Book One of Monsters

A Guard's only job is not to protect the citizens of each district, but to protect the food supply for the Wolf King. For centuries, The Exiles' government has fed civilization's royal protector with its very own beastly citizens. Most Animalia offers themselves up willingly when their time comes, or they breed well and breed often to provide an alternative supply. Willing or not, the dues must get paid in full.

Infiltrating the subterranean metropolis, The Coffin, The Revolutionary Army aims to break this cruel taxation system. The brutality of the many Guard factions against the population guides numerous broken hearts to join the cause. Among the Revolutionary Army's forces are grisly, mutilated leaders, some of whom have suffered directly at the claws and teeth of the Royals.

His kind calls him, "Chewed Once, Chewed Twice." 'Lice' is his code name and half of his flesh had been chewed free at a young age. Leading a squad of bipedal rats with nowhere else to go, all they want is a new home free from predators, free from monsters, and to be free of the Life Tax. As a forward squad of the Revolutionary Army, their mission is to recruit anyone that could turn the tide of war. Citizens of The Coffin are left starving and homeless, making finding anyone worthy of the task problematic.

Ready to give up, pack up, and rejoin the main forces, Lice hears the haunting heckle of a particularly rare monster caught in a death arena in the Eighth District. Can Lice rescue and convince this unorthodox ‘Killer’ to join him to win the war?

A hyena with mysterious abilities. Such a beast could surely change things, Lice envisions.

The Incursion is about to begin the next phase and Lice has mere days to recruit Killer. Besides time, other forces work against the rats. Guard are well aware of the incursion and Lice knows their brutality well.

The heavily armed and empowered authority supervising The Coffin is ruthless. Obeying their law is absolute. The Guard of the Fifteenth District, are both loved and feared by their herd. Commanded by a noble lion with a secret plan, the citizens relish their place as cattle beneath the lion and the delinquent, often criminal Guard. It was merely another day of herding, as Guard gather resources for "The Plan," until a monster’s howl unleashes chaos.

Unaffected by the howl that set everyone into a foaming rage, Alkazzar the ratel, Deputy Chief Constable, leads the strongest survivors of his precinct into a ferocious battle for their very lives. The Fifteenth District's most fearsome monsters are not strangers to violently herding their citizen-cattle. Order must be maintained, no matter the cost in revenue.

The howling monster's manic riot also dealt irreparable damage to "The Plan." After reclaiming the Fifteenth District, the Guard suffers loss, theft, betrayal, and threats from within, from someone who knows all of their darkest secrets. Though many Guard of this district feels calling it "The Plan" is not very clever, everything they spent the past decade building is about to come crashing down, and right when they least need it, The Revolutionary Army advances. 

I have come a long way in my journey as both a writer and artist. My pencil drawings were always a cool thing for me to make. Discovering that I had talent in digital art sure came as a surprise. I have been practicing when I can between time off from work. I sure would love nothing more than to do this for a living.

Above, the pencil drawing on the left is the Agilitas member of the Revolutionary Army. I wanted to capture the moment I wrote. On the right is the canid Guard named Troval. He's a 7.5 foot tall kangal mastiff in adamantisteel armor. These two characters face each other. How their fight ends, well, you'll have to read through the first quarter of the book to find out. I had far grander plans for the book cover before I drew the rat on the left. I was thinking of making an entire movie poster of ALL of the major characters in this book, but that would have been around 20 characters as detailed as where I was going with Troval.

Below is a concept drawing I made of Alkazzar about eight or nine years ago. It is the third concept drawing I made of him and the first that truly depict the length of his claws. Initially, I wanted his claws to be encased in larger, steel claws, but I instead went with a sort of steel glove that let his natural claws jut freely. The real animal inspired me to take this route. Honey badgers possess some monstrous claws.