The Post-Humans (Book 1): The League
Page 30
In the open chamber there were several more of the homeless people talking and fighting over scraps.
Over the fire and on the grubby concrete floor were the bones of several beings that Dereck suspected were not sheep or pigs. The smell was a mix of garbage and filth combined with roasted meat, and the smell of roasted meat was alluring.
Dereck wanted more.
“Bring me more meat. I need my strength back.” And the first figure carrying the plastic bag reached in and brought out the lump of roasted flesh.
Zero, King, Leader, does that mean I have an army?
Dereck felt his split lips start to bleed as he grinned. There was something different about him, he could feel it, and it felt good.
Acknowledgements
Thank you for taking the time to read my first book!
The League was not always this story, but I’m glad it has finally culminated into this book, the first of at least three.
The League began as a series of drawings and paintings that I did during my University years. These depicted endless landscapes of melting organic structures. They were my portraits of the human subconscious. They first appeared in my drawings during my High school years and then more complex and more refined over the years that followed. When University was over I found myself feeling very small and insignificant. My creative drive was extinguished by my new and overwhelming need to survive in a realistic world. For many years creativity was suppressed to make way for new work skills and relationships with the people that had become part of my adult life. Not until years later was I able to express myself visually again. After a studying to become a teacher with my wife, I was thrown into an altogether different adventure. I was able to re-explore the passions that drove me as a student; I was able to explore who I was, creatively and connect with some of the most talented and interesting people I will ever meet. Teaching art to high school students has given me the chance play a part in their creative journeys, the same way my art teachers were there for mine.
The original drawings that inspired The League begun in 2010 when I began to draw again. They began as subconscious landscapes and insect-like monsters, but steadily I began to pull away from these abstractions and I began to illustrate my own comics. I was never happy with the resulting pages, but the narratives drove me to complete page after page of these. These began as post apocalyptic adventures in the Australian wasteland. The next comic I set my heart on creating was to be more personal, with a main character based loosely on myself in a world where my organic landscapes crossed over with reality. This was scrapped after several pages, but I was set on the idea. In 2014 myself and fellow artists and author Ben Langdon and Cat Bailey opened a studio workspace. This was when I decided to write the script for my next comic. In this studio Athan Harper and The League were born. Pages became chapters and chapters became a novel and this novel has become an exciting new chapter to my life.
So, now I say thank you to the people that have helped and supported me. Firstly I need to thank my wife, Donna Bassett. She and I have had an incredible adventure so far and I’m sure that we have all kinds of great things in store for the future. If I hadn’t met her I would never have reached the place I’m in today. The people, the places and the experiences I have had since I met her would never have come to pass without her taking this ride with me. She has encouraged my creativity to blossom into achievements I have never imagined possible. She has been there to discuss my ideas and to edit drafts of my stories since this began.
Secondly I would like to thank fellow author, Ben Langdon. He has inspired me to push myself beyond my familiar means of creativity. The stories and characters that I have harboured in my drawings can finally be born into narratives of their own. He has been my proof reader editor and mentor since this journey began and I look forward to working with him in the future to create new stories for Kalamity Press.
I’d also like to thank Brian Healy, Jill Perkins and Megan Langdon for their input. They have been editors and advisors during the creation of this story. Their experience of great literature has been invaluable to the production of this story. I cannot thank them enough for their advice and the precious time they have spent proof reading.
Lastly I would like to thank my friends and family for your never-ending encouragement and support. They have inspired everything about my writing and my creative since this journey began. The journey that I have undertaken has been driven and inspired by our lives together so far and the future we will all experience together. You have shown me that there is a place for all of us in this world and I will never tire of searching for mine.
thurstonbassett.com
kalamitypress.com
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Acknowledgements