Prophet's Death

 

 

PROPHET'S DEATH

Robert Creekmore

GENRE:  Southern Noir

 

Death-cult leader Joseph Proffit has met his end! Along with him perishes the secret method for manufacturing indigo, the substance that imbued him with godlike abilities.

To the dismay of Naomi’s family, she succumbed to the injuries Joseph dealt her during their final battle atop the abandoned Coast Guard station, Frying Pan Tower, thirty miles off the North Carolina coast.

Both of their bodies were lost at sea when the one-hundred-foot-tall structure crumbled during Tropical Storm Gabriel.

Naomi’s beloved companions escaped aboard her dive boat, along with Joseph’s final victim, who is on the verge of death.

In the aftermath, Naomi’s family has no choice but to rebuild their lives in hiding, fearing reprisal from the handful of remaining Apostle loyalists.

Soon, their secret, dormant conflict will be thrust onto the world stage by a wealthy benefactor who funnels his personal hatred and unfounded grievances into throngs of ignorant followers.

Is this the end of Naomi’s family? Without her, how will they survive?

Enjoy an Excerpt:

He guides the boat between the two wooden bunks of the boat lift. Nate fights his way onto the dock through the sheets of rain blasting sideways into his face. He activates the hydraulics. The lift pulls the boat out of the water and level with the dock.

The three of them drag Malcolm off the boat before Nate lifts it higher to avoid the rising water.

Exhausted after moving Malcolm from the dock to the side door, the three can go no further and lie him on his side atop the sofa in front of the picture window.

“We have to call home,” Nate says.

“Telling someone that their spouse is dead isn’t something you do over the phone,” Herschel replies.

“More urgently,” Rebecca interjects, “we have to get electrolytes into Malcolm. He drank plenty of water before passing out, so he’s not in imminent danger of thirsting to death. To regain some level of consciousness, we need to get something like Pedialyte in him. 

But, no stores will be open in this storm.” “Would powdered Gatorade work?” Nate asks.

“Yeah,” she responds. 

Nate gets up and begins rummaging through Naomi’s kitchen junk drawer. He excavates an old plastic container, half-filled with clumpy orange Gatorade powder. Nate mixes up a batch inside a large plastic cup with a flexible straw. Malcolm mumbles and occasionally opens his eyes. When he does, they encourage him to drink. Within the hour, he’s holding the cup himself. His eyes begin to regain life. He looks around, saying, “Where is the other woman?” “She didn’t make it,” Rebecca answers.

A wave of melancholy washes across his exhausted face.

“The sooner we leave, the better,” Nate says.

“Will he make the week-long boat trip back to Northern Virginia?” Rebecca asks.

“No. That’s why I’m going to take Tiffany’s Corolla.” 

“They’ll follow you,” Herschel says to Nate.

About the Author:

Robert Creekmore is from a rural farming community in Eastern North Carolina.

He attended North Carolina State where he studied psychology. While at university, he was active at the student radio station. There, he fell in love with punk rock and its ethos.

Robert acquired several teaching licenses in special education. He was an autism specialist in Raleigh for eight years. He then taught for four years in a small mountain community in western North Carolina.

During his time in the mountains, he lived with his wife Juliana in a remote primitive cabin built in 1875. While there, he grew most of his own food, raised chickens, worked on a cattle farm, as well as participated in subsistence hunting and fishing.

Eventually, the couple moved back to the small farming community where Robert was raised.

Annoyed with the stereotype of the southeastern United States as a monolith of ignorance and hatred, he wanted to bring forth characters from the region who are queer and autistic. They now hold up a disinfecting light to the hatred of the region’s past and to those who still yearn for a return to ways and ideas that should have long ago perished.

Robert’s first traditionally published novel, Prophet’s Debt, was a Manly Wade Wellman Literary Award Finalist.

His second, Prophet’s Lamentation, was a Lambda Literary recommendation for July 2023.

Q&A With the Author:

Who is your favorite author and why? 

My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut. Firstly, I admire who he was as a person. He adopted and raised his three nephews after his sister's death. That was in addition to his own three children. Raising one child is no easy task. Six is Herculean. I have none and can’t imagine how he did it. 

I enjoy Vonnegut’s use of time in his novels as something that doesn’t have to be experienced linearly. He’s also one of the best when it comes to breaking the fourth wall, even including himself as a character. 

What is something unique/quirky about you? 

I spent two years living in a cabin built in 1875, on the side of a remote mountain in the southern Appalachians, in preparation for writing this series. 

I discuss a character’s experience with an aggressive shark in Prophet’s Death. It was inspired by a real-life experience. I was rammed by a small bullshark while sitting on my surfboard.   

What was your inspiration for writing this book? 

After coming down from the mountains, I was placed in a psychiatric hospital. Initially, I was told to journal. My journaling turned into the first book of this trilogy, Prophet’s Debt. Somehow, it was published. Then it was an award nominee. Now, I’m working on my fourth book contract, have sold several short stories, have a novelette coming out in an anthology next year, and have met more great authors than I could have imagined. 

What did you enjoy most about writing this book? 

In the first two books of the series, Prophet’s Debt and Prophet’s Lamentation, I relished killing the characters who had it coming. In Prophet’s Death, I still do. However, I feel like familial connections are the most important aspect of the novel. 

Do you have any other books you are working on that you can tell us about? 

I’m working on a literary fiction novel called Diary of Attrition. It will be published next summer. 

Anything more you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Be like my protagonist Naomi Pace, always strike back harder than you were hit so that they never try to hurt you again.

Website: https://www.robertcreekmore.com/

Twitter: AuthorCreekmore

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Prophets-Death-Robert-Creekmore/dp/1962308162/ref=sr_1_1

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