Slingshot 8

By: Danny Creasy

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Seventy years after terrorists unleashed a weapons-grade virus on earth, a lone cluster of mankind survives in the Shoals Area of NW Alabama. Why? A U. S. Air Force C-130 carrying the only supply extant of the “Mad Flu” vaccine crash-landed at the Muscle Shoals Airport in Colbert County. Two draconian figures, Henry Wade Smith III and Charles Edward Ragland V, stepped up, and in the vacuum of governmental and military collapse, they cooperated to save the citizens of their two counties. Smith ruled Lauderdale County on the north side of the Tennessee River, and Ragland did the same in Colbert County to the south. They succeeded but not without costs. Democracy is gone. The Smith Ascendancy in Lauderdale and the Ragland Ascendancy in Colbert dictated the leaders since the apocalypse, and a falling-out between the two ruling families led to a series of devastating wars leaving the occupants of the “Spared Territory” divided and hate filled. Early attempts to venture out in the “Old World” failed. Sheltered behind their walls, the Lauderdales and Colberts compete for dwindling resources. Most recently, the two principalities are embroiled in a deadly dispute over control of Wilson Dam and its considerable yield of hydroelectric power. The Colberts have a larger population, deeper agriculture, a basic monetary system, and quite the industrial base. They feel entitled to a greater share of the dam’s output due to their economic progress and larger population. The Lauderdales are fewer in number, operate financially on a complicated barter system, and have a warrior mentality akin to ancient Sparta. The Colberts came up short in two prior invasions across the mighty river. Lauderdale strikes first this time; young Henry Wade Smith V (Harry) assumes the presidency after his father’s passing and takes Lauderdale to war the day of the state funeral. He commands from a painstakingly preserved Humvee designated Slingshot 8.

I’m the author, Danny Creasy.

Unlike this audible edition of ‘Slingshot 8,’ my paperback novel and ebook have my Front Matter and Acknowledgments at their beginnings, so I’m posting them here under Rate & Review for the benefit of my readers. Please enjoy my post-apocalyptic series. I’ve shamelessly awarded the work with Five Stars because I'm proud of these unique novels, the ‘Spared Territory Series.’

Copyright © 2016 Danny Creasy KINDLE ISBN: 9781634919333 PRINT ISBN: 9781634919319 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918917 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Published by BookLocker.com, Inc., St. Petersburg, Florida. SLINGSHOT 8 is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictional manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. SLINGSHOT 8 ™ and the Slingshot 8 logo are trademarks of Two Story House, LLC, all rights reserved. BookLocker.com, Inc., 2016, First Edition


>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am especially grateful to the following members of my Slingshot 8 team: Edit – Elizabeth Brown Cover art – Mike O’Brien, freelance illustrator, wheelhouse-art.com Map art – Delano (Deno) Ellis and Ellen Creasy Ellis Veterinary medicine – Dan M. Whitlow D.V.M. Horses and tactical equipment – Mounted Police Officer Lee Smith and Police Sergeant Hal Howard Radio communication – Jack Belew, U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, Alabama National Guard, and municipal law enforcement Proofreading and general consultation – Jim Watson, retired chemical engineer and avid science fiction reader; Mike Zacharski, U. S. Army and municipal law enforcement; Glenda F. Oldham, retired English teacher and very good neighbor; Bob Barclift, Bradshaw High School classmate (1975 – Go Bruins!) and lawyer; Monty Shelton D.M.D., best friend and eternal scholar; and my Saturday lunch buddies, Dwight Pilkilton, Andrew Butler, and John Butler Back cover text – Jim Watson (compressed over three hundred words of query letter into a seventy-three word grabber) Intellectual properties – Meredith Cheney, attorney Self-publishing – Angela Hoy, BookLocker Love and support (enablers) – my wife, Karen Creasy (also a proofreader); my daughters, Ellen Ellis (proofreader) and Katie Mahany; and my sons-in-law, Deno Ellis and Matt Mahany Inspiration – William Shakespeare and a dream. Folks, this is Henry V (1599), including my stylized renditions of the Duke of Exeter’s ultimatum to King Charles and the Dauphin, the St. Crispin’s Day Speech, the Duke of Burgundy’s plea for peace, King Henry’s marriage proposal, and King Charles’s marriage blessing.