Welcome to the Guardians of Forever Web Site, a showcase for the grand works of some of the most promising new SF writers to recently emerge in the universe of SF literature through Greatunpublished.com. We hope you'll stay awhile to check us out and find something here to pique your curiosity. We're certain you'll not be disappointed. Now, let's begin our epic journey into five fantastic universes and into the realms of ultimate imagination: Cast off your shackles of space and time, and fly swiftly into dominions from the darkest pits of human introspection; where man wages war against machines; where clothing outstrips its human creators; to dark and mysterious vignettes; and finally, to where one man struggles to control the destiny of a galaxy...

Let us be your Gateway.

Shall we go?

The Guardians of Forever

Dorion Sagan, The Devil's Comic
Paul Hughes, enemy
John Jurek, Kaelf Skin
Carl Rafala, Wildflower
Anthony B. Fellows, Tamarlayn

Author's Datafile:

Book Title: The Devil's Comic.
Author: Dorion Sagan.
ISBN 1-58898-055-3.
Publisher: www.greatunpublished.com.

Formats: Trade Paperback, US $15.00+s/h; Adobe PDF PC/MAC Version, US $7.99.

Book Description: Comic book artist Evan van Evans lives in uncertain times - it is 1984 but people speak into vidphones and Evans has a multimedia virtual reality work station. More startling than technology, however, is Charlotte A. Teal, an irresistible teenager with a checkered past who jolts Evans out of his suburban stupor, giving him venereal thrills, a baby, and the unrequested, unrequited attentions of the murderous Anton Deady, a gothic religious zealot who also happens to be a comic artist, and who no amount of frolicking at the nude beaches of Rhode Island and Martha's Vineyard can completely eradicate. Part horror, part science fiction, and part language play (chatroom rebuses are integrated into the text), The Devil's Comic is Dorion's first novel; it took him over ten years to complete. Containing scenes of sex, drugs, and technology, it is set in and around Boston, Massachusetts, south Florida, and outer space.

@}---->---->CHAPTER ONE-----;>-----



"Oh baby," he groaned. He leaned back his head. He closed his eyes in anticipation. She stroked his soft hair and pressed her thumb to the stubbly knot of his Adam's apple.

"What do you want?" she said.

He grunted something inaudible.

"What?" she demanded, suddenly more businesslike.

"I - uh, uh."

"You, uh - what?" she inquired mockingly. She slapped him and asked again. He seemed about to --

She took a step back to view her subject objectively. "Don't make me slap you again."

He looked up, and his hot, wet face reflected the streetlight. "I want you," he cried.

"Well," she said, spinning away from him haughtily, "I don't want you."

She lifted the coat off his single bed. She picked up the scarf and, with exhilaration and relief, wrapped it around her ears. Slowly, finger by finger, she put on her gloves. His eyes widened in disbelief. "How do you like it?" she said. With a smile he called out her name as if he thought she were joking but before he could finish the sentence she unlocked the door, blew him a kiss, and left. She walked home.

She snickered to herself thinking about it, stirring a pot of water and sticks. She was stinking up the apartment with the heady aroma of valerian root. She moved barefoot across sticky linoleum, reached high up into the cabinet. Sitting in her blue silk kimono, her legs crossed, she cradled a cup of tea and looked out at some bag people in coats in the dumpy park across the street.

"New Year's Day night," she said softly to nobody, taking a sip. It might be the first of 365 nights but she already had a bladder infection and was not in the mood for any extra aggravation. Headlight eyes bulged in front of an idiot Saab crawling along the grass-divided roadway below. The tea made her sleepy. What's more, it was cheap.

There was a scuffling noise - Edgar Darling opening the door to the apartment. He hung up his coat and asked her if she wanted to play backgammon. You could tell by his face that he thought the answer would be no.

"Nahw," she said, giving a great catlike yawn. "Not tonight, Eddie. I'm tired." By the time she finished rubbing her eyes and wrapped her arms around her breasts, Flunky had his hangdog look. She hated that. A sadsack, no energy. He was pulling off his boots wearily, glancing at the thermostat she had turned up. So what. Like backgammon was so important. That was his problem. There was only one bed in the apartment and they shared it. But Edgar had been good to her she usually tried to tell herself. And she appreciated it, she had to, especially after the debacle in Phillie. She and Ed went way back. They knew each other in Ann Arbor, right at the beginning of the rock and roll scene. She smiled, sleepy eyes. He was kinda cute, even. Yeah, Flunky was all right. Not as hip as his name, maybe, but all right.

"How's your neck feeling?" He touched her on the silk. She turned toward the window with half-closed eyes and sort of winced. Edgar had seen the face before, she knew. It was a habitual expression.

"Okay, I guess," she yawned.

"Don't act like it's all my fault," said Edgar, lumbering over to her with his arm in the cast. Tobacco and sweat emanated from his flannel, penetrating her stupor like smelling salts. She liked the smell but not what he was driving at.

"Look, Edgar," she said. "I'm sorry if I sprained your wrist."

"You broke it."

"What-evah. You shouldn't mess with me. I told you we're not wrestling any more. You always take it too far. It always gets out of hand."

"I'll say."

"Look, we've been through this before. I'm really sleepy, I'm going to watch TV now. You can have some valerian root tea.It's on the stove. It'll help you get to sleep."

She undressed to her tee shirt and put leggings on over her underwear. Without going to the bathroom, or washing her teeth, she walked barefoot across the hardwood and into the bedroom. She got into Flunky's bed and pulled his covers over her. She might have tried to snuggle up close to the closest thing in this world she had to a friend, Edgar Darling, but he, swearing in his sleep, just clutched his wrist and rolled away from her. Shapes on the ceiling. Ropes spiraling down poles, a great white sail carrying her to lost planets, beautiful tunes sung over water. Flunky lifted the sheets over her moaning body and melatonin-infused brain. She glimpsed the vague dark shapes of his face blur into pillow. Hail pitter-pattered on the roof, children dancing on the landing, gushing steam-heat engines through giant white waves to the warm snow of eternity. Charlotte Teal. They say she sleeps around. Not any more. Now she sleeps with me. Such a quiet beautiful child. Forgiven now, forgiven of her sins.

Dorion Sagan's Gateway

All material featured on this Site is copyrighted by and is the intellectual property of the individual Author. No part, or portion, of any of the content found on this Site may be copied, reproduced, retransmitted, altered, or abridged in any way, shape or form by anyone without the prior and express permission of the Author.

The Devil's Comic Copyright (C) 2000 Dorion Sagan
All Rights Reserved

Guardians of Forever Website Designed & Created By
Anthony Brooks Fellows
Copyright (C) 2000 Anthony Brooks Fellows
All Rights Reserved