Today, I wanted to share a snippet from Gnotret, the first book of The Accidental Heroes Chronicles. Under a read more for length :)
It was a warm, lazy, spring day in Chicago when everything I knew about my life changed. The snow had finally all melted and people were walking and skating along Lake Shore Drive in shorts and T-shirts. Amy and I often joined them, taking a break from all the homework our grad classes were piling on. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Sometimes, to understand where you’ve gone, you need to know where you came from. And, no matter what we’ve become, we were normal, hopeful people at one point. People who were going to make a difference in the world. Until we met Dr. Carnesby and submitted to his medical trial.
My name is George Ormond and I lived in Chicago. Before everything about me changed, I had green eyes, brown hair, and was tall and somewhat lanky. I was a graduate-level anthropology student with a sociology minor at the University of Chicago. I wanted to travel and study tribal cultures, the ones considered “less advanced” than our own. Studying the differences between those cultures and my own had always fascinated me. I shared an apartment with my girlfriend Amelia Veksler, though she preferred to be called Amy. She was an Economics major and wanted to work for a Fortune 500 company once she graduated. She didn’t change much after everything, her short blond hair still waving about her face, blue eyes sparkling merrily. She was small and delicate, resembling the pixie of her favorite haircut. Amy took to all this much better than I did. But what happened to her didn’t change her fundamental nature as mine was changed.
Which then leads me to the others who joined in on the medical trial. Billy Layfield, Sandra Johnson, and Michael Tusing were also students at the U of C. Billy was in medical school, Sandra was in law school, and Michael was an astrophysics major. We all had plans, places we wanted to be once we were all done. During the trial, when we couldn’t sleep for the side effects, we’d all sit in the lounge and talk in the dim light. We’d trade stories back and forth about our pasts and where we wanted our futures to go. It was in this lounge that we started discovering our powers, about two weeks into the trial.
It was a warm, lazy, spring day in Chicago when everything I knew about my life changed. The snow had finally all melted and people were walking and skating along Lake Shore Drive in shorts and T-shirts. Amy and I often joined them, taking a break from all the homework our grad classes were piling on. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Sometimes, to understand where you’ve gone, you need to know where you came from. And, no matter what we’ve become, we were normal, hopeful people at one point. People who were going to make a difference in the world. Until we met Dr. Carnesby and submitted to his medical trial.
My name is George Ormond and I lived in Chicago. Before everything about me changed, I had green eyes, brown hair, and was tall and somewhat lanky. I was a graduate-level anthropology student with a sociology minor at the University of Chicago. I wanted to travel and study tribal cultures, the ones considered “less advanced” than our own. Studying the differences between those cultures and my own had always fascinated me. I shared an apartment with my girlfriend Amelia Veksler, though she preferred to be called Amy. She was an Economics major and wanted to work for a Fortune 500 company once she graduated. She didn’t change much after everything, her short blond hair still waving about her face, blue eyes sparkling merrily. She was small and delicate, resembling the pixie of her favorite haircut. Amy took to all this much better than I did. But what happened to her didn’t change her fundamental nature as mine was changed.
Which then leads me to the others who joined in on the medical trial. Billy Layfield, Sandra Johnson, and Michael Tusing were also students at the U of C. Billy was in medical school, Sandra was in law school, and Michael was an astrophysics major. We all had plans, places we wanted to be once we were all done. During the trial, when we couldn’t sleep for the side effects, we’d all sit in the lounge and talk in the dim light. We’d trade stories back and forth about our pasts and where we wanted our futures to go. It was in this lounge that we started discovering our powers, about two weeks into the trial.
But I’m getting ahead of myself again. It was a Monday and I was taking a break with Amy in between classes. She had a flyer with her, thick block wording on a white background. She waved it at me, a grin on her face. Taking it from her, I read through the words quickly and found my mouth dropping open in surprise.
“A medical trial?” I asked,confused. “You want to participate in getting new drugs injected into you to see what they do?”
“I want us to participate in it,” Amy said gaily, flopping down in the chair next to me and pulling out her lunch. “You know we’ve been short on cash lately and it pays very well.”
I looked down towards the bottom and my eyes widened. They were willing to pay five grand to each participant for a month. Though the only downside was we’d have to stay in their facility. That meant skipping class and work and I didn’t think that was going to fly. But it did sound interesting. I’d heard of Dr. Carnesby before, the man running the trial. He was a tenured professor at the U of C, working in the biochemistry department. There’d been whispers about him running around campus but, then again, there were whispers about every professor. Just because a man liked to keep to himself didn’t mean he was an axe murderer or in Witness Protection or any of the other hundred rumors floating around campus.
“I don’t think I can get out of work for this,” I hedged, looking up from the flyer into Amy’s gorgeous cerulean eyes. She was giving me her puppy-dog eyes, a glimmer of tears showing at the corners. Which just wasn’t fair. She knew exactly what her eyes did to me, how she could make me do pretty much whatever she wanted just by shining her lovely eyes at me.
“Please, George?” Amy said softly, one hand coming to rest on my arm. “It’s ten thousand dollars in one month. Imagine what we can do with that money. I know you’re fine with your classes, you always work ahead. And if you can’t get a month off from your boss, after all the work and overtime you’ve put in, maybe you need to just quit. Kittlesby should be willing to work with you after all the work you’ve given him.”
“We don’t even know what they’re testing,” I argued, pointing at the flyer again. “It only says “medical trial”. Who knows what the side effects might be. It could even kill us.”
“If they’re in human trials, the animals survived the tests,” Amy said reasonably. She always tended to follow medical news and what new drugs and procedures were coming out since her family was in medicine. It was something of a hobby for her.
“Yeah, the animals survived,” I repeated, nodding. Amy looked happy about that until I continued, “But how much like a human is a rat or a rabbit? What they can live through would kill us. I mean, look at deer. They can eat poison ivy and stuff and not have anything happen to them at all.”
“Come on, George,” Amy replied, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like they’re going to give us poison ivy pills or anything. And it says on the flyer that they have an informational meeting before any testing goes on. Just come with me to the meeting and you can decide then. Please?”
I looked away from her pleading eyes, growling under my breath. I knew that I was going to cave, so did Amy, but I didn’t want to do so right away. I really did have a bad feeling about this, although I’d seen flyers before for testing on campus. Poor college kids looking for money is always a fertile ground to find volunteers for just about anything. Reading through the words one more time, I decided to at least go to the meeting with Amy. And try to research Dr. Carnesby a little bit first. Who knows, one of the rumors flying around may have a basis in fact and I like to know everything I can about something before I get involved with it.
“Fine,” I said finally, much to Amy’s delight. She pressed kisses to my cheek, all but squealing in delight.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the flyer back and folding it before tucking it into her backpack. “I didn’t want to go alone and everyone I’ve talked to is scared to go. Dr. Carnesby has a bit of a terrifying reputation on campus.”
“You’re welcome, Tink,” I replied, smiling at her exuberance. Amy really was a kid in some ways but she was adorable. She was mine and I loved her fiercely. If going to this meeting made her happy, then I’d go. Though I’d reserve judgement on actually going through with the trial. No sense getting into something if it was dangerous, right?
We made plans to meet at the cafe on campus for the meeting since it was sandwiched in between our classes in three days’ time. My alarm went off, warning me that I needed to leave if I wanted to get to my class on time. I gave Amy a kiss and walked away, letting the trial fade from my mind. It wasn’t important when I had to deal with identifying the painters from shards of Greek pottery for my upcoming class.
Sales of my book have declined greatly in the past couple months. I’m trying to decide if it’s a summer slump or if I’ve reached everyone who’s going to buy it on all my social media.
I’m kind of at my wit’s end for what to do to get sales up. I mean, I spam my facebook and the groups I’m in, my twitter, and tumblr. Those are my social media. There are a couple options I need to wait until the end of the month to do because those cost money.
Want a story about accidental heroes, good and evil, and the choices we make for either side? Want characters that are lgbta+ where the story doesn’t revolve around their sexualities? Check out my book Gnotret on Amazon Kindle now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BHFZJNE
I’m about ready to put book 2 of the Accidental Heroes Chronicles on Kindle. I just need to figure out what I want to put on the cover. My best friend is being wonderful and letting me bribe her with a trip to the Wormhole in Chicago for coffee into doing the cover for me.
I just have no ideas for it. Gnotret was easy. I wanted the syringe filled with the drug to take center stage and she added in the silhouettes which was an awesome touch. Expansion, however, I have no idea. I want it to be cohesive with the Gnotret cover though. Maybe continue the blues and silvers in the color scheme.
Gnotret (The Accidental Heroes Chronicles Book 1) - Kindle edition by S. E. Cyborski. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Gnotret (The Accidental Heroes Chronicles Book 1).
Want a story about accidental heroes, good and evil, and the choices we make for either side? Want characters that are lgbta+ where the story doesn’t revolve around their sexualities? Check out my book Gnotret on Amazon Kindle now.
Would any of my lovely followers be willing to write a review of my book on their blog to help get the word out? I need to get word out further than I can with my own social media and I know some of my lovely followers have large follower counts.
Please message me if you would be willing and we can work out the details.
