New Drama Fiction eBook for Review: The Apocalypse of Hagren Roose by J.W. Nicklaus

The Apocalypse of Hagren Roose 2 J.W. Nicklaus will be touring December 3 – 14 with his drama fiction, The Apocalypse of Hagren Roose.

Once a small-town success and happy family man, Hagren Roose finds his slide backwards at once abrupt and wrenching. His small-town mentality sets him on a journey of his own making, of which he has no control—and only he can atone for.

Book Excerpt:

Witnessing the almost comical fall from grace of a fellow drunkard provided a good reason to chew a little more on these words from his dying father. The words had rolled through his thoughts so often they surely could have become a grand roadside attraction, the World’s Largest Ball of Repeated Thought—if only he could manifest it. Life on the streets gave one plenty of time for thought, an abundance of opportunity to reflect upon choices made or wisdom dismissed.

Anyone who spent time within the seedy confines of lower Nita knew Grizzled Bill; locals fed him, those with weak consciences always handed over a few bucks, and complete strangers who wandered too close would often find themselves ensnared in a conversation with him. Bill was a mere fifty-five years of age but looked a decade older, worn rough and leathery from close to twelve years on the street, kept company by a constant supply of cheap alcohol and his own demons. The rest always seemed to take care of itself. Street life always supplied sights normal people wouldn’t see, much less understand. But even for a well-seasoned street veteran like himself, watching this poor slob, a train wreck in the flesh, hit a little close to home. It was a little too much like looking in a mirror.

As he did most nights Bill ambled past the old motel on his way back to the shelter when the slurred, rambling voice sounded from within the dimly lit exterior stairwell. Most nights he would have kept walking—angry, even incoherent voices were nothing unusual on his side of town, especially at this particular motel, noted for its hourly rates. But this voice seemed familiar so he stuck around to see if he recognized the face behind it.

The man was waving his arms about, an ice bucket in one hand while the other pointed, chopped, and punched at the air. Bill watched as he slowly weaved and stumbled toward the ice machine, fell against it, then pounded on it and let fly a string of words which could have constituted cursing, but his slow tongue garbled much of the pronunciation. In the light above the machine Bill could see the man had a moustache the size of a portly caterpillar and was wearing a sport coat and blue jeans.

Bill focused on the man. He knew this guy from somewhere, or at least had run into him more than once. The mumbling was soon drowned out by the crisp thud of ice cubes filling the bucket. Within moments he watched the man flip over the second floor railing and slam into the windshield of a car below.

Maybe dad was right, Bill thought. That fall had to hurt, and if the guy wasn’t dead then he certainly was in for an agonizing ride.

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J.W. Nicklaus attests to living somewhere between the city closest to the Sun and upon the precipice of Hell—but the winters are mild in Arizona. An avid reader and peerless amateur philosopher, he is “DNA and energy. I am cellular and soulful. I am shadow and light. I am carbon and water . . . and I am stardust. As are we all.” His singular ambition is simple: to leave the world a slightly better place than when he came into it.

You can find out more about J.W. at http://avomnia.com/about.html.

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If you would like to review The Apocalypse of Hagren Roose, please fill out the form below or email Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com. Please mention which date would work for you. J.W. is also available for interviews and guest posts.

Deadline for inquiries end November 20 or until the tour is filled. Thank you!

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