THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY:
THE OMNIBUS EDITION
by Barry Reese
INTRODUCTION
Everyone knows you can’t build a city in a day, right? No need to dust off the tired adage and discuss Rome is there? Good.
Even though construction takes some time, a city and all that goes with it can actually be birthed in a lot less than a day. In the space of three or four emails, to be precise.
The Sovereign City Project, the first collected volume of which you now hold in your hands, was a simple concept in its complexity. I have the honor of planting the seed in the fertile minds of two of the best New Pulp Authors I know, of having a shared city where each of us wrote a character that was the central part of our individual stories while that character resided in Sovereign with whatever the other two also created. As already stated, these weren’t just any two authors. Barry Reese and Derrick Ferguson brought not only mad creative and writing skills to the Project, but also decidedly different viewpoints on where their characters would come from and most definitely where they and Sovereign City itself would go. I was more than glad to be the third conspirator in this plot to create a fantastic world of New Pulp fiction.
With authors in place, Sovereign itself had to come into some sort of existence, even if it was in the abstract initially. That came rather quickly as well, the name and the origin of the city all tied together, as it should be. The founders of this settlement (Both the actual three authors that created it and the fictional fathers we decided founded it) wanted it to be the ideal American city. To have everything every other city had all in one place, so it would have a waterfront and there would be mountains nearby as well as flat farmland on the other side of town, etc. and so forth. Essentially, Sovereign City sprouted up in the most perfect place in the United States for an all purpose City. Our imaginations.
Obviously the next step in the process of breathing the life of words and images into Sovereign City would be populating the world with its good and bad, its movers and shakers, the characters that would be the axis the entire Project turned on. I came to the idea with a character already half-conceived, Doc Daye-The 24 Hour Hero. Derrick stepped up and had his own Fortune McCall sail into Sovereign’s harbor for action and adventure. And although adventures of each of these stalwart Sovereignites are forthcoming very soon from Pro Se Press, the hero that shines brightest as the most prolific and first to fight for all that is right in the City is a man who wakes up in his first story with no idea who he actually is.
Lazarus Gray is yet another New Pulp character destined to be a classic from the mind and pen of Barry Reese. Known for his ‘Peregrine’ universe as well as dabbling in other characters, Barry brings every skill and talent in storytelling, every trick of the trade, every bit of Pulp he has ever exhibited and mixes it wildly together in the form of Lazarus Gray.
Shrouded in a mystery and cloaked in questions, Gray steps off the beach he awakens on and jumps head first into adventure, wrapping himself in the enigmatic aides that make up his Assistance Unlimited. Morgan, Eun, and Samantha, all solid New Pulp creations in their own right, add a depth of emotion to the stoic enigmatic figure that Gray casts in each and every story. Another prominent character that Barry builds a brick and puddle at a time is the City itself. Cast in a veil of crime and corruption, Gray’s Sovereign is one that will not survive without a man like him looking out for it. Lastly villains as vile and colorful as any yet to grace a page populate each and every tale, each one more evil and harder to beat than the rest.
What Barry does in this series of stories is truly set the tone for the Sovereign City Project. Quoted often already as saying this character is sort of his homage to the Avenger, Barry goes beyond that, I believe. These seven stories, including one that guest stars Barry’s Peregrine, are more than simple tales of daring do, dying devils, and distressed dames, although they are definitely all that in spades. THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY is a study in evolution, both of character and concept. Barry very carefully lays out a blueprint for Gray and those around him and then just as judiciously adds what is necessary to build on it a bit at a time. The people you meet in the first story are changed and different by the time you finish the last page. They grow, they mature, they succeed, and they fail. And Sovereign City, again a character all its own, goes through exactly the same pains and processes.
Characterization. Evolution. True city and world building. And all the creatures, mad scientists, gun toting thugs, mystical malevolence, and witty banter that anybody could handle. It’s all here, providing Sovereign City with just the right building blocks for it to grow even farther. Thanks, Barry.
Really, really cool stuff.
Tommy Hancock
9/17/11
THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY, VOLUME 1
THE GIRL WITH THE PHANTOM EYES
Chapter I
Man on the Beach
Lightning tore across the sky, briefly illuminating the gloomy scene below. Sovereign City Harbor was home to more derelict vessels than the average man could count and a pitiful stretch of shoreline did little to improve the look of the place. It was covered with washed-up debris, the dried bones of fish and several dozen broken bottles.
A well-built man lay facedown on the shore, his face turned to the side. A long streak of blood ran from his temple down his cheek and his eyes twitched continuously beneath their lids. He wore black trousers, a ripped white shirt and black loafers. His hair was more gray than brown, making him look older than he was, though a close examination of his features revealed that he was in his late twenties.
Again lightning brightened the beach and a loud crash of thunder seemed to permeate the haze surrounding the man’s brain. His eyes opened and he slowly pushed himself to his knees, looking slowly around himself. His breathing was measured and regular, though his jaw was clenched as if he felt some inner pain. With a grunt, he rose to his feet and staggered toward the city, one hand pressed tightly against his side. At least one rib, possibly two, had been broken, though he couldn’t remember how it had happened. In fact, he couldn’t remember anything at all — he didn’t know his own name or how he came to be here. He cast one quick glance back at the choppy waters but saw no nearby boats or ships from which he could have come. The vessels moored in the harbor were surely too far away, he mused.
Another rumble of thunder seemed to rock the ground upon which he walked. He momentarily lost his footing and slipped back to the moist earth. His fingers closed tightly around something as he sought to catch himself, something cold and metallic buried in the dirt. He brought it close to his face, peering through the darkness at it. A rain began to fall then, large drops that cooled his burning flesh.
He was holding a small medallion. A notch on the top indicated that it normally had a cord of some kind that ran through it, allowing its owner to wear it. It depicted a nude human man with an erect penis, bearing a sword in his right hand. His head was that of a roaring lion. On the back of the medallion were two words, a name that had been scratched into the surface with some sharp object: Lazarus Gray.