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Tommy and the Order of Cosmic Champions
Sometimes our greatest moments of enlightenment come from our worst mistakes.
When life supplies eleven-year-old Tommy Grant with some unfavorable circumstances intruding on his otherwise tranquil life in rural 1980's Ohio, he retreats into the spell-binding Order of Cosmic Champions. When he discovers that the largely successful animated program and toy line is holding a nationwide ''Create-A-Character'' contest where applicants submit their action figure designs, Tommy knows he has to enter as surely as he knows his own name.
But when Tommy's character design fails to win the contest, he finds his world crumbling from all sides. And there is only one way he knows to fix it.
What follows is a whirlwind coming-of-age adventure of righting wrongs, overcoming perilous obstacles, confronting our inner demons, and challenging the limits of reality. In this waxing nostalgic and imaginative fantasy, readers will discover what excitement lies waiting when you take risks and conquer your fears. Only one question remains: In the final hour when you heed the call, the courage to give your all, will you stand or fall?
Recent News
Happy New Year!
I’ll be up front about something: The transition from one year to the next is always hard for me, as it is for so many others. I have this tradition of going back to a list of goals I wrote last New Year’s Day in my journal, checking off the things I actually accomplished from
October is Here
I’m writing this newsletter during the last week of September with an eye toward that great, looming god of autumn: October. We’re almost there, and in fact, by time you read this, it will be October! How wonderful is that? Take a minute. Step outside with a cup of coffee. Breathe in the sweet smell of leaves
Hints of Autumn
This is the last weekend of my summer. On Monday, I go back to work for the fall semester, teaching first year English to incoming freshman. Just like that, autumn has arrived for me. That’s the weird thing about teaching. Even as an adult, I still get to experience all those familiar “back to school”
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Soundtrack to the End of the World
A suicidal nudist strolls into traffic. An eccentric Buddhist claims he can occupy other people’s bodies. All the while, whispers of a new form of entertainment blow through town. Prompted by these strange occurrences, Marty Raft, a not-so-gentle giant, investigates and discovers underground clubs peddling music that induces an out-of-body experience. Marty and a wannabe comedian, Corey, set out to prove these special frequencies are nothing more than a hoax, or at worst, a mass-drugging. Instead, they uncover a secret with world-ending possibilities. If you can hear the music, it’s already too late.
About Me
Anthony J. Rapino
Author of Horror and Dark Fiction
Anthony J. Rapino is the author of such horror novels as Soundtrack to the End of the World, Greetings from Moon Hill, and upcoming The Precipice of Nowhere. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including On Spec, Acapella Zoo, Black Ink Horror, Madhouse, and One of Us: A Tribute to Frank Michaels Errington.
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Liminal Spaces: An Anthology of Dark Speculative Fiction
Liminal Spaces is a quiet horror anthology from Cemetery Gates Media featuring stories from well-known dark fiction writers such as: Joanna Koch, Jessica McHugh, Mark Allan Gunnells, Anthony J. Rapino, Gwendolyn Kiste, and many more.
“The word ‘liminal’ comes from the Latin root limen. It means ‘threshold.’ A liminal space is a ‘crossing over’ space–a space where you have left something behind, yet you are not fully in something else. It’s a transition space. “This is my favorite kind of horror and speculative fiction. Fiction which takes place in that ‘crossing over’ space. Stories about characters who have–wittingly or unwittingly–crossed a threshold. Those who have left something behind, yet are not quite somewhere or something else. They are in-between, and are neither one thing, nor another.” -Kevin Lucia, Editor
Anthony J. Rapino, The Artist
For the Horror and Halloween lover in all of us, Anthony also creates sculptures that are based on horror movies, novels, his imagination, and Halloween. His artwork comes in the form of gruesome figures, magnets, busts, toys, pins, and more.
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One of Us: A Tribute to Frank Michaels Errington.
Frank was a beloved reviewer and source of support, advice, and friendship to the small press/indie horror community. All proceeds of this charity anthology are going to the American Transplant Foundation. Anthony’s contribution is entitled “River Bugs.”
