Carl Bray's Blog
February 17, 2023
More books
Hi there people
Been a while since i updated this, and in the meantime I've written a few more books.
Hell in a Holster and The Four Horsemen are a duology of westerns and can be read in any order. These are straight western adventure stories.
Maleficent 7 and Malevolent 7 are the same book slightly tweaked-horror western this one and introduces Scotty Randolph anti hero and Shaman Crow bounty hunter, both complicated characters. Some unique and strange adversaries in this.
The Man in the Kitchen is a sci-fi tribute to writers who embrace micro humans, Land of the giants, Honey I shrunk...well, you get the idea,
The 13 is a Gothic western featuring Shaman Crow and introduces a new character called Adam Franks (who later features in a WW2 actioner )
Scotty Randolph returns in Shaolin Sheriff a western adventure in which a Shaolin monk inadvertently becomes the lawman of a small town (This story also explains the Chinese tattoo on Randolph's arm as alluded to in Malevolent 7)
World War 2 action superhero story: The Heroes of Yesteryear is the story of a group of heroes and villains who wage war on two fronts, home and abroad and reintroduces Adam Franks from The 13.
Set in New York and Europe.
The Quirks is a tribute to my love of those old British superheroes in the black and white comics from old blighty. Robots, teen cats and a web spinning villain, all re-imagined and tweaked for today's audience hopefully
So there it is a catch up of what I've been doing. Writing, watching TV, Marvel and DC movies, oh and still working! Not for long as I retire December 2023. Can't wait!!
Happy reading everyone.
Been a while since i updated this, and in the meantime I've written a few more books.
Hell in a Holster and The Four Horsemen are a duology of westerns and can be read in any order. These are straight western adventure stories.
Maleficent 7 and Malevolent 7 are the same book slightly tweaked-horror western this one and introduces Scotty Randolph anti hero and Shaman Crow bounty hunter, both complicated characters. Some unique and strange adversaries in this.
The Man in the Kitchen is a sci-fi tribute to writers who embrace micro humans, Land of the giants, Honey I shrunk...well, you get the idea,
The 13 is a Gothic western featuring Shaman Crow and introduces a new character called Adam Franks (who later features in a WW2 actioner )
Scotty Randolph returns in Shaolin Sheriff a western adventure in which a Shaolin monk inadvertently becomes the lawman of a small town (This story also explains the Chinese tattoo on Randolph's arm as alluded to in Malevolent 7)
World War 2 action superhero story: The Heroes of Yesteryear is the story of a group of heroes and villains who wage war on two fronts, home and abroad and reintroduces Adam Franks from The 13.
Set in New York and Europe.
The Quirks is a tribute to my love of those old British superheroes in the black and white comics from old blighty. Robots, teen cats and a web spinning villain, all re-imagined and tweaked for today's audience hopefully
So there it is a catch up of what I've been doing. Writing, watching TV, Marvel and DC movies, oh and still working! Not for long as I retire December 2023. Can't wait!!
Happy reading everyone.
November 4, 2016
Writesomethingdifferent
#Writesomethingdifferent!
Like most people I probably think I have a novel inside me.
Was I gonna write the next big thriller or fantasy? Maybe I could be the next Arthur C Clarke? The simple answer is no.
But I wrote stuff and it was stuff based on my childhood and due to my age, I ended up writing a few westerns! Not any old westerns I might add, ones with a little twist. A touch of the fantastic!
The first attempt was called THE MALEFICENT SEVEN, which I thought was a catchy pun title but I believe it’s not as unique as I first thought. Out of all the Westerns this one is the most fantastical and I have since toned it down a touch.
The hero of this piece is called Scotty Randolph (See what I did there?) Not your usual good guy but a bit nasty really. Randolph is a troubled man who treads a fine line between good and evil, essentially a good guy but with an evil streak. He is a seeker who can track people by old or loved objects. These objects can talk to him in dreams and give him clues as to the owner’s whereabouts. In the Maleficent Seven he tracks a missing child with the help of a rag doll and a few horrific dreams. Other preternatural talents include “The Dance” where he can move between moments as time appears to slow and the help of his deceased sister and mother. Although they can only help him once. He is a Major in the Cavalry but is used mainly as an undercover Government agent due to his reputation as a man tracker (His talents are secret)
Physically Randolph is not your usual big hero. He is small, around 5’7” tall but lean and tough. Among the Indians he is known as the “scorpion” because he is small and deadly to his peers he is a babyfaced killer. I had the actor and World War 2 hero Audie Murphy in mind. So in essence he is a cross between Randolph Scott and Audie Murphy. As fast with a gun as he is with his fists Randolph is ingenious and unscrupulous, plus at first a bit of a womaniser, treating women only as sex objects until he inadvertently falls in love.
The other main character who starts off as one of the seven in the title is Shaman Crow (The hero of Western novel THE 13)
Crow is a Lakota Shaman who was raised by Jesuits. He is more at home in a long black coat and flat brimmed hat than he is in breechclout and feathers. He is old and grey haired, skinny and wrinkled with a penchant for old fat whores. Crow is a bounty hunter but his prey is not only for financial gain it is for spiritual gain. To access the “happy hunting ground.” These bounties are usually special or unique. None more so than One of the titular seven who happens to be a Werewolf. Like I said this western has more than a smattering of fantasy. Also in THE 13 there are a couple of bounties that interest Crow, not too fantastical but freaks of nature that exist. Crow can access the astral plane when in a state of trance induced by certain herbs and natural drugs added to the smoke of a fire in a sweat lodge. Crow can also be a cold-blooded killer but because he is old and frail looking he is often underestimated. With his big old ball and cap Dragoon Colt and his Bowie knife he is a formidable foe.
Crow is introduced in The Maleficent Seven as an enemy to Randolph and he is one of the leads in the novel The 13 where he meets a lost and tortured soul. Out of the four Westerns these two are the ones with fantasy elements.
Set in the same universe, the other two westerns come as a matched pair like a couple of pearl handled pistols. These stories contain no fantasy elements but are straight Westerns linked only to the previous two by certain referenced characters. I wrote these in what I thought was a different style by writing the sequel first and then the prequel leading up to the events. Hell In A Holster tells the story of one young gunman who could be the most dangerous pistoleer in the West. It starts off with a young man with amnesia who delivers a note that sets off a sequence of events leading to death and destruction. This is actually a conclusion and it is the prequel called The Four Horsemen that tells the story leading up to this. I suppose they could be read in any order but that is the way I wrote them honest! Sequel then prequel.
I did write a little science fiction novel, well more of an unofficial sequel come tribute to one of my favourite authors who specialised in the little things, literally. The world of the miniature has always fascinated me and in the story The Man In The Kitchen I get to explore this and indulge my fantasies.
All these books can be found on Amazon Kindle store
Like most people I probably think I have a novel inside me.
Was I gonna write the next big thriller or fantasy? Maybe I could be the next Arthur C Clarke? The simple answer is no.
But I wrote stuff and it was stuff based on my childhood and due to my age, I ended up writing a few westerns! Not any old westerns I might add, ones with a little twist. A touch of the fantastic!
The first attempt was called THE MALEFICENT SEVEN, which I thought was a catchy pun title but I believe it’s not as unique as I first thought. Out of all the Westerns this one is the most fantastical and I have since toned it down a touch.
The hero of this piece is called Scotty Randolph (See what I did there?) Not your usual good guy but a bit nasty really. Randolph is a troubled man who treads a fine line between good and evil, essentially a good guy but with an evil streak. He is a seeker who can track people by old or loved objects. These objects can talk to him in dreams and give him clues as to the owner’s whereabouts. In the Maleficent Seven he tracks a missing child with the help of a rag doll and a few horrific dreams. Other preternatural talents include “The Dance” where he can move between moments as time appears to slow and the help of his deceased sister and mother. Although they can only help him once. He is a Major in the Cavalry but is used mainly as an undercover Government agent due to his reputation as a man tracker (His talents are secret)
Physically Randolph is not your usual big hero. He is small, around 5’7” tall but lean and tough. Among the Indians he is known as the “scorpion” because he is small and deadly to his peers he is a babyfaced killer. I had the actor and World War 2 hero Audie Murphy in mind. So in essence he is a cross between Randolph Scott and Audie Murphy. As fast with a gun as he is with his fists Randolph is ingenious and unscrupulous, plus at first a bit of a womaniser, treating women only as sex objects until he inadvertently falls in love.
The other main character who starts off as one of the seven in the title is Shaman Crow (The hero of Western novel THE 13)
Crow is a Lakota Shaman who was raised by Jesuits. He is more at home in a long black coat and flat brimmed hat than he is in breechclout and feathers. He is old and grey haired, skinny and wrinkled with a penchant for old fat whores. Crow is a bounty hunter but his prey is not only for financial gain it is for spiritual gain. To access the “happy hunting ground.” These bounties are usually special or unique. None more so than One of the titular seven who happens to be a Werewolf. Like I said this western has more than a smattering of fantasy. Also in THE 13 there are a couple of bounties that interest Crow, not too fantastical but freaks of nature that exist. Crow can access the astral plane when in a state of trance induced by certain herbs and natural drugs added to the smoke of a fire in a sweat lodge. Crow can also be a cold-blooded killer but because he is old and frail looking he is often underestimated. With his big old ball and cap Dragoon Colt and his Bowie knife he is a formidable foe.
Crow is introduced in The Maleficent Seven as an enemy to Randolph and he is one of the leads in the novel The 13 where he meets a lost and tortured soul. Out of the four Westerns these two are the ones with fantasy elements.
Set in the same universe, the other two westerns come as a matched pair like a couple of pearl handled pistols. These stories contain no fantasy elements but are straight Westerns linked only to the previous two by certain referenced characters. I wrote these in what I thought was a different style by writing the sequel first and then the prequel leading up to the events. Hell In A Holster tells the story of one young gunman who could be the most dangerous pistoleer in the West. It starts off with a young man with amnesia who delivers a note that sets off a sequence of events leading to death and destruction. This is actually a conclusion and it is the prequel called The Four Horsemen that tells the story leading up to this. I suppose they could be read in any order but that is the way I wrote them honest! Sequel then prequel.
I did write a little science fiction novel, well more of an unofficial sequel come tribute to one of my favourite authors who specialised in the little things, literally. The world of the miniature has always fascinated me and in the story The Man In The Kitchen I get to explore this and indulge my fantasies.
All these books can be found on Amazon Kindle store
September 25, 2014
Remember!
Remember those slim old westerns of the 70's and 80's? Barely a 150 pages yet packed with action and great anti heroes with names that screamed tough guy! Such as EDGE, STEELE, MORGAN KANE, CROW, and my personal favourite FARGO. A lot of these creations are still out there now on Kindle. Still slim and still action packed.
I have for a long time wanted to recreate those times that so shaped my creative imagination.Marvel and DC Comics, old TV series like KUNG FU, THE CHAMPIONS, DR WHO all the geek stuff that still runs through my mind like a virus. I love martial arts but nowadays just stick to the films as I am growing older in body but my mind has not yet caught up.
A happily married chap who loves his job and writes to relax.
My first book THE MALEFICENT SEVEN is a western but with horror and fantasy thrown in there. Something different!
My second book, a novella, is called HELL IN A HOLSTER and is a straight western tribute to those slim tomes mentioned earlier. It's a sequel, written first strangely!
I am currently working on a sci fi novella a tribute to Lindsay Gutteridge and the other Micro pioneer authors.
Both these books can be found on Amazon.Booktango and Feedaread
I have for a long time wanted to recreate those times that so shaped my creative imagination.Marvel and DC Comics, old TV series like KUNG FU, THE CHAMPIONS, DR WHO all the geek stuff that still runs through my mind like a virus. I love martial arts but nowadays just stick to the films as I am growing older in body but my mind has not yet caught up.
A happily married chap who loves his job and writes to relax.
My first book THE MALEFICENT SEVEN is a western but with horror and fantasy thrown in there. Something different!
My second book, a novella, is called HELL IN A HOLSTER and is a straight western tribute to those slim tomes mentioned earlier. It's a sequel, written first strangely!
I am currently working on a sci fi novella a tribute to Lindsay Gutteridge and the other Micro pioneer authors.
Both these books can be found on Amazon.Booktango and Feedaread
