Old Ghosts

Gailsone #2.1

by Casey Glanders

Alice Gailsone is about to find out that some things are better left alone.

After the events of Red Rook, Alice Gailsone wants a couple of days off from her duties with the Collective Good, along with a plane. While her employers and family continue to pry, the reasons for Alice’s sudden trip to the old, abandoned Purge facility in Houston remain hers alone. Even Allison, her niece and closest confidant, is left in the dark.

While on her secret mission, Alice stirs up trouble in the form of something ancient, evil, and powerful. Now, trapped in a pitch-black, flooded labyrinth and seriously outmatched, Alice must use all of her cunning, guile, and charm to outwit and overpower a monstrous team, bent on claiming her prize for themselves.

Meanwhile, public backlash is growing from the events in Red Rook. Alan Tanner, billionaire business tycoon and head of the Collective Good, the world’s foremost super team, is feeling the pressure from on high as more and more people in power start calling for Alice’s head. As Victoria Green, his vice president and girlfriend, tries to work with him to avoid anymore bad press, she starts to realize that there is something more going on that she’s not being told, and that Alice might be in the middle of it.

Alice is still recovering from the events in Red Rook. Now, she finds herself stretched to the physical and emotional limit. As old ghosts new fiends take their toll, Alice must once again step up to show those that would harm her and her family just why she holds the title, the Most Dangerous Woman in the World.

Genres: Superheroes

57 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Casey Glanders has been writing professionally for over a decade as a ghost writer and corporate author. He has published technical manuals, trade articles, westerns, horror stories, science fiction, romance and a host of other genres. This is his first full-length novel to be released under his own name.

Casey holds a MA in Organizational Communications with dual bachelors in Sociology and Communication Studies. When not writing, he earns a living as a corporate trainer for a GPS Solutions firm and as a Communications instructor for Ivy Tech University. He is a father of four and when not working, can be found with his family.

Reviews

[H3dakota · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short! Fun read, but way too short.

[Thomas Shelby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seems to read as though the nescient tone of authors correlates with the difficulty the authors seem to have in understanding the concepts of the characters they create.

[Casey Glanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I wrote this book. Slightly bias.

This is the first post-Red Rook story in the Gailsone universe. It follows Alice on a secret mission to an old haunt, the Houston Purge facility (the same one referenced in prior stories.) While there, Alice gets captured by three new villains who are also looking for what Alice is after. Through a mixture of luck and skill, Alice is able to complete her mission. That's as much as I want to reveal without giving away key elements of the plot.

This story introduces three new characters. One in particular has ties with the characters in the GAILSONE universe already, and opens the door for a new story arc. Also, this story focuses more on the serial aspect of the Gailsone series. We have something going on between Alan and Victoria that will impact our heroes in the near future, and Victoria has a mystery to unravel. That, combined with the mounting public pressure, makes for some serious obstacles for the future of the Gailsone clan.

This story has a lot of fun elements from prior GAILSONE stories. We get to see Alice shine at what she does, there's some good plot advancement, and some classic, GAILSONE-style character development. The rest of the cast, while not the center of this piece, gets their brief moment in the spotlight, and this story works both as a stand-alone and as a part of the new Rare Gems arc.

I enjoyed writing this one. I enjoyed including the new characters and working with an established setting. I also enjoyed laying some setup for the next few stories. The part I focused on the most was the scene between Alan and Victoria. I actually wrote that several times, each version with a different slant on what was going on.

I hope you like this latest entry. This is a direct lead-in for the next Gailsone story, Ifrit.

Oh! What did you think of the cover? I loved the image, and after reading the story, I think it works well.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last time we saw Alice Gailsone, she was in a hospital bed recuperating from injuries incurred by a nuclear bomb explosion. Now she's in a reflective mood. And that means she's spending time with Old Ghosts.