John and Layla escape the clutches of the 'others,' only to find themselves in an even more dire predicament where John realized that.... You'll have to read it to find out what. This is the third part in a serial story, that starts predictably enough with part one.
This is the third part of the first John Smith, World Jumper book, entitled "Portal to Adventure." It is being published in serial format to allow easier reading on portable reading devices.
The John Smith series is conceived as a fast read adventure series, with romantic elements, in homage to such early "science fiction" authors as Edgar Rice Burroughs, but updated to incorporate certain more modern understandings of science while allowing the stories to still be fun and adventurous.
Excerpt
...Then I realized what had happened. His hand was inching towards me at such a slow rate of speed that it would take a full minute to reach my face. I was somehow in that altered perceptive state as I had been before. This instance felt slightly different, as I did not feel quite as constrained in my own motion.
Looking around, I saw Layla, still dropping her shoulders out of their shrug, also moving with incredible slowness. The airship remained stationary above, but now the busy movements of its crew had all but stopped. As surprised as I was by this strange phenomenon, I actually laughed to myself. I had no idea how long I would remain in my current condition, so as a precaution I took a step to my left, out of the path of the backhand strike.
I noticed several of the disc-like portals at various positions and angles from my location, but none of them were the same as the one that had brought me to this world. It may seem strange to you that I spent time analyzing the portals with everything going on around me, but for some reason I have found that my mind becomes incredibly curious when I am in that altered time-rate. I also feel no sense of urgency, regardless of the situation I had been in seconds prior. But I digress.
Pieces of Eight, Part II is an eclectic collection of eight imaginative novellas that complement the eight tales that appeared in Pieces of Eight. The selections are a blend of different short story/novella plots and themes. Science-fiction, paranorm
MONSTROSITY n. 1. That which deviates greatly from the norm in appearance or structure. 2. The quality or character of being abnormal; hideous; frightful; shocking.
