Sneak Peak! The
Dragon of Doughton Park by John Hundley
I have just read The Draculata Nest, book on of this series
and I must say I’m definatly looking forward to book two! I am confident in
promoting John Hundley’s The Dragon of
Doughton Park, but I do recommend you read book one first! (Review coming
soon!)
An excerpt from The Dragon of Doughton Park:
Two and a half hours later, he pulled into the gravel
driveway of the little getaway cabin he maintained off Highway 81, twelve miles
north of North Wilkesboro. He cut the engine of the Porsche and sat for a
moment, letting the quiet wrap him like a security blanket.
It wasn’t the quiet of the old days. There were far too few
places on the earth far enough from humanity for that kind of quiet; but, this
was far enough from the truly populous areas to where the sounds of nature
often drowned out the sounds of those that walked on two legs. Or drove on four
wheels.
Humanity was intended to evolve beyond this, given the
chance, he told himself for the zillionth time. After most of the others of his
kind had left long ago, it had become his raison d’être to insure that humanity
reclaimed that chance.
A few minutes passed before he climbed out of the car,
popped the trunk to remove his luggage, and carried his things into the cabin.
He threw his belongings on the little cot that sat, forever unused, in the
corner of the room. His bags would remain there, still packed, for the duration
of his time away from the university. He removed his clothes and hung them in a
small closet. He would wear them on the way home. Naked, he made himself a cup
of coffee and sipped it in a chair by the window until darkness settled in.
Then he left the cabin and walked out into the night.
The moon was rising. He looked at it, wondering what the red
wolf was doing at this moment. Perhaps Sethmus would have an update when he
reached the lair. Of course, he could probably check the wolf’s location
himself once he was in the air.
He found a patch of moonlight in a grassy area behind the
cabin and stood in it. He spread his legs and arms wide and allowed the light
to caress his naked skin. Soon, the magic began to be absorbed into his pores
and a haze of water vapor enveloped him as sweat escaped the furnace of heat
building within. The soft human hairs began to elongate and flatten into scales
until he was soon covered in a thick impenetrable armor. The fingers of his
hands stretched to two, then three, then twenty times their length, and the
skin retracted and webbed, until huge wings formed a forty foot span. His spine
stretched until his head sat at the end of a long neck and his tail curled in a
full circle around his feet, which themselves had become huge talons. A forked
tongue flicked out of a long snout in a reflex action to test the night air.
Finding it rich with oxygen, the dragon’s chest expanded like a giant bellows,
pulling the air in to fuel the fire inside him. When he exhaled, tongues of
flame shot into the night sky, illuminating the trees around the clearing.
The firelight reflected off the trees and into jeweled eyes
under dark green brows. Dr. Nigel Petros reveled in the freedom of his true
form. The Dragon launched himself into the air, the wind from the strokes of
his huge wings momentarily flattening the branches of the pines. He rose in an
ever-widening circle until the cabin was a dark, moonlit speck far below. He
cast his senses out in all directions, checking for the genetic signatures of
the omega wolves. He counted seventeen in this quadrant. He was pleased that
the number had grown and concerned that the number was so few. One, however,
was male, and vibrating with power.
Finding no
obstacles in his flight path, he turned northeast, towards the lair.
I dodge this
irritating necessity as much as I can. Here’s what appears on the back inside
cover of my books:
John Hundley lives,
works, and writes in Charlotte, North Carolina.
However, having
dodged the question quite a bit in the last few weeks, I blogged about it in my
last post on Sunday. Here’s an alternative. It’s a bit more creative and
actually sums up my life pretty well although, as usual, it is a bit long.
I was born on the
first day of October in 1950, the first son of John and Patricia, in Baltimore,
MD. I got a brother a year-and-a-half
later. We moved around a lot. We moved to Charlotte, NC. I started school. I
barely learned to read the boring crap they taught me. We moved to Asheville,
and my Mom taught me to read real books.
I fell in love with L. Frank Baum, John Fox,
Jr., Edward Ormondroyd, Robert Heinlein, and Marilyn. We moved to Greenville,
SC. I fell in love with Kathy, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
I went to Junior
High School. I fell in love with Cecelia, Isaac Asimov, and Jackie (sigh).
I went to High
School. I fell in love with Donna, Kathy, Jane, Merrill, Jackie (again), and
alcohol. I decided to become a writer.
I went to
Presbyterian College. I fell in love with Cynthia, Ann, marijuana, LSD,
what’s-her-name, Harlan Ellison, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny
Winter, and Joni Mitchell. I left Presbyterian College and went to the
University of Georgia (go Dawgs!). I fell in love with Karyn (sigh), J.R.R
Tolkein, Robert Heinlein (again), cocaine, and The Allman Brothers. I tried to
write.
I graduated
college. I fell in love with Pat, Barbara, Dale, Carol, what’s-her-name, James
Tiptree Jr., Frank Herbert, Ursula K LeGuin, Connie (OMG), Stephen King, Bruce
Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, and Kathy. I tried to write.
I married Kathy. I
fell out of love with cocaine and LSD. I gave up on writing. I moved to
Charlotte, NC. I moved to Salisbury, NC. I got divorced. I fell out of love
with alcohol and marijuana. I fell in love with Amanda, Susan, Pam, Gerrie
(sigh), Michael Crichton, Robert R. McCammon, John Grisham, Dean Koontz,
Janine, and Cheri.
I moved back to
Charlotte, NC. I fell in love with Caren and got married again. We had a kid. I
got un-married. I fell in love with Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer, Patricia
Briggs, Richelle Mead, and Taylor Swift.
Oh, and along the
way, I made a lot of wonderful friends and observed first-hand the
never-ending, enigmatic, inexplicable miracle of life. And, I started to write
again…
…and I haven’t
stopped.
Last thought
After reading that bio, I want to read his biography! I will
be doing a book blog on his first book, so I don’t want to say too much. However, it would not be a waste of your
time. I am eager to read The Dragon of
Doughton Park and as for my blog, there will most certainly be more of John
Hundley to come! So stay tuned!
A few places you can get the new book:
Dragon of Doughton for kindle:
Dragon paperback: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dragon-Doughton-Park-Volume/dp/1478366508/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351648260&sr=8-2&keywords=the+dragon+of+doughton+park
Check out his blog:
Red Wolf Blogs
Great post and look forward to reading book two!
ReplyDeleteSo am I!
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