The Everborn Read online

  THE EVERBORN

  a novel

  by

  NICHOLAS GRABOWSKY

  The Everborn

  A Black Bed Sheet/Diverse Media Book

  September 2009

  Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2009 by Nicholas Grabowsky. All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

  Cover, cover art, jacket design, and text copyright © 2009 by Nicholas Grabowsky and Black Bed Sheet Books.

  All rights reserved.

  Photograph of the author by Phyllis Haupert and copyright © 2009 by Nicholas Grabowsky and Black Bed Sheet Books.

  Visit Nicholas Grabowsky’s official website at

  WWW.DOWNWARDEN.COM.

  Visit Black Bed Sheet Books at www.downwarden.com/blackbedsheet

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2009908762

  ISBN-10: 0-9842136-0-0

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9842136-0-3

  The Everborn

  Nicholas Grabowsky

  A Black Bed Sheet/Diverse Media Book

  Antelope, CA

  Praise concerning The Everborn and its author:

  ______________________________

  "My Dear Nicholas: You seem to me---in a way that's entirely admirable----a man out of time. You're writing horror epics when the audience has become increasingly numbed by cinematic hokum and stale ideas. I SALUTE YOU: your ambition, your dedication, your achievements. I have no doubt in my mind that there is much, much more to come from your fertile and blissfully complex imagination, and I'll await the next work with much anticipation!"

  ----Clive Barker (Hellraiser, director, producer, artist and bestselling author)

  “Grabowsky has melded Horror with Science Fiction with such expertise that I am left speechless. This is a novel of epic proportions and told in such a unique way that it defies explanation. By utilizing ideas from religious history, the reader is given a totally surreal reason for what UFOs really are and you will start to believe it’s true.”

  ---Gorezone Magazine

  "Grabowsky's writing is at times touching and emotional, however, his real talent is his ability to infuse his writing with a sense of dread and loathing that I have not experienced since H.P. Lovecraft..........(a) unique and often terrifying world that Sacramento novelist Nicholas Grabowsky launches us into......(it) has the feel of an "X-Files" episode, at other very twisted turns it delves into the psychedelic. For those of us looking for something new in the alien horror genre, look not to the stars, but look to Nicholas Grabowsky's "The Everborn."

  -----Tahoe Daily Tribune

  Nicholas Grabowsky has succeeded in creating an entire world that is situated over our own, shading our every move with darkness and its ghostly alien presence....leaving the reader in utter astonishment as to the amazing detail that Grabowsky’s world has been created with. The detailed mythology that he creates with his alien forces ties together more than one earthly superstition, weaving a web that connects the world of the supernatural and the extraterrestrial.........the reader will be unable to get the terrifying and original visions out of their head!

  ------Heidi Martinuzzi, E! Entertainment Television, Pretty/Scary.net

  "Grabowsky exploits (the story) to explore concepts such as being, death & immortality in a fabulist world where more than a half-dozen major characters shift identities with Cronenberg-like regularity....a solid storyline, fresh ideas on everything from relationships to religion and blood-chilling violence makes Grabowsky's latest offering a compelling read!"

  ----Sacramento News & Review

  ***** 5 stars (highest rating) "ALL HAIL GRABOWSKY! .....a captivating plot completely unique...with a story so imaginative and profound, even I was astounded....satisfying a reader's interest in alternative science fiction, classic horror, suspense and yes, folks, even gore. The atmosphere is complex, murky and entraps you. The style of writing is blunt, audacious and head-on.....this book rises above the average horror/science fiction novel!"

  ------Horror-web.com

  ".....an amazingly original way to treat the done-to-death alien motif. (This) really is an outstanding book....."

  ----Garret Peck (Bram Stoker Award nominee, Personal Demons)

  “Nicholas Grabowsky has been around a while and I have read several of his books but this one will always remain my favorite as it is with most of his "fans". I say "fans" because once you begin reading his novels you will get hooked. He has a style unlike any other writer in this genre. He is really not just good at what he does - he is great! "The Everborn" is a classic and will be long read after he is gone from the face of this earth.”

  -----W. H. McDonald Jr., 128th Assault Helicopter Company (South Vietnam, 1966 & ’67, awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross, The Bronze Star, 14 Air Medals and the Purple Heart

  “Forget sleeping, forget eating…you will live this book, every dramatic step, every action, every thought…this book will consume you from page one and the thing is..…you will be glad for it. Nicholas soars as one of the greatest Sci-Fi storytellers of all time. Watch out Anthony and Asimov……this Sci-Fi king is here and he means business.”

  --Twisted Dreams Magazine

  “...a well-crafted novel that seamlessly blends elements of horror and science fiction. This novel has it all: demons, apparitions, aliens, and serial killers. This novel will reach out and touch you on many levels and Grabowsky's compelling storytelling will have you reading well into the night, afraid to put it down........

  ------Holly Catanzarita, Sinisteria Magazine

  “Spellbinding and utterly amazing……”

  ----Garry Charles (bestselling author, Heaven’s Falling series)

  Golden Award winner! Best Science Fiction novel of 2004…..

  --American Author's Association

  “A well-established author of horror/fantasy fiction….”

  ---Scary Monsters Magazine, 2004 Yearbook

  “I don’t know what else to say about this that has not already been said by some of the best writers of the genre. All I can do is join them in singing his praises. Grabowsky is a master of taking old legends and giving them

  new life… discover for yourself one of the best up and coming writers of our decade!”

  --Eve Blaack, Hacker’s Source Magazine, on RED WET DIRT

  Also by Nicholas Grabowsky:

  Fiction:

  The Everborn

  Pray, Serpent’s Prey (as Nicholas Randers)

  The Rag Man (as Nicholas Randers)

  Halloween IV

  Halloween IV: The Special Limited Edition

  Sweet Dreams, Lady Moon (as Marsena Shane)

  The Wicked Haze

  Diverse Tales

  Red Wet Dirt

  Nonfiction:

  Nick Reads & Reviews 2004-2007

  Nancy (Biography of the First Lady) (as Marsena Shane)

  The Easy Way to Great Legs (as Marsena Shane)

  Body Dynamics Vols. 1 & 2 (as Marsena Shane)

  Children’s:

  Flatty Kat: Tales of an Urban Feline (with Phyllis Haupert)

  As editor (recent):

  Buck Alice & the Actor/robot (by Walter Koenig)

  You’re Dead Already….Living in Hell (by Jake Istre)

  Recent anthologies:

  From the Shadows (Triad Publishing Group)

  Echoes of Terror (Lachesis Publishing)r />
  Fear (Whiskey Creek Press, introduction)

  Acknowledgments and sincere gratitude to the following for the very things I needed the most during the construction of this monstrosity --for support, friendship, and for believing in me, in various stages of my life but particularly during the 17 years it took to complete this book in its present form: Marybeth Harold, Mike Erlandson, Naomi Munton, Donna LaBartunek, Andrea Stinson, Scott Trepesowsky, Terry Robbins, Pat Simpson, Brandon Battle, Ryan Lightsey, Kyle Pamson, my fifth grade teacher and mentor Michael Montrief, Joe Randazzo, Josephine & Doug & Karen Davenport, Jake Istre, Frank Castillo, Robert Horton…..and Phyllis Haupert, because you can’t erase 8 years.

  Dark Delicacies Book Store in Burbank, CA.

  Clive Barker and Dean R. Koontz for great advice in spurts for two decades.

  Walter Koenig, one helluva acting coach whose Star Trek credits don’t even come close to touching upon the great man and talent he is.

  Moustapha Akkad, for phone conversations, awesome insight, and a warm soul. You will always be remembered.

  Jeremy, my first beloved son, and my grandson Nathan….

  Charlton John, my little Boo…..

  .....and Mom & Dad.

  Contents

  Forward..........................................................................i

  Prologue......................................................................vii

  PART ONE: Max and the Watcher Swap Stories

  1. A Message of Untimely Importance...................1

  2. Maxwell Gets a Grip..........................................12

  3. A Boulevard of Doors........................................17

  4. Time Retold At the Motel Untold.....................30

  5. No True Beginnings.........................................45

  PART TWO: Informal Introductions

  6. Swapping the Story Again.................................51

  7. The Watchmaid Bari.........................................64

  8. Melony Polito at the Crowjob...........................67

  9. Andrew Erlandson at the Crowjob...................78

  10. Andrew and Melony.........................................91

  11. Scratch At The Crowjob.................................100

  12. A Departing Exchange...................................107

  13. A Few Fringe Benefits Of The Gods..............112

  14. Max And Melony............................................115

  15. Ralston And Jessica........................................120

  16. The UFO Detective........................................126

  17. Scratch And The Church On The Rock…….141

  18. Max Goes To Church.....................................155

  19. Knocking On Scratch’s Door.........................166

  20. Matt McGregor Goes To Church...................179

  21. A Refresher Course Brush-up At The Office…………………………………………189

  22. The Interview At Andrew’s Apartment..........195

  23. A Strange Brew Of Personality.......................211

  24. A Rude Awakening For William Behn...........217

  25. A Telephone Call For Ralston Cooper.........226

  26. An Odd Distortion For Bari.........................232

  27. Andrew Is Not An Alien...............................237

  28. Climactic Introductions...............................248

  29. A New Recruit For The Magdalene.............263

  Interlude

  30. In The Watcher’s Own Words......................271

  PART THREE: The Magdalene Salvatia

  31. When The Sacred Ones Fell From The Sky…………………………………………...279

  32. The Tale Of The Magdalene Queen........... 283

  33. The Black Widow Messiah...........................295

  34. Simon BoLeve...............................................305

  35. Simon And Salvatia.......................................324

  36. The Son Of A.J. Erlandson...........................336

  37. The Playground............................................340

  38. An Assessment Of Casualties.......................358

  39. The Big Deal................................................362

  Interlude

  40. In The Waking World...................................373

  PART FOUR: The Master Magicians

  41. Company For Scratch...................................379

  42. Company For Melony...................................394

  43. Company For Ralston...................................406

  44. Carbon Canyon.............................................419

  45. The Diner Untold.........................................424

  46. Private Parties Only......................................437

  47. The Watchers................................................449

  Epilogue

  48. Max And The Watcher, In Parting...............469

  The Everborn

  Nicholas Grabowsky

  A Diverse Media/Black Bed Sheet Book

  Antelope, CA

  “Some men a forward motion love,

  But I by backward steps would move,

  And when this dust falls to the urn,

  in that state I came, return.”

  --Henry Vaughan,

  16th Century metaphysical poet

  FORWARD

  UFOs And Sunday School

  (an essay of sorts by Maxwell J. Polito, world renowned UFO researcher and Occultist, originally handwritten after this novel was conceived, as an afterthought)

  It was not supposed to happen this way, not any of it. And most certainly not to me. Yet I’m a part of it, immersed in it, quite like an actor immersed so intensely within a role that to him reality is reduced to an indistinguishable blur.

  I have never exactly thought of myself as an actor, but at this moment I would surrender everything to distinguish the role I am forced to play from the man I truly am. If my circumstances dictate the role, then perhaps by playing it out I will find that man. This notion provides me with a subtle comfort, though my limited choice in the matter is evident even in the very nature of my writing these words.

  So how, might you inquire, were things supposed to have happened, and, what tale have I to tell in contrast?

  Firstly, for all of us, things went this way:

  We were no more than a few decades into the twentieth century when the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects reached the attentive and ever-gullible ears of our society. The vanity and excessive ignorance of the notion that we were alone in the universe gave way to the restless ideology that there must be something more, something out there, something physical and independent from our otherwise spiritual concepts of God. The “science” of contemporary UFOlogy became the inevitable result of scientists, truth-seekers, and those obsessively curious trying to find a way to explain the outrageously downright unexplainable....

  ....such as, for example, supersonic saucers soaring quite rudely into USAF air space, time and again without so much as a knock on the door of our atmosphere before entering. Bodies of bulbous-eyed embryonic humanoids were recovered in Roswell, famously, though evidence of the wreckage of their craft suggests the incident was nothing more than a top secret kite the government was flying one day made of aluminum foil and balsa wood. I went on a picnic where once I flew a kite, and when the wind sent it crashing down and I recovered it, there were no alien bodies littering my surroundings, as far as I could tell. Way before any of this, Orson Welles broadcasts a War of the Worlds which caught those of us who didn’t know any better on a bad night, when even the Nazis seemed like bags of posed plastic soldiers compared to those invading Martian bastards. Sightings and reports eventually flourished in such whimsical d
iversities that, perhaps, the U.S. Air Force would have found things much simpler had they hired an illustrator for their Project Blue Book files, secured national syndication rights, and had themselves a lucrative Sunday comic the whole family could enjoy.

  We cultivated these phenomena even through real wars, which in comparison proved to be frightening jolts into tangible reality, and it was from these wars and recurring pressures that we sought escape in UFOs. While our kids spent bedtime hours holding flashlights to Amazing Stories beneath tented bedcovers, we spent daytime hours watching The Day the Earth Stood Still and wondering privately about what we would do if what we saw came true.