C.A. DAYHOFF: New Short Story Ebook in the Works

C.A. DAYHOFF: New Short Story Ebook in the Works: To give me a break on my novel The Kraken Effect I'm working on a short story for a couple of weeks.... First Rough Draft Prolog...

New Short Story Ebook in the Works

To give me a break on my novel The Kraken Effect
I'm working on a short story for a couple of weeks....

First Rough Draft Prologue:

"The sun beat down on his worn out body, too many miles, too many days without a decent meal had lead him to this point, laying in a ditch next to a worn old road that lead to the next town of broken down farms, saloons full of prostitutes and wanna-be gunslingers looking to make a name for himself.
Yea, Ben thought, I'm tired of all this shit, maybe I'll just lay here until I become vulture food.
But wasn't in the cards, A promise was all he had left in this world, and from it he sucked in a breath only to have it turn into a bloody cough
Ben felt for blood, and found a pool of it lay in the middle of his chest, warm..wet, Ben knew he had to move before they came back to finish the job.
Rolling over he fought to get up on his hands and knee's but the strength wasn't there, falling back to his side, he gasped as the pain shot through him like a hot knife.
The pain subsided enough for him to Look around and he saw a small farm across the road.
Fighting the pain, Ben rolled to his stomach and started to crawl.
The trail of blood was easy enough to find in the daylight but it was close to midnight as the four Horsemen rode up to the ditch
"Goddammit Smithy, you said he was dead" Jake said
"He was I swear it, this must not be the spot"
"How in the hell can it not be? Look around, this is the spot"
"I can't see shit" Jake said
"You two shut the hell up" Big John said,
"He has to be around here somewhere, he was too shot up to get too far" Big John said
"Well we aren't going to find anything in this dark" Smithy said
"And we are not letting him get away again" Big John bellowed
"Big John, we all agree and we will get this low life snake, But it's too dark and like you said how far can he get all shot up"
"Frank we can't let him get away" Big John said
"Look Big John, We'll leave Smithy here since he can;t tell alive person from a dead one and Jake his buddy can stay too" Frank said
"Ah com'mon  I don't want to stay out here, I want to go back to the Saloon"
Big John walked up on Smithy "Shut the hell up smithy, this is all your fault"
Jake took a couple of steps back, just in case lead started flying 
Smithy looked up to the man standing in front of him...He had to be at least a foot taller and 100lbs heavier and Smithy felt the blood flow from his face and he was glad no one could see him shaking in the dark.
"Ok Big John, I want to kill that bastard for sure this time"
"Ok let's git and we'll be back at first light, Don't let him get away or your going to be in worse shape than him" Frank said"

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The Gates Of Hell

Needed Beta Readers

Needed Beta Readers for my new up and coming Mystery Thriller Series
Signup on this page....

"The Kraken Effect"
Blurb:
"Ex-Spec Ops Operatives....Sam and Bull are being hunted by a ruthless contract killer as they try to stay alive long enough to find out  what is happening

Looking for Beta Readers.....

I'm looking for Beta readers...
That's someone who will have a part in the development, of the Story-Plot-Structure of my new book "The Kraken Effect"
What you get..Is to read my lastest book and watch it change from the input of the Beta readers..
Your name listed as a Beta Reader if you want..
You will receive a new Chapter every two weeks....I don't want to intrude on your life to much:) But if you like reading as much as I do, this will be a relaxed pace.
Ok.... First off  everything I send with be in a rough draft, totally open to change with your input,,, Even the Cover!!
I will start the process on Oct 1st.....So sign up on the form to the right of my web page....
No spam...and your info is private...I'm not a spammer just a part-time author :)

Your first assignment if you choose to accept it....Which cover or idea's??
 

  Or

Or

Or ??????
 

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The Perfect Mexico Beach Town for Lazy Days in the Sun

The Perfect Mexico Beach Town for Lazy Days in the Sun
By Jason Holland

As I slowly swam forward I could just make out a dark shape on the seabed about 40 feet ahead. Getting closer, a green sea turtle came into focus. It's shell alone was five feet long. It paid me no attention, intent on munching sea grass until it got its fill, taking periodic breaks to gracefully rise to the surface and take a breath.

I'm in Akumal, a small seaside community on Mexico's Riviera Maya between the cosmopolitan resort town of Playa del Carmen and the up-and-coming bohemian hangout of Tulum. Akumal is a small collection of condos, hotels, shops, and restaurants. It's low-key and much quieter than the hotspots of Cancun or Playa to the north, although it can get popular with tourists on weekends.

The beach has fine white sand and clear blue water—perfect for diving and snorkeling, a popular activity here. The reef just off shore keeps the water flat and calm. Akumal Bay is a protected area to maintain habitat for the feeding and nesting sea turtles.

A guided tour is not necessary, despite what the touts tell you. You can bring your own equipment or rent fins and a snorkel ($10 for the set) from the many dive shops on the beach. Another $5 gets you a lifejacket—a good idea as you'll be doing a lot of paddling and it's nice to float when you need a break. Plus, you get full use of the shop's shower and bathroom facilities. To snorkel you just enter the water and swim out about 50 feet.

On my recent trip I spotted five turtles, as well as stingrays and eagle rays gliding through the water. There was also a barracuda. They're a bit spooky if you've never seen one. They kind of float there, almost still. But then you turn your head to tell your companion what you've spotted and turn back...and they're nowhere in sight. If you haven't had your fill of snorkeling yet, you can head to Half Moon Bay just to the north, which is known for having more tropical fish on the reefs closer to shore.

When you're done with snorkeling there are plenty of places to relax in the shade of the palms lining the beach. Just make sure you're not directly below any coconuts, which occasionally fall. For a bite to eat, there's a restaurant offering up fish tacos, ceviche, and other seafood, as well as burgers and such. You get a view of the ocean, and you feel a cool breeze as you sip your margarita. For $12 for an entrée and two drinks, it's a good deal.

One last quick tip. Be sure to park at the lot outside the main entrance to the beach area (you'll know what I mean when you see it). Inside the entrance they charge $1.20 per hour and in the outside lot it's $3 for the whole day. And trust me, you will want to stay long enough to make it worth it. It's about five minutes extra walk—no problem.

Living right on the beach in Akumal is not cheap. A one-bedroom condo on the sand at Half Moon Bay is listed at $250,000. Most units are even more expensive. But head inland a bit, and you can get new, two-bedroom condos in luxury developments for just over $200,000. You're still a quick drive to the bays, other nearby beaches, and Tulum and the expat hotspot of Playa del Carmen is only about a 30-minute drive.

Free for limited time...."Perception 6- The Gate"

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Scrivener and How I use it... Rough Drafting it...

A Work In Progress :THe KraKen Effect" Chapter One

ROUGH DRAFT.............................................................................................

Russian Outpost "Vostok Station" Antarctica  2014

A cold wind blew off the Antarctic plateau, My ears burned in the bitter cold as the crew and I stood around a  hole in the ice. Cracked ice fell off the cable as they reeled the last few feet out of the hole. Three workers in sterile suits leaned over to grab the object, a Stainless Steel cylinder the length of about 40 inches, hanging at the end of the cable. Using a hammer to knock away the ice and a heat gun to thaw parts of the assembly I was able to get a better look at it.
 “Did it working properly Sam?” asked “Winger” the winch operator.
As I wiped the frost from my goggles I said “Yea it looks like it closed like it was suppose too”
I  was a microbial ecologist from Idaho. Not much call for that degree so after being in the Navy Seals/Spec Ops and the roaming world for 15 years, it was nice to be a civilian again and put my degree to good use.
I was just getting over a loss of  extra baggage as I liked to call it trying hard to hide the hurt of losing the only thing in life that had kept me from going insane on some of the missions we had been on.
Six months on the Ice did a lot to relationships and mine didn’t make it.
That news came in a Dear John email (”chinged” like in cha-ching) one afternoon after a long day of drilling holes in the ice, just trying to solve the mysteries of  Antarctica’s frozen lakes  “A Day On The Lake” as I liked to look at it.
That email was enough to me into a spiraling mess which only brought a frustrated down time that  left me exhausted with nerve's as raw as an open wound.
So for months I had my “monk-on” a Antarctica Slang word for being in a pissed off mood..
Even if I knew in the back of my mind it was over before I had left the last time, it’s just something you still can’t get use to…Rejection.
I can’t forget the look on her face when I told her I was thinking about taking this job and I would be gone at least 6 months.
And than we fought and finally I was able to convince her this was a perfect way to jump start my  microbial ecologist career again.

Her emails kept coming slower and slower until the day came that I got “that email” I’ve met someone else and we are in love.. Your stuff is in a storage unit.
Your Dad has the key and your Camaro
Oh and I’m taking L’Sammy
Goodbye…
Shit! I’m now a member of the “Chinged Club”  and Dog-less.. Yea naming our dog L’Sammy was her way of telling me I was always in the dog house…

Holding the cylinder, I could feel the slushing of the water- ice mix inside, it was evident that it had filled and closed as it was designed to do before its long journey to the surface.
In the science community what lay inside the cylinder was like pure gold.
The water and ice came from one of the most isolated bodies of water on Earth…Lake Vostok which laid 1200 meters at shallowest depth which laid directly under The Russian sub station “Vostok Station”.
At first, Lake Vostok was thought to have been deeper and maybe it was at it’s deepest but not at its edge which was only recently found by a Government research satellites that TETON QM Inc. Some how got okay’d to use for this project.
With the ice melting from the climate cycling it had  made it more and  more accessible than in the past.

Vostok Station mysteriously opened up to the western world with a invitation to work together to explore Vostok Lake which was a miracle in it’s self.
The largest  sub-glacial Lake known and bigger than Lake Mead
With the way the Russians ran a tight security perimeter it only fueled more of the conspiracy theories.
 So for the time being, I was grateful that I didn’t have to deal with the News Crews or other people. 
After reading up on the Russian Scientist problems with contamination and equipment failure with the first samples from Vostok Lake it’s no wonder they have open the doors to the west, they should of done it sooner I thought.

We were under the direction of Washington DC and Dr. Jordan Era,who worked for Teton QM
Dr. Jordan Era had spent 15 years figuring out how to devise ways for safe sampling procedures so that they would not contaminate the fragile ecosystem of the sub-glacial lake and/or  contaminate ours.
Dr. Era had been on several failed Antarctica Lake drilling's, and had been sure this was the lucky one.
 After handing him the cylinder I thought, “we will soon know whether he was right or not”.

Dr. Era held the cylinder gently in his gloved hands like he was holding a baby.  He looked at it for a moment before hefting it to his shoulder and headed back to the makeshift portable Bio-Lab they had built so it could be kept close to the drilling site.
Hopefully this would be the last sample,  they were running out of time as in Antarctica Winter that was set to start in a couple of weeks with the “vernal equinox” because no one wants to be out on the Ice in minus seventy degrees Fahrenheit..

Touching my mic I said, “Let’s call it a day, wrap it up”
  John Billings aka: “Bull”  started bellowing orders to the team, not that he needed too, every man on the team knew his job inside out but John was always able to pry just a little more out of them.
John had served with me through Afghanistan and more and that is why I wanted him on my team, I trusted him.
He did his job, never complaining. Now with other men it was a different story..they had a name for John…”Bullshit” you never knew what they would call him next.. But in the end they all knew he was the one to stand behind in case of trouble and the respect showed.
Entering the mud room they shook off the crawlies as the locals called frozen snow that blew harder across  Antarctica then down.
Dr. Francis James  handing them hot cups of coffee after getting their Parkas off and had knocked off the last of the snow that was buried in every creaves.
“How was the fishing?” she asked
I liked how she called freezing your balls off standing around a hole in the ice all day “fishing”.
Like we were going to pull up a prehistoric Salmon or something.
“Yea I think we finally got a good sample, didn’t the Doc tell you?”
“Sam you know better than that, he has locked himself up in that Bio-Lab and won’t answer his phone”
“Ahh the old keep you in the dark routine” I said,
“No I think it’s like he doesn’t like to face people with bad news”
“Francis I think this is different this time, it’s a good sample”
Dr. James face turned red when she noticed Bull staring at them both
“Bull what are you staring at?”
Grinning he said “When did you two get on a first name bases”
Realizing my mistake, I felt my face flush.
“Bull it’s not how it looks” I said
“It never is” Bull turned and headed down the hall laughing.
“Funny guy” I said,
Dr. James turned giving me that big beautiful smile, “Sam it’s OK we didn’t break any rules, we are grown ups”
Breaking into a smile “Yea your right, why hide it?”
Taking a sip of my coffee I tried to hide a smile as her mouth dropped open "Well I didn't mean that we should just blurt it out over the intercom"
My phone rang saving me from losing his mouth full of coffee.
Holding up my hand, I listen intently for a moment, finally saying,  "Yea we'll be right there"
"Dr. Era has just called a meeting, and it sounds urgent".
"Oh here we go Mister bad news will try to break it to us easy, there goes another Christmas in warm Florida"
"Your not from Florida Francis"
"Can't you let a girl dream"
Walking into the conference room, I was awestruck at who all was there..
Francis said “Florida here I come”
Searching for a couple of chairs, I noticed even the Russian Crew was here and everyone down to the mess hall cooks.
“Yea this must be good news”
Finding a couple of chairs in the back next to Bull, Francis and I sat down.
Bull leaned over to me and asked “Does this mean what I think it means?”
“I’m guessing it does, no other reason to call this big of a meeting with bad news”
Bull sighed with relief “Good I’m starting to run out of available women”
I shook my head “I bet, you slut”
Bull grinned at me “I am what I am”
My cell vibrated in my pocket, stopping my come back.
Reading the text I leaned into Francis  “We have a private meeting with Dr. Era after this horse and pony show”.

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