The Fiction of Rebecca Morn
From here, you can view some examples of my
tale-spinning, including the opening sections from two novels and some
short stories.
Novel excerpts:
Short stories:
Note: All of these
stories are available for publication. Contact me if you or
someone you represent might be interested.
In a place where magic was once known and
mighty semi-sentient forests used to covered the land, both are mere
shadows of what they once were. Into this comes a man—once
a soldier, then a priest,
and finally Excommunicate—seeking any means necessary to depose an
evil monarch who has uncovered forbidden powers.
In another place, much closer to home, an
autistic boy has stumbled upon a way to interact with the world around
him, using the colors, lights, and patterns which until recently dwelt
only within his own mind. Unfortunately, this discovery comes literally
on the cusp of a terrorist nuclear holocaust, and only this boy, David
Anthony Burke, and a few others touched by magic have any idea of the true implications.
This novel, complete and available for
publisher consideration, is the first volume in a five-book epic fantasy
series. In the spirit of Stephen Donaldson’s “Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant,” Marion Zimmer Bradley's “Darkover” tales, and Robert Jordan’s
“Wheel of Time” series--with a dash of Stephen King and Tom Clancy
thrown in, this tale is just the opening episode in a saga spanning not
only millennia, but also worlds.
Volumes in the Prophecy’s Door series:
To read Chapter 1 from "Prophecy's Door: The
Wilder," use the link in the left column or click here.
For an Adobe Acrobat PDF version instead, click
here.
For Chapter 2, use the link to the left, or
click here. For an Adobe Acrobat version
instead, click here.
For Chapter 3, same deal—the
link on the left, or click here. The
Acrobat version is available here.
It's been argued that as of the dawn of the
Technological Age, human evolution, for all intents and purposes, has
ground to a near halt.
Natural selection—for
Homo Sapiens, at any rate—is under assault by advanced medical
procedures and medicines, not to mention the virtual elimination of any
and all predators which threaten Man. In fact, humankind's
greatest remaining threats come from each other.
This assumption leaves only two
alternatives: Either, we shall continue on as we are until we
become extinct—whether through some global catastrophe, or malice and
"mutually assured destruction." Or, hundreds of thousands of years
from now, assuming we survive, our descendants will be utterly
indistinguishable from us, both in form and in behavior.
Static. Unchanging. Frozen.
Or is this inevitable? Have not the
predators of the savannas simply been replaced by predatory humans, both
singly and in groups and organizations?
Take this a step further and consider what
kinds of genetic traits might help one survive in an increasingly
crowded, violent, and chaotic world.
Compassion. Cooperation.
Empathy.
Perhaps these particular traits have
already found expression in the human genome. Maybe individuals
with these survival traits have walked among us already, but we failed
to recognize them for what they were. As the conditions which
selected for these traits intensify, the only logical conclusion is that
more and more of these New Humans will be born.
If so, it’s only a matter of time before
they are discovered by their predecessors. And exterminated.
"The Gandhi Gene" is my most current
work-in-progress, with several chapters already written and more on
their way. (In fact, I have set aside a thriving technical writing
career and small business to devote myself full-time to this particular effort.)
To
read the Prologue for "The Gandhi Gene", use the link in the left column
or click here. For an Adobe Acrobat PDF
version instead, click here.
A young woman, hitchhiking her way up and
down the Appalachians and trying to find a direction for her life, wakes
up in a West Virginia county jail cell. She's been beaten and raped, and
no one—not Pam Amatangelo herself, nor even the sympathetic sheriff of
Wardenburg—thinks she has a chance for justice of any kind. Lacking any
other options, Pam's just going to wait until her wounds heal enough so
she can move on.
Move on where? Even she doesn't know.
There's an even bigger problem with this plan, however: Pam has also
suffered a serious concussion. Images and impressions of things
impossible, the stuff of dreams, begin to take shape in reality. Pam
seems able to depart her body, and in fact feels drawn towards the oak-
and maple-covered mountains nearby.
Moreover, the wildlife in the Wardenburg area have suffered their own
form of predation at the hands of the local men long enough. And they've
finally broken through to someone they can talk to...
This tale isn't so much a story of revenge as
it is about finding purpose and enlightenment. Most of us seek direction
in our lives, some more literally than others. On the road, Pam
Amatangelo's experiences only begin to hint at possibilities, until one
day she has the misfortune to meet up with the wrong men at the wrong
time.
To read "And The Meek Shall Inherit" in its
entirety, use the link in the left column above, or click
here.
For an Adobe Acrobat PDF version instead, click here.
Almost every religion has some form of an
afterlife, a place or state of being to be achieved after death.
For some, it's said to be eternal bliss or unending torment, depending
on how one spent one's life—not to mention the faith to which one
belonged.
What if the afterlife wasn't at all what we
were told to expect?
To read "The River Lethe," use the link in the
left column above, or click here. (No
Acrobat version for this story.)
Anyone who's ever read a fantasy story—particularly
those which involve people from the 'real world' slipping into an
alternate reality—has wondered what it might be like if it actually did
happen.
What if, one night you
were to go to sleep in one place and wake up in another? Then,
after some unknown time in a place literally better than your
'real' life, you woke up, right back where you started?
This is what happened to
Carl Streumer, a lonely, isolated man.
This is the story of how
a trained psychologist might react to the impossible...
To read "The Nature of Reality," use the link
in the left column above, or click here.
(No Acrobat version for this story.)
Sometimes, we are simply overmatched by
circumstances. This is a story of what more typically would happen
to a simple peasant farmer who dared to stand up to his "betters."
It's not exactly a happy ending to this story,
for sure, as if the title didn't suggest it right out. In any
case, this was one of the first stories I wrote, when I was much, much
younger.
To read "Hate," use the link in the left
column above, or click here. (No Acrobat
version for this story.)
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