Andrew

by J.Z. Murdock

"Andrew" the novella is the story of a very young boy, the child of a very brilliant married couple who were also rather unusual scientists. It is a story about how Andrew tries to deal with an event more horrific and traumatic than anyone should ever have to experience, no matter what age they are. This is then juxtaposed with how he learned to deal with it as an adult, who he developed into by that point in his life, and where his parent’s efforts end him up.

This novella sets up the horror book, Death of Heaven. Though it won't perhaps make as much sense until you've read DoH. The prose in Andrew starts off in an odd fashion, and continues during the child's period of time in that way; it is being "told" or in a way, reminisced by a five year old genius the likes of which the Earth has never seen.

This story takes several sharp turns and in the end, he experiences things that are as terrifying to him as an adult, as they were to him as a child. This is no ordinary tale and it blows out into a galactic story in, Death of Heaven. The best way to read these stories are to just open your mind and allow yourself to be floated along on a sea on insanity.

218 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 30, 2012

About the author

JZ Murdock is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and screenwriter based in Bremerton, Washington. His most recent achievement, Death of Heaven, won the 2024 NYC Big Book Award for Horror, solidifying his reputation in the horror and sci-fi genres.

Death of Heaven is an epic blend of horror and science fiction, drawing comparisons to the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker. (Yes, the cover title includes "Death of Heaven…"—for a reason.)

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His first book, Anthology of Evil, features a collection of early horror and sci-fi short stories, while Anthology of Evil Volume II introduces newer tales, including hard science fiction and stories featured in anthologies and magazines.

In 2019, tired of waiting for his screenplays to be picked up, Murdock began producing his own films. His short horror film Gumdrop (2020) won multiple festival awards, including Best Horror Short and Best Noir Film. He followed with Pvt. Ravel's Bolero (2021), a powerful anti-war filmic poem inspired by WWI trench warfare and Ravel’s Boléro, which has received 63 international awards.

His true crime drama, The Teenage Bodyguard, is based on his real-life experience protecting a murder witness from the Tacoma mafia in 1974. The screenplay has won 13 awards, with industry praise from The Black List, BlueCat, and entertainment attorney Michael Donaldson, who called it a “compelling story perfectly suited for today’s market.”

Murdock holds a B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in phenomenology, and a minor in Creative Writing for screenwriting and collaborative scripting from Western Washington University. After a career as a Senior Technical Writer and IT administrator, he retired in 2016 to focus full-time on writing and filmmaking.

He is deeply involved in Washington’s independent film scene, having co-founded the Gorst Underground Film Festival and the short-lived Slash Night Monthly (paused due to COVID).

His blog, Murdockinations.com, has been running since 2010 and now features over 1,600 posts.

His one-act play Denude has won 5 awards.

Notable screenplays include: Gray and Lover: The Hearth Tales Incident, Ahriman, Sarah, Colorado Lobsters, Popsicle Death, Poor Lord Ritchie’s Answer, and screen adaptations of Dark of Knight and Sealed in Lies.

For fiction, nonfiction, and audiobooks, visit his Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/...

Support his creative work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jzmurdock