"Jason Daniel Kowalczyk brings in his friends to help put together a little something for everyone."The idea for "Serendipity" came to Jason Daniel Kowalczyk as he felt a need to give back, to make a lasting impression, and to do some good. He wanted to pick a charity and release a book where all royalties could benefit that charity. On top of that idea had come the thought where other authors may want to contribute. Jason then decided to take it all one step further...He wanted to bring unknown authors together for a charity.
Jason decided on the Ronald McDonald House charities and then started posting things on Facebook to try and find others to submit to the project. As the deadline came closer and closer, submissions came pouring in from writers that Jason felt were just as good, if not better than those who were being paid to write.
After many conversations with William Pierson, it was decided that each volume of "Serendipity" would go to a different charity. Even if a copy of Volume One were to be sold twenty years from now, the money would still go to the same charity.
Jason Daniel Kowalczyk would like to thank all the artists that joined with him for this project. He looks forward to working with these authors for all of the future volumes of "Serendipity."
These authors donated their time, writing, and craft to The Ronald McDonald House: Ashlyn Taylor Metcalf: The Last Hope, Empty, Dream - Rickey Russell: His and Mine, CRACKED Porcelain, The wooden Rocker - Pam Zirch: Whisper - Jeanne Wysocki: Untitled, Baby - Danielle Russell: These Shoes were Made for..., and photography - Liss Tetreault: Seduction of Eve, My Son, Return to New England - William P. Pierson: Web of Shadows, The Journal of Kangg the Battlemage:The Beginning, 11:59, Light in the Undergroud - Jason Daniel Kowalczyk: Surviving Life, Little Boy Blue and the Man In the Moon, Anymore, Broken Glass and Cigarettes, Demon-hearted, Who?, In The Cellar - Angela Rae Costa Smith: Untitled Poem - Liliana West: Love and Lace.
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Excerpts from Serendipity Authors and photographers for charity
Excerpt from IN THE CELLAR
I don’t remember when the first sightings of them were reported, I am not a journalist in any way, shape, or form. I am just an arachnophobic of grand proportion. They are called Rat Spiders. They are rather large, the torso is as big as a pit bull dog or larger, and although they have been said to be rare, they had been popping up more and more as time passed. They are brown and without the apparent capability of spinning a web. Where the web apparatus would be, there is a long rat-like tale protruding from the spider’s body. The damn things supposedly use those tales to stun larger prey, it is said that they use that tale like a whip. I had enough of a problem with tiny spiders; I had hoped that I would never have met such creatures when I would see shows on History Channel like “Monster Quest.”
I could not imagine why they would need those tales, the few that have been killed and studied have proven that their poison is the most potent toxin on earth, however there are properties to that venom that are, as of yet, still not understood. I found out the hard way what those unusual properties of the toxin were for. You will see as I get further into this tale.
The first of their kind were spotted in wooded areas, the first sightings were treated like the Bigfoot phenomena, and those who saw those huge brown spiders were laughed at constantly. That is, of course, until this new species began to migrate into the cities and other more populated areas. It is kind of hard to miss a spider so large, it is not like these spiders could go unnoticed as they sat in the highest corner of your living room, like a small Daddy-long-legs. If one of these were sitting up in the corner, it would take up half the wall.
These creatures were still not believed in by the mainstream until one of the larger creatures decided to crawl down a building in Times Square, and that building just happened to be the NBC broadcasting building, and as the Today Show was being broadcast, the spider came crawling across the window behind the Matt Lauer. The crowd that always gathered to watch the show and hope to be on television ran and screamed. I thought it was rather funny at first, the anchorman still reading the news to people in television land while chaos erupted outside. The crowd began to break up before the creature was in camera view, but once it did, I was no longer laughing. I knew the creature was hundreds of miles away, but I was a frightened as I would have been if it were at my front door. Some tried to play it off as some sort of a publicity stunt, but the filming of a police officer shooting it to death, and the fact that the body was recovered, it was a bit difficult to deny at that point.
Independent scholars and scientists wanted to study the creature, but the military confiscated the body before it had been moved from the sidewalk. Soldiers came off of several trucks and surrounded the body of the spider, not caring that there were cameras rolling. A small child, whom the gossip magazines said had looked between the legs of the soldiers, was quoted as saying, “The spider turned into a lady.”
Of course then came all of the conspiracy theorists that told tales of how the spiders were genetic experiments that escaped from the military labs. I don’t know anything about that, or if the quote from the little girl was true or not.
Suddenly, the entire world saw these creatures as real. I wonder why. The situation may not have been such big news if the Army had not shown up.
I am sure you are wondering who the hell is writing to you, I am just an average man who lives in Florida, a man that happens to be scared to death of spiders in general. I did not need to have the unveiling of a new species to have me in hysterics. No matter how big or small, they all scare me. My name is Laurent Magi, I am actually a tournament fisherman by profession, and at least I was for the better part of a decade. I would travel to all the big B.A.S.S. tournaments and fish for the gold. That is “Bass Angler’s Sportsmen Society.”
I am just an average man, some would call me a redneck, but I can’t say that it really bothers me at all. Some find it odd that I am so outdoorsy when I am so afraid of spiders, but I am and there is no real explanation for that. I stand around 6 foot 3 inches tall; I have long blond hair that goes just past my shoulders, green eyes, and pale skin. I am a bit too skinny, but I don’t mind it, some think I don’t eat, but I could eat anyone out of house and home. Most people don’t realize that I can eat enough to be kicked out of a buffet, and I have on many occasions.
Well, I guess I will get back to the task at hand; I am obviously here to write about spiders, so how about I get back to that, what do you say?
My irrational fear of spiders began when I was maybe six or seven. My mom and dad had given me a mask, fins, and snorkel for my birthday which was shortly after our swimming pool had finally been finished. I had the fins on my child feet, the mask was on my face, and I put the correct end of the snorkel into my mouth and slid into the water. We were a family that loved the beach as much as we loved breathing air. I wanted to practice using my snorkeling gear so that once I was finally able to go to the beach; I wanted to seem like an expert.
It had only been seconds before I felt it. I shot out of the pool and threw the snorkel away from me, but that did not help me in the least. My mouth was closed, but three of that spider’s legs were sticking out of my mouth, while the rest of it went mad on my tongue. It was a wolf spider, which was plain to see when I spit the damned thing out. It had to be three inches from tip of its leg to the tip of the other, but at that age it seemed like the size of the house. I am sure that I screamed like a little girl as I ran from it. My mother came out to the pool area thinking that I was nearly killed by something, but if you asked me, I was.
From that day forward, no matter how small, there was the fear that one of those things would touch me. Screw the damned things biting me; I did not want them to touch me.
***
Excerpt from WEB OF SHADOWS by William P. Pierson
The nighttime world brings forth many things that are unknown and unseen by normal people. There are wonders and horrors that lurk in the night ready to pounce upon the unsuspecting person that comes along. This night I find myself tracking one such horror. The creature that I am tracking is responsible for many atrocities that have been chalked up to the actions of someone with a severe mental illness. The truth of the matter is far worse. The creature is an immortal, a vampire. This particular vampire has a unique brand of cruelty that definitely drew my attention. This one must be stopped before it does more harm to the world. The creature represents a threat to the supernatural community as well as humanity as a whole. Due to its nature, the best person to hunt it down would be another monster. That monster is me. I am Valentino Giovanni, a vampire.
I do not know much about the one who I am tracking. The only two things that I know for certain are that the vampire is male and has incredible strength. I believe that, although he has great physical strength, he is also young compared to other vampires. I estimate that he is between 50 and 100 years old at the most. I know that the one that I am hunting is responsible for the atrocities that I have found. Everyone leaves behind something that can be used for identification. While the things that I found would never hold up in a court of law as far as convicting a person of a crime, these things have allowed me to track my quarry from California to the middle of Missouri.
The trail of this vampire has led me to the middle of the state of Missouri. This area of the country is dotted with sparse forests, plains and farms. The two largest cities in the area are Kirksville and Moberly, which would be more appropriately called towns than cities, which have populations of about 15,000 and 13,000 people respectively. There are many smaller towns that surround the two cities. This is a rural area that could be difficult to find the one that I seek, since I would not be able to receive much help from the locals. These are those quiet rural towns that do not have much going on. The problem that I will have is that the people of these towns usually keep to themselves and do not like strangers coming around asking questions. On the bright side, the people of these small towns do not like strangers coming in and tearing up the place either. The vampire that I am tracking will also not find much help from the populace either.
Though tracking him in the wilderness would be difficult, He would be more difficult to find within a major city. It puzzles me that he seems to be moving away from densely populated areas. Even the city of Columbia, further south, would be more to his advantage than the rural area that he is in now. Leading me to major metropolis areas, such as Kansas City or St. Louis, would only help him in the long run. He would find more places to hide within the large cities. Of course as vampires both of us need to feed as well. I have already stopped at a blood bank and have my provisions stored in my truck. I doubt that he has the influence to be able to get blood the way I am able to. Feeding in the rural areas would be a tough thing for him. It would also be harder to hide. There is also the fact that the wilderness can hold other dangers, including supernatural dangers.
I follow the trail into a wilderness area that is along the road. This is a sparse forest with mostly oaks and hickories. The trees and shrubs are almost devoid of leaves this close to winter. Most of the other plants have wilted which creates a layer of dry vegetation along the forest floor. There are some evergreens in the area, which brings some color to the landscape. The majority of the forest looks dead, as most of the forests in this part of the country do at this time of year. It is also the time of the new moon, which means there is no natural light source and the darkness of the forest is thicker than the forest itself. It is a good thing that I can see in the darkness as if it was the middle of the day, and I have the power to blend into the shadows becoming virtually invisible. The darkness of the forest suits me just fine.
***
Love and Lace
Liliana West
Love and lace come winding down,
deep within sweetest of dreams.
Feverish longing stirring in twin pools of ice.
Fantasy no more, temptation burst through façade’s flimsy seams.
Heavy-laden words softly whispered under the stars.
One ending, one beginning, time flows into furtive streams.
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