by Eddie Patin
If his family was still at Sheryl’s parents’, he'd have to make sure that they were okay at least...
The ride would be maybe four or five miles. No problem.
Up ahead of Arthur, before his street joined up with Montebello Drive, he saw several people run from one side of the road to the other.
Odd, he thought.
But by the time he reached the corner, they were gone.
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Author Notes & Appendix – Giants
This Appendix is a reference to knowledge that you should have if you've already read the books that came before this one.
"The Giants of Shattered Swamp" is book four of a series that will eventually contain at least six books. In this 'Author Notes' section, I'll be throwing in thanks to contributors and others, as well as compiling an ongoing 'Appendix'—certain bits of information and concepts, characters, and other things from this series. If you're ever unsure of a concept from this series that you feel you should know from past books, check here.
First some thanks. This is a large and involved series, and there was a lot of world-building involved before I started. I've actually been working on "Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit" for all of 2018. As of the time of publishing books 4+, it's 2019. I'd like to thank certain people and YouTube channels for their awesome work and videos that helped inspire me and provided great information for my research:
Dinosaur Stuff. I've been really into dinosaurs ever since I was a little boy growing up in the 80's. Dinosaur lore and science has evolved quite a bit since back then—even since the 90's when the first Jurassic Park movie came out. I've learned a lot this year and last year about the new dinosaur science from YouTube channels like "Trey the Explainer" and "Dangerville" mainly, as well as others.
Quantum Physics and Dimension Theory. There's a lot of stuff out there on the Internet about higher dimensions, many worlds theory, string theory, etc. Ultimately, I found a really interesting interpretation model out there that made a lot of sense and worked well as a foundation for my higher dimensional theory in these books. My concept of higher dimensional travel for this book series is based largely on the "Imagining the Tenth Dimension" interpretation by Rob Bryanton. He has many great, old videos about his Ten Dimension model on YouTube, and I share them on my Facebook author page from time to time. We start ... with a point. Special thanks to Rob Bryanton. In Book Two, Rob's 10th Dimensional Model is briefly discussed in Chapter Two, and more information and concepts are filled in here and there over the series as Jason learns and experiments. Hopping from universe to universe in pursuit of bounties is a major part of this series.
Monster Lore. I love monster stuff. Most of the books I write involve monsters of some kind; usually the more fleshy beast-like sorts and aberration-types rather than common undead (although sometimes I have zombies and more creative things). I'm always listening to YouTube videos about various types of monsters from DnD, folklore, video games, and other sources to help fuel my ideas and flesh out my own monster appearance in fiction. I've listened to plenty of channels, but one I'd really like to mention for being an extra-awesome source of monster ecology is "The Mighty Gluestick" Channel by AJ Pickett. Keep up the awesome videos, AJ! I'm also happy to thank MrRhexx, who also has good monster lore videos, as well as the channel Mythology & Fiction Explained.
Running Appendix
This is Book Four in the series, so this section is a little different than the equivalent Appendix and Notes section in 'Necromancer'. Every time you see this 'Appendix', it should grow a little bit with knowledge you should have by the end of the last book. This will also serve as help to anyone jumping into the series without reading the previous books (if anyone's crazy enough to do that!). As I mentioned before, if you ever need to look up a character, or which universe is which, or clarify what dimension does what, check the back of the book to see this section. I don't want to spoil anything for later, so you'll find each Appendix limited to the stuff you'll learn in each book.
The Characters
Jason Leaper 934. This is the series main character. He starts the series at thirty-three years old, living in a fictional Colorado mountain town next to Lake Granby called "Ridgeview". When he was eighteen years old, Jason's family went down in a plane crash on the way to Alaska. His parents were both killed and Jason was crippled for life. After that, he dropped out of college (Physics major) and spent the next fifteen years of his life distracting himself with games and friends. He lives in his parents' house, which he inherited. All Jason Leapers have the ability to 'rift'—to manipulate dimensions to move between or inside different universes and multiverses. Jason's very smart and has a lot of capability. He can invent solutions to his problems from limited resources and imagination, and is fairly skilled with firearms as a hobby. At the end of Wyvern, Jason is given a previous Jason's OCS—Omniversal Cosmic Scanner—which allows him access to any information he desires and can help him rift through an elaborate coordinate system.
After the events of Wyvern, Jason is a changed man, no longer wanting to waste his life with distractions. He joins the Reality Rifters and went on his first 'bounty hunting' mission. After the events of Minotaurs, Jason has learned more about his powers and how to use the different higher dimensions for travel. He's also figured out how to orient his rifts to be horizontal instead of vertical. During Necromancer, he really started using his rifting powers for utility (teleporting, getting through doors, spying) and even as a weapon, destroying the necromancer's powerful iron/stone golem by opening a portal under its feet and rifting it 1000 feet over the mountainside, where fell to its destruction. In Necromancer, he had to deal a theme of how to live in the face of the meaninglessness of infinity. He decided against Jason 1241's solution (self destruction), and against Riley's solution (refusing to face it), and decided to accept the absurd and define his own happiness and meaning. In Book 3, he really started to explore other worlds with his OCS.
Riley Wyatt. Riley is a cyborg for a technologically-advanced planet in universe 244, starting this series at the age of twenty-eight. He was one of the Reality Rifters under Jason 113, and Jason 47 before that. In his past, he was a mercenary for a more famous merc team called The Ninth Fists, and before that, he was a Dust Angel (special forces) in his planet's military. A very skilled gun-fighter, Riley possesses many cybernetic augmentations that enhance his physical and sensory abilities, as well as his ability to survive. I've written a free short story about Riley's first mission with the Ninth Fists from back when he was twenty years old called "The Helion Depths". (Click here to find it). Riley says some words and figures of speech quite differently than Jason 934 because of his different culture.
In Book 2, Riley was really struggling with his place in the Reality Rifters and the death/absence of Jason 113 and didn't want to be the leader. Over Book 2, he became impatient with Jason 934 and made mistakes that put them all in danger while reluctantly acting as leader. When Jason saved Riley's life and killed one version of Nargog the alpha minotaur (with the help of two other versions of himself from parallel worlds), the soldier developed a new respect for Jason moving forward. During Book 3, he and Jason started getting along really well, though he thought that Jason's desire to help the local girl, Morgana Soloster, was silly, since she was one of infinite versions of herself and didn't matter to their goals. Ultimately, he was glad that he went along with rescuing Morgana, because it earned the team several magical items and new, high-tech toys, and Riley 'loves that magic shet'. Riley also visited his dad back on Ebonexus, his homeworld, during Book 3, and is now 29 years old.
Gliath Voidheart the Deathhand. Gliath is a Krulax from the planet Luva in universe 679. He is a powerful leopardwere; a shapeshifter with regenerative powers and great strength and speed, and is Riley's constant companion and bodyguard. It's easiest to think of him as a werepanther; however, where a werepanther is a human that can shift into a panther, Gliath is instead a
n intelligent panther that can shift into a human. Gliath has three forms: his human 'pretender' form, where he resembles a severe Native American youth; his seven-foot-tall man-beast 'warrior' form; and his 'primal' form, where he looks like a normal (large) black leopard. Learn about how Riley and Gliath met and partnered up by reading my free novella, "A Bond Between Man and Monster" (Click here to find it). After the events of Minotaur, we've learned that his human form is called his 'pretender' form. Jason has also seen that Gliath can continually regenerate as long as he has energy (food) to support it, and can regenerate far more quickly if he takes the time to actively shift his forms. Gliath provided great support to the team in Book 3, and was a deadly opponent for gargoyles, undead, and cultists.
Morgana Soloster. Morgana entered the story in Book 3. She's the last survivor of the Soloster family; the family that built and led the village of New Bozeman for over a hundred years before the necromancer came and a vicious cult, the Golden Lady's Communion, took over the town. She's twenty-five years old and the only Soloster remaining that hasn't been killed by gargoyles or murdered in the cult's coup. During Book 3, she fought as hard as she could to keep things together, lead a resistance movement, and take back her family's town, but failed. The entire town turned against her, so when the leaders of the cult and the necromancer were all dead by the end of the book, she elected to join the Reality Rifters. Her most notable possessions are her 'Smuggler's ring', which is a magical ring that allows her to keep an item completely hidden within a pocket dimension in reach of her hand, her Soloster family heirloom necklace, and her father's magical sword, Dawnbringer. She keeps Dawnbringer stored within the Smuggler's ring, always at hand. The magical sword's blade shines with a gold light, and can cut easily through any creature with malice in its heart.
Jason Leaper 113. The older, bolder version of Jason from universe 113 that almost led the entire Reality Rifter team to their deaths in universe 1240 before the very beginning of this series. As Jason 113 lay dying back home in universe 113 as his universe and the Reality Rifter base was being destroyed by the open rift to universe 1240, he sent Riley and Gliath (the only survivors) to universe 934 to find Jason 934 and start over.
Jason Leaper 47. This was the first Jason that Riley and Gliath worked for. Jason 47 introduced Riley and Gliath (and the other Reality Rifters) to Jason 113 after the accident on the Night Hag mission in "A Bond Between Man and Monster" (Click here to find it).
Jason Leaper 1241. This alternate version of Jason 934 came into the story at the end of Book 2 during the 'Nargog incident'. Over Book 3, Jason 1241 spiraled into despair, wracked with guilt over his actions killing his neighbors on his world. He couldn't handle the meaninglessness of infinity, and killed himself.
Zayden Skinner. Skinner is the mysterious and powerful manager of the Bounty Boards in the Market on Churn, universe 12. The limit to his power is unknown, and he is the final word in assigning jobs and paying for bounties at the Bounty Boards. By now, the characters have figured out that Skinner can read their minds. Zayden Skinner is a huge man built like the statue of a god with jet black skin, a grinding-stone voice, glowing eyes, and hair literally like a flickering rainbow fire. He wears ornate red-gold armor. In Book 2, Riley became very preoccupied with getting back into Skinner's good graces (after Jason 113's failure) so that he could go back to doing 'exclusive' jobs—bounties given to mercs with proven reputations that wouldn't be shared with other teams—like he had grown accustomed to. In Book 3, Jason speaks up at the right time to earn his team the 'exclusive bounty' that leads them to the necromancer and the golem hearts job. Skinner is fairly impressed with Jason after that. When Morgana meets Skinner at the end of Book 3, she freaks out because he is the same entity she encountered on her world that supposedly killed the necromancer, the demon "Xarzeth the Black".
Ben Jackson, Amanda, and Tom. Jason 934's DnD friends. They've been gaming ever since high school. Amanda and Tom (married) move away in the beginning of the book, and Ben is Jason's only friend remaining. In Book 2, Jason discusses the idea with Ben about going into business producing and selling 'infinity chargers', free power devices Jason invented using infinity crystals from the Wilderlands. With Jason's history of not taking things seriously and wasting his life, Ben is skeptical, but is impressed when he is given an infinity charger.
Zelda. Jason's cat. She's petite and mostly white with a splotch of brown-orange on her face.
Ghrag Chaukchew and the Nothrix Reapers. Ghrag is a bug-man, a strange and nasty species of insectoid bipedal creatures that give the Reality Rifters trouble in Book 2. His species is called 'Nothrix' and Ghrag is the leader of the mercenary group, the Nothrix Reapers. In Book 2, Ghrag and his group murdered Riley's friends to steal their minotaur hides, then attacked Jason, Riley, and Gliath when they learned what had happened. The last time Jason saw Ghrag in Book 2 was when he shot one of his wings off during their ambush on the bug-men when the alpha minotaur ambushed the Reality Rifters in turn. In Book 3, Ghrag and his Reapers stalk the Reality Rifters some back in the Market. Then, Ghrag, now crippled and missing a wing, attacks Jason out of nowhere at the end of Book 3, causing Ghrag and Jason both to be ejected from the Market to a random universe by the Phase Wraiths.
Dave Baylor. Owner of Baylor General Provisions, Dave is a friend of Riley's from his military days (he also spent a short time with the Reality Rifters in the past), and is the only human merchant living on Churn.
Nargog the Alpha Minotaur. Nargog is the massive black minotaur from Maze World (Book 2) that followed the Reality Rifters through Jason's portal after almost killing Riley. Broken into Jason 934's Earth, he went on a rampage through his neighborhood before one version of him was finally killed by Jason 934, Jason 1241, and Jason 1242 on Earth of u1242 at the end of Book 2. In Book 3, Jason 934, Jason 1241, Riley, and Gliath hunt down the version of Nargog still on u934. When Jason realizes that Nargog is sentient and trying to talk to them, he spares the minotaur's life and sends him to the Wilderlands to live out the rest of his days. Jason's minotaur-hide-jacket is made from the hide of the version of Nargog that they killed on u1242.
Relevant Universes
Universe 934. Earth, much like our own. Jason 934 lives in Ridgeview, CO, which is a fictional town east of Granby, south of the lake and off of Highway 40.
Universe 12. Churn. The planet of Churn is a Tabula Rasa world where the Market sits under a pink and yellow sky. The Market is an interdimensional hub for entities from all over the Omniverse to get together and trade. It's like an exotic bazaar full of shops and services, the most notable of which being 'The Bounty Boards'—a popular place run by the mysterious Zayden Skinner. The 'Bounty Boards' is a temple-looking structure where planeswalkers and mercenaries and monster hunters take jobs that usually involve traveling to strange universes to hunt mythical beasts and creatures, usually for monster body parts for anonymous employers that need such things for one reason or another.
Universe 113. Also Earth, slightly different. This was Jason 113's world, destroyed in the beginning of Book One.
Universe 312. The Wilderlands. A very different parallel to our world where the dinosaurs never went extinct and humans never developed. There are also very different aspects that don't mesh with Earth's normal laws of physics. For one, many mythical creatures (like the wyvern) exist there that would be impossible on u934. There is also something Riley that calls the 'Vitality Element', which lets all living things on that world constantly regenerate and avoid infection. The strangest thing about the Wilderlands is the vines. No unnatural structure can survive there for long, as it will eventually be pulled apart by tiny vines growing out of the earth. Also a great source for Infinity Crystals.
Universe 244. Ebonexus. Riley's home world. Book 3 involves a visit to this cyberpunk desert planet. Jason, Riley, and Gliath head into the megacity, Citadel, to have some cybernetic augments installed into Jason to protect his hearing from gunfire and give him a degree of night vision. Riley's d
ad, Gordon Wyatt, lived on Ebonexus in a rural town called Fort Firebrook.
Universe 408. Maze World. A lot of Book 2 takes place here. Jason goes to Maze World to hunt minotaurs—his very first bounty with the new Reality Rifters. It's a really weird place where the underlying structure of everything leans toward maze-like lines, from the clouds to the leaves of trees to the insides of transparent slime monsters.
Universe 679. Luva. Gliath's home world. Learn about this world by reading "A Bond Between Man and Monster" (Click here to find it).
Universe 936. Primoria. This is the universe that the characters visit in Book 3. It's very similar to Jason 934's world, but is 900 years in the future, overrun with monsters from other universes that invaded during a cataclysm, and all human life exists in a dark ages level of technology. U936 is Morgana Soloster's homeworld. The universe was already in Jason's OCS, and Jason 113 had left the cryptic notation: "Evil Jason. Cosmic entity 'the Weave' allows magic-like manifestations". The team experiences a difficult but very rewarding adventure there, resulting in rescuing Morgana and letting her join the team, killing and harvesting many gargoyles for their 'golem hearts', and defeating a mysterious necromancer.
Universe 271. Another version of Earth that's mostly oceans, with various sea-based monsters and scant islands with white sand beaches. Jason discovers it in his bookmarks in Book 3.
