Tales of Mystery
For a complete short story based on the novel, click here!
Think “Supernatural” meets “MIB” over martinis and has a demented love child. That’s TOMAWAC. It’s the story of Maestro, a time-traveling witch from the 24th century living in our time who may be immortal, although he claims “immortal” is just another way to say no one’s figured out a way to kill him … yet. He assembles a team of misfits to investigate all forms of the paranormal. “It’s a Steven Spielberg,” the local police captain likes to tell him, “but I don’t know if it’s Close Encounters or Poltergeist.”
Morrison “Spook” James. He died in 1961, but never stopped walking around and shooting off his mouth, as his brother Ross always says. Redefining the word “zombie,” Spook may be more than 70, but he’s trapped in the body of a seventeen-year-old and tries to be a a hip, metro smart-aleck. Over the years, he and Ross hunted everything from ghosts to vampires … but Ross is only human and he’s seventy, too. Spook doesn’t want to watch him die so he joins Maestro’s team as the expert on all things supernatural. He hopes to learn more about magic from Maestro … and, truth be told, he’s mostly kinda lonely. A slightly older version of Spook exists in the “Tango with a Twist” series.
Elizabeth Turner, an officer with the Galactic Police but masquerading as an FBI agent. She’s a shapeshifter hiding out on Earth as part of the galactic Witness Protection Program while she waits to give testimony against the infamous Alpaca Consortium. She decides to work with Maestro out of pure boredom and is the team’s expert on extra-terrestrials. (Don’t call them aliens around her!)
For a short story that includes Elizabeth Turner, click on the photo above!
Reginald “Muscle” Sato has two jobs: kill evil creatures and beat people up. He’s on the team for when they meet up with something Turner’s tech and Spook’s magic can’t handle. Hey … sometimes you just need to shoot the shit out of the bad guy, right? He’s gotta be almost thirty, to look at him … but there’s a quiet innocence, too. And don’t try to take his hat!
A more unusual team would be hard to find … but there’s a sinister reason Maestro has chosen these particular individuals. There are mysteries even deeper than those the team is bound to investigate.
Here’s a brief sample!
Maestro was a rock star!
Maestro dispatched an apepi as it slithered toward one of the myriad bystanders too stupid to realize they should run in terror. As his banishing sword sliced the giant snake in two, the slimy creature exploded into a ball of smoke. One handy thing about most demons: when banished, they popped back to their personal hell without leaving behind an enormous mess. Made it easier to deal with the local constabulary. Also meant they occasionally hunted down their killer for revenge.
Speaking of which, Maestro spun and skewered one of Azidahaka’s three heads, pulled the blade free, and sliced off the other two, sending her back to a very, very hot place.
How had the kid managed to create a dimensional portal this bloody powerful? Maestro knew the “kid” had been born in the 1940s, but nearly everyone held in magical stasis at a particular age maintained the maturity of that stage. Spook would be seventeen forever.
Assuming he learned to watch his own back and managed to survive the night.
Maestro sliced through a ghast behind Spook, who spun quickly enough to see it evaporate with a high-pitched scream. He glanced at Maestro in embarrassment at letting down his guard and threw out the first thing that came to mind to cover his humiliation. “And you just happened to have a couple of banishing swords in the back of your Mystery Machine?”
His surface thoughts were easier to read than stereo instructions.
“And you don’t?” Maestro raised an eyebrow.
Behind Spook, a ghoul chased a middle-aged woman in a housecoat. Maestro intoned a spell. The ghoul evaporated.
Spook stared like a groupie. “Your eyes. . .”
Maestro grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around just in time for his rising blade to slice a ghost in half. “Yes, yes, yes,” Maestro muttered. “They glow purple when I cast that spell. It’s very cool. Now you need to get centered and close that portal.”
