Time Warriors Shorts: Varran vs Racists

By and copyright of Owen Quinn 2023

Dracula Drive

“Y’all don’t look like you’re from round here. You from the big city?” grunted a raspy voice seemingly out of nowhere.

Turning on the dirt track, Jacke and Varran blinked at the overweight man in his dirty denim dungarees and murky bulging white T-shirt cradling a powerful looking black hunting rifle curiously. His thick brown leather boots with their scuffed surface, laced with mud, spoke of previous treks into the dense whispering forests surrounding them against a backtrack chirp of multiple birds that serenaded them. Standing here on this dirt track in the middle of Shaw’s Forest, made this sudden encounter feel a bit uncomfortable to him. He threw a ‘ready for action’ reassuring glance towards the equally cautious Jacke before Varran took in the men standing before them.

The man’s thickening jowls were showing minute white whiskers amid his red veined flaky skin on his weathered features, He was sweating despite the relative cool June morning. It was hard to judge what the day’s weather would bring from the stalemate sky.

In a second Varran’s sapphire eyes had scanned the man and his two comrades flanking him and Jacke in seconds. He and Jacke were dressed in jeans and shirts suitable for the time, Varran’s loose fitting jacket was tan and Jacke’s was dark navy, to suit the time and climate yet here they were being confronted for no reason by this trio of hunters who quite frankly could do with being put through a spin cycle in a washing machine or a sheep dip; twice. It was as if they carried the dirt of the woods in their probably alcohol tainted blood judging by the smell of their collective breaths. Varran nodded over-enthusiastically, rocking on the balls of his feet bringing a strange glance from Jacke.

“Yes, indeed Huckleberry, very astute,” he gushed. “We just had to see your lovely state for ourselves. Place names like Velvet Street and Zion make it sound like a cross between delicious, succulent, mouth watering cake and mystery central. Sure, how could we resist?” He smiled disarmingly.

“My name ain’t Huckleberry mister.”

The man’s reply was quietly threatening, his grey eyes fixed on this strange white man with the piercing sapphire eyes.   

“Apologies,” Varran offered in a humble tone looking at the burly man to his left, “You must be Huckleberry or is it Buck? Willy?”

The burly man with the thinning ginger hair tilted his head but said nothing. Varran pulled a face and pointed to the last man. “Huck or Buck?”

The last man, his scarred hands tightly cradling a sleek black hunting rifle in his hands with dirty ginger nails fell for the goading. He stared coldly at the stranger that had seemingly come out of nowhere invading their territory. Jacke couldn’t help but star at the large mole on his cheek. It has gross hair sprouting it like spider legs.

“It’s Bill, Jeff and Colton mister,” he said. “Are you deliberately trying to disrespect the three of us? Think we’re hillbillies? You shouldn’t be walking here cause you’re scaring the animals away.”

With that he shifted his footing casting a look at Jacke who held his stare. It disguised very little and spoke volumes.

“Are we trespassing on your land or is it something else bothering you? Why don’t you join us later for a pie. He’s the sucker for red velvet cake,” she smiled gesturing at Varran, Her suggestion seemed to make them uncomfortable. It suddenly struck her velvet cake may not have been invented yet.

“You need to be careful round these parts, “ Colton said, his creased T-shirt not quite as white as Jacke first thought upon seeing him.

“Why’s that?” Varran asked innocently brushing away a fly of some sort. He was selfishly enjoying their discomfort.

“You got to know your place round here or trouble will follow,” Bill said, his scarred hands tightening on his weapon. Jeff nodded.

“Maybe this is not the place for you especially your companion.”

Varran’s head snapped from the three men to Jacke and back again, eyes wide with innocent query.

“But we heard you have lovely food here in town,” he said gesturing with his hands. “Even if your blood sugars and cholesterol are in serious danger.” He forced a laugh that died in his throat as the three men stared at him totally unimpressed or amused or obviously not seeking to engage with either him or Jacke.

“It seems that these strangers won’t be dear friends we haven’t met yet,” Jacke remarked with a sigh. “Pity. We could use directions.”

Bill’s mouth tightened as he glared at Jacke who held his gaze.

“You’re black but then again I heard your kind aren’t that smart,” he chimed earning grins from his two friends.

With a startled gasp of surprise, Varran stepped back whirling round to look Jacke straight in the face.

“You’re black?” he gasped as if it her colour was a sudden revelation he had been blind to all this time.

Jacke put her hand to her face, her mouth agape. Gently Varran closed it for her.

“I never knew!” she feinted.

“When did it happen?” Varran asked worriedly.

Biting her lower lip in thought and putting her chin in her fingers as she stroked her chin and raised her eyes to the heavens as if looking to God himself for answers.

“I think when I was born but don’t quote me on that,” she replied.

“Oh I won’t but it demands further study,” Varran sympathised. “Did I ever tell you my secret; that I am colour blind?”

Putting her hands on her hips Jacke again feinted mock surprise. “Two revelations in one morning; guys, every day’s a learning day.”

The trio of hunters looked at Jacke and Varran uncertainly. How could the white haired one fail to notice the girl’s skin colour. Those weird eyes of his looked like they could see through anything.  Maybe these two had just escaped from somewhere or been locked in a barn for years and just recently got out. Whatever the story, they held on to their weapons a bit tighter than usual.

“What blind?” Bill asked, his brow furrowed with curiosity.

Whirling round, Varran stared at them nodding furiously while at the same time reaching into his inside pocket whipping out his hand unit.

Suddenly alarmed at the sight of the strange slim metallic device in the hands of what be an unstable person, Colton and Jeff cocked their weapons pointing them at Varran.

“Colour blindness, first discovered in 1794 by John Dalton. He and his brother suffered from it,” he explained quickly. “If only you knew your history as well as you know hunting,” There was a sudden wistful melancholy in his voice.

“Are you government mister? I ain’t ever seen a machine like that before,” Bill demanded taking a step back and jerking his rifle meaningfully at them.

Holding his hands up disarmingly so they could see his device clearly, the Xereban cocked his head with a reassuring grin. Oh gents, in seventy years or so you’d think this was a mere cellphone but you’d be sadly mistaken, he thought.

“No, I’m an inventor and this device helps me see what colour people are.” He paused. “I just wave it around your head like this.”

I can’t believe he’s doing the actions, Jacke thought, trying not to smile at her friend’s antics. She’d have to speak to Tyran and Michael; the older he’s getting the more of an extravert he’s becoming. But then again, when you don’t know if you’re immortal or not, you probably are inclined to take more risks. Is that behaviour a sort of attempt to see if he can push someone to kill him so the riddle could be answered once and for all or a subconscious reaction to recent events when he suffered a mini breakdown? I really need to have a chat with him and put my training to use, she thought. No point being a qualified psychologist if you accept sudden changes in a person without questioning it. 

“Do you want to hold it?” Varran pressed to the cautious trio holding it out to tense Bill then the others. None of them took up his offer.

“We’re white just like you Mister. Any fool can see that. We can eat wherever we like; we can do what we like,” Jeff spat watching Varran with every hunter instinct he had, his finger on the trigger.

“Let me show you!”

Varran moved almost like a dancer running the hand unit over Bill’s head first, the unit buzzing lightly. He would then studiously check the hand unit, move his fingers across the settings then check Bill again making small noises in his throat. Bill pulled back slightly as if an irritating hornet was ready to sting him.

With a sudden weary sigh, Varran frowned and turned the hand unit off. He licked his lips and eyed Bill like a naughty child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“I’m sorry Huckle- I mean Bill but I’m afraid that I have unsettling news for you.”

His face was set as steel, his voice hard as if trying to control his emotions.

“What?” demanded Bill.

“You’re not white,” Varran deadpanned.

“The hell I ain’t. I’m as white as you, you damned idiot!”

Shaking his head slowly and giving an indignant Bill a worried look, Varran sighed again holding up the hand unit for him to see. Bill saw an image of his face with weird veiny lines over his skin.

“Normal sunlight prevents you from seeing it but you’re yellow. I’m sorry but your liver is sick. There’s a build up of bilirubin in your blood. Bilirubin not so good for good old reliable Billy. It’s a sure solid indicator of heavy drinking. Have you thought of water only with milk; I would be if I were you as of now; isn’t life ironic at times?”

Jeff and Colton were both scanned next as Bill stood dumbfounded. They were clearly nervous at hearing Bill’s news, eyeing him to see if they could catch a tinge of his yellow skin. The mottled sunlight trickling through the trees obviously was shading it very well from them.

Varran walked round in a small circle, really milking their mutual anxiety much to Jacke’s amusement.

“Jeff, you’re blue, not sky blue, closer to lips blue, can’t breathe blue. Your cholesterol levels are high and arteries are finding it hard to pump blood and oxygen round your body.” He grabbed his right hand tightly and lifted it up for inspection. Noting the yellow and brown discolouring round the fingers, Varran made a triumphant little noise.

“You need to stop smoking now. Go for a run in the mornings or you’ll be dead in no time at all. One fine morning the sun will be shining brightly promising a brand new day and you’ll be clutching your arm as your heart explodes. Nasty way to go don’t you think?”

“No! My darlin’ Myrtle will be devastated!” he cried genuine anguish in his voice.

“Your wife?”

“No, my goat!”

“Say nothing,” Jacke muttered under her breath as Varran struggled with that piece of information.

He turned to Colton who was trembling at this point. His blue eyes were wide with a silent pleading.

“I don’t smoke or drink mister so I’m fine right? I’m not going to die like these two right?” His voice elevated in pitch like a choirboy in the hope that Varran would smile and tell him he was fine. “Right mister?”

“Off-white diarrhoea for you. It has been seeping through your pores for a long time now. You really need to drink more water and tons of fruit and porridge to really clean out that colon and bowels Colton. Otherwise you’ll spend your days in the outhouse 24/7 with neither a magazine or enough toilet roll to save you.”

Jacke grimaced. “Trust me, you really don’t want a burning ring as your last memory.”

Shocked by the startling news, the three hunters looked at each other. This was just going to be a squirrel hunt but now it had turned into ‘you have a short future’ day. Bill thought to himself he was going to give Doc Burton a mouthful when he saw him next, which was going to be sooner than planned. He wanted to see his three sons grow and teach them to carry on the carpentry business he ran.

Colton could see his wife, Karen, nag him when he told her. Seeing a dark future of nagging wife, he decided he’d change without telling her and become this hero in her eyes. She wouldn’t have anything to complain about with an Adonis for a husband. He pressed his left mob and swore to take this stranger’s advice. Now driven, he would give Karen the babies she wanted and he’d been avoiding. Memories of his dark childhood had haunted him for years but kept a wall between the two of them. No, things change as of today. 

“Maybe you guys can exercise together for encouragement and form a running club; go swimming in the creeks and lakes about here. You’ll soon see the benefits,” Jacke added.

Bill stared at his hands.

“But I’m as white as you are mister,” he said disbelievingly.

With a puzzled look at Jacke, Varran shook his head in disagreement.

“Sorry Bill but I’m off duck egg white, a sort of mottled grey in fact.”

“So we have black, duck egg grey, yellow, brown and blue,” Jacke mused. “Wow, every day really is a learning day.”

She jerked her head at Varran to take this opportunity to leave. They set off down the trail leaving the three hunters bewildered and with a lot to think about. They were holding their hands up to the sky to see the real colour of their skin as described by Varran.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Jacke muttered chuckling to herself.

Varran laughed too. “I hate racists.”

Suddenly he stopped and turned on his heel wincing as he did so. The boots he had worn for this trip to the 1930s, they were rubbing into the back of his heel.

“Excuse me sirs!” he called out to the trio of hunters. “Are we heading the right way to get to Dracula Drive? We’re looking for the Melonheads.”

Also available from Owen Quinn

The Time Warriors First Footsteps

The Time warriors The Voalox Horror

The Time Warriors Red Water

The Time Warriors Tempest

The Time Warriors Venom

The Time Warriors The Moon Once More & Other Storiesink this was a cellphone

The Time Warriors Spooklight & The Skull

The Time Warriors The Belbridge Mystery

Th Time Warriors: Only the Dead Get Off at Kymlinge & Other Stories

Zombie Blues

Zombie Blues 2

Zombie Blues 3

Get your copies today at www.amazon.co.uk        

                      About the author

Owen Quinn is a resident of Northern Ireland and has been a life long science fiction and horror fan. His desire to write for his favourite show Doctor Who at the age of fifteen led to the birth of the Time warriors series. He is the creator of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues books.

He is a regular attendee at conventions across the country and infamously fell and broke his shoulder at his first Walker Stalker convention. He still managed to keep his photo ops with both Chandler Riggs and Danai Gurira.

He is a keen photographer also has a secret desire to be the first Irish Doctor Who.                           

Toys To Write To: Boba Fett In Disguise Figure

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Watch any child play with toys and you are witnessing a brand new world being created right before you that only they are privy to. Every single story begins behind the wide eyes of a mesmerised child.

People often ask what inspires me to come up with sci fi or horror scenarios and aliens. I’ve written an article here on that very subject of inspiration and ideas. Read it by clicking on the link here https://timewarriors.co.uk/2023/04/03/to-sit-down-and-write-get-off-your-arse/ However there is one thing I actually forgot about and yet have surrounded myself with them all my life and will enjoy to the day I die.

As a child you are forever creating stories with your tpys and when I was young it was the Star Wars toys especially that gave us our new Star Wars adventures and spin offs along with the comic strip in Star Wars Weekly. I had a Tardis and a Star Trek transporter that could send my imagination anywhere and to any time. So when my Dad built a rockery in our garden it was the site for many new Star Wars stories and with the plethora of figures released, anything could happen and crossovers between shows were common long before it became popular. Luke Skywalker travelled in the Tardis and R2 was beamed to a lost dimension of Transformers characters. So in this series I will look at the toys that blew me away as a kid and helped spin new worlds in my head. Every single story begins behind the wide eyes of a mesmerised child.

So what is it about this particular piece that sends the imagination into overdrive? Well War of the Bounty Hunters was a comic book event that I and many others collected. It was set between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and saw the frozen Han Solo in carbonite being the prize sought after by not only a plethora of bounty hunters but Darth Vader and the Crimson Hand.

But the one thing that set fans alight was the debut of a new version of Boba Fett. Titled Boba Fett in disguise, it saw an all black armour retaining the Mandolorian look. Fett used it so no one would figure it was him when he went undercover to locate Solo. And it’s arrival in print saw a surge in demand for an action figure variant. This did not happen in the 3.75 range but in the Black Series in a special presentation box with art from the comic books. The closest we got to a 3.75 version was a mock up on a comic book cover.

So what is it about this figure that would send any writer’s imagination spinning in new directions? For me, it was a reminder that every once in a while your characters should do something unexpected. We are so used to how iconic Fett looks and at this stage very aware of all the different versions of Mando armour there is out there but never before have we seen an all black version. It immediately propels you to think Batman, symbiote Spiderman and heroes and villains using dark outfits to keep the city safe or try to destroy it. In this story Fett is up against dark underground forces and even darker villains, so this alone adds new layers to his character.

While it is important that the cores of your characters stay the same, this black armoured Fett invoked me to wonder how far I could push one of my characters into a position where it brings out something new but still maintains their core values. If you are doing a series involving the same characters it is important to expand upon your own mythology. Believe me when I tell you that a mythology builds much quicker than you think and to fully indulge in it. Bringing in new elements is vital to your characters such as new villians and monsters to fight and new worlds to plunge them into. Reveal hiiden secrets or past guilts in order to keep them real. No one is perfect and everyone has hang ups. Doing this solidifies your characters within their journey and hopefully the audience will be engaged enough to stay with them on that journey.

Another thing it reminded to do is never be afriad to go too big in a story. If it’s the potential end of the world make the threat real. Never be afriad to destroy entire countries if you have to or leave scars on the world that will remain because a reset button is too easy to use. Just as events have consequences with your characters leaving some scars emotionally or physically then so too should the world bear those scars. The Avengers Civil War is a good example of this following the events of Age of Ultron. The world and characters are changed forever. How deep those scars will be is up to you as the writer.

Seeing this figure sit on my shelf always reminds me to ask the most important question a writer can ask themselves when faced with a blank sheet of paper…what if?

Quest Lion and Lily children’s book out now!

Presented by Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Stephen Carey has released his first children’s book which is on sale now on Amazon. It’s important kids read as much as possible and here’s the perfect opportunity.

It contains 3 fun stories, and if you know someone who’d like a copy, you can order it from Amazon here 🙂

Quest Lion and Lilly is a fun and exciting adventure book for kids! Our main heroes, Leon Mane and Lilly Lilypad, take on all sorts of quirky quests in a world full of unusual characters! Action, adventure, and some fun wordplay, this is the perfect fantasy book for kids of seven and up! “No quest too big, no quest too small! Give us a quest, we complete them all!”

Forgotten Villains: The Visitors

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright WB

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.

Everybody has a best friend. Everybody has friends. Sometimes that friendship is short-lived, turning negative over a wrong word or action. Many friendships survive a long time despite time and distance. But it is painful when a friendship turns sour but that is life. However, imagine if that friendship turned murderous because you never saw your friend’s real face. You never caught what their intentions really were. We were swept up in the blaze of a new friendship, were they stand by you, helping you out and taking nothing in return. Then suddenly a core of bad people turn on them. Your first instinct is to defend them because how could these people be so horrible to someone that has been nothing but nice to you personally.

Well, that’s what happens when the Visitors came to Earth in their giant spaceships offering us the hand of peace. They feely offered the entire human race cures for diseases yet incurable, medicines and resources that would enhance our lives and society. We were in awe of seeing these ships in the sky and the friendly inhabitants. We had watched sci-fi movies for years telling us an alien arrival would be a bad thing because they weren’t to be trusted. They had a hidden agenda which would not go in our favour. On the other hand we had ET and Star trek where we live in harmony with many alien species. So here they were with their laser pistols and shuttles. They wore sunglasses due to our sunlight and spoke in funny voices which we as a species connected with; something as harmless as Spock having pointed ears. It was just one of those things that reminded us they were from another world. The scientific community inevitably fell over themselves to get to nosy aboard the ships to see what technology that they could adapt or use for the human race. We were so in awe of first contact we couldn’t see the insidious patterns and behaviors that were emerging all around us. It’s our fault because we don’t want to see any flaws in our new best friends. The fault must lie within ourselves. And that shortcoming opened the door to hell for the human race.

The outward human appearance was in fact a mask beautifully constructed to hide the reptilian features beneath. Suddenly respected scientists are now wanted for treason and sabotage against the Visitors. Whole families disappear only to be returned behaving differently. The Visitors play the victim well; innocent benefactors from beyond the stars that have nothing to gain from us but so much to give to a primitive society. So if they were so affronted then why did they not just return to their home world, flipping the bird to humanity? Instead they stay. Wider eyes would have seen that their ships are positioned over major cities. There’s nothing to stop them dropping a bomb, especially on the likes of Washington or Moscow. Their symbols are reminiscent of the swastika and they quickly establish the Visitor Youth Programme just as the Nazis did. These human kids were to inform on their own kind and the Visitors would then take them into custody for questioning.

It was thanks to the likes of Mike Donovan that the Visitor agenda finally came to light. Donovan learns that these lizards eat birds and rodents when he sneaks through the ventilation shafts of the mothership. The Visitors can spit venom blinding their opponent. This ability was almost never used after that but the most shocking discovery is yet to come. Donovan discovers humans kept in pods in huge cathedral like chambers. The Visitors have come for two things; water and food. The problem is that food source is us. Such is the extent of the Visitor infiltration that they along with their human collaborators including Donovan’s mother control the media. News of entire towns disappearing is never reported on. Even proof positive of the lizards unmasked is swept under the carpet. Processing plants are false set-ups for the draining of our planet’s resources.

Diana is the leader of the Visitors, a beautiful woman on the outside but old and calculating like a reptile who will stop at nothing to subjugate the human race. However a resistance has sprung up which Donovan is quickly sucked into. Diana is forever in a power struggle with her own officers who are not convinced about her methods. She uses a mind manipulator to brainwash people, something Julie Parrish experiences first hand. As the resistance against the visitors, with the likes of mercenaries (Ham Tyler played by Michael Ironside) and scientists (Julie Parrish) joining forces, they come up with a Red Dust which could drive the Visitors off. Brian, who is charge of the Youth Programme, demonstrates just how little regard the Visitors hold humanity in. He seduces teenager Robin Maxwell to see if he can get her pregnant and if so what that child will look like. However he pays the price when Robin tests the Red Dust on him killing him instantly. We are nothing but something to be eaten and experimented upon in their eyes.

In one of the most memorable television moments ever, Robin gives birth to a set of twins. One is a human baby that flicks out a lizard tonguee while the other is talked about to this day. From Robin’s open stomach emerges a full lizard humanoid baby. Those that were not there at the time will not appreciate the impact of that scene on audiences, shooting V to a global phenomenon.

The lizard child dies but the human one grows faster than normal. We will later learn that the Star Child named Elizabeth was prophesied to join both species together as one. A priest delivers her to Diana thinking he is doing the right thing and is killed for his troubles. As the Red Dust floods the atmosphere and Visitors choke to death, Diana sets the self destruct on the mothership. She will leave no one alive if she cannot have the Earth. But Elizabeth has powers that save the day and for now the Earth is safe. Well, at, least until the public wanted more so the Red Dust turned out to be a short term solution. Prisoner Diana was free agent to cause havoc.

Not all Visitors are bad. We have Willy, the vegetarian Visitor, who joins the resistance and cannot quite master the human language. Willy would survive right through to the end of the short lived television series when V went weekly. Elizabeth mutates into a grown woman and finds a love interest in new cast member Kyle. Kyle is estranged from his father, Nathan Bates, who runs a neutral city where Visitors and humans can meet freely. Donovan became close friends with Martin who controlled the Visitor resistance, the Fifth column. They saved Donovan many times and sabotages Diana at every turn. Martin is murdered but his twin brother Philip turns up blaming Donovan for his brother’s death but soon learns the truth. Diana retrieves Donovan’s son, Sean, from the food chambers and begins brainwashing him to hate his father. Not all the Visitors agree with the stripping of Earth and in the final episode of the television series the Leader, the most holy of the Visitors, orders a ceasefire and comes to Earth to negotiate peace. But we will never know what happens as the series ended on a cliffhanger with Elizabeth and stowaway Kyle on the Leader’s ship which Diana has rigged to explode.

The television show expanded the Visitors culture but made it mundane in the process. The Visitors acted just like the characters of the big soaps like Dallas and Dynasty with the bitching and female power plays. Lydia and Diana were more like Krystle and Alexis. We had arranged weddings, murder of the groom and Visitor saunas. This was a chance to really create an unique civilization for the Visitors but it fell into cliché and duels to the death. This diminished them to nonsensical characters leaving the resistance as real people. The Visitors even came up with a faster way to process humans with the creation of a walk through microwave saving prep time and the gutting and slicing. It was clear that the show’s budget was cut to hell and main characters were killed off without a fanfare like Elijah. Ham and Robin simply walked out a door never to be seen again. The resistance fell to a handful of people and the final episode was never even filmed, which would have resolved the cliffhanger and set up the second series.

Book Excerpt: World Through A Window Zombie

By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Cover by Conaire McMullan

The zombie rollercoaster continues as the undead continue to give us their view of being a rotting corpse under the control of Mother Nature.
This time round we meet Comic Book zombie and the zombie who thinks the ending of Toy Story 3 is sacrilege. What happens when a zombie’s faith in God is rocked to its very foundation and why is the spirit of Elvis Presley still going strong in the vast
roaming herds?
A zombie tells why the covid pandemic was much preferable to being undead and why having a club foot makes you feel normal as a zombie. Plus more zombie characters than you can shake a stick at.

Available on Amazon now!

World Through a Window Zombie

I knew all about the midlife crisis that men go through no matter how much they deny it.

 Unlike the female menopause which according to my cow of a former wife allows a woman to get away with stabbing her husband in the middle of the night just for snoring too loudly, the male version seems to strike at any age. In fact it has different impacts on different men. I’ve known men get struck down with it at thirty and suddenly they are married to the thorn girlfriend they were about to dump. It isn’t long before a divorce comes through as if the veil drops and they suddenly see in the cold light of day the mistake they made while in the throes of the crisis.

For me it was a sudden smack in the face as I fretted over all the things I haven’t done which totally eclipsed everything that I had done in life. A near death experience didn’t help at all but it lasted for a little over a week. Other men buy new cars; cheat with a younger woman or man or go under the knife to pull that sagging skin back, all in an effort to keep their youth. Maybe it’s some sort of inbuilt thing in our genetics but whatever it is it gets us all at some point.

So here I am at fifty two years of age in relatively good health, survivor of the midlife crisis. I would like to think I still have a lot of years ahead of me. I’m married with two teenage kids and in a job I enjoy with a house that seems to be in a constant cloud of redecoration.

Most of my friends are scattered around the country due to jobs etc so I don’t have any of them close at hand for a drink or any type of social life. Social media is our way of keeping in touch unless we arrange a meet up or there’s a convention or show of some sort on. My wife recently graduated from university and is in a new career which seems to take up most of her time and the kids live in their rooms ironically with their friends’ network also over social media. They will be going to further education in a heartbeat leaving their old folks behind until of course their coppers run dry. With a bit more free time, I indulged in some of my old hobbies which due to time and finances had fallen to the wayside a bit.

I recently dug out my old collection of Star Wars figures and vehicles from when I was a kid and began filling in the missing gaps. Jesus I remember when these figures only cost me ninety nine pence now some of these buggers are charging a fortune for them. Hindsight’s a truly wonderful thing so thankfully it was only a matter of replacing the missing figures and ships occasionally picking up a little extra that caught my fancy. At my age I have a disposable income which we never had when me and the wife got together and were putting our home together. It was years of red bill city and debt collectors from Provident. Nothing we did seemed to put us above water and with two young kids it was hard. I think that was part of the reason the missus went back to school at her age so we wouldn’t fall back into that plus it was to satisfy her own needs to do something worthwhile that she could be proud of.  I don’t have anything to really complain about and yet…

I can’t believe I am saying this. I don’t know why.

At fifty two, I have never felt so lonely in all my life.

It began when the Covid restrictions were imposed and the whole country went into lockdown. Life changed for all of us as pubs, gyms, barbers, comic shops were all shut down to prevent the spread of the disease. Even clothes shops were shut as not considered essential. Yet the supermarkets were still allowed to sell their clothes ranges. With so many people browsing through so many garments, surely there was a source of contamination right there no matter how many blue rolls and hand and trolley sanitiser they provided at the front doors. Social distancing and bubbles quickly became common place with threats of fines and police raids for anyone breaching the law or holding house parties. Those vulnerable people including me due to asthma were restricted by government shielding. This meant that we could not leave the house bar medical reasons or a walk for exercise reasons. Millions were trapped in their own homes as the dark cloud of the virus turned the whole world into something we had never imagined. We could not see our families and social media became a lifeline for all of us. The old and the infirm were trapped in their homes unable to see grandchildren or loved ones which were often the highlight of their days. I remember one girl telling me she couldn’t see her grandmother for the entire three months but when shielding was eased the first place she went to was her grandmother’s house to check on her. Well granny had put on her coat, grabbed her handbag and was out before anyone knew where she was. Talk about a hare out of a greyhound trap. There was nothing wrong with her hips that day.

Toys To Write To: Han Solo In Carbonite Figure

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Watch any child play with toys and you are witnessing a brand new world being created right before you that only they are privy to. Every single story begins behind the wide eyes of a mesmerised child.

People often ask what inspires me to come up with sci fi or horror scenarios and aliens. I’ve written an article here on that very subject of inspiration and ideas. Read it by clicking on the link here https://timewarriors.co.uk/2023/04/03/to-sit-down-and-write-get-off-your-arse/ However there is one thing I actually forgot about and yet have surrounded myself with them all my life and will enjoy to the day I die.

As a child you are forever creating stories with your tpys and when I was young it was the Star Wars toys especially that gave us our new Star Wars adventures and spin offs along with the comic strip in Star Wars Weekly. I had a Tardis and a Star Trek transporter that could send my imagination anywhere and to any time. So when my Dad built a rockery in our garden it was the site for many new Star Wars adventures and with the plethora of figures released anything could happen and crossovers between shows were common long before it became popular. Luke Skywalker travelled in the Tardis and R2 was beamed to a lost dimension of Transformers characters. So in this series I will look at the toys that blew me away as a kid and helped spin new worlds in my head. Every single story begins behind the wide eyes of a mesmerised child.

I think this one is really self explanatory for any writer that knows the history of this figure. There isn’t a hero or anti hero alive that hasn’t been put through the ringer in one way or another.

Jeopardy.

For heroes to rise they must fall as far and as deep as you want them to within the confines of your story. Danger and threat should always be nipping at their heels in one form or another. By breaking a good guy you force them to learn about themselves and find a strength they never knew they had before. This could be the element they need to defeat the bad guys and save the day. That fall should leave scars they will carry the rest of their lives and can be referenced now and again in the future.

For the Empire Strikes Back our heroes are kicked in the balls big time. Luke loses a hand and gains a father. Leia and Chewbacca are tortured and C3PO is blown apart. Han suffers the most as Vader uses him as an experiment to test the effectiveness of carbonite in capturing Luke. He is then given to bounty hunter Boba Fett for delivery to Jabba the Hutt. Lando loses Cloud City only to redeem himself to save Han. Vader and the Emperor are stronger than ever and the rebel alliance itself is threatened with destruction.

Wounded and broken is perfect for a cliffhanger if you are writing a two or three part book. A good cliffhanger leaves the reader’s imagination reeling as they try to figure out how this will all resolve itself. Click here to read all about what makes a great cliffhanger https://timewarriors.co.uk/2023/08/13/the-2nd-greatest-cliffhanger-in-star-trek-azati-prime/

Audiences are always rooting for the good guy to win so by dropping them in seemingly mortal danger is a hook that will bring the readers back again. Remember you have got to instill within your characters something your readers can relate to even in a sci fi setting. Whether it be the loss of someone close or being bullied or surviving some trauma, give the reader something to say, “That happened to me” or “I know how they feel.” This will make the impact even deeper when tragedy strikes.

In the Time Warriors Michael was bullied and has lost his parents. He isn’t part of a nuclear family just like many other kids. Jacke is a survivor of child abuse and uses it to do good in the world. In Homecoming her grandmother dies which most of us can identify with. Varran has lost his loved ones when his world died and is withdrawn and introverted at first. Tyran has a sibling Robert that does nothing but cause stress for their parents so they are in conflict. The human touch even in an alien body allows an emotional attachment that is necessary.

When Han was frozen in carbonite we saw and felt the impact on his friends. Silence fell over cinemas as we waited with bated breath to see if he had survived.

In one of the stories from The Time Warriors First Footsteps, Experiment 4, a minor character is killed but you know his full backstory before this happens. A couple of people said they cried when he died given the tragedy he had suffered all his life and that’s what you want to hear. Equally they can laugh out loud or hold their breath depending on what they are reading but bringing a hero to their knees tells you that you are on the right track and doing it right.

Phantasmagoria Magazine Issue 23 Out Now

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

While I’m recovering from my amputation please buy a copy of the latest edition of the Phantasmagoria Magazine out now on Amazon featuring an article by me!

Kong @ 90! Featuring Bob Eggleton, Stephen Jones, Rachel Knightley, Tim Lebbon, Joe Pasquale, Darren Shan and John Wagner!

Also: Exclusive fiction, artwork, articles, reviews and more!

Plus: Win a copy of Kong: An Original Screenplay!

Forgotten Villains: Supernatural’s God aka Chuck

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright CW

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.

Little did we know that in season 4 of Supernatural with the episode The Monster At The End Of This Book, that we were actually meeting the most powerful person in the universe. We meet Chuck, the writer of a range of Supernatural books detailing the lives of Dean and Sam. They aren’t bestsellers but have a cult following much like the show. Chuck has no idea how he is able to accurately write down Sam and Dean’s inner thoughts (never mind lives) but as we find out, this is the start of a game where Dean and Sam are puppets. Castiel (Mischa Collins) arrives and reveals Chuck is in fact a prophet of The Lord. His books are in fact the Bible of the Winchesters. While Chuck reappears in a couple of episodes, it isn’t until season eleven that Chuck is revealed to be God himself. The persona of Chuck was merely a coat to allow him to appear in the open and enjoy what his creation had to offer.

He first reveals himself to Metatron, who was his original scribe in heaven. Chuck is having trouble writing his memoirs and needs Metatron’s critical eye. Meanwhile Sam and Dean are fighting God’s sister Amara who is hunting for her brother. He locked her away millennia ago but Sam and Dean accidentally released her and now she wants revenge. She has unleashed a fog on Earth that kills anyone it comes into contact with by infecting them and turning them into killers. It is a no win situation for the Winchesters despite Amara and Dean’s mutual attraction. As the world falls apart, it suddenly reverts itself. Dean has an amulet that alerts him to God’s presence by lighting up. To their surprise that they find Chuck standing waiting for them. Metatron’s blunt home truths have made God wake up to himself and his creations.

“The Real Ghostbusters” – Pictured (L-R) Rob Benedict as Chuck and Jared Padalecki as Sam in SUPERNATURAL on The CW. Photo: David Gray/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

He is afraid of his sister and needs the Winchesters help. Dean has some questions first like why God went away and doesn’t answer the prayers of all the people who turn to him. His reply makes perfect sense. He used to interfere but it only made things worse and humans didn’t evolve so the only answer was to step aside and let them find their own way. He was holding humanity back from their own potential. As for not answering prayers; all those miracles that happened to the Winchesters, like being transported away when Lucifer rose, and all the times they, or Castiel, came back to life completely out of the blue on multiple occasions, were Chuck stepping in. He has been dipping in and out of the lives of the Winchesters because they are his favourite people. Despite assembling allies to take Amara down and Dean turning himself into a soul bomb, God and Amara discover that all they need to do is spend some time together and be a family which prevents another apocalypse.

While having God on your side is a massive bonus, having the wrath of God up your ass is not a pleasant experience.

While Chuck has been enjoying time with his sister, Sam and Dean battle Lucifer again. He has taken the body of the President and gotten a human pregnant. In the climax to season 12 she gave birth to a Nephilim, Jack. As part human and part archangel Dean sees Jack as a threat to be killed but Sam doesn’t. Jack is a child and with their guidance he could be a force for good. He has so many of his mother’s traits and Castiel is his surrogate father. Chuck finds out about Jack and is afraid of him wanting him gone. By the end of season fourteen we discover everything the Winchesters have been through was caused by Chuck for his own amusement. He wants Jack dead and manipulates the situation by having Jack kill Mary Winchester, brought back from the dead as a gift from Amara for Dean. Sam brings Dean back from the edge as he aims a gun at Jack who wants to die for accidentally killing one of the few people he loved and had been a mother figure to him. Chuck is urging Dean on while Sam and Castiel dissuade him. But it is Chuck’s own words that stop Dean. Chuck wants the story to go one way but the boys keep changing it through free will. Dean turns on Chuck refusing to be his puppet as he realises they have been subjects in his game all along. Their chances of normal lives were destroyed by Chuck to suit his view of how the story should end. He murders Jack and says of their defiance, he will end it all. He will bring about what the Winchesters have fought for all this time. It ends with the apocalypse rising. It is the end of the world because Chuck is so disappointed in humanity’s failures so he will wipe the slate clean. Castiel, Sam and Dean are helpless as they are surrounded by a herd of ravenous zombies as hell is ripped open releasing all the monsters they put down there. Chuck doesn’t care what he has released upon the world as he begins to destroy all the alternate Earths he has created.

He had hoped the Winchesters would be the hope he wanted for humanity but humanity itself has let him down with all the bad they do. But Chuck is drunk with power and blind to his own faults. By writing the Winchesters lives, he has held them back despite all the good they have done and all the lives they have saved. It is Chuck they must face in their final season and this fight seems there most hopeless yet. Not even Amara can help them as she is absorbed by Chuck and Jack’s soul bomb fails to stop him. Death brought Jack back from the Empty to fight God but Death actually intended to defeat God and restore balance. Sadly this meant everyone the Winchesters saved and all those who came back from the dead would die including Sam and Dean themselves. But God has been one step ahead all along and knows what they are planning. Everything they try fails and they lose Castiel along the way. To punish them he wipes everyone off the face of the Earth bar Sam, Dean and Jack. He does leave a dog for Dean but takes it away just to punish Dean. He stands gloating at Dean’s dismay as the dog dissolves. Chuck is insane and enjoying the chance to remake the universe all because he is disappointed. This time there would be no sister or archangel sons to hold him back. Such is Chuck’s arrogance he fails to see that his once favourite creations that he allegedly knows so well as much smarter than he is and capable of delivering that surprise he longs for.

The Winchesters recruit archangel Michael who is bonded with their brother Adam while Chuck resurrects Lucifer to take the Book of Death from the WInchesters before they can perform the ritual that will allow them to destroy Chuck once and fior all. God doesn’t know that Jack has been turned into a battery, absorbing power from everything he passes. When he is in the battle between Lucifer and Michael he is able to absorb their energy making him powerful enough to stop God. The spell was all a lie created by Sam and Dean to bring together the feuding angels. Chuck tracks them to the location where the supposed spell is to be performed, thanks to Michael betraying them. Chuck callously murders his son for siding with the Winchesters; proving he has no emotional ties to anything and all that matters now is his vision of perfection.

Chuck decides rather than snap his fingers and wipe out the Winchesters, he will engage in an old fashioned beat down. He beats both of them to a pulp but they keep coming back forcing Chuck to expel more energy. He cannot understand why they are standing defiant against him until they reveal what they have done. Chuck turns and sees Jack behind him. He cannot click Jack out of existence and is horrified when Jack grabs his head, now energised by all the God power he absorbed in the fight. Jack absorbs all of God’s power reducing him to a mere human. Now Chuck will age and die like a puny human he was intent on wiping out. They depart as Chuck lies on the ground grovelling. Now Jack is God he restores the world to normal.

In the end the only way to defeat an all powerful megalomaniac was to use his own arrogance against him. Chuck has been spinning stories for years so how ironic is it that the Winchesters sin one of their own to bring God down. It is a triumph for them because not only have they saved the planet and all reality but they have taken back control of their own lives. Now they are free to write their own stories.

Sadly as we find out in the final episode, someone’s story will end prematurely but at least they die on their terms and not on Chucks. Jack is the new God and will be a vast improvement on the last. Jack will see the world through human eyes and watch the future unfold free from the tyranny of Chuck. Threshold’s Rob Benedict was the perfect God as he could switch from light-hearted to terrifying in a second. The twist that a simple pulp writer held the world in his hand came totally from left field. The execution was beautiful and exciting to watch as the character of God was taken in directions no one had ever tried before. The Winchesters went out in style facing a worthy foe.

Book Excerpt: Zombie Blues 3 How My Parents Died Zombie

By and copyright Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Cover by Conaire McMullan

The zombie rollercoaster continues as the undead continue to give us their view of being a rotting corpse under the control of Mother Nature.
This time round we meet Comic Book zombie and the zombie who thinks the ending of Toy Story 3 is sacrilege. What happens when a zombie’s faith in God is rocked to its very foundation and why is the spirit of Elvis Presley still going strong in the vast
roaming herds?
A zombie tells why the covid pandemic was much preferable to being undead and why having a club foot makes you feel normal as a zombie. Plus more zombie characters than you can shake a stick at.

Available on Amazon now!

I’m not going to tell you anything about me at all; not my name, country or even where I live. This tale affects each and everyone of us at some point having lost our parents/parent figures like our 47 year old orphan friend you met earlier.

We all think bout the cold touch of death at some point especially as the years gather and the shadow of mortality falls over us. Sometimes we see it if we get sick enough to be hospitalised or through the death of a friend or family member. Youth keeps such scary thoughts at bay for most of us. Eventually they slither up behind us coldly tapping our spines making us shiver enough to claim someone has walked over our graves.

For me that moment was when my parents died; there is no one that doesn’t think about how many years they have left before them when that happens. They wonder will they live longer than their late father or will fate take them younger? If I start training in a gym and change my eating habits to a more healthy scope will that help me live longer? What habits did my Dad have that made him die when he did? Or maybe he didn’t do anything and his time was simply up? Are we born with an internal countdown that slowly measures our time here on Earth until our bodies give up? Or is it how we live that determines how we die? I’ve heard of footballers dropping dead on the football pitch only for a later autopsy to reveal a previously unknown heart condition or for no reason that can be found. People all over the world die at different ages daily including kids, babies and teenagers so there is no given gauge on how to live longer but these deaths are shocking nonetheless. To sit and think of the scale of how many people die every hour and every minute would drive you inane and add to your frenzy so it’s best not to dwell on it.

As I said my Dad died. He died of brain cancer which of course terrifies you straight away. All sorts of thoughts run though your head during the wake and after the funeral has died down. I was drawn to the internet to find out what causes cancer and what I could do to prevent it. I wasn’t a smoker but my poor eating habits married to a meagre exercise programme could be radically different. But like conspiracy theories the internet can be a muddling repository of a confused mish mash of information from all kinds of ‘reliable’ sources. Sadly in this culture most people suck this stuff in. The internet has turned their collective tiny brains to mush and spawned a delusional world of self diagnosing headers.

There are so many pills and supplements out there; exercise programmes and promises from picture perfect specimens of the human race to make you foolishly part with your money in order to live longer. People will spend hours at the gym to stay healthy while others simply go for brisk walks to keep the cardio pumping. I began to explore foods that could contribute to cancer and what diets could benefit us as a species. However I am not going vegan for no one. I like my meat way too much for that path. If I died chewing a succulent steak rather than a celery stick, I’d die happy.

But it’s this battle to cheat death a little bit longer that drives us in those times of grief to dumb ideas and part foolishly with our cash.

My Dad suffered until he took his last breath to the point it was a relief for him to pass on. He had lost his dignity to this disease, diminishing him in ways I could never have fathomed. We should all be allowed to die with some degree of dignity.  

Such things spark conversations between us about how we would like to die. Most of us want a death full of meaning making some great sacrifice and going out like a hero. Unfortunately unless you’re a super hero or living the life of a super spy there is no chance of that. The other popular way to go is to die in your sleep and not even know. People make the joke that if they suddenly woke up dead they’d be mortified but that statement does hold a grain of truth to it. Add to that you’d ideally want to die in your bed peacefully surrounded by your loved ones. I say loved ones because you don’t have to be blood to be family in my house.