Excerpt: DEMON FREAKS by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison
Enjoy reading an excerpt from chapter one of DEMON FREAKS by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison.
DEMON FREAKS
by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison
Excerpt from chapter 1
“Brace yourselves,” William Jeffrey Brom said with smug relish tainting his crisp English accent as he double underlined the letters S-A-T on the blackboard. “For you will be tested.” His chalk squeaked like a tortured soul. “Will you be found wanting? Has all the time you’ve spent in school so far been a pointless waste? Are you doomed to failure? As always, it comes down to effort, application and focus, doesn’t it? Chance does not play a role, which means a day of reckoning for many of you.” He cocked a black eyebrow at his class of high school juniors and smiled sardonically so that the upper corners of his neatly trimmed ginger goatee almost touched the curled ends of his waxed black mustache. “So let us discuss tomorrow’s test again, shall we? And pay attention. This is quite important for those few of you who still have any hope of salvaging your dim academic futures.”
In the middle of the room, Bing Slaughter paused in his note taking. He knew he had to pay attention to this. A good score on his college admissions exam was going to be critical to getting into a top-ranked school, and his parents had made clear the importance of this achievement to getting any kind of financial support from them.
Unfortunately, he was once again distracted by his history teacher’s hair. Ginger widow’s peak, black eyebrows, black mustache, ginger beard. No matter how many times he saw it, the color discrepancy overwhelmed him with the same question: Why? Before the rule had been instituted that outlawed phones or cameras in the room, a favorite pastime of the class had been to take surreptitious pictures of Mr. Brom’s hair and compare them for clues. Bing had created a webpage and several social-media accounts devoted to the hair. Of course, the photographic evidence was inconclusive, but the consensus was that the color had to be natural. Who would choose mismatched hair on purpose? What could one hope to gain? What was the point? What did it mean?
As Bing stared, his bright blue eyes accidentally met Mr. Brom’s glittering black ones, and the teacher made a pinched and sour face as if he had just smelled something distasteful. Bing immediately slid his gaze past Brom, pretending he had just been looking up from his notes toward the blackboard. But then he made the mistake of glancing back to make sure that Brom had bought it, only to find the teacher still glaring poison darts right at him. He knew he wasn’t supposed to antagonize the guy, what with the recent unpleasantness, so he looked away from the teacher altogether. His eyes fell on his identical twin brother, Ron, who appeared to be taking notes in the seat to his right. Bing frowned. That was ridiculous. Ron never took notes.
BOOK INFO
DEMON FREAKS
By J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison
Fiery Seas Publishing
October 3, 2017
YA Horror/Comedy
It’s the night before the SAT test. The forces of darkness are stirring.
Twin brothers, Bing and Ron Slaughter, know they’ve got to cram like their lives depend on it because their college plans sure do. If they don’t ace the test, they’ll be doomed to spend the rest of their days flipping burgers at the McDonald’s their parents run. That’s why they hatch a plan to meet up with the members of their punk band, the Ephits, spend the night studying at a secluded cabin in the woods, and maybe squeeze in a little jamming. What could go wrong with a brilliant plan like that?
Ancient evil. That’s what.
As a cataclysmic lightning storm rolls in, Bing, Ron and the rest of the Ephits find themselves tangled in a sinister plot to summon a demon. Yes, demons are real. To survive the night, the band must find a malevolent artifact, battle bloodthirsty monsters and stand against the most dangerous and powerful foe humanity has ever faced…the Golfer’s Association.
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Fish Wielder is J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison's first novel novel (He wrote a graphic novel, The Helm, for Dark Horse Comics). Jim has worked as a writer, screen writer, animator and film director. He started his professional career by producing a low-budget direct-to-video feature film, The Creature From Lake Michigan. Making a bad movie can be a crash course in the essential elements of good character and story, and The Creature From Lake Michigan was a tremendously bad movie. Shifting his focus entirely to animation, Jim joined Will Vinton Studios where he directed animated commercials for M&M’s and on the stop-motion TV series Gary and Mike. While working at Vinton, he also co-wrote the television special Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy with actor Paul Reiser. Jim has appeared on NBC's The Apprentice as an expert advisor on brand characters, developed characters and wrote the pilot episode for the PBS children's television series SeeMore's Playhouse and authored the previously mentioned graphic novel, The Helm, named one of 2010's top ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens by YALSA, a branch of the American Library Association. These days, Jim is the creative director and co-owner of Character LLC, a company that does story-analysis for brands and entertainment properties. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his lovely wife, two amazing kids, one smart dog and one stupid dog.
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