Spice
up your summer reading with an intelligent and impressive dark thriller!
The
Book of Paul is
a new dark thriller by author Richard Long. The book has received great reviews
and is currently on sale for 99 cents on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes! Download your
copy now!
In addition, Richard is doing a HUGE
giveaway, including a $100 gift certificate to Amazon, signed copies of his book,
a Tarot Reading, and more!
Giveaway:
Tweet, like, follow, share, blog and
grab a copy of his book to enter.
The
Book of Paul is
the first of seven volumes in a sweeping mythological narrative tracing the
mystical connections between Hermes Trismegistus in ancient Egypt, Sophia, the
female counterpart of Christ, and the Celtic druids of Clan Kelly.
About The Book of Paul
“Never alive…and never dead…”
In the rubble-strewn wasteland of
Alphabet City, a squalid tenement conceals a treasure “beyond all imagining”—an
immaculately preserved, fifth century codex. The sole repository of ancient
Hermetic lore, it contains the authentic alchemical rituals for transforming
thought into substance, transmuting matter at will…and attaining eternal life.
When a lusty, East Village tattoo artist
has a torrid encounter with a battle-hardened loner, they are overwhelmed by
the intensity of their feelings. Rose and Martin soon discover they are
unwitting pawns on opposing sides of a battle that has shaped the course of
human history. At the center of the conflict is Paul, the villainous
overlord of an underground feudal society, who guards the book’s occult secrets
in preparation for the fulfillment of an apocalyptic prophecy.
The action is relentless as Martin and
Rose fight to escape Paul’s clutches and Martin’s destiny as the chosen
recipient of Paul’s sinister legacy. Science and magic, mythology and
technology converge in a monumental battle where the stakes couldn’t be higher:
control of the ultimate power in the universe—the Maelstrom.
Sneak Peek:
Pretty
Birds were chirping,
dogs were barking. It was a bright, bright beautiful
cool crisp day in the neighborhood. Junkies were up with their crackhead cousins, prowling the lanes of Tompkins Square Park, looking for a not quite empty vial to suck on or maybe a john so they could buy one. The gentry joggers were up already, circling the park in huffy, puffy laps, their pounding hoofbeats echoing the clang-whirl-shwoop-crunch of the mob- owned garbage trucks.
cool crisp day in the neighborhood. Junkies were up with their crackhead cousins, prowling the lanes of Tompkins Square Park, looking for a not quite empty vial to suck on or maybe a john so they could buy one. The gentry joggers were up already, circling the park in huffy, puffy laps, their pounding hoofbeats echoing the clang-whirl-shwoop-crunch of the mob- owned garbage trucks.
Ho-hum. Rose slowly
fingered the ring on her nipple and wondered why she couldn’t get back to
sleep. The garbage trucks were the obvious reason. The booms and bangs down
below sounded like artillery fire. Still, she usually slept like a pile of
cannonballs at Gettysburg. When she went down, she stayed down. At least until
noon. She worked nights at the tat- too parlor, happily infecting all the
ink-crazed kids with HIV and hepatitis C (if they were lucky). She didn’t
realize she was doing that. She’d been following the sterilization techniques
handed down by her creepy boss. Unfortunately, they weren’t any more effective
than the jar of clear blue liquid that the barbershop used to sterilize combs.
In the time she’d been working, she had already been responsible for the
possibly fatal infection of eleven pierced and tattooed members of the “tribal
community.”
So Rose, blissfully
unaware of her crimes against humanity, lay wide awake at nine-fifteen in the
morning, twisting and turning her nipple ring. She wasn’t sure why she was
awake, but now that she was, she knew what she wanted to do about it. As she
rubbed the two silver rings that held her clit hostage, she wondered again why
she was up so early and why she felt so…horny? Hungry? What?
She knocked off a quick
O like she was popping a wine cork, light and charming but nothing special.
That’s when she realized it wasn’t a sex thing. So what was it?
She gripped the rings on both nipples and stretched them upward as far as she could, dragging her small twin mounds along like a pair of stub- born mules. She pulled and pulled until her nipples ached, then held the rings at the Maximum Stretching Point, feeling the pain course through her, then settle back down again. She didn’t back off even a millimeter, just took some deep slow breaths for a moment or two and tried to pull them out even farther.
She gripped the rings on both nipples and stretched them upward as far as she could, dragging her small twin mounds along like a pair of stub- born mules. She pulled and pulled until her nipples ached, then held the rings at the Maximum Stretching Point, feeling the pain course through her, then settle back down again. She didn’t back off even a millimeter, just took some deep slow breaths for a moment or two and tried to pull them out even farther.
She thought of a dancer
doing hamstring stretches, and she figured the technique and level of pain must
be fairly equivalent. After slowly yanking them out again, she thought, I’m in
training, and started giggling so hard she had to let go. Thwack. Her tiny tits
and sore, swollen nipples bounced back against her chest like a pair of hard
rubber balls. Boing. Giggle. Ho- hum. Hmmm. So it wasn’t the sex and it wasn’t
the pain or the sexpain or the painsex. So what was it? She looked out the
window at the blue morn- ing sky and the green bushy trees and the squirrel
tightrope-walking on the fire escape and the cling-clang of the garbage truck
and…
She was happy. She was
unreasonably, deliriously happy! But why? The “why” brought a tiny frown to her
tiny face, but the “happy” was so much stronger that it brushed away the “why”
with a single gust of cool fresh air that came blowing through her curtains.
She threw the covers
off the bed and let the breeze wash over her until her skin was a textured
roadmap of goose bumps, pits, posts, rings and colored ink. She breathed and
the ink breathed with her. She sat on the edge of the bed and jingled like
Donner and Blitzen. She smiled and she looked out the window and knew something
good was coming her way.
Rose stood up and
stretched and took a deep breath and yawned and padded into the hallway where
her yoga mat was waiting. She spent the next half hour going through her
routine, a rare carryover of the training and discipline that dominated her
preadolescent life as a competitive gym- nast. She could do headstands and
handstands and down facing dogs like nobody’s business. In fact, it took some fairly
severe contortions for her to even break a sweat, but by the final lotus pose,
a slippery sheen of perspiration coated her arms and chest.
She sniffed her
armpits, bowed to the altar at the end of the hall and lit three candles. The
candles were nestled between a variety of crystals and minerals, some so
brightly colored she often wondered how something that vibrant and wondrous
could actually be growing like a plant on the walls of caves in total darkness.
Or like her amethyst geode, actually growing inside a rock, like an egg
hatching a million-year-old purple crystal baby. Her favorite gemstone was one
her mom gave her, a brilliant red crystal she called a bloodstone. Its smooth,
squarish surface was easily five inches across and three inches thick, one of
the largest of its kind, she’d been told. She rubbed it for good luck like she
did almost every day, then pranced into the bathroom for a very long, very hot
shower.
She hummed a happy song
while she soaped and scrubbed and rubbed and shaved and shaved and shaved. She
wasn’t sure what the song was or where she’d heard it before. After three more
humming choruses, it suddenly came to her and she could see Natalie Wood
dancing in that dress shop, looking in the mirror while the other girls scolded
her for being so silly. Rose looked in her defogging shower mirror, liked what
she saw and sang out right along with them, “I feel pretty…oh, so pretty…”
The reviews are in!
The
Book of Paul
has been well received by reviewers who enjoy dark thrillers.
“Intelligent, self-aware, and often
amusing, while hitting all the markers for sadistic, salacious, and scary.
Written in short cinematic bursts from multiple viewpoints, The Book of Paul…weaves
in and out of the realm of alchemy, mythology, and ancient arcana. No ordinary
writer of horror…Richard Long is doubtless going to build a large and loyal fan
base composed of people just like him: literate folks with a bizarre sense of
humor who prefer salsa to sugar, red meat to broccoli, and a bucket of blood to
a bath filled with rose petals. They will be waiting for the next installment.”
-- ForeWord Clarion Reviews «««««
"Totally absorbing! The Book of
Paul is moving, profound, funny, terrifying and never lets you go. The prose is
swift and sharp...at times, even poetic. Masterful storytelling. Hats
off!!"
--Henry Bean, writer/director of THE
BELIEVER
“Elegantly written and original, Richard
Long's The Book of Paul…is so suspenseful and entertaining that I could
not it put down, reading late into the night, wondering what the next chapter
would bring. I strongly recommend it. The reader will not be disappointed.”
-- James H. Cone author of THE CROSS
AND THE LYNCHING TREE
“I was greatly impressed. It is
extremely hard, if not impossible, to put down.”
--Michael Rips, Author
of PASQUALE’S NOSE
"Twisted, outrageous, relentless --
you won't want to miss The Book of Paul."
--Greg Lichtenberg, author
of PLAYING CATCH WITH MY MOTHER
About the author
Richard Long writes to exorcize the
demons of his past and manifest the dreams of his future.
He started life in the school of hard
knocks and worked to create his own rags to riches story of troubled kid turned
successful advertising executive.
His debut novel, The Book of Paul,
is a dark, thrilling, and psychologically rich supernatural horror/thriller
that blends mythology, science and mystery into a page-turning addiction.
Richard is also writing a YA novel, The
Dream Palace, primarily so that his children could read his books.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife, two
amazing children and their wicked black cat, Merlin.
Connect
with Richard on the following links:
26 comments:
Absolutely amazing read!! I can't wait for the rest of the series!!!
Holy CR*P! I cannot believe I'm going to dive into this. This stuff is what scares me the most. I LOVE being scared when I read and that rarely EVER happens, but from the Amazon reviews I have a feeling this one is FINALLY going to do the job right. WOW!! Thank you both for this amazing op. I hope leaving the comment here is the correct spot?
melissaiorio42 @gmail.com
All the best, Much success and Happy or scare the hell outta you reading ;) lol
A tarot reading would be cool. I like dark supernatural.
Hi thanks for the giveaway
Awesome Giveaway I am looking forward to reading it.
Not my usual kind of read but I'll give it a try since the reviews ar so good.
I'm scared and fascinated at the same time...
I loooooove scary books. I can't wait to read this. Thanks for the giveaway.
Awesome giveaway. Thrillers aren't normally my thing but this book sounds good. I also like the fact that he's working on a YA novel so that his kids can read his work. That's sweet. :)
Awesome, Every once in a while I like to dive into different genre's especially if they add the mythology element mixed with small amounts of biblical folk lore of apocalyptic prophecy to them. I am very curious how the book plays out with the secrets hidden for eternal life and the lore within this amazing world the author has created.
Sounds like an interesting read!
Richard is a new author for me. I'm intrigued by his book and would love to learn more.
A friend request has been sent to Richard. After confirmation has been made, you will be notified by email. You're following Richard's reviews.
luvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com
This book sounds so good and i would really love to read it, I like epics!
Thank you for the excerpt! It seems interesting enough for me to want to read more.
Thank you for the giveaway. after such great reviews, it will be on my must read list
Wow! Sounds like a great read :) Not usually what I go for, but it's always good to try something new. Congratulations on the release!
kjkamryn@gmail.com
this sounds good:) thank you for sharing!
Wow, what an interesting read. Can't wait to read the book.
The BOOK OF PAUL SOUNDS 2 cool!!!
L@@K out World here comes..PAUL RICHARD LONG!!!! ThanQQQ
redz041@yahoo.com
I love a good scary read! I can't wait to start.
Thanks for the chance!
Love books dealing with mythology. Thanks a lot!
amberdaulton86@gmail.com
I love the dark and supernatural sounds like a great combo...Thanks for another great read.
authorleighsavage@gmail.com
Great giveaways, I'm interested in tarot reading. I would like to read The Book of Paul as well. :D
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let the breeze blow
Thanks for the great review and supporting The Book of Paul with so much…oomph! Thanks also to all the people who are reading, liking, commenting or just interested. Hope we have some big winners here! And anyone that reads it wants to discuss just droop me a line! All the best -- and worst once you meet Paul!
Love the scene here...its raw but also titillatingly fresh...if the rest of the book is like this, I know I will love it!
Who won???
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