Is it like this for everyone? I can’t ask anyone else because no one speaks to me. I’m not exaggerating in the slightest. Even complete strangers, who I’ve never screwed over, act as though they can see right through me. I think we all died on Y2K. I wished for this at some point. I made my family disappear.
Seriously, we glitched, and nothing’s been the same since.
1999 was a banner year. We got The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, and The Mummy all within weeks of each other, and the Y2K threat was in full tilt. Maybe not for the civilian world – save a conspiracy nut or two – but I was knee deep in my military tour at Fort Huachuca, AZ.
Those three films and being on alert are the only things I ever mention from that year. Looking back, I kick myself in the ass for leaving Arizona, but I never would’ve met my Sam. A Frodo is nothing without his Sam.
That year, though…
My wife (then) was having a long-term affair with one of my subordinates who lived in the barracks. The guy worked directly beneath me. There’s so much more to that chapter I’ll save for some other day; if ever. At that same time, I was fighting my chain of command all the way to the very top on something I felt strongly about: Anthrax.
Not the metal band; they kick ass. No, I mean the disease.
My unit rotated in and out of world hot spots known for its chemical weapons threats. So, some quack mixed up an Anthrax vaccine. It was mandatory. I wasn’t an anti-vaxer, but even with my limited knowledge of such things during the early-internet years, I knew it wasn’t good. There were enough examples.
Not at first, mind you. Suddenly, soldiers were beating the shit out of each other and going blind from taking Anthrax shots. It was all in the media back then, military magazines and Army Times, and I’m sure people are still fighting against it today. I would’ve paid more attention, but I completely forgot these incidents happened until just a moment ago during dinner.
I fought my chain of command for nearly a year in an attempt to resist the Anthrax vaccine. I was already injured, working on my DD214, and thought taking an experimental vaccine was stupid. I was leaving soon. What was the point?
It mattered not. I was a number.
After the first shot turned me into a cranky bitch, I denied the second one until I was threatened with punishment. That’s when everything changed.
The day following the second shot, I was arrested and taken to jail for the first time in my life. The details are inconsequential for now, but it resulted in a Field-Grade Article 15 and all the fun prizes which accompany it.
I fought the final shot until they threatened me with jail time. I was a father of three with no other choice. The weekend after the third shot, I provoked a bar fight near Tombstone. That’s an ‘old west’ badge of honor I’ll wear for life, but I don’t remember my life being much the same after that.
Well, according to how this particular piece began, I didn’t even remember the year 1999, other than cheating spouses, pod races, and “there is no spoon”. And Y2K. No, I didn’t get to metaphorically party in pure Prince fashion. I partied like the computers were going to come to life and planes would fall from the sky.
Then, there were those shenanigans about experimental Anthrax vaccines. Potentially the new millinium’s MK Ultra. It was a damn good bar fight. I think that’s what happened. My wife grilled these incredible steaks and, when I tasted that perfectly roasted flesh against my teeth and tongue, it brought forth memories of a soldier believed long dead.
Hell, I’m the only one who can prove his existence, and I’m not even sure what happened. Wait until I decide to tell you about the time I saw the UFO on Thunder Mountain and how AAFES duped me out of my photo negatives.
To most, 1865 was an eye-opening year. The American Civil War was officially over and the soldiers fortunate enough to survive the bloody conflict returned home to collect the pieces of their former lives. To young Arizonan, Robert Jack, the fateful desert homecoming marked the end to all he once knew. Forgiveness is overrated. Death is final. Revenge, however, dances between the fine lines of mortality and eternity. Love always finds a way.
“Reading Jim Walker and the Redemption Hymn is equal parts quirky fun and riveting action. Cloud’s confident, entertaining voice draws the reader in like an old radio western: the perfect bite-sized story with a main character you’re ready to follow through every adventure he finds himself on. So, tune in next time…”
– Megan Stockton, author of Lovely, Dark & Deep
The history books would read that Jim Walker was brutally executed after the Battle of Goliad, but a few promises in the right ear blurred the contrast between blood and ink. Now an aging bounty hunter on the verge of retirement, his services are requested in the Northern Arizona Territory to solve the terrifying mystery of the Verde River Massacre. With guns from a local Deputy, courage from a saloon proprietor, and a deathbed confession from an all-too-familiar Medicine Woman, Jim sets off on what could be his final adventure. Will he lay the ghosts of his past to rest once and for all, or is he simply whistling his Redemption Hymn?
“Someone call DC and tell them this is how you write a female hero character!” – Lisa Lee Tone, Bibliophelia Templum
Angel Burns is a young firefighter with a shrouded history. During a routine night at work, she stumbles upon a demonic ceremony that brings her memories out of hiding – as well as her repressed supernatural powers. Angel soon learns her life was intended for things greater than extinguishing fires for mortals. Now on the payroll of the Vatican, Angel embarks upon an epic quest to protect the Gutenberg Bibles from evil. If successful, she will secure peace for generations. If she fails, the power of the ancient books will bestow an eternity of darkness upon all humanity!
Toby Liberman is nearing the end of his rope. After a fateful confrontation with his wife’s lover, he is chased into the woods only to be discovered by an unidentifiable creature. He is attacked and rendered unconscious. Upon waking at the scene of a gruesome triple homicide, Toby is arrested as the sole suspect and thrown into a jail cell with a strange man that knows way too much about his predicament. The stranger reveals to Toby that he now possesses the curse of the werewolf. Using his new-found strength to flee his captors, Toby begins to discover that things are not what they seem in the sleepy town of Twin Oaks, TX. Now hunted by law enforcement, as well as the town’s gun toting civilians, Toby seeks vengeance against his false accusers and embarks upon a quest to clear his name once and for all.
A Curse Beyond Comprehension. A Power Beyond Belief. A Girl Far From Home. Katie Liberman is your typical eighteen-year-old college student…or at least that’s what her family thinks. Picking up five years after the events of A Taste of Home, Katie has dropped out of school and embarked upon a dangerous quest to find Kurt Jimmerson, the New York City attorney responsible for her family’s werewolf curse. Unknown to her, the attorney’s grip on the ‘City That Never Sleeps’ is tighter than imagined and she’ll need any and all help available to be victorious. But… where do you find friends when you’re Far From Home?
Twin Oaks, Texas is at war! Taking place immediately after the Far From Home events in New York City, Katie Liberman has returned to rescue her birthplace from the clutches of her nemesis. As the paranormal battle of North vs. South rages in the shadows, the tiny town must decide to fight against the odds or become one with the darkness. Blood will be shed and only one will survive as the final battle of the Home Series concludes.
I know this is the part where I’m supposed to talk about the book, but I feel as though the synopsis needs its own preface to truly understand. 2023 was quite an eye-opening year! I began it by living my dream as a vintage steam locomotive fireman, but that dream was soon squashed thanks to my writing career. It won’t matter that you wrote your extreme horror offerings years ago and under a pen name. Also, it won’t matter that your publisher and author friends from days gone by express pleasantries and kind, nurturing words to your face, because they’ll clique-up and talk trash the minute you turn your back. F**k the biz, create. Create for art, not clicks. Click for love, not hate. Those are words true artists should have no issues living by, yet most seem to hide behind their keyboard shields, flinging ill-thought words of destruction toward once-trusted ears. Don’t pour something into everything; pour everything into something. Do it all by yourself if necessary. With any luck, 2024 will be the year of The Reverend. I’m not exactly sure what that means yet, but we’ll find out together. Anyway, here are a few short stories and poems I wrote as C. Derick Miller in 2023. I stole them from myself. Fair and square. Enjoy.
Poetry has always come naturally to me. Whether it is an expression of emotion toward someone I care about, or a display of humor pointed in the direction of those I loathe, it is my true outlet. Several of these works were written in a passenger seat while exploring the highways of the United States and somehow managed to survive “The Great Ex-Wife/Ex-Girlfriend Poetry Purge” of 2019. Others were penned during COVID-19 quarantine. Although it may not be the most epic poetry collection you’ve ever read, it all contains bits of blood and soul. You will feel something. Guaranteed.
“This profound collection of horror brings classic monsters into new light in the modern day” – B.L. Blankenship, God Walks The Dark Hills series.
The modern world is a crazy place. Worrying about childish politicians, empty grocery store shelves, and our pending membership to the “global disease of the week” club, it leaves very little time for the average reader to finish an entire novel. This is where Six from Five Seven: Short Stories from a Short Man comes in clutch! A story per day to keep the impending apocalypse away, with a single day left over to contemplate why you purchased this book in the first place. That sounds like an entertaining week when compared to the one you were destined to have regardless. What do a cursed husband, a privileged brat, a curious prostitute, a repressed savior, a vengeful son, and two hell-bound soldiers have in common? Their stories lie within the pages of this collection and invite you to tag along on their journeys of fate, redemption, and demise. When finished, you, dear reader, can hide this book inside your basement with the rest of those important documents you wished you’d never taken home. The FBI won’t be happy, but at least they’ll know you’re a cool person for owning a copy while conducting the raid. That must count for something, right? Let’s hope the judge thinks so!
Also, there’s a few other things not listed here that are floating around out there. Best of luck with the hunt.
Current Projects
Rev. Dare Cloud
Reverend · adjective. worthy of adoration or reverence. synonyms: sublime · sacred.
is a Dallas author, musician, and gonzo journalist. Some of his works include the controversial splatter-western Starving Zoe (written as C. Derick Miller), the Taste of Home trilogy, and the ongoing Jim Walker series. He is also the co-host of the American Justice Podcast and Senior Writer/Junior Producer for AtuA Productions LLC. His literary crushes are (of course) Hunter S. Thompson, J.D. Salinger, and Kevin Smith. Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon.
“You’ve got to press it on you You’ve just been thinking That’s what you do, baby Hold it down, Dare!” – Gorillaz
The Gonzo Wolf 
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