Volume Seven Sneak Peek

In case you haven't heard, Joel Suzuki, Volume Seven: Vision of the Virtuoso is coming out next Monday!

And so, I figured I'd give readers a short sneak peek (WARNING: spoilers for Volumes Six and Seven to follow). 

If you've been following along, then you know that at the end of Volume Six, Joel and Marshall simultaneously attained omnipotence, a state that - because of the paradoxical nature of having two all-powerful beings at once - essentially broke reality. And so, the beginning of Volume Seven features Joel and Marshall wandering through weird scenarios that don't seem related to anything else (although some plot points are established that will be important later). My intention was not only to show the effect of reality breaking down, but also to have the first few chapters read almost like a mini-anthology of surreal short stories - in fact, the first three chapters are homages to three of my favorite surreal fiction authors/books. If you can figure out who and which ones they are, let me know and I'll send you a prize!

Anyway, here's the sneak peek:

Chapter One

Metamorphosis

Joel awoke feeling like he'd just had the scariest nightmare ever but wasn't able to remember any of it. The room - his room - was dark, with only the faintest slivers of sunlight filtering between his window curtains. Lying in bed on his back, he glanced over at the digital alarm clock on his nightstand. 8:42 a.m., it read.

   Oh no! I'm going to be late for school!

   He shot up - or tried to, anyway. His body was much heavier than he remembered. The effort to sit bolt upright resulted only in his head raising off his pillow. From this vantage point, he saw that his body, not covered by any blankets, was that of a scaly reptilian humanoid with three arms and three legs. His face had an elongated snout, like that of an alligator.

   What the heck?

   Starting to panic, he squeezed his eyes shut.

   This is a dream, he told himself. It has to be. A continuation of whatever nightmare I was having. Any moment now, I'll wake up for real, open my eyes, and everything will be normal.

   He counted to three, then opened his eyes. He looked down at himself. Nothing had changed. He was still a reptile.

   Um...

   He glanced around his room. Everything looked normal enough, with his black Gibson Les Paul guitar on its stand near his bed and his computer on the desk across from him. One thing caught his attention, however: the calendar on his wall ("Sixteen Months of Star Trek") was set to July 2023. This was significant to him for two reasons: (1) it was summer, apparently, so he wasn't going to be late for school after all, and (2) he distinctly remembered the year as being 2013, not 2023.

   Okay, something really weird has happened.

And there you have it! Hope to see you at the launch party!