The Damned Summer

When the paths of good and evil intersect, the resulting conflict can sometimes result in a scarring of the place where it happened. The town of Storm, Illinois is one such place, for long ago, a battle that resulted in a stalemate between the two forces had left a powerful imprint on the soil, an imprint that seems to scream out to the cosmos for a rematch, as if the land yearns for the battle to be finished so it can finally heal.

The demon from the original fight hungers for the rematch as well, in desperate need for the prize that was fought for, a prize that seems to have finally returned to the mortal world after nearly 500 years. A prize that is held among a group of teenagers whose main focus is partying and having a great summer before their senior year. Easy prey as far as the demon is concerned.

The side of good in this conflict is an ageing Vietnam vet and his small dog. The vet spent his youth running with the demon, but now fights against it every night in the meeting grounds of the physical world and the spiritual world, the place known as dreams.

It is in this summer of celebration and sin that the final clash between the demon and the old man with his dog will finally come to an end. A summer where the older generation fights for the souls of the oblivious younger generation. A battle that will not only determine the fate of the teens, but also those close to them as well.

About the AuthorI've had an overactive imagination as far back as I can remember, but I didn't start putting a pen to paper until I was a punk teenager. All of those old writings were lost one night in a drunken stupor when I burned them up over some girl whose name I can't even remember now. I think about those old musings from time to time, trying to remember them all, knowing I never will, but the adolescent yet poetic destruction of those early stories over some girl still makes me smile. Especially not being able to remember her name, I love that. The writing floated out of my life with the ashes of those burnt pages for the next couple of years. College, working and partying took up all my time, there was none left for the storyteller. Then something happened two months before my junior year. Right before my transfer to a new university, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Needless to say, things went into a downward spiral for awhile there, but I eventually found my way out of the woods of despair and got on with my life. One of the good things about that time was I found my old friend, the storyteller, and we've been on speaking terms ever since. I have to admit the MS has amplified my ability to dive into the darkness of life's surprises, but it has also shown me the importance of disabled people being equally represented in fiction. Sure, sometimes they have minor parts, but rarely the main protagonist, I'm going to do my best to change that.