https://thededthread.aweb.page/
Shop - https://my-store-cf841e.creator-spring.com/
Hy.page - https://hy.page/dedkode
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Chad-Hunter/author/B009F2D6X2
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