by John G. Hartness
Kindle Edition, 91 pages
Published January 20th 2015
by Falstaff Books
Straight out of the pages of the legendary vampire novel Dracula comes a demon hunter for the modern world. Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker had a son. They named him Quincy. His guardian angel calls him Q. Dracula calls him nephew.
Demons call him The Reaper.
"There are things in this world that men and women aren’t meant to understand. We aren’t supposed to know these things exist, much less how to fight them. The things that go bump in the night, the monsters in the closet, the shadow out of the corner of your eye — that’s where I live."
This exciting new series from the author of The Black Knight Chronicles and the Bubba the Monster Hunter short stories is a walk through the dark side, where things go bump in the night, and somebody has to bump back. Quincy Harker is that somebody.
Also includes a bonus free chapter to Daughters of Shadow and Blood - Book I: Yasamin by J. Matthew Saunders!
I am a sucker for foul-mouthed, belligerent, all-out-of-f***s-to-give, but hearts of gold male protags in my urban fantasy. I’m not talking romantic leads. That’s a whole other something-something. If a guy is a monster hunter, like Quincy Harker in Raising Hell, then they need to be as scary, or scarier, than the big bads they hunt. I also don’t want a drawn out story. They go in, kick ass, and go home. The end. This is one reason I love comic books with this type of character (Cal MacDonald from Criminal Macabre and Constantine). Okay so now you know where I’m coming from...
Raising Hell is a novella that reads quickly and entertains. It would make a great comic book by the way. If you have issue with language you might want to skip this one. The F-word appears multiple times on each page and it should because…Harker says it best:
“I’m not a priest, and I’m sure as hell not normal. I’m Quincy mother***in’ Harker and the blood of Dracula himself runs through my veins.”
Speaking of Dracula, he goes by the name Luke Card, and is Harker’s uncle. He also has a man-servant named Renfield, his sixth one. He helps bail Harker out of jail while Detective Gail Flynn is constantly trying to put him in. She finally gets her eyes opened to what goes bump in the night and helps Harker take care of a nasty witch who is trying to bring demons into our plane.
This story moves quick, with lots of action and enough character development to make you curious but not giving much away. I am looking forward to the next Demon Hunter story.
Quincy Harker quotes:
“Whatever was on the other side of that door wasn’t human, was powerful as sh**, and was really hungry. It was also in a really good mood, which disturbed the f*** out of me.”
“My mom always told me I swear too much. I told her she was provincial and old-fashioned. She told me both statements were true. She was right. I swear too much. But almost always only at demons. Except when I swear at people. And angels. And minor elder Gods. And traffic lights. And a lot of elevators. F*** it, I swear too much.”
“Yeah, if you had a magical Geiger counter that thing would blow your eardrums the second we stepped off the elevator. Speaking of which, is there a plan? Because I can speak personally to the fact that just going in and punching him in the face isn’t very effective. And there are no SUVs out front to break our fall this time.”
4.5 “I’m nobody’s f***ing sweetheart” Sheep
Straight out of the pages of the legendary vampire novel Dracula comes a demon hunter for the modern world. Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker had a son. They named him Quincy. His guardian angel calls him Q. Dracula calls him nephew.
Demons call him The Reaper.
"There are things in this world that men and women aren’t meant to understand. We aren’t supposed to know these things exist, much less how to fight them. The things that go bump in the night, the monsters in the closet, the shadow out of the corner of your eye — that’s where I live."
This exciting new series from the author of The Black Knight Chronicles and the Bubba the Monster Hunter short stories is a walk through the dark side, where things go bump in the night, and somebody has to bump back. Quincy Harker is that somebody.
Also includes a bonus free chapter to Daughters of Shadow and Blood - Book I: Yasamin by J. Matthew Saunders!
I am a sucker for foul-mouthed, belligerent, all-out-of-f***s-to-give, but hearts of gold male protags in my urban fantasy. I’m not talking romantic leads. That’s a whole other something-something. If a guy is a monster hunter, like Quincy Harker in Raising Hell, then they need to be as scary, or scarier, than the big bads they hunt. I also don’t want a drawn out story. They go in, kick ass, and go home. The end. This is one reason I love comic books with this type of character (Cal MacDonald from Criminal Macabre and Constantine). Okay so now you know where I’m coming from...
Raising Hell is a novella that reads quickly and entertains. It would make a great comic book by the way. If you have issue with language you might want to skip this one. The F-word appears multiple times on each page and it should because…Harker says it best:
“I’m not a priest, and I’m sure as hell not normal. I’m Quincy mother***in’ Harker and the blood of Dracula himself runs through my veins.”
Speaking of Dracula, he goes by the name Luke Card, and is Harker’s uncle. He also has a man-servant named Renfield, his sixth one. He helps bail Harker out of jail while Detective Gail Flynn is constantly trying to put him in. She finally gets her eyes opened to what goes bump in the night and helps Harker take care of a nasty witch who is trying to bring demons into our plane.
This story moves quick, with lots of action and enough character development to make you curious but not giving much away. I am looking forward to the next Demon Hunter story.
Quincy Harker quotes:
“Whatever was on the other side of that door wasn’t human, was powerful as sh**, and was really hungry. It was also in a really good mood, which disturbed the f*** out of me.”
“My mom always told me I swear too much. I told her she was provincial and old-fashioned. She told me both statements were true. She was right. I swear too much. But almost always only at demons. Except when I swear at people. And angels. And minor elder Gods. And traffic lights. And a lot of elevators. F*** it, I swear too much.”
“Yeah, if you had a magical Geiger counter that thing would blow your eardrums the second we stepped off the elevator. Speaking of which, is there a plan? Because I can speak personally to the fact that just going in and punching him in the face isn’t very effective. And there are no SUVs out front to break our fall this time.”
4.5 “I’m nobody’s f***ing sweetheart” Sheep
SharonS
About the Author:
This is me, and this is where I write. I’m John “Falstaff” Hartness and I’ve been writing for years, for myself and for other people. Once upon a time I did a little gig for Turner Broadcasting as part of their My South ad campaign and that got me interested in writing fiction and poetry again. After writing a poker blog for several years, I’ve transitioned into writing fiction, and launched this site to be my internet home. This is where I try out new stories, new essays and poems, and post photos of some of the shows I’ve designed.I am the author of The Black Knight Chronicles, an urban fantasy series set in Charlotte, NC. I have self-published the first three books in the series, and am under agreement with Bell Bridge Books for books 4-6. The Black Knight Chronicles follows the adventures of a pair of nerdy private investigators with a slight problem – they’re vampires. In addition to their strange dietary requirements, Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood have to deal with prejudice, relationship drama, trolls, dragons, werewolves, other vampires and a plethora of comic book nerds along their way to saving the world and (hopefully someday) getting the girl. The series has sold over 15,000 copies in the first year of publication, and I think you’ll really enjoy it.
I grew up in Bullock Creek, South Carolina, the youngest of four kids. I’m a graduate of Winthrop Universty with a BA in Theatre Performance, and I live in Charlotte with my lovely wife Suzy. We’ve been active in the theatre community around Charlotte for years, and between us we’ve worked for almost every theatre group in town at some point. My work has primarily been as a lighting designer, but I've also directed quite a bit, done sound and set design, and even acted once in a while. But I’ve always wanted to write, and this site is where I do it. So welcome, thanks for stopping by.
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