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Centipede '63
Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. Most Americans know the significance of that place and date, but nobody is sure exactly what happened in Dealey Plaza. A charismatic young president was gunned down. The official consensus was that he was shot by one Lee Harvey Oswald. Conspiracy theories abound, but no one really knows what happened that day.
No one but the Black Centipede.
Join our mysterious masked hero on a journey into a labyrinth of conspiracy, treachery, and pure evil as he learns the truth about that fateful day. Joined by his protege, Marla Bartowski, daughter of Stan Bartowski, the Centipede seeks to unravel the complex strands of a plot which reaches from Dallas to the White House. Is the White Centipede behind it all? Find out in this tale of twisted history, horrific murder, and dark magic!
From the creator of Psychedelic Pulp, Chuck Miller, comes the latest adventure of the character that started it all. CENTIPEDE ’63. From Pro Se Productions.
No one but the Black Centipede.
Join our mysterious masked hero on a journey into a labyrinth of conspiracy, treachery, and pure evil as he learns the truth about that fateful day. Joined by his protege, Marla Bartowski, daughter of Stan Bartowski, the Centipede seeks to unravel the complex strands of a plot which reaches from Dallas to the White House. Is the White Centipede behind it all? Find out in this tale of twisted history, horrific murder, and dark magic!
From the creator of Psychedelic Pulp, Chuck Miller, comes the latest adventure of the character that started it all. CENTIPEDE ’63. From Pro Se Productions.
235 pages, Paperback
Published April 16, 2022
About the author
Chuck Miller
51 books44 followersThe Black Centipede and related characters are part of a grand concept I came up with myself and started writing and publishing on the web.
They had actually been festering in my skull for more than 20 years-- a proposed comic book that never made it off the ground-- and it seemed about time to let them out.
I realized I wasn't getting any younger. So I started cranking out prose like a man possessed. Well, the Black Centipede Press web project caught the eye of Tommy Hancock at Pro Se Press, and they have now published the first Black Centipede novel, "Creeping Dawn: The Rise of the Black Centipede." (Order it now from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Creeping-Dawn-R...)
The Black Centipede is a traditional pulp action hero who refuses to behave like one. He casually breaks every rule in the book. Then he writes new rules. Then he breaks those. He is the world's greatest action hero. He is a dangerous madman. He is both criminal and crimefighter, pursuing an agenda that he himself has yet to fully define.
His career has spanned 80 years (so far), and he has become involved with some of the most famous and infamous individuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. "Creeping Dawn" takes up his story in the pivotal period between 1927 and 1933.
In his fictional world, the Centipede is both a real-life crime fighter and the star of a successful pulp adventure magazine, which presents highly-fictionalized accounts of his adventures. The series explores, among other things, the disparity between the public image and the man himself. We also learn the "shocking truth" about several well-known historical people and events. In the world of the Black Centipede, absolutely nothing is what it seems to be.
THE CITY OF ZENITH, home of the Black Centipede, is a living example of the uncertainty principle. It is on the East or West Coast, or one of the Great Lakes, or the Mississippi River. Everyone has lived there at one time or another, including you.
Zenith is one of the most versatile cities in the United States. It is as large or as small as it needs to be for whatever story I happen to be writing at a given time. I did not, however, discover it myself. The city was founded by Sinclair Lewis. According to WIKIPEDIA, "Winnemac is a fictional U.S. state invented by the writer Sinclair Lewis. His novel Babbitt takes place in Zenith, its largest city (population 361,000, according to a sketch-map Lewis made to guide his writing). Winnemac is also the setting for ‘Gideon Planish,’ ‘Arrowsmith,’ ‘Elmer Gantry,’ and ‘Dodsworth.’"
Inspired by the work of the late Philip Jose Farmer, I have developed the habit of treating fictional characters as though they actually lived, and people who actually lived as though they were fictional characters. The Centipede has an elaborate history, for which I have created artifacts. Amelia Earhart, Frank Nitti, and William Randolph Hearst have prominent roles in the saga.
They had actually been festering in my skull for more than 20 years-- a proposed comic book that never made it off the ground-- and it seemed about time to let them out.
I realized I wasn't getting any younger. So I started cranking out prose like a man possessed. Well, the Black Centipede Press web project caught the eye of Tommy Hancock at Pro Se Press, and they have now published the first Black Centipede novel, "Creeping Dawn: The Rise of the Black Centipede." (Order it now from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Creeping-Dawn-R...)
The Black Centipede is a traditional pulp action hero who refuses to behave like one. He casually breaks every rule in the book. Then he writes new rules. Then he breaks those. He is the world's greatest action hero. He is a dangerous madman. He is both criminal and crimefighter, pursuing an agenda that he himself has yet to fully define.
His career has spanned 80 years (so far), and he has become involved with some of the most famous and infamous individuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. "Creeping Dawn" takes up his story in the pivotal period between 1927 and 1933.
In his fictional world, the Centipede is both a real-life crime fighter and the star of a successful pulp adventure magazine, which presents highly-fictionalized accounts of his adventures. The series explores, among other things, the disparity between the public image and the man himself. We also learn the "shocking truth" about several well-known historical people and events. In the world of the Black Centipede, absolutely nothing is what it seems to be.
THE CITY OF ZENITH, home of the Black Centipede, is a living example of the uncertainty principle. It is on the East or West Coast, or one of the Great Lakes, or the Mississippi River. Everyone has lived there at one time or another, including you.
Zenith is one of the most versatile cities in the United States. It is as large or as small as it needs to be for whatever story I happen to be writing at a given time. I did not, however, discover it myself. The city was founded by Sinclair Lewis. According to WIKIPEDIA, "Winnemac is a fictional U.S. state invented by the writer Sinclair Lewis. His novel Babbitt takes place in Zenith, its largest city (population 361,000, according to a sketch-map Lewis made to guide his writing). Winnemac is also the setting for ‘Gideon Planish,’ ‘Arrowsmith,’ ‘Elmer Gantry,’ and ‘Dodsworth.’"
Inspired by the work of the late Philip Jose Farmer, I have developed the habit of treating fictional characters as though they actually lived, and people who actually lived as though they were fictional characters. The Centipede has an elaborate history, for which I have created artifacts. Amelia Earhart, Frank Nitti, and William Randolph Hearst have prominent roles in the saga.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 12, 2025
The Black Centipede jumps ahead in his memoirs from the 1930s to 1963 in order to give a "complete" account of the Kennedy assassination. Absurdly complex plot involving dozens of threads from the earlier entries in Miller's Zenith Universe. The plot is so convoluted that Miller resorts to large tracts of telling rather than showing near the end, but it's still fun. There are deus ex machinas, wild coincidences, and timey-wimey paradoxes galore, but who cares? Is it any weirder than Stephen King's 11/22/63? Nope. Is it more fun? Yep.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review