Thriller Sampler: Dan Kotler / Canadian Werewolf

By Mark Leslie and Kevin Tumlinson

This collaborative sampler from Kevin Tumlinson and Mark Leslie combines a "Dan Kotler" archeological thriller with a "Canadian Werewolf" humorous thriller. These 15,000+ words are meant to introduce you to two different characters from two different thriller universes.

 

The Brass Hall - Kevin Tumlinson

 

What is a Celtic tomb doing in Egypt?

Dan Kotler ('The Coelho Medallion') is back in this archaeological thriller prequel!

Dan Kotler can't turn away from a good historic mystery. And finding a tomb for a Celtic god in a mountainous region of Egypt certainly qualifies. 

As Kotler investigates, he finds an amazing array of artifacts and evidence, and all of it points to something so remarkable it could redefine history—if Kotler can survive long enough to reveal it to the world. 

Join Dr. Kotler for an adventure an Egyptian adventure with a Celtic twist in this thrilling prequel to 'The Coelho Medallion.'

 

 

This Time Around - Mark Leslie

 

CAUGHT BETWEEN THE MOON AND NEW YORK CITY.

 

Being a werewolf isn't all about howling at the moon. Or running carelessly through boundless fields feeling the wind in your fur. Not when you live in the most populous city in the US.

 

For Michael Andrews, a Canadian living in Manhattan and afflicted with lycanthropy, there are odd side effects to being a werewolf in the middle of a bustling metropolis.

 

Such as waking up naked in Battery Park with absolutely no memory of the night before as a wolf and trying to figure out why there is a bullet hole in his leg.

Just another day in the life of a man living with the odd side effect of his werewolf affliction.

 

(This short story is the tale that inspired the full length Mark Leslie novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York)

 

 

A Happy Pants Books and Stark Publishing collaborative project.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stark Publishing & Happy Pants Books
• Release date: Sep 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393444619

Mark Leslie

Mark Leslie is a writer of "Twilight Zone" or "Black Mirror" style speculative fiction. He lives in Southwestern Ontario and is sometimes seen traveling to book events with his life-sized skeleton companion, Barnaby Bones. When he is not writing, or reading, Mark can be found haunting bookstores, libraries or local craft beer establishments.

Book preview

THRILLER SAMPLER

DAN KOTLER

CANADIAN WEREWOLF

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KEVIN TUMLINSON

MARK LESLIE

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Stark Publishing

Happy Pants Books

Copyright © 2020 by the Authors

Published by Stark Publishing & Happy Pants Books

The Brass Hall copyright © 2020 by Kevin Tumlinson

This Time Around copyright © 2020 by Mark Leslie Lefebvre

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

This is a collection of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of each author’s imagination. Real locales and public and celebrity names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is either completely coincidental or is used in a completely fictional manner.

Thriller Sampler / Dan Kotler & Canadian Werewolf.

Kevin Tumlinson, Mark Leslie

Special Collaborative Publishing Edition

A picture containing text, book Description automatically generated

ABOUT THIS SAMPLER

Welcome to this sampler of short thrillers created to give you a bit of a taste of two different universes, two different styles of thrillers from two different authors.

The Dan Kotler Archaeological Thrillers by Kevin Tumlinson feature Dan Kotler, an independent researcher who often finds himself in more trouble than he was expecting. His adventures are simultaneously adrenaline-filled and thought-provoking and appeal to fans of authors like Dan Brown and Clive Cussler.

Michael Andrews, who is an alpha wolf and a beta human living in the Big Apple, is the hero in Mark Leslie’s Canadian Werewolf Humorous Thrillers who similarly finds himself in unexpected situations where his can put his heightened senses and stretch to good use. Leslie’s work appeals to fans of Jim Butcher.

Both stories are prequel tales in their respective universes and meant to give you a taste of the characters and the adventures each author takes them on.

The authors – Mark Leslie and Kevin Tumlinson – have worked together as book industry representatives, have sang together during celebratory karaoke nights, but this eBook is the first time they have collaborated on a publishing project.

Kevin Tumlinson, who currently travels around the US on an RV with his intrepid wife, is originally from Texas. The Dan Kotler novels are just series from different thrillers he has penned over the years. He’s the author of the Quake Runner: Alex Kayne, the Think Tank, and the The Lucid series, as well as The Citadel science-fiction series and Sawyer Jackson fantasy novels.

Mark Leslie hails from the north: Canada and lives in Waterloo, Ontario. His series books include Canadian Werewolf and the dark fantasy series of short stories Nocturnal Screams. He has also penned tales of true ghost stories that include Haunted Hospitals, Tomes of Terror, Spooky Sudbury and Creepy Capital.

Their hope is that you enjoy their different takes on the thriller genre.

THE BRASS HALL

Kevin Tumlinson

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Chapter 1

EASTERN DESERT, EGYPT – TWENTY YEARS AGO

Dan Kotler was used to seeing dead people.

Not freshly dead—he generally saw the bodies of people who had been dead for centuries, maybe millennia. It was a sort of occupational hazard, as he traipsed around the globe peeking into old tombs and ruins—you see bodies, every now and then. Dusty, decomposed bags of bones that guarded the real reason he was in the field.

Kotler preferred artifacts.

Getting to some artifacts, however, meant climbing over the odd body here and there, and he'd long ago become accustomed to that. He no longer cringed when he put his hand down on what used to be someone's skull. It didn't bother him anymore. Most of the time. Sometimes.

He really preferred artifacts.

This way, Dr. Kotler, his guide said. The boy's name was Martook. He was maybe fifteen years old and dressed in shorts and a pair of hand-made shoes, their soles cut from discarded car tires. Kotler had watched someone in a nearby town cutting and measuring and shaping shoes such as these for locals. It was fascinating and ingenious.

Martook was bare-chested, as a lot of people in this region tended to be, and wore a pair of khaki shorts that were filthy from his explorations. His head was shaved clean, which was unusual but not unheard of in an area that might be infested with lice. Kotler would check himself thoroughly when this was all over. He scratched absently at his scalp, just from the thought.

But for now, he didn't care about lice or any other nuisance. Even crawling over the four or five ancient corpses in this narrow passage didn't bother him. For now, Kotler was only focused on what might lie on the other side of the tiny cave mouth into which Martook had