Every mad man talks about taking over the world. But what’s the point? The world is too huge, too vast for one man to maintain dominion over it. So what they end up doing is taking over the world, not for themselves, but for the warlords surrounding him. Billionaire business magnate Isaac Pierce accepts and exploits this concept. It’s one of the main reasons why the Pierce Syndicate has flourished.
In the heart of the American Empire’s largest metropolis, August the 18th has waged guerrilla warfare against the most dangerous criminal organization in the world, the Pierce Syndicate. Billionaire business magnate Isaac Pierce has no choice but to retaliate, calling an emergency meeting of his respected warlords, the Board of Directors.
Kennedy St. Massacre Book Cover
Just to name a few, Renji Amaruto is the ruthless heir to the largest yakuza group in Japan. Benjamin Garrett is the world’s youngest billionaire who would order a raid on an entire village to just to kill a single penny-stealing theif. Michael Helms is the all-smiling chairman of the notorious Black Creek Security firm with an unnatural affinity for explosives. And then there’s David Pierce…Isaac’s last surviving son. With an insatiable greed to expand and conquer, David won’t let anyone halt his ascension as the next head of the syndicate. Even if that person happens to be his own flesh and blood.
Everyone remembers the killers. No one remembers the victims. August the 18th stands to change all that.
Comprised of ex-military and off-duty officers who have lost all faith in the constitution, every man of August the 18th has lost a loved one to the fangs of the Pierce Syndicate. With the cutthroat Eliza Christie serving as commander, August the 18th finally takes center stage to cause disruption and destruction in the intricate world of organized crime. This of course, starts with raiding a notorious casino, exposing a corrupt superintendent and rescuing a political prisoner from a Haitian hit squad.
Available on Amazon Kindle, “The Three Kings of Ybor: August the 18th” stands to leave its readers on the edge of their seats. If there was ever a moment to just jump in the middle of a popular series, this is that spot. The first three volumes of the series lays down the intricate and emotionally heavy groundwork, while this fourth volume hits you with an adrenaline rush of swordfights, gun battles and the delicate political climate that hangs in the balance.
Welcome to Ybor, the American Empire’s new sin city! In the district were every night’s a celebration and every street’s a spectacle, violence erupts when Eliza Christie finally confronts her father’s murderer after four years of being away. Inspired by her beauty and bravery, gifted computer hacker Robby McCloud befriends her with the idea of making it an interesting first year of college. Things get a little too interesting, however, when Eliza reveals a plan to bring about the downfall of the Pierce Syndicate.
The day has finally come. The flagship masterpiece I’ve been working on for close to five years is now released on Amazon and Google Play. “The Three Kings of Ybor” opens the door to 200 years in the future when the world’s largest city has become a playground for organized crime. After the detective who first suspects a CEOs criminal involvement is murdered, his already spiteful and vindictive daughter embraces her need to retaliate in this up and coming tale that indulges on the themes of revenge, rivalry, and rebellion.
Volume 1 contains the first five chapters. On the wake of her father’s murder, Eliza Christie stalks the streets in search for answers and finds an unlikely ally in the form of a narcissistic mercenary.
Today…Today marks a the start of a new chapter in my life. From here on out, I’m taking my life seriously…as if every last precious minute is worth more to me than…
The Night My Mother Tried to Have Me Arrested – A Reason To Push People Away
May 11th, 2014
By: Rock Kitaro
In the summer of 2004 my mother had just called the cops on me in the midst of an argument in which she claimed that she felt threatened by me. I wasn’t on drugs. I didn’t have any abuse problem or was physically violent. I never even curse (in this situation). The police were called to our house due to a verbal dispute in which my mother claimed she felt threatened. For this, she tried to have me arrested.
The cop, a very understandable yet stern fellow, slapped cuffs on me, brought me out to his squad car and kept shouting at me.
“You’re seventeen son! SEVENTEEN! And you’re about to throw your life away.” He barked.
“On what charge? I didn’t do anything wrong.” I growled, my face heated with frustration.
“We can book you with disorderly conduct, son. Now is that what you want?”
The flashing red and blue lights lit up our middle class single story brick house. The neighbors…my future friends were watching. This sort of thing didn’t happen everyday in my neighborhood. But its like they say. You hold something in for so long…you’re bound to explode.
…
Before I continue. I want to point out that I love my mother and cherish her. The events that I’m about to disclose happened a decade ago and I’ve already spoken with her about this release. She completely understands why I’m doing this and even laughed when I told her what the title was going to be.
To help you explain the events leading up to the night in question. Allow me to paint the backdrop. Or you can scroll ahead until your reach red colored font to jump to the “what” instead of reading about the “why”.
Pious and good-natured college student, Aida Jennazzo, reminisces about the day she first met the infamous leader of August the 18th, Eliza Christie. Even as children, Eliza exuded the personality of someone who would one day make men bow down before her. And while the two were initially thick as thieves, equal but opposite and joined at the hip during their waddling days, there was one incident that would scar Aida and change the way she saw her childhood friend. It was the day that Eliza released an inner demon that would go on to dictate her violent need for retaliation for the rest of her life.
This will be the last e-book that I publish for a while, so I can work on my second novel before the temperatures heat back up. I dunno, there’s just something about the winter months that fuel my creativity and I can’t let it go to waste.
I’ll still be posting my thoughts, God knows I have a lot of them… But for the next couple of months, my mind will be floating between two worlds as I focus on my next novel. I already have an 83 page treatment for it and created and updated character bios for it. All I have to do now is go through and fill up any holes or connect any dots that are still left unattached. And then start to write! Starting with the prologue and going chapter by chapter.
I tell you…it’s the coolest thing, to have the framework down and you’re primed and ready to simply start churning out pages. It’s the best part of the process. The months of hard work leading up to this moment…well worth it.
If you haven’t checked out any of my other e-books, I encourage you to click on the E-Book tab and have at it! I welcome any and all comments. And of course encouragement is always uplifting.
*bows humbly* Thanks you guys. It’s been a pleasure! 😀 😀 😀
A former U.S. commando turned Syndicate enforcer recounts his first and only mission with the infamous Black Creek Security firm. It’s on this mission that he has the honor to witness the Godfather’s favorite nephew in action.
When a young street tough stabs a nonviolent door-to-door preacher, a small town urban neighborhood becomes infected by several of the most notorious criminals in the world. Continuing with the “Tales of Ybor” stories, this title contains graphic violence and street level language. While “The Godfather’s Sword” revolves around Braden Pierce, the prodigy syndicate enforcer, “Seven Deaths” introduces us to one of the few individuals who can match him in skill and execution. Gavin Hassell is an indiscriminate mercenary who sets his own agenda based on the highest bidder and his own private personal constitution.
If you were to ask me if I believe in ghost… I’d tell you yes.
I see them everyday.
I hear them. I even interact with them.
Not by choice, but by obligation.
They wander the halls and even drive in cars.
I observe the chilling affects of their cause,
And I shudder to think that I play any part
Despite being hollow shells of what used to be,
They’re difficult to ignore.
Not Angry. Not sad. Not Happy. Not Glad
Desensitized of all forms of love with a lack of purpose,
Their melancholy infects and attacks, to the point
That my energy is depleted just by fending them off.
…
I grieve for these ghosts. I loved them.
…
They are not dead.
Just not alive in my world.
We open up to Bakumatsu era of Japan where the assassin Kawakami Gensai cuts down influential politician Sakuma Shozan. Without provocation or a given reason, Gensai steals a scroll that’s tucked in Shozan’s robe. Unbeknownst to Gensai, that simple act of theft will eventually bring a world of trouble upon his descendants.
This brings us to Tien Kaze. Our rebellious teen hero who gets kicked out of school for standing up for a girl who was being molested on the back of the bus. As if he didn’t already feel isolated and obscured by his peers and religious congregation, things escalate when his father jumps the gun and tries to ban Tien from seeing his grandfather, the accused source of his misbehavior. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as Tien does the unthinkable. In the heat of the argument, Tien ends up throwing a regretful punch, flashing an ounce of the anger he’s held back for so long. But the disappointment written on his parent’s faces are too much to bear. Tien runs away from home.
In Episode 2…
We take a first-hand look at the so-called “expeditions” executed by the up and coming research and development company, Miro-Tech. In the Himalayas, Miro-Tech’s own private group of soldiers waste no time in seizing a remote village in pursuit of a pendant that is supposed to lead the way to one of Japan’s most sacred hidden treasures.
Amongst the main players, Silence, the femme fatale and majority shareholder of Miro-Tech shows multiple sides of herself. A brutish violent side towards anyone who stands in her way, a strong sense of superiority towards her race as a Japanese, yet a subtle sense of regret towards having to kill. Other than her protégé, Mellow, the only one who seems to understand her is her college lab partner and lead historian, the brilliant smartass Steven Alba. But even Alba can alleviate Silence’s voracious thirst for power. Even if Silence can’t already see that she has it.
Tien Kaze – Potentially staring Jay Kim of The Trax
Following up with the events in the states, Masatake Kaze comes home from a long overnight stocking shift at Home Depot to find his only grandson asleep on his couch. As you can probably guess from episode one, Tien’s bond with Masa is unbreakable. Tien opens up with how he’s felt for so long and makes up his mind that he wants to go to Japan, where he naively thinks that he’d be accepted. The two have a heart-to-heart conversation over a classic karate sparring match for old times sake and it ends with Tien finally convincing his grandfather that he isn’t just blowing smoke. His passion is real. His desire to visit the land of his ancestors is real.
So of course…Masa takes it one step further. Whilst packing a bag and giving Tien what little cash he had on him, Masa talks about a legendary school of swordsmanship. A family whose heirs and descendants have carried on with the school providing the best martial arts training exclusively to selected individuals from Japan’s elite class. These warriors range from the famous Minamoto Yoshitsune to the deadly Yagyu Jubei. A warrior trained by the Yagami family is said to equal the strength and speed of ten skilled samurai on the battlefield.
Over the centuries, the Yagami family has dwindled to damn near exile, but Masa knows where their only living descendents reside. Bound for Japan with a bus ticket and a plan to work as a sailor, Tien is filled with renewed vigor and excitement. Finally furnished with an attainable goal and instilled with a fulfilling sense of purpose, Tien grins…determined to find the Yagyu family and learn this so-called exclusive martial art.
The following is a narrative fictional piece based on factual events.
…
I’d never been there before. To Philippe Park. I was invited by a colleague to attend his church’s barbecue in celebration of Memorial Day. I admit that I was reluctant at first. Not due to the religion or the fact that it was going to be held at noon when I’m usually a night owl…but because of my agoraphobia. While I accept that I do have a slight case of agoraphobia, I told myself that I wouldn’t let it hold me back from such experiences. So I went.
It was a beautiful day around noon that day. The sun was up but the heat was still manageable. There was a cool breeze rustling through my white cotton button up shirt. The sky could’ve been better. The clouds seemed smeared not painted, but the distinction between the blue sky and the white clouds were distinct, so I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The National park lay on the banks of the western waters of Safety Harbor, a northern extension of Tampa Bay. While the saltwater and the rare sightings of manatees were certainly a worthy attraction of the park…in my opinion the highlight and most noticeable feature of the park are its majestic Spanish moss trees. I’m a history buff, you see…Pulling up to the parking lot and taking a look around, I could tell from the winding serpent branches that stretched out in all directions that they’ve been around for generations. It’s weird…I love historical landmarks when it comes to nature, but feel quite the opposite when it comes to manmade landmarks…like when it comes to buildings, I prefer newer constructions over the older.
Greeting my colleague and his wife at the barbecue made me laugh on the inside. When I walked up to them, already in the line for grilled burgers and hot dogs, they seemed surprised. I told them that I would be coming, but I suppose they just weren’t expecting me to show up one way or the other. Still… they embraced me and introduced me to a few bystanders within proximity whose curiosity I had peaked.
Agoraphobia…I hate that it has the suffix of phobia because I’m not afraid. Just nervous and anxious. Being that I’m well over six feet tall and at one point used to be borderline obese, I still carry the paranoia that I’m always being watched. From a spectator’s point of view, my condition is similar to a formerly abused dog in a new surrounding. My voice shuttered and I struggled to release the words that I was trying to say. As I reached for the hot dogs and hamburgers, my hands and fingers rattled as if I had Parkinson’s. Not fear… It didn’t look cute and I didn’t feel special because of it. It annoyed the hell out of me, and I had to suppress the frustrations I had with myself. But the sensation didn’t last long, thank god. Once I got myself situated, seated and relatively out of the open…I could calm down. I could focus on being sociable.
Being that it was a church function, I felt obligated to inquire into the group’s religion, their beliefs and how they came to find their way to that particular organization. My colleague caught me twice staring off in deep thought. I’m still working on handling my facial expressions because I have large eyes and it’s easy to read my mood. I didn’t mean to be rude or draw in curiosity from my perplexed look, but rather, I find it’s important to digest such information on the spot so I can ask more questions while I still have the people there in front of me.
In the end, the group won me over and I had made up my mind to check out their next service. Not sure what to expect really. But I am a religious person. And more so, I’m a philosopher. What philosopher would turn down an open invitation to learn a new system of thinking, a new theology…I can’t wait.
After sitting with my hosts for a little over half an hour, the inner child in me compelled me to get up and walk around. Such a beautiful place…People get on airplanes and travel all over the world in search for adventure. The amazing thing about Florida is that there are so many untapped places for me to explore. So explore I did.
Stage In The Sky 