Jack William Bell

Make a donation

Click the PayPal button to sponsor Jack William Bell by making a donation to Clarion West:

Excerpt

The little Jesuit was screaming abuse up at Le Petit Frank and Frank knew what it looked like: a bitty crow defending its carrion against a great dirty buzzard. Frank looked about at the crew and didn't like what he saw at all. The Frenchys were laughing, that was OK. Frank could stand being a figure of fun once in a while. But the Portuguese were looking at each other and mumbling behind their hands, that was bad. Frank knew they were listening to what father Barco was saying and thinking about how long it was since they had been shriven.

Frank suddenly kicked Barco, knocking him back over the chest he was protecting, then in one motion he drew his cutlass and leapt over the chest himself; landing with one foot on each side of the black robes and his sword at the priest's throat, pricking deep enough to start a trickle of blood. The Jesuit was finally silent, the wind knocked out of him, and Frank could hear gasps from his crew and a short little scream from Senorita de Torrejon. That was the thing about little Frank; for such a big man he could move terribly fast. It always surprised people, even those who had seen him fight before.

"That is quite enough of that, Jesuit." Frank said it like a swear word, "Your life is spared because you say your brethren will pay a fat ransom for your dirty hide and because the Senorita has pledged to cover it if they do not. My crew will not like losing that ransom, I know, but any more from you and I will recompense them from my own share just for the pleasure of carving out your wishbone! And if I want to see what it is you have in your fancy box, I open it and see. Understand?"

Bio

Over the years I've done everything from sell Western clothing to fix airplanes. But these days I'm a software engineer and a writer; have guitar, will travel.


Writing Description

Generally, I write hard science fiction, with a hint of cyberpunk and a dash of Hammett. But I do sometimes turn my pen to things less grounded in reality, if not less gritty.

Writing Goals

I recently completed an amazing trip to Peru and South Florida. Based on that experience, I am writing a short story-to-novella-length work featuring pirates and Inca treasure and more than a hint of the supernatural. It is titled "Green is the Color of Pain."

Fundraising Goals

My goal is to get at least 25 donors. If I reach that goal I will post the resulting story to the Internet with a Creative Commons license.

Website

http://jackwilliambell.com


Back to the main Write-a-thon page.