Extract from my latest Novel: Dominion by Wayne Sharrocks
DOMINION by Wayne Sharrocks
PROLOGUE
Sat hunched within the dark recess Karl Connor felt as small and vulnerable as a china doll. As what seemed like hours passed he could feel the welts from the cigarette burns rising up on his body, smarting, searing…
His body still hissed from the pain of her nails gouging his young and tender flesh. As dread washed through him, how he longed for a shining light in the great dark loneliness of human existence.
Terror began with the fact that he could hardly move. His mind wrestling with some unbalanced nightmare, whilst his body ached with cramps, knots in his muscles as the cupboard under the stairs was no more than three feet long, roughly the same in height and was crammed full of assorted bric-a-brac (a vivid testimony to his mother's car-boot compulsion).
As his panic escalated with him, all his desires diminished to just the need to move, a desperate, overwhelming need to free himself from the dark and cramped conditions. As his mind fractured he tried to scream but found that he could not even speak. The unbearable stress shattering his logic to pieces, finally breaking him from reality as thoughts like moths fluttered through his mind, seeking light in his darkness.
The punishment was as if a tourniquet around his neck, strangling the life from him. His pallor ghostly, he began to writhe and squirm as his shoulders began to shake and the vast waiting silence dragged him down like exhausted sleep and his wanting; longing to be freed filled the space oppressively.
Crippled by fear he was suddenly aware of the darkness sucking him down.
Although he had long since managed to spit out the rag that was stuffed into his mouth to stifle his earlier protestations, his breath was still very shallow, trapped by the dull suffocating heat of the blackness that had encroached upon him. He found that his palms were sweating. He had gnawed at his knuckles until they bled, sucking at the warm blood that flowed from them as it were comforting nectar. Recoiling, his mind snatched feebly at passing thoughts whilst above him, he could hear the sound of the splintering wood and the creaking floorboards. He could hear his mother's gin soaked voice echoing as she descended the wooden staircase, her rage biting deep.
'Filthy, dirty boy, I told you he wasn't right, he is the devil's child. I should have had him aborted when I had the chance…'
Moments later he heard the catch being slid from the lock and the cupboard door sprang open, battering his eyes with light.
Springing back from the sudden brilliance, he flinched as the light scolded his vision, momentarily dazzling him.
A torch shone in his eyes but all he could see was the glare, burning his eyes and dragging him still further into his mother's alcohol fuelled nightmare.
Her voice now seemed distant and slurred as she brandished the huge torch at him. Under the skin on the back of his neck, ticks of apprehension still burrowed and twitched, but heart pounding he unfurled from the fetal position that he had been forced into and achingly crawled out from the cupboard. His muscles and limbs screamed with every movement and the abrupt definition of sight stung his eyes, whilst his nerves were shredded and crippled by his own deceiving mind. Believing that to be the end of the punishment he began to apologize, even though he sensed that he done nothing wrong. As he spoke, there was a tremor in his voice, a fragility, not pain so much as emotional distress. The hardness of her heart frightened him. He had taken two faltering steps before he was doubled over, as if a hook had caught his stomach, knocking the air from him. The world had become too strange for him to fully comprehend, and as the large torch lay broken in pieces upon the threadbare carpet, he gazed meekly up at her, into a face set with thunder. He let out a cry of sheerest childlike terror but as he tried to kid himself into believing that life had a purpose worthy of his struggle he knew deep down that he would be made to pay further for his actions…
Available online (£3.00-£7.99) via: www.amazon.co.uk www.whsmiths.com www.waterstones.com www.amazon.com www.amazon.ca www.play.com www.blackwells.co.uk www.pegasuspublishers.com www.tesco.com
ISBN-10: 1843863855
ISBN-13: 978-1843863854
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Wayne Sharrocks Interview/ Book Review
Interview & Book-Review in The Endless Dark Club ’Zine
Category: Writing and Poetry
www.myspace.com/shadowqueendoll
Endless Dark Club 'Zine (Issue 17).
Please check out my interview & the book-review(s) in this fantastic Gothic/Rock/Alternative 'zine.
Copies are 3 Euros.
Interested parties please contact Magda via her MySpace link or place order to:
Endless Dark Club, A/C Magda Estrela, Rua Antero Nobre, No.16,3o dto. 8700-240 Olhao, Portugal
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Wayne Sharrocks Interview Piece in Spiders Web 'Zine
Interview-Spider’s Web Zine - Issue 9 (Now available).
* PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS FANTASTIC 'ZINE & HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY MY INTERVIEW PIECE.
Wayne
SPIDER'S WEB ISSUE 9
INTERVIEWS
Black Roses, Poetry and Death (USA)
Club Antichrist (London, UK)
Crysalys (Italy)
Wayne Sharrocks (Goth Writer, UK)
Temujin (Australia)
Second Skin (Italy)
Frightdoll (USA)
In Loving Memory (Italy)
Ismini (Greece)
Lace Me Up (Dublin, Ireland)
LIFE AS A GOTH
DJ Zynthexia (Finland)
Amaranth (UK)
Carlo (of Miriam, Rome, Italy)
Electric Barbarella (UK)
Chris (of V-Malice, Trieste, Italy)
REVIEWS
Black Roses, Poetry and Death (USA)
GPKISM (Japan)
Blood (Japan)
Spectrum-X (Italy)
Bloody Mary (Italy)
Sinbeats (Germany)
Katharine Blake (England)
The Offering (UK)
Virgins o.r.
Pigeons (Greece)
Wastescape (Sweden)
Uninvited Guest (UK)
This Void Inside (ITaly)
Crysalys (ITaly)
Ismini (Greece)
Gotham 2008 (23rd March 2008 , London, UK)
Anne Sudworth (exhibition, UK)
ZINE REVIEWS
Unscene (UK)
Bubblegumslut (UK)
Devolution (UK)
AVAILABLE VIA PAYPAL
£3/ €4/ $6...
www. myspace. com/spiderswebzine
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Wayne Sharrocks : New Book-Signing Event.
Due to the success of the previous event I have been asked back to take part in the forthcoming 'Whitby Goth Weekend' activities.
New Book Signing: Whitby Bookshop (Saturday 1st November 2008-Time:TBA)
Address: Whitby bookshop: 88 Church Street, Whitby, North Yorkshire. YO22 4BH
Tel: 01947 606202 Email: mail@whitbybookshop.co.uk
For anyone who is unable to make it - copies of both ’Dominion’ & ’Redemption’ are currently on sale at Waterstones, Blackwell’s , Jarrolds, Diss Publishing & of course the Whitby Bookshop.
www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon.com www.amazon.ca www.tesco.co.uk www.play.com ww.pegasuspublishers.com www.blackwell.co.uk www.waterstones.com ww.whsmiths.co.uk
Author: Wayne Sharrocks
Title: Redemption ISBN-10: 1843862549 ISBN-13: 978-1843862543
Title: Dominion: ISBN-10: 1843863855 ISBN-13: 978-1843863854
http://www.myspace.com/waynesharrocks
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DOMINION by Wayne Sharrocks (Synopsis).
Category: Writing and Poetry
Released 8th OCTOBER 2007.
SYNOPSIS
The story is (again) a dark, but occasionally erotic and humorous psychological thriller.
Indelibly scarred by childhood trauma and neglect, the main character (Karl Connor), attempted to flee from the dark shadows of his young life, the horrors that he had experienced and the inner demons that continued to haunt him.
As the past and present collide the brutal truth is that the long slide into violence has already begun but who could have imagined that his desire for perceived vengeance would have such terrifying results...
Young women are being murdered in London suburbs and there is seemingly nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind. The killer strikes without warning, killing brutally with no remorse. He doesn't even know where or when the next murder will be.
Detective Inspector Ross is determined to hunt the killer down, jeopardising his own police career in the process as he becomes increasingly alienated and obsessed with finding the murderer. He is forced to re-investigate past cases, with results that turn his world upside down. It is a difficult time for him and his depleted team as they find themselves caught up in Karl's deadly game of ruthless vendetta and vengeful murders. Soon their lives begin to run on a parallel which leaves one of his team in mortal danger. Drawn deeper into an accelarating nightmare, which is rapidly becoming more personal, Detective Inspector Ross takes the step that will bring them together in a chilling finale.
New Novel: Dominion by Wayne Sharrocks
Extract from Chapter 2
DEADLOCK
Due to the gridlocked traffic Detective Inspector Ross had arrived late at the crime scene. As he pulled up to the kerbside of the tree lined avenue he looked up through the windscreen and watched as a cadaver, on a wheeled stretcher covered in a thin white body bag with black straps, was loaded unceremoniously into the back of the coroner's black van.
The whizzing sound of a police helicopter intensified in the distance, rapidly growing louder, shaking him from his stupor.
Previously deep in thought, he now caught sight of his reflection in the rear view mirror and could see that his face had turned as white as the swollen moon above. He took a moment to compose himself before he swung the driver's door open. He raised his hand in a vague wave to acknowledge the two body movers from the coroner's office as they turned with a darting urgency from the rear of the van. Still encased in their white coveralls, they mirrored his gesture before walking quickly towards the front of their vehicle.
Detective Inspector Ross remained watching as they pulled away from the kerb and set off into traffic. He then glanced over at the house, which was cordoned off by fluorescent crime scene tape that fluttered in the breeze like ribbons from a maypole. An assorted thong of media types and rubbernecks, some of whom were now attempting to take photographs on their mobile phones, had already assembled at the scene and looked on like a pack of baying jackals only just being kept at bay by the increasingly thin blue line.
He blew out a noisy sigh as he continued to look out of the car window at the unfurling scene.
He was less than thrilled to get a call like this on what so far had been his first day off in little over a month, especially as he sensed that his days at the helm of the investigation were numbered and such a public fall from grace would all but finish his previously fast-track career. At that thought his jaw tightened and he felt a slight tickle of electric current go down the back of his neck, bringing the hairs there to attention. A knot of anxious tension gripped his stomach, a subconscious fear of failure.
He willed himself to relax but as his body was stiff and his muscles ached from lack of sleep his mind had no intention of obeying him. He took a deep breath and swept his hand through his steel grey hair so that most of it fell back into place, whilst the wind took the other rogue strands so that they resembled dancing marionettes.
Ross removed his black wool sport coat and threw it onto the passenger seat before undoing his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves, a display that was intended to state to onlookers that he was getting ready for business.
After fighting his way through the escalating crowd, which combined the concerned, the curious and the downright ghoulish, he flashed his warrant card before ducking under the police tape to enter the crime scene.
As he reluctantly breathed in the chill of the evening, he stared over at he house. It looked unkempt, the garden untended, neglected even. As he walked towards it, the press continued to bombard him with queries, some pleadingly, others rudely, but he ignored them all. He had already braced himself for the media storm, which now invariably followed every new victim. As he stepped inside the house he could still hear the voices being carried away by the wind, muttering and complaining...
Available via www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon.com www.amazon.ca www.whsmiths.co.uk www.play.com www.tesco.com www.blackwell.co.uk
www.waterstones.com www.pegasuspublishers.com
ISBN: 9781843863854
Author: Wayne Sharrocks
Title: Dominion
http://www.myspace.com/waynesharrocks
http://www.authorsden.com/waynesharrocks http://www.writerspromote.com/waynesharrocks
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Debut novel: Redemption by Wayne Sharrocks
Extract from my debut novel ’Redemption’ (by Wayne Sharrocks)
Chapter 1
I awoke trembling and sweating, the sheets soaking wet beneath me as my mind recalled the visions from the nightmare that had violently ripped me from my sleep. The recollections were sadly all too vivid as I had been fighting them all night, a battle I was destined to lose.
Damn, twenty years on and still the memory of those events would not fade. I felt the maelstrom of reproach and morbid regrets as every night seemed to rekindle old memories that I wished to leave behind and to deny the existance of. Sometimes I found myself closing my eyes and hiding away in the dark. I knew that there was a lot to be ashamed of in my life, but I just did not understand why these dark spectres from my past, kept invading my mind of late, now almost on a nightly basis. I always felt exhausted upon waking due to the upsetting dreams and unwelcome presences disrupting my slumber and I was now sick of continually waking up in cold sweats. I had always hoped that my mind would bury the experience if my will was strong enough, but alas it was not to be, as the scar tissue had peeled away, leaving me raw.
My temple was beginning to throb so I rolled over in bed, opened my eyes and looked across into the semi darkness at the illuminated face of the now buzzing alarm clock, which sat perched precariously upon the bedside table. It was pleading with me to arise. I looked at it for a few seconds, whilst attempting to focus my eyes and clear my head, before turning off its infernal din. I reluctantly slipped out from beneath the covers and headed towards the bathroom. Pulling on the cord to the light, I then recoiled at the vision that confronted me from the bathroom mirror. The fact that I'd had a restless night was etched into every pore and crevice of my milk white skin whilst my eyes were bloodshot and drowned in themselves.
I looked like Bela Lugosi, which was not necessarily so bad in itself, except for the fact that he'd been dead since 1956. I ran the taps, filling the wash basin, and splashed water onto my face in a vain effort to revive myself. My mouth was dry, filled with a sour taste, my teeth stained red...
Available via www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon.com www.amazon.ca www.whsmiths.co.uk www.play.com www.tesco.com www.blackwell.co.uk www.waterstones.com www.pegasuspublishers.com
ISBN: 1843862549
Author: Wayne Sharrocks
Title: Redemption
http://www.myspace.com/waynesharrocks
http://pegasuspublishers.com
