Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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Going to the circus!

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To unfamiliar eyes, everything around them was chaos. Men and women scurried around. Some were in costumes, others in athletic training gear. A half dozen songs played as dancers practiced their choreography.  

But, to a circus performer, this was the real magic of the show. Everything it took to produce a modern-day circus was happening at once. Acrobats, clowns, gymnasts, and daredevils came together from nearly as many nations as existed on the planet. And they did it for that one kid in the front row at his first circus who was just blown away by the magic of it all.

Nearly every performer had a story about “that” kid. No matter what was going on around them, the kid would stare, and smile and yell and cheer and cry. That was what made it all worth the effort. That was why they loved it.

Before they could take the show on the road, before they could affect that child in the front row, it took hundreds of hours of sweat, blood, tears and screams of their own.

Photojournalist Mike Scott was there to capture that part of the story – the spectacle behind the spectacle at the circus’ winter home in Florida. It was circus school.

On his third day there, one of the administrators of the training program, Karl Klapproth, lead Mike around. Karl was a former performer in his own right, so he was able to give Mike special insight into some of the acts that were still in development.

“What’s this thing for,” Mike asked as they passed by a 30-foot-tall acrylic tube filled with water. The tank was like one you would find in a large public aquarium where the fish swim in the water column.

“Oh, that’s a new underwater act. The tube is six feet wide. A group of swimmers does an underwater ballet inside. They swim down in twos and threes to the bottom and perform. It’s very impressive to watch. They stay under an incredible amount of time and you wouldn’t think there was enough room for all of it, but they make it look amazing,” Karl said.

“I’ve done some freediving myself. Thirty feet is about my limit on a good day and I’m sure I wouldn’t have time on the bottom to do stunts,” Mike said. “Are they going to be practicing any time soon. I’d like to watch.”

At 6’2” and 220 pounds, with dark wavy hair, Mike was a big man. He stayed in shape mostly by traveling and being active. He loved scuba diving when he wasn’t working, and he combined his two loves into underwater photography when he wasn’t on assignment. He spent a lot of time diving the Caribbean but also loved to dive the shipwrecks near his home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

“I’m not sure when they’re going to practice again, but I’ll be sure and find out for you,” Karl told him.

“So, is that performance going to make it in the show this year? How do you decide what acts are featured each year and which ones never leave Florida,” Mike asked as they walked away from the tank.

“It’s interesting you ask that. There is a very involved process where choreographers and designers at our headquarters review possible acts, including the staple performances that everyone expects at the circus – the clowns, the high-flying acts, that sort of thing – and decides what else can fit with the theme of the show. Each show has a look and feel, and each act has to work with that look. Then they design costumes and figure out how to make it all work together,” Karl explained.

After a particularly grueling assignment in a war zone, Mike’s boss had suggested the circus school as a story and Mike jumped at it. After just a few days, he was surprised how much the experience had affected him. Lately, telling the big stories felt like it was wearing him down. Maybe he was getting older, but it was harder and harder to move on to the next assignment. But being here was inspiring Mike all over again. People doing this for the pure joy and satisfaction of it. They couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

Like most closed groups, the performers and stagehands met Mike with some skepticism. They had all seen their fair share of reporters and photographers come to the training ground with an angle or an axe to grind. But they soon discovered Mike was different.

“Help!” came a terrified scream from behind Mike and Karl. “Ridian fell into the tank. Someone please help!”

Mike had walked about 20 feet from the acrylic tube with Karl. He could clearly see a lifeless body sinking in the tank.

Unconscious.

Mike tossed his camera bag to Karl as he bolted for the spiral staircase that led to the top of the tank. “What happened?” Mike shouted as he ran, taking the steps two at a time.

“Ridian said his father was going to let him in the act and we snuck up here as soon as you left. He was showing off and then slipped and hit his head. He just sank,” the young girl said as she began to sob.

When Mike reached the top of the stairs, he immediately stripped down to his shorts.

The sprint to the tank and charging up the stairs had Mike nearly out of breath.

He took a moment to focus on what he was going to have to do. Looking around, he saw what he would need to get down. Two weight belts were lying on the floor. The performers had been using them to train with. Each held five pounds of weight.

Mike picked up the belts and draped them over his shoulders, took three quick breaths and did his best to relax. Then he simply stepped in the water and let himself sink.

Cool water rushed all around Mike and shocked his system. It almost caused him to gasp, but he quelled the urge. He forced himself to stay relaxed and still – twisting, turning or struggling would only slow his descent. Mike wanted to save his energy. He was going to have to grab the boy and then swim up with him. That was going to be the hard part.

Mike would also be fighting a quickly dropping supply of oxygen in his system. The exertion of the swim would demand more oxygen from his body than normal. He would be cutting it close by the time he got to the surface.

Touching the hard acrylic bottom of the tank with his feet, Mike’s lungs were already beginning to burn and his mind was telling him to breathe.

Without a mask, Mike could only see blurry shapes. The performers had some equipment in the bottom of the tank that broke up his line of sight making it even harder to see.

Mike knew he had to find the boy quickly. There would be no way he could swim to the surface and make it back down again. And there was no telling when other help would arrive. He was the boy’s only hope.

Then he saw Ridian lying on the floor against a block that formed the base of one of the performer’s supports. Mike dropped to his knees and lifted the boy over his shoulder. Dropping the two weight belts, and with all the energy he had left, Mike sprang from the bottom, propelling the two of them toward the surface.

Mike kicked with his legs as hard as he could and swam upward with his free arm. His mind was screaming for fresh air. His lungs were burning. Mike swallowed, trying to put off the urge to breathe. He had no idea how far he was from the surface. Doubt started to creep into his mind. Can I make it? What if I’m too late? Should I have done this differently? What if I had…?

Mike’s vision began to grow dark and he knew he was close to blacking out.

And then his head broke the surface. As he felt the water fall away and air on his face, Mike took a deep breath. And a second one. And then he was able to focus his eyes. There were people on the stand. Hands reached out and grabbed Ridian from Mike. Others helped Mike climb out of the water.

The performers immediately began caring for the boy. One rescuer opened his airway and delivered two rescue breaths. Another performer called 911 while a third began CPR and started giving him oxygen.

After just a minute, Ridian began breathing on his own.

By the time emergency medical services had arrived the boy was beginning to regain consciousness.

There was no question in anyone’s mind that Mike had saved the boy’s life.

Mike would have won the performers’ confidence anyway, but his selfless effort to save the boy opened every door and broke down every barrier that anyone could have even thrown up. They accepted him as family and allowed him inside their homes and allowed him access to their lives without hesitation.

Finally, the circus was putting on a dress rehearsal before taking it on the road. While each of the performers had done their acts hundreds, if not thousands, of times before, this was a chance for everyone to see exactly what the show would look like. And Mike was there for that, too.

Mike didn’t look forward to editing through the images for this article. Ultimately, he might end up publishing 10 photographs from the thousands he took, but he knew he had amazing images that would reveal the circus life to his magazine’s readers. And that was what was important to him.

For him, the stress and the intensity of the assignment were over. Now, he got to enjoy this last night with his new group of friends, not as a photographer. He got to sit in the front row, in the owner’s box, and enjoy the show. He got to be the wide-eyed kid again. And he loved every minute of it.

Halloween 2020 – as if reality wasn’t scary enough

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Horror is not really my genre, but it’s good to step outside your comfort zone from time to time and see what you can come up with. For several years now, I’ve asked writer friends to join me in writing Halloween short stories. These range from 100-word flash fiction to longer stories.

Each writer posts their stories to their individual websites and then I link from one location. So, be prepared to visit a number of places. Do yourself a favor and look around and see what else they have to offer while you are there.

Exclusive Interview by Patrick Newman

Shift Change by Jon Byrne

Selachimorpha by Loren Eaton

Julie by Connie Kinsey  

A Real Trick and What Noise? By Eric Douglas

 

Check back later as there are a couple more stories on the way!

You can read previous collections of Halloween short stories here.

Scary Ghost Stories in Flash Fiction for 2019

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Every year, for the winter solstice, Loren Eaton from I Saw Lightning Fall organizes writers to contribute flash fiction stories with a Christmas/Solstice theme – these are all in the category of “scary ghost stories” from Christmas.

The only rule is, these stories are 100 words, no more, no less. Writing flash fiction is an interesting challenge. As a friend said one time, what you leave out is just as important as what you leave in.

Below are my contributions to the fun this year. Below that are links to previous years.

I also highly recommend you visit the Advent Ghosts 2019 page to read the contributions of the many other writers. Some will be funny; some will be scary. You may not like all of them, but there will be one or two that give you chills.

Keep checking back to the main page throughout the day as more contributions will come in.

Read on!

Return Visit

He asked his priest to come.

He spoke to a friend who had been to the South Pacific. That man put him in contact with a witch doctor.

A third friend knew a pagan priest who lived in the mountains to the north.

All three visitors blessed his home in their own ways. They shouted incantations, splashed holy water and burned sage.

He didn’t really believe in any of it. He had changed his ways since last year, giving to the poor and being kind.

But Scrooge wanted to make sure he didn’t get any more visitors like last year.

Keep the Fire Burning

The weather outside was definitely frightful.

But keeping the fire going was all about survival. There was no delight in it at all.

Patrick had a good supply of wood laid in. He just had to stay awake all night and keep adding on fresh logs. He wouldn’t let it go out.

He couldn’t.

This was about life and death. If the fire died, so would he. What was outside would come in.

Terror drove him through the night.

If he kept the fire burning, big and bright, the fat man on the sleigh wouldn’t be able to get inside.  

Christmas and Advent Flash Fiction from Previous Years

Here are a couple other Christmas stories. They aren’t flash fiction, but fit the theme.

Real Thugs — Chapter Seven

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Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder is coming soon. Visit the book page for more information.

AJ donned her FBI windbreaker and hung her ID from a lanyard around her neck before approaching the scene. Dwayne knew the drill and followed right behind her. While he knew she could take out anyone there, his jaw was still sore from their morning workout, he also realized sometimes having a male presence as backup helped with the locals. They had discussed it many times. Not that he would supersede her authority but having him standing there ready to follow her orders smoothed the way for the others.

As soon as the local officers saw AJ and Dwayne approach, they turned to look at the chief of police who stood facing the scene with his back to them. When he realized that his men were looking at him, he turned to see what had their attention.

“Boy, am I glad to see you two,” the man said without any preamble.

AJ smiled. That was the other option for this discussion. Sometimes, the locals wanted nothing to do with a scene like this and were only too happy to turn it over to someone else.

“We got here as quickly as we could, sir. I’m Special Agent AJ West and this Special Agent Dwayne Charles.”

“I’m Phil Newsome, the sheriff in Prince William County. The park police and rangers called me in. We work with them closely when there is an accident in the park. They don’t have the resources to deal with this sort of thing. But I took one look at this mess and knew it was over my head, too.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you’ve found. Since this is on national park land and considering how close we are to the Marine base at Quantico, this is definitely federal jurisdiction.”

“I didn’t know if I should call NCIS or you guys,” Newsome said.

“I’ll alert NCIS if the situation warrants.” AJ preferred to keep her comments in situations like this to the basics. It was her basic interrogation technique, not giving away too much information and letting others fill in the gaps.

“That sounds good. So, here’s what we’re looking at.”

Newsome turned and faced the crime scene. Two men in Tyvek suits were uncovering a hole in the ground and AJ could see at least three bodies.

“A hiker found this. At least part of it. An arm was sticking out of the ground where an animal had gotten to it.”

Eight officers stood around the scene. They were 50 yards away from the road, down an embankment. AJ noted the soil seemed soft where runoff had collected the leaves and sediment from the hills. She could just hear a small stream behind some tall shrubs.

The local police had strung police tape around a 30-foot square covering the shallow graves.

“Our report said there were two bodies here. But that looks like three to me.”

“We just uncovered the third one. When I called FBI headquarters, we only saw two. The third body was buried below the second one.

“All right. We’ll arrange to have all three bodies sent to our lab for autopsy and further identification. Can I rely on your people to continue what you’re doing until our crime scene people get here? Don’t move the bodies, but keep this area secure?”

“Sure, that’s no problem. I’ll have my people clear the area. We’ve set up a perimeter.”

“Have you found any evidence in the area?”

“No, nothing that jumps out at us. We’ve canvassed the area, but other than some trash left behind it looks like the area has been undisturbed for a while.”

“Were all three bodies discovered together?” AJ asked.

“No, the first body was a few feet away – over there.” He pointed at one open pit where the police had dug the body out of the ground. “That’s the one the animal dug up. When we got out here to examine it, we discovered the other grave. That’s when we identified the clothes as being from the missing couple in the missing persons report. We keep a close eye on those. But then found the third body underneath him. Those two bodies were wrapped in sheets, too. The first body, the one by itself, wasn’t cut or wrapped.”

“Anything else?” Dwayne asked. “Anything unusual?”

“You now, I’ve seen my fair share of bodies. Two of them, the pair in the same grave, look like they were cut up, but I’m guessing it was post-mortem.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s just a guess, but the stomachs were sliced into and there are punctures in the rib cage. That isn’t how you would kill someone unless you were torturing them or some sort of ritualistic killing. Like I said, though, the other body we found separately was completely different.”

“All right, sir. Thank you. It sounds like you have done a thorough job. I appreciate your hard work, but our people will take over now,” AJ said.

An FBI crime scene van had just arrived, and two technicians were approaching the scene. Dwayne went over to brief the newcomers and AJ moved closer to the scene to look at the three bodies. Something just didn’t make sense.

Would the killer change their MO completely like that? Anything was possible. Maybe the killer did some research and decided to up his game? But he didn’t get any more creative than dumping the bodies that close together?

There wasn’t any point in speculating about this right now. She wanted IDs on the three bodies and then they would begin the investigation. Run down the usual leads, check to see what the people might have had in common. Determine where they might have crossed each other, or some other intersection that lead them to the killer.

AJ was a thorough investigator and she wouldn’t color her own findings by trying to create a narrative before she had more information. This scene just made her itch.

Dwayne approached with the crime scene technicians. “Any instructions?”

“No, just do it by the book. Ask the sheriff to have his people hang close. Let’s do a quick interview with them to see if they noticed anything. They’ll send us all of their initial notes, but you know everything doesn’t make it into the written reports.”

Dwayne started to walk away, but AJ had another thought.

“Hold on a second. I want to check this whole area out. I’ll make the call, but I want to get some more help on this one. It sure feels like we have two different crime scenes. There might be more right under our feet. We’ll get some more technicians to bring in ground penetrating radar to search the area and see if there are more bodies than just these.”

Searching the area took the rest of the afternoon and late into the evening. They brought in lights to allow them to continue working, but finally called off the search around midnight. They had to be thorough and explore every possibility but didn’t find anything else suspicious outside of the two graves.

The medical technicians removed the three bodies from the scene quickly, but AJ noted just how differently they had been treated prior to burial. Other than the cuts to the abdomen and chest wall, the bodies of the couple were surprisingly intact and undamaged.

The body of the lone victim showed signs of being beaten with severe trauma to his head. His clothes were crusted with what was likely dried blood. There was no wrapping of cutting or the body, either.

Audiobooks – do you listen?

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Three of my four audiobooks. Turks and Chaos is also an audiobook.

So, here’s the thing. Four of my stories are available as audiobooks. I haven’t released a new one in a year or so, for various reasons, but this morning I was checking into something and stumbled across information that has me dumbfounded.

When you produce an audiobook through Audible, they give you promo codes that you can give to people. It is a free book they can download and listen to. I’ve gotten 25 codes for each book. I have to admit I haven’t given them all out, but most.

I discovered this morning that fewer than 10 codes for three of the books have been redeemed. They went to people who said they were interested and wanted the codes. And then they never bothered to redeem them.

I mean, I’ve run quizzes and contest and games to give the codes away. But they have gone to waste. Unfortunately, I don’t know which ones or I would redistribute them.

So, for the next few days, if you want a promo code from one of my four books, shoot me an email and I will send you one.

(For the record, I am not using this as a way scam email addresses. I only send my monthly emails to people who intentionally sign up for my mailing list. There are some benefits of that, of course.)

There is only one stipulation. You MUST download the book. I would also ask that you post a review when you are done with it. I’m not even going to ask that it is a positive one. Just give it an honest review.

Simple as that. I will keep this up until I run out of the codes. If there is enough demand, I’ll get some more and keep going.

Seriously.

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