jon-sauve

[jon-sauve]

1.      Ghosts are people. They used to be, at least. They broke out of their crypto-tombs for one reason; they were bored. Mostly they have no grand plans, they are simply seeking entertainment and diversion. We can take advantage of this.

2.      Ghosts are no longer people. They cannot be killed easily. Think of them as a self-aware computer virus, one capable of understanding our motives and reacting to them. The more we can keep our plans hidden to the ghost, the better our chances will be.

3.      There is only one way to be sure a ghost has been eradicated. Ensure all its data is present on a single storage unit and destroy that unit irrevocably. There is no legal precedent for this sort of action in our time, but in the future it will be seen as tantamount to murder. It is possible that, if we did this, some of us will be tried and convicted in the coming years. Thus it is better to take the second most effective course of action...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B9NK6HD

[jon-sauve]

Falling in love was like dreaming. You either woke up from it slowly, forgetting what it was, or it turned into a nightmare you would never forget.

“Paradox of Power” from the story collection GHOSTS OF THE FUTURE

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B9NK6HD

[jon-sauve]

Interstellar Jump (poem)

It cuts, we bleed

It flows, we lead

In the dark

Where there is no light

In the dark

Where there is no fight

We jump, it bends

We fall, it wins

In the dark

Where there is no air

In the dark

Where there is no where

We jump, it withers

We die, it glitters

In the dark

Where there is no night

In the dark

Where there is no light

No life, no death

No hope, no less

We live, then die

In a single breath

In the dark

Where there is no where

[jon-sauve]

I’m usually the ghost inside the fridge, trying to find something good to eat for the tenth time in the past hour

Ghost Inside the Fridge speedpainting by MitchGrave

[jon-sauve]

Liz Mamont

[jon-sauve]

Is Anyone Out There?

I've been searching for so long. I thought there was nothing. Even the stars abandoned me. With no light, no sound, nothing to see or touch, I couldn't be sure I was even alive. I thought I might have died and gone into some post-existential abyss, and left everything behind.

But the opposite is true. It's everything else that died - the people, the world, the sun, the galaxy, the universe - and left me here alone. And I know this now because at last, after eons, I see the light. It's coming through a crack up ahead. I can speak... there is air coming through... I'm still here. Can you hear me? Please answer. I'M STILL HERE!

[jon-sauve]

No one thought to question things until the first men died.

Read ONE STEP FROM EXTINCTION now.

[jon-sauve]

I Don’t Exist (poem)

I think it’s fake

It’s crystal clear

It’s too clean, too mean

A universe in despair

 -

Blacking out, giving up

I was never here

I was never there

And I can never leave

 -

It might be real

Let’s seal the deal

I’m too frail, too pale

A universe going stale

 -

Backing out, falling up

I was never here

I was never there

And I can never leave

 -

I don’t exist

I’ll be going now

I always loved you

Please, don’t touch me

[jon-sauve]

The cover of book 2 in my series of sci fi story collections.

Read ANOMALY DETECTED now

[jon-sauve]

The Traveling Pain (story excerpt)

There were plenty of silences to be found out here. Rasmus knew that firsthand. There was the silence of transit, for one thing. When all you heard was your own heartbeat and all you tasted was the sting of fear up the back of your throat, and sometimes not even that. Sometimes you just dreamt.

There was also the silence of combat. There was plenty of sound, sure. Pulse fire, grinding gears, hydraulic hisses. The blast of wind and sometimes sand over the carapace that separated you from everything that wanted to kill you. But there was still a sort of silence to be found even in the heart of foulest battle. It was a silence in the mind, and in the soul. You weren’t thinking about anything and most of the time you weren’t even feeling anything. You were just moving, reacting like a machine.

 And there was also a silence long ago, almost forgotten, that Rasmus sometimes returned to in his mind. It was a silence unparalleled across all the stars and all the empty, forgotten worlds. It was the pure, simple silence that you could only ever find under a tree. The green shadows, maybe the muffled song of birds. The quiet rush of a summer breeze. It almost felt like you were in a holy place, an ancient cathedral.

Rasmus longed for that silence now. Or any silence, really. It didn’t have to be anything special, just a brief moment of noiselessness. That would be just lovely, he thought. Anything to save him from the screaming.

First had been the explosion. The rupture and shear of metal, the soft coughing of the engine followed by the bloodcurdling whine as its cells burst and splattered ionic acid over the two pilots. A handsome man with a five o’clock shadow and a thousand yard stare. A beautiful young woman on her first detail out of the academy. Sweaty faces, taut as they fought to keep the ship from going down. Sweaty faces, but human faces, suddenly melted away and caving in on themselves.

Then there had been the wind. Rasmus only heard what his suit let him hear, because he had already been safely ensconced in the mecha before the shit hit the fan. The side of the ship vanished in a shower of sparks and water droplets as the holding tanks were whisked away. The mecha mount across from him, attached to the wall, had also vanished. Along with Killian, a fellow soldier. Gone and already forgotten, because Rasmus hadn’t known him well.

But now the ship had long since finished wrecking. It had settled into its eternal grave somewhere a little ways behind him, half buried in sand, the other half cooling slowly in the baking sun, spluttering at the jagged ends with ionic acid blown back by the wind of their hurtling descent.

It was just Rasmus now. All by himself. But the noise still wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t even hear his breathing, not over the alarms coming from his suit. He had not wanted to take the time to check what was really going on, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with that damn acid. He left the wreckage with one hundred percent O2 and then, suddenly, it had dropped to half. As best he could figure, the line coming from one side of his air tanks had been melted through.

“Okay, okay, shut up,” Rasmus said, pounding at the controls under his left wrist. “Cut it out!”

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was panicking. He had been trained for over a thousand hours in the use of his mecha, and he knew the suit inside and out. Yet it took him several minutes to clear the detritus from his mind and remember how to shut off the alarms.

Oxygen levels less than half, his suit told him. Just a brief holographic message that floated somewhere between the vacuum-sealed panes of his face shield.

“Got it,” Rasmus said back. “Now what the hell are we supposed to do?”

--

This story is featured in my short story collection, linked here: Read ONE STEP FROM EXTINCTION

[jon-sauve]

[jon-sauve]

A lovely dream

🕯in three months time we’ll have made tremendous progress on our WIPs, novels, screenplays and first drafts 🕯who’s with me

[jon-sauve]

Man-Shaped Hole (poem)

Breathe just a little bit faster please

Don’t let this all overwhelm you

Don’t let these feelings redefine you

Breathe just a little bit deeper now

Can you see that Hell is now?

That sky is blue, that time is long

That wind is strong, and dust is gone

And dust is what we ever were?

Think just a little bit slower please

Let’s get that soul filled back up

Let’s get that brain back in tune

And work just a little bit faster now

Can you see that time will end?

That dark belongs, that death is long

That life is wrong, and pain is gone

And pain is all we ever were?

You’ll live just a little bit longer now

We’ll keep you healthy as an ox

And keep those thoughts of yours locked away

And we’ll see you soon, some other day

Now, don’t look so very sad and gray

And breathe just a little bit faster, eh?

---

[jon-sauve]

Simple but effective paintings. I like them. The best part is that, with a bit of practice, I might be able to make one myself. I can dream, at least. I’m awful at drawing and painting.

If You’re Cold, They’re Cold or a painting series based on a recurring nightmare

[jon-sauve]

Really cool aesthetic

Works by kotartist

This artist on Instagram

[jon-sauve]

Top 10 horror book recommendations for Halloween 🎃💀👻 (that aren't the classics that we all already know).

Anyone who's been following me for a while knows that I am a die-hard horror fan. Well I will never disrespect Shelly, Poe, Stroker, or Jackson let's be honest a lot of horror fans need to update their libraries. I'm not saying that you are not allowed to love the classics, clearly I do as well, but here's some books from this Century that will send chills down your spine as you curl up at night to read them.

10. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in 1950s Mexico, this has the slow burn Gothic Novella style that people who are fan of Shirley Jackson may enjoy. After receiving a troubling letter from her cousin, Noemi sets out see that her cousin is okay. Once she arrives, her in-laws are acting strange, trying to prevent her from seeing her cousin, even her cousin seems to be acting strange, and nothing is as it seems.

9. Rings by Koji Suzuki. Okay I lied about all the books being from this Century but so what? How can I not include the book that kicked off one of the most amazing areas in Japanese horror? I absolutely loved watching Ringu when I was a kid with my friends, hugging each other, and trying not to scream. The book is just as intriguing and draws you in as the film's, the Japanese & the Americans do.

8. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland takes place after the Civil War but in this universe zombies have risen and have taken over the country. Jane is a black teen in training learning how to be an attendant for white women to protect them from zombies. Jane and classmate Catherine stumble upon a conspiracy that leads to them being sent against their will to a white settlement. Once there, Jane tries to form a escape plan while having to put up with white Christian zealots, a physician who may or may not be on her side, and people who just get on her nerves. Trigger warning: racism, abuse, torture, blood and gore.

7. Deathless divide I love the sequel to Dread Nation more than the original. The readers really get to learn more about Jane and Catherine. Although they still have zombies to do with this one is more of a western compared to the first book. Jane is officially bi/pan and Catherine is somewhere on the Aro/Ace spectrum. Its set in the 19th century so it doesn't use modern terms. Jane is once again dealing with bigots, narcissist, and zombies as she tries to find her mother.

6. The ghost bride by Yangsze Choo. This fairytale gothic drama was such a joy to read. Set in late 1800 Malaysia, Li Lan is shocked to learn that another family in town who used to be business associates with her father have reached out to her father asking that she marry their deceased son who recently passed away so that he won't be a bachelor forever in the afterlife. As if that isn't weird enough, his ghost begins to haunt her in her dreams. She tries to go to a psychic for help but after a "accident", she finds herself going on a magical adventure in the spirit world. Ghost, monsters, demons, dragons, and a conspiracy combined with the beautiful setting described by the author really make this story enchanting and creepy.

5. Fledgling by Octavia E Butler. If you've never read any of Octavia E. Butler's works before do not start with this one. Trigger warning: pedophilia, blood, violence, racism. I am not going to argue with anyone who tries to debate this. I'm just going to block you. A young girl wakes up in a cave covered in blood, bruises, burn scars and amnesia. As she feeds on wild animals she comes across in the cave, she slowly regions her strength and goes out into the world to find answers. She eventually finds out that she is a vampire and wants to try to be reunited with her family. Honestly if it weren't for the questionable sex scene in this book I would say that it's fantastic. The vampire lore is genuinely interesting and I feel so bad for the book's protagonist as she just wants to find answers and be at peace.

4. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. Ten Years After a group of four Native American Best Friends illegally hunted a herd of deer, they start to notice some strange eerie "coincidences" going on around them. Trigger warning violence, violence towards Native women, murder, animal violence, the dog dies, racism, disturbing descriptions. Written by Native American Author Stephen Graham Jones, this book deals with literal and metaphorical generational curses, breaking the cycles of violence, facing one's past and future, and trying to be better.

3. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Written by a queer author, this book follows young Yadriel, a gay trans boy who is trying not only to prove to his family that he is a boy but that he is a brujo. One night he and his cousin sneak into the Family Cemetery to perform a ritual on him to help awaken his magical abilities, then he tries to raise the spirit of a deceased loved one and ends up summoning the ghost of a boy in their grade who died a mysterious death. Now he is being haunted by a very annoying teenage boy who won't leave him alone unless he helps him deal with his unfinished business. Clever, funny, unapologetically Chicano, full of love, magic, and all the gay this book is truly enjoyable for any queer Latinx.

2. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova. The first book in the Brooklyn bruja series, is about Alejandra who comes from a long line of brujas. Terrified of her family's magic abilities, she tries to see if there's some way to get rid of her own magic so that she won't have to "suffer" like her relatives to. One backfired spell later and she is banished her entire family to a magical realm. With the aid of a very sketchy brujo she sets off on a life-changing adventure full of magic, love, danger, and beautiful folklore. Bonus points Alejandra is pan/bi. Trigger warning animal violence and blood.

1. Queen of the Cicadas by V Castro. I absolutely love this book. My favorite horror book in years. It's honestly a true horror novel. It takes place in two time periods, 1950s Texas and modern-day Texas/Mexico. Milagros was an indigenous Mexican woman who is brutally murdered on the farm she is working on. After her death a curse seems to fall upon the Farmland she worked on. Belinda is a single mother who is trying to figure out how to get her life together. By coincidence she comes across the town where Milagros was murdered and decides to look into the homicide. Then thanks to Mictlancihuatl, Aztec goddess of the underworld things go in a direction that Belinda never saw coming. Trigger warning, racism, violence, murder, bugs, insects, grotesque, unsettling imagery.

That's all for now, I hope you all can find something frightfully good to keep you up at night.

[jon-sauve]

Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened, we’re red.

Clive Barker, Books of Blood (via wyldlynxx)