The
Last Flag
Race
the Dead Book 1
by
Wren Cavanagh
Genre:
Dystopian Horror, Thriller
What
would you do to pay the bills; to survive, or to just get rich, would
you compete against other teams in a quarantined town filthy with
zombies wanting to bite out your throat?
Emma
and Lewis sign up for the race, they need the money to save his life.
But they won't just be racing the dead, the surprise blizzard or the
other contestants.
Because
anger and vengeance know no bounds and like everyone in the blighted
town they become pawns in a game of retribution.
The
contestants become nothing more than live entertainment to viewers
who watch and judge their every move in the town of Prideful as they
race each other to arrive alive to a final flag. The team that makes
will get airlifted out alive and go back home richer for it, the
others walk back to a pittance and if they are not careful. They
won't get out at all.
Wren
Cavanagh, that would be me. Also writes under the pen name Junior
Sokolov.
An
artist and writer from great North West.
I
am grateful that I have this opportunity to share my work and
imagination with you. Growing up my head was always stuck in a book
or a comic book (before they got fancy and got the moniker "graphic
novels").
More
often than not those books were filled with monsters, werewolves and
vampires.
Then
the likes of Godzilla showed up along with their brethren, born from
the very justified fear of the atomic bomb and its consequences.
And
that is what I love. Escaping into worlds of monsters and heroes, and
sometimes they are one and the same!
Letting
my imagination run along and bring into the narrative what I see
around me everyday.
I
hope that you will enjoy my stories. Find in them a temporary and
enjoyable escape of your own.
Interview Notch Publishing House
General Background Questions
• What is Notch Publishing House?
I created it when I started as an
indie writer using the pen name of Wren Cavanagh. But I’ve always
wanted to add more writers. I love reading, love hearing different
voices and interpretations on established mythologies and of course,
love being entertained as a reader. It’s why I have just launched
our first anthology / contest event.
So that we may hear new voices and
establish a relationships talented writers.
• What is the anthology event
about?
It’s built on Lovecratian Mythos.
But I wanted fiction that transports that mythology to a recent
world. Nowadays we wear fitness trackers or phones that know where we
are. Can remember and anticipate our habits. We connect and access
our devices across networks on multiple platforms. Cameras are
everywhere. Can old monsters keep their mystery? Do they have any
more privacy that we do? We could have space stations on faraway
planets in decades.
And as for humans, things and
attitudes have changed since the times Lovecraft created his works.
How many people would slap a video of Innsmouth odd citizen waddling
into the ocean faster than you could say Dagon. Vlog ghouls or do or
maybe use AIs to trap an elder God. Or are we too jaded for them, who
cares about Cthulu when are off to an hospital visit without
insurance. When you see climate changes take out your farms.
• What are the payment, or prizes?
The anthology pays out anyweher from
$10 to $25, depending on length and quality. I’d like to assume the
quality will be good all around. So it’ll be down to length and
originality. I hope we’ll have a lot of diverse voice. And there’s
no charge to submit the fiction.
• The Contest?
The contest has multiple awards:
1st
place: $500, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
2nd Place: $200, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
3rd place: $100, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
4th place: $50, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
5th place: $30, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
All others: $25.00 and 1 paperback, a digital copy of the book.
2nd Place: $200, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
3rd place: $100, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
4th place: $50, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
5th place: $30, 2 paperbacks and a digital copy of the book.
All others: $25.00 and 1 paperback, a digital copy of the book.
• But it has a fee.
Yes it does. Notch Publishing House
it still a small business and it’ll help defray some of the costs.
I kept the fee as low as I could to allow as many people as possible
to enter the contest. Realistically a couple of fancy Starbucks drink
could be more expensive than submitting a manuscript to us. And I
think the prizes make it worth it.
Some writers are not fans of the
fees. And I understand that point of view. I have entered contest
that had fees. You really feel like you’re putting yourself on the
line. Conversely, I read comments from other writers who say it
motivates them.
• Who do you hope will contribute,
to the contest or the anthology?
Anyone with talent and a love for
the genre of course. But I’d love to read fiction from folks who
are not commonly heard. Minorities, artists and writers from
underserved communities. Straight as well as LGBTQ writers. I’d
love to hear their take on the Lovecraftian mythos.
For the contest contributors we have
special prompts.
• What are Notch’s Publishing
House’s next projects?
We have coming up the Honeycomb
novel. Sci-fi horror, combined with plantary colonization. The sequel
to “The Last Flag” a zombie novel. And of course Jericho the cat
from heaven who fights the supernatural in a quaint Oregon coastal
town will make a comeback later in the year.
• Who is Notch?
A feral cat I rescued some years
back. He loves to read.
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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