The Holocaust Engine

The Holocaust Engine by David Rike and Stephen Patrick

Tag: stephenpatrick (Page 1 of 2)

Fluid Shock is here

October 14, 2023 /

So excited that Book 2 of The Holocaust Engine is here.

Fluid Shock

A team of investigators and military operators join the survivors in a race to stop the spread of an otherworldly plague.

After one year of quarantine, the Lower Florida Keys have descended into madness. The last of the local officials cling to power, hoarding supplies and using sheer brutality to force submission. When a second strain of disease burns its way through the enclaves of survivors, the military targets the islands for purge… until a cryptic message from inside the cordon halts the bombing.

Now, a broken former detective and a group of military operators race to unravel the claim that the disease is already out, weaponized, and ready to bring the world to its knees.

EVOLVED PUBLISHING PRESENTS the second book in the thrilling, award-winning post-apocalyptic horror thriller series, “The Holocaust Engine.”

Available at Evolved Publishing https://evolvedpub.com/books/fluid-shock/

More Information

To purchase from an online retailer, whether you prefer an eBook, Audiobook, or Print Book…

CLICK HERE to order from Amazon US. OR…

…CLICK HERE to order from most other online retailers.

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When pen hits the page

September 20, 2020 /

Today’s “Writer’s Life” post explores the “when” of our writing:

When do you write and why?

DAVID RIKE: I like morning best.  I’ve found I only have a certain amount of creativity each day and if I don’t use it writing I wind up exhausting it just in the other details of my day.

STEPHEN PATRICK: Morning before the family is awake and late at night when they are asleep are my most productive times. I’m a big fan of speech-to-text, so I’ve crafted scenes and ideas while driving to work and while on the treadmill. To be fair, I’ve also sketched a few scenes in waiting rooms and on a train ride downtown.

The end?

September 13, 2020 /

All good things must come to an end, but some endings are better than others. We started this journey to our launch date talking about famous first lines. While we hope this journey never ends, it made us think about last lines. Sometimes they are the perfect bow on a perfect package. Othertimes, they leave us wanting more.

Books, movies, whatever comes to mind, we’d love to see yours in the comments. Here are a few of ours:

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Animal Farm George Orwell

“He loved Big Brother.” 1984, George Orwell

“And so farewell from your little droog. And to all others in this story profound shooms of lip-music brrrrr. And they can kiss my sharries. But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex that was. Amen. And all that cal.” A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

“Later on he will understand how some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her sake.” Dracula, Bram Stoker

“And strangest of all is it to hold my wife’s hand again, and to think that I have counted her, and that she has counted me, among the dead.” War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells

“I take his hand, holding tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I will finally have to let go.”  The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

 “To the eternal glory of the infantry—“ Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein

And just for fun:

“The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”

Dog-eared pages and faded ink

September 11, 2020 /

Today’s thought experiment is about “that one book”, the one with the worn edges, the notes in the margins, the one that has traveled with you through time and space.

Other than religious volumes, what is “that one book” on your shelf that you’ve read the most often? Drop yours in the comments, and add any backstory that goes with it!

Ours are below. Mine is a bit classic, and, to be expected, David’s is hyper-practical.

STEPHEN:

This one is easy, albeit a bit straightforward. This 1978 paperback packs nearly 800 pages of horror classics with an introduction by Stephen King. I’ve read it for curiosity, pleasure, school, research, inspiration and sometimes just because I had it nearby (and it fits in a coat pocket). I’ve carried it to both U.S. coasts as a traveling companion and it has three decades of margin notes, ideas and wear. A decade ago, I laminated the cover to keep it from falling apart. There is no single volume in my library that holds such a powerful influence on my reading/writing habits for horror, science fiction and literature.

DAVID: I have an edible plant field guide for the Rockies that we take with us on vacation every year. I’d take the kids plant hunting and we’d hike all over.  Tried to make Choke Cherry jam one year and I still can’t figure out how to get Amaranth out of Lambs Ear….  Those seeds are  tiny.

The perfect tool or a perfect waste

September 7, 2020 /

Any disaster book has to explore the tools, skills and essential needs required to survive. Sometimes you have the perfect tool for the job and other times you’re lost in the woods with a writing journal and no pen.

Our thought experiment for today is:

What is the one item that you consider absolutely essential in a survival situation?

AND

What is the one item you consider absolutely useless in a survival situation? (extra credit if you add on why you’ll carry it anyway)

We look forward to your thoughts and comments below!

Out of nowhere?

September 4, 2020 /

One of the joys of being a writer is finding inspiration in the most unusual spaces.

My question for today: What is the most obscure thing you’ve read/seen in the past month that impacts your writing?

Here’s a few gems we’ve found in obscure places that have impacted our writing. Leave your own in the comments or feel free to comment on ours. Enjoy!

DAVID RIKE

Attack of the Mushroom People is a Japanese horror movie from the 60’s on Amazon Prime.  It’s actually good.  Mostly just a stranded-on-an-island-survival-movie.  Surprisingly smart script, you know, for a story about attacking mushroom people.

STEPHEN PATRICK

The Imjin War by @Samuel Hawley explores the Japanese invasion of Korea from 1592-98. Ostensibly, a historical piece about an obscure time period and a sliver of history that was never covered in my world history classes, Mr. Hawley builds an incredible narrative about human interactions, strategy, and drama. Based on original sources, it is filled with colorful characters, immersive settings, and page-turning scenes. Add in palace intrigue, samurai and naval combat with Geobukseon (“Turtle ships”), it filled my notebook with inspirations for several current and future projects.

What we’re reading

September 4, 2020 /

From Stephen Patrick:

blur book stack books bookshelves
a romantic setting in the bathroom
adult blur books close up

One of the best things about working with a writing partner is how we compliment each other to make us and our stories better.

Our individual reading tastes are hard to describe, but we both have a unique discipline beneath the madness. Below is a small snippet of what we are reading as The Holocaust Engine prepares to launch. Please share your own in the comments. We’d love to see where you are casting your gaze these days.

DAVID:

Every year I have a reading list with categories: classic, course study topic, recent sci fi, new author, etc.)  I just finished this year’s classic, Joyce’s Ulysses, hated it.  All high brow mainstream fiction is self-serving but Ulysses just seemed to hold its readers in contempt..After that I read Greg Bear, Hull Zero Three — which was a fantastic palate cleanser.

STEPHEN:

I love the art of discovery in reading. Each year, I split my targets among science non-fiction, history/biographical, top 10 contemporary fiction, classic fiction and “literary” classics. My stack is currently anchored by the Norton Anthology of English Literature (the 3k page powerhouse we hated in school), which gets me from Blake to Kipling to Conrad to Achebe. It sits next to my palate cleanser: Fritz Lieber’s “Our Lady of Darkness”. “The Biggest Bluff” by Maria Konnikova and “The Great Influenza” by John Barry complete the stack and keep the lights on deep into the night.

Where to start?

September 2, 2020 /

As we move toward the release of The Holocaust Engine and our own first lines, it seems fitting to drop a few of our favorite fiction first lines.

Add yours in the comments section

  • It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, 1984 
  •  A screaming comes across the sky. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
  • All this happened, more or less. —Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five 
  • He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. —Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
  •  It was a pleasure to burn. —Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
  • In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. —F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 
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