Book Excerpt: The Time Warriors: Venom: Vampire Hunt

           By and copyright of Owen Quinn

In the fifth Time Warrrros book the Veldro have rosen and invaded coastal town in Ireland. The popu;ace have been converted into infectious drones. Rachel and Nathaniel are trapped on a lonely country road when theey walk straight into vampire drones. Booknow available on Amazon.

If the others fell to the venom then it would leave just her and they would know from the others’ memories that she was immune. There was no doubt they would kill her on the spot. And if she fell, then the whole world would follow including Sarah, Maisy, Jacke’s and Tyran’s’ families, everyone they knew and had ever helped.  With the town converted she knew it would not take long for them to create enough human drones to secure the planet for the Veldrox. That was the sad thing about life here. People were so focused on their own lives that they mostly failed to see those less fortunate. Rachel could picture the homeless being consumed; easy pickings for the Veldrox drones. Rachel had to force those images out of her head as it was making her panic and that was the last thing she was determined to do.

They hadn’t gone half a mile before three dark shapes bounded onto the road in front of them from a dark block of trees. Rachel and Nathaniel had been keeping to the side of the road facing any possible oncoming traffic. Of course there was none. Rachel found herself wishing for the normality of shining twin headlights in the dark. That momentary blindness as your eyes adjusted.

“Freeze,” hissed Rachel. Her eyes flickered to the hand unit more to reassure herself that it was still on, the tiny glow of the screen lighting her chin. Nathaniel did as he was bid and he held his swords before him just in case Varran’s little device failed them.

It was two men and a woman, all infected. One was somewhere in his early twenties while the man and woman were middle aged. Judging by the older man’s weight, if he was still in his human form there was no way he would be as agile and lithe as in his infected form. His shirt was open to the navel and his stomach bounced and trembled with every move. It was all Rachel could focus on as they stood swaying, sniffing the air. They were hunting that was for sure and it didn’t take a genius to figure out for what or in this case who.

With only the slightest of hissing they began stalking down the road towards them. Rachel’s heart pounded in fear. She held the sword tightly as Nathaniel readied himself for a possible attack. Had they smelt them on the night breeze? It was a clear cloudless sky coated with stars and a partial moon but enough light to allow their silhouettes to betray them to the creatures. And from being possessed by the Veldrox, Rachel knew the infection had mutated their senses to allow them to see and sense any human heat source in the dark. To them a human or Xereban was a blaze of orange and red light in the dead of night, a beacon that led them to their next victim.

Nathaniel had stiffened as he readied himself to fight, every piece of training he had ever been given, every battle he had ever fought riled up inside him. His eyes noted every movement the creatures made, watching for that initial tensing of the body that would alert him they had seen them. His hands gripped his swords tighter indiscernibly, finding his inner calm that he needed to fight the best fight. Only hate and fear defeated a warrior. Only by finding the tranquillity within him could a warrior taste success. Rachel placed a subtle restraining hand on his arm. It seemed like a second when the younger man was suddenly next to her, sniffing the air, a low continuous growl rolling round its throat as its head swung this way and that. What if it knocks against me, wondered Rachel. Surely then it would know she was there. Even though she was immune, she didn’t welcome the feeling of being gnawed on by them. Rachel angled her body slowly to avoid contact with him, noiselessly trying to move her feet without sounding against the tarmac. She could feel its breath on the left hand side of her face as it moved past her. Nathaniel had to move his swords out of the way to avoid the fat man brushing into them. The woman had stuck to the middle of the road, her movements jumpy like a wolf spider every ounce of her tuned by the venom to be predatory. With a stealthy lance Rachel saw the woman had a silver heart shaped locket round her neck. What family photo was inside it? She knew whoever was in there would be first on the conversion list. An image of one of the infected crawling along a darkened floor towards Sarah’s sleeping form flashed in her mind. She shut her eyes tightly to dismiss it. Nathaniel winked at her encouragingly but she was too afraid to acknowledge it. They had to pirouette to avoid the infected bumping into them like some macabre slow motion dance routine.

It took several minutes for the trio of infected to pass them and disappear around the bend in the road.

Neither of them moved for minutes. They stood silent and frozen to allow distance to gain between them and the infected. They then took one look at each other and ran in the direction of the lighthouse.

Stephen Carey & Owen Quinn talk Total Recall, If Memory Serves

This time we talk Arnold and his fake memories. Is it as good as we remember or has Total Recall soured with age? Join the craic, you won’t look back.

New Book Series Released To Help Kids Deal With Grief

By Owen Quinn Photos copyright Angela McFadden

A series of books that explore a child’s emotions going through a great loss. It follows Ruby Lou and her dog Angel on a day in their life and what adventures lie ahead of them. You will read about them laughing, crying, having fun and lots more, with their family and friends.

Introduction
The books begins in winter time, when Ruby Lou suffers a great loss. Her pet dog Angel is always by her side along with her loving family and friends. Each day you will follow her on her journey working through her emotions with an empathetic narration and colourful illustrations, that will stimulate your imagination. You will get to know all her family and friends.

Themes Covered
It covers how a young person can feel many emotions in one day. It shows how Ruby Lou communicates with those around her, not to feel frightened to say about how she is feeling. Through her journey, she learns that emotions are part of life that sometimes can be hard, but she shows how she manages them with love and support from all around her.

Author
I wanted to create these books so that any child that is suffering great loss and feeling confused about how they feel, have representation of what they have experienced and going through. The stories of loss will differ but the feelings will be the same. I want them to feel that it is okay to ask questions or talk about how they feel and ask for help when needed.

On sale now on Amazon

The Time Warriors Wolves of Chernobyl Mini Book Tour of Norway

By and photos copyright Owen Quinn

So on my recent cruise to the Norway fjords, I thought it would be fun to get The Time Warriors Wolves of Chernobyl book photographed at various tourist spots on the trip. This included a trip to a high spot of over four and a half thousand feet where it was all snow and ice where we were stuck in a cloud and there were snow trolls.

The trip was awesome and photos do not do it justice at all. It is worth every penny so if you can swing a cruise with P&O on one of their great deals then snap it up. We did the Iona and it was great. You won’t be disappointed. Enjoy the photos and cruise of you get there.

Classic Characters: Lake Placid’s Mrs Bickerman

      By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright 20th Century Fox

There have been many mad feisty older ladies in television and movies but none have been quite as sassy as Delores Bickerman in 1999’s Lake Placid as played by the legendary Golden Girl herself; Betty White.

Lake Placid is a fun monster movie loved by everyone and spawned a series of gradually worsening sequels. It is a blast from start to finish populated by memorable characters. Oliver Platt and Brendan Gleeson are comedic gold in their love hate relationship while Bill Pullman ends up as the referee between the two.

But the stand out character is Mrs Delores Bickerman who lives in a house beside the lake where she rears cows. She looks as sweet as honey especially as she is played by the world’s sweetheart Betty White. Audiences had been used to seven years of her innocent character Rose on the famous sitcom so to have her in any movie or show was an immediate draw.

However the sweet little old lady was far from it. She had a mouth like a sewer and, as it turned out, valued most animals over humans (including her late husband). She hates the law sticking their nose into her business. Although she has a perfect logic in her head for her behaviour which seems to be genetic as we meet her sister Sadie in the sequel. Bickerman was so far removed from Rose, the very word “cocksucker” made the audience sit up and take notice…..earning a few giggles along the way.

When we first meet her she is hostile to say the least to Sherriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson), Jack Wells (Bill Pullman) and Kelly Scoot (Bridget Fonda). She claims she killed her husband and buried him, challenging them to go dig him up if they didn’t believe her. She claims to not know or have seen anything strange around and in the lake.

However they soon learn that she is lying when they witness her walking one of her cows to the lake’s edge where the crocodile rises up and eats it. She is smiling and treating it like a pet. She has known all about the crocodiles since one ate her husband Charlie. Since then she has been feeding them and caring for them to the point they see her as friendly. She is furious at being discovered but defends her crocodiles to the hilt.

Her potty mouth tirade is at full warp speed here as she watches in horror as they airlift her cow up over the lake with a helicopter to draw the crocodile out. “Cocksuckers!” is her word of the day as she is helpless to do anything about it. When the sheriff asks her if she led her husband blindfolded to the lake, she tells him;

“If I had a dick this is where I’d tell you to suck it” and, when told she is under house arrest, adds “Thank you officer dickwad.”

She is just so outrageous and it shows that she sees the crocs as her babies, just trying to survive and doing what they normally do. It isn’t their fault that humans decided to go into the water, which is their home, after all. If someone came into your home without an invite you’d be pissed too.

But Mrs Bickerman is nobody’s fool. Despite two of her crocs being captured and one killed, she has the last laugh. The movie ends with her on the boardwalk, feet in the water, throwing food into the lake. We see baby crocodiles swim up; which she calls her little buttons.

The cast were simply magic in Lake Placid but Betty White’s inclusion as the fierce Mrs Bickerman adds so much to the movie. She and Brendan Gleeson spark off each other effortlessly. Between her and Oliver Platt’s croc expert Hector is it any wonder Hank complains all the time?

In a career thar spanned decades, Betty telling someone to suck her dick and slew of cocksuckers was a blast. It remains one of the highlights of her career because this rose was slightly thorny and won against the law and they never even realised it.

Aliens Star Set For Dublin Comic Con Summer Edition 2025

We’re thrilled to welcome the incredible Mark Rolston to Dublin Comic Con this August! 🎉

Mark has brought some of the most unforgettable characters to life across film, TV, and animation:

🧟‍♂️ Pvt. Drake in Aliens

🔒 Bogs Diamond in The Shawshank Redemption

👻 The original Alistair in Supernatural

🖖 Walter Pierce in Star Trek: The Next Generation

🚀 Kuroda and Magh in Star Trek: Enterprise

😱 Plus roles in SAW, Ahsoka, and so much more!

🎙️ And in the world of voice acting, Mark has given us:

Commissioner Gordon, Norman Osborne, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Firefly

Don’t miss your chance to meet the man behind these legendary roles!

📲 Get your tickets at https://www.tixr.com/groups/comicconireland

📅 Dublin Comic Con – August 9th & 10th, 2025

📍Convention Centre Dublin

#ComicConIreland#DublinComicCon#MarkRolston#Supernatural#Aliens#StarTrek#ShawshankRedemption

Doctor Who: The Dogs of Doom Comic Strip

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Copyright BBC and Marvel

When Doctor Who Weekly launched, the one thing that stood head and shoulders above the rest as was its comic strips. They were epic and pushed the envelope whilst still retaining the wit and scope of the show. We already had the Iron legion, the Star Beast (as seen in the 60th anniversary), City of the Dead and then came my favourite one: the Dogs of Doom. It was based on a submitted and rejected story idea for the show and thank God they did as the budget could not meet the ideas and visuals here.

The Doctor, Sharon and K9 arrive in the New Earth systems consisting of over 30 planets where the colonies are under attack from savage werewolf like humanoids called the Werelox. They are attacking colonies and anyone bitten by them turn into Werelox just like Earth werewolves. Our heroes met space truckers Joe Bean and Babe Roth, the Doctor discovers what is really behind the Werelox attacks. After all, they are not the most intelligent of beings but they storm and overrun the colonies with a savagery rarely seen. When the Doctor meets Brill, a Werelox trooper that is not exactly enamoured with his masters, the Doctor discovers that the Werelox armies are paving the way for the real invaders, the Daleks.

That blew my mind as a kid and still does as I own both the British and the American versions of the this comic storyline to this day. Werewolves and Daleks in the one story was and still is a brilliant concept. Lunar light to trigger the werewolf transformation is always a fun thing in a sci-fi environment. By pure coincidence I have been rewatching all the old Wolfman movies and their crossovers at the time so it’s little wonder the Dogs of Doom holds a place dear in my heart. The comic covers say it all, from the Doctor turning into a Werelox to him, Brill and K9 being chased by a red Dalek down a corridor filled with caged monsters, they are just breathtaking and highly evocative to any potential writer. It never fails to remind us that ‘anything goes’ in a story, especially Doctor Who.

A Time Lord werewolf hybrid is as mad as they come but raises the bigger question of how lethal or useful would that be to the Daleks who are master geneticists? A werewolf that could regenerate and its cells distributed to Daleks is a scary thought. The sequence where the Doctor fights against the werewolf part of him in the Tardis to create a cure is tense and exciting especially as we learn he has been away for three months. Add to that we get K9 battling Daleks which we were denied on the television show and it is a fan’s dream come true.

Once again the Daleks have a nefarious plan behind their release of the Werelox hordes to weaken the galaxy. They are forever plotting and scheming and this time is no different. The Doctor learns the Daleks are fed up losing due to inferior numbers so intend to sterilise the entire system so it can be turned into a Dalek breeding ground. To that end they intend to enhance themselves and have searched the galaxy to find the most suitable animals with traits they can use to improve themselves. Showing the Doctor their alien zoo they boast about their plans. The monstrous Xxarqon has a capacity for slyness unmatched while the Tentrax is more cruel than any Dalek could ever display. The Glarosus has an insane hatred for everything and when they are distilled into each new Dalek they will be unstoppable. However when K9 joins the battle several cages are damaged allowing the monsters to escape but they attack the Daleks for experimenting on them so cruelly allowing the Doctor and Brill to escape. .

Meanwhile Mrs Roth and Joe Bean launch a suicide attack on the Dalek ship. They will smash into it at full speed but the Doctor’s companion Sharon has stowed away on board. Mrs Roth’s kids beg her to turn back but she is doing it for them and everyone else rather than let the Daleks destroy everything they have built. The Daleks have to be stopped at any cost. But Joe forces Sharon and Mrs Roth into a life pod and ejects them into space. He cannot let her leave her kids. He will do it alone.

Overwhelmed by the Dalek forces, the Doctor, Brill and K9 use the Tardis to get into the heart of the Dalek ship, the Room of Many Centuries. Brill reveals the Daleks brought the Werelox from the past to spearhead their campaign confirming the Doctor’s suspicion that the sealed room conceals time travel equipment. The Doctor is able to time lock the Daleks, the Werelox and all the aliens in a single moment in time. The ship vanishes into the singularity meaning Joe survives. Brill joins the security forces of the new colony leaving the Doctor, Sharon and K9 to take off to their next advdenture.

I love everything about this story and it captures the fourth Doctor perfectly. This is a big scale story that could really only have been done properly with today’s technology. The coloured version brings it to life in a way that makes it television standard. We have multiple coloured Daleks including the good old red one.

If you haven’t read it; go get a copy. The Doctor has faced werewolves, vampires, fish men, mummies and zombies in his time and the Dogs of Doom is one of the best of them all.

Forgotten Heroes: Dominic Purcell’s John Doe

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

photo copyright 20th century Fox

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

Long before he was Dracula in Blade Trinity, Lincoln Burrows in Prison Break, fire starter Mick in Legends of Tomorrow, Dominic Purcell portrayed a fascinating and endearing character known only as John Doe.

It ran for one season and like many other good shows was cut off in its prime and left us dangling forever on an unresolved cliffhanger. It ran for twenty one episodes and has a cult status to this day. All the episodes can be viewed on YouTube but I saw it on the television in 2003. As well as Purcell, it starred William Forsythe as Doe’s friend and bar owner Digger, John Marshall Jones as Detective Frank Hayes, Jayne Brook as Frank’s boss Jamie Avery and Sprague Grayden as Karen Kowalski.

The pilot episode lays it out. John wakes up naked on an island off the coast of Seattle. He falls into the ocean and is rescued by a fishing boat. It is a beautifully shot opening in black and white and colour. We quickly learn that John can only see the world in black and white, can speak any language and knows everything…except the most basic things like his name, where he comes from and does he like spicy food. He doesn’t know what his fashion sense is but knows there are 363 dimples on a golf ball. All he can do is speculate and then discovers he can predict every at a race track using mathematics and physics. He quickly runs up a small fortune buying a car and renting an apartment so he can have a base of sorts to figure out his past by running a think tank. He has a Celtic design branded on his chest but he has no idea what it is or how he got it.

Every episode opening after that used the voiceover that said,

I woke up in an island off the coast of Seattle. I didn’t know how I got there….or who I was. But I did seem to know everything else. There were things about me I didn’t understand…..the brand, being colorblind and extreme claustrophobia. And while my gifts provided answers for others, I still search for my own. My name is John Doe.

Drawn to a bar, he plays Funny Valentine on a piano earning him a regular slot from Digger. However the case of a kidnapped child sends him to the police when he sees her photo in colour. Figuring it has to be significant he convinces Frank to let him help against the advice of his boss Jamie Avery. When John is able to tell him details that no one knows Frank thinks he is a clairvoyant but accepts his help. What seems to be a random kidnap case turns out to be a father dying of cancer, who faked his death two years previously, spending some time with his daughter before he dies. But in a final twist John hears a woman calling and waving to him from a ferry boat calling him Tommy. And he can see her in colour. He learns that her name is Theresa. This ability would come in handy to steer him in the right direction many times.

But John would not just use his abilities to help break cases, he would become a strong loyal friend to Frank, Jamie and Digger. He would help Frank through his divorce and appeal for access to his children. He and Digger would go undercover to a mental help unit after a friend of Digger’s is murdered. Digger it seems is hiding more than a few secrets. When Karen was murdered, John discovers that there is an organisation tracking him which is also tied to Digger’s murdered friend. They discover the unit is being used as a front to run illegal experiments on patients to test their psychic abilities as a group for remote viewing. Rescuing a remote viewer Michael who is blind they learn about what is going on. But Phoenix burn the hospital down and Michael is seemingly killed.

They would create a fake life for him to keep him off track where his parent’s best friends have all the answers he needs. But when he finds it is all a lie, John realises that he is somehow central to their operations.

But they are not the only ones that John’s abilities have caught the attention of . When he finds out a man who was fished naked out of the water like him, John goes to the hospital to see him. The man seems to recognise him. John them meets a doctor that offers to show him the answers to what happened to him. John goes along with it but finds himself on a boat where the doctor is harvesting organs for the black market. A woman and her kid also arrive on his doorstep claiming that he fathered her child via a sperm bank. It teases John into wanting answers even more as he warms to the idea of being a father. But it ends up that it is a think tank of geniuses, one of which is really the boy’s father.

In the two part episode The Mourner, John does an appeal on an Unsolved Mysteries type show asking if anyone knows him or help him trace any family. However the serial killer the Mourner becomes obsessed with him. He sets him challenges and his abilities like using his colourblindness against him or a gas bomb will detonate in a club. He pushes John to the limits with every test. The Mourner is his deadliest foe putting him in situations where the information overload brings too many variables throwing John into making the wrong decisions. The Mourner was played by X Files monster Eugene Tombs himself Doug Hutchison. The only way to defeat him and save the kidnapped Avery was for John to fake his own death to lure him out.

Karen is kidnapped and they end up back on the island John woke up on, Horseshoe Island. He also finds Theresa’s burnt driver’s license as they try to cover up their tracks. It makes him wake up to the fact that he is dealing with dangerous people whom he discovers is called the Phoenix Group. They are killing people just so they can perfect the remote viewing experiments as a weapon. Everyone connected to him is now a target and the fact they know all about him is unsettling as there could be family members he isn’t even aware of in danger too. John is taken by a branch of the NSA who want to take down Phoenix.

They have two prominent operatives, a female Yellow Teeth and the Trenchcoat man who communicates via sign language especially with their mysterious leader, Stocking Cap. They murder Karen leaving John in a pit of despair and rage. Yellow Teeth’s dying words are that Phoenix will watch him night and day until they find the staff. Then they will come for him so he can complete his destiny and theirs because he is the Phoenix.

In the season finale they get their chance to strike at Phoenix. John is suffering from painful psychic visions which is Michael and Theresa projecting into his mind to help locate them. Together with the discovery of a partially corroded man’s body, it leads John to the new Phoenix base. They capture the Trenchcoat Man who they think is deaf but is in fact fully verbal. He and John face off. John, the NSA, Frank, Avery and the police force storm the cannery where they are hiding.

Trenchcoat Man arrives too late to stop them but murders Michael before Stocking Man takes Theresa. The two remote viewers have just given him the last piece of the puzzle; a drawing of the Vatican. John pursues them and manages to save her while Stocking Man escapes up a ladder. However his cap falls off and John finds himself staring into the face of the mysterious head of the Phoenix Group; Digger.

So another great cliffhanger of a cancelled series. However this time I have a reveal of what was to come in the second season. It would be revealed that the Phoenix Group believed that John was the new Messiah. They were in fact protecting him from a second group out to kill him. The staff would have been the staff of Moses. Stocking Man would have had plastic surgery to look like Digger presumably to give John a face he trusts when he completed his destiny. His Celtic scar would just be the result of a boating accident and the reason he knew everything was that he died, ascended into the plane of existence where everything is known before reviving back on Earth.

The run of episodes were very strong with John seeking answers to his past. The show was favourably received getting 72% on Rotten tomatoes. Critics like the performances, especially Dominic Purcell, enjoying the slick production and strong stories. So when Fox cancelled it due to “dwindling ratings” it was a loss. If ever there was an example of the stupidity of network bosses who are not really in touch with their audiences then John Doe was it.