HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

 

by

 

Richard Cox

 

 

Category: Techno Thriller / Science Fiction / Adventure

Publisher: Night Shade Books

Date of Publication: July 27, 2020

Number of Pages: 408 pages

 

Scroll down for Giveaway!

 

 

 

 

Both a frightening apocalyptic story set in the southern United States and a character-focused, deeply moving literary thriller.

 

What would happen if technology all over the world suddenly stopped working?

When a strange new star appears in the sky, human life instantly grinds to a halt. Across the world, anything and everything electronic stops working completely.

At first, the event seems like a bizarre miracle to Seth Black–it interrupts his suicide attempt and erases gambling debt that threatened to destroy his family. But when Seth and his wife, Natalie, realize the electricity isn’t coming back on, that their food supplies won’t last, they begin to wonder how they and their two sons will survive.

Meanwhile, screenwriter Thomas Phillips–an old friend of Natalie’s–has just picked up Skylar Stover, star of his new movie, at the airport when his phone goes dead, and planes begin to fall from the sky.

Thomas has just completed a script about a similar electromagnetic event that ended the world. Now, he’s one of the few who recognizes what’s happening and where it will lead.

When Thomas and Skylar decide to rescue Natalie and Seth, the unwilling group must attempt to survive together as the world falls apart. They try to hide in Thomas’s home and avoid desperate neighbors, but fear they’ll soon be roaming the streets with starving refugees and angry vigilantes intent on forming new governments. It’s all they can do to hold on to each other and their humanity.

Yet all the while, unbeknownst to them, Aiden Christopher–a bitter and malignant man leveraging a crumbling society to live out his darkest, most amoral fantasies–is fighting to survive as well. And he’s on a collision course with Thomas, Skylar, and the Black family…

 

 

 

Indiebound │ Amazon│  Bookshop.org

 

 

 

 

Excerpt from Chapter 2 of HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN by Richard Cox

 

In this scene, screenwriter Thomas Phillips has just picked up actress Skylar Stover at DFW International Airport. They’re on the phone, speaking with a man threatening to commit suicide, when the call mysteriously drops.

 

 

HOLY SHIT THE SKY IS FALLING

“Dude,” Seth said in a weak voice, “I told you everything you need to know. Can’t you just let me be done with it?”

“Don’t do it!” shouted Thomas, surprised at the sudden empathy he felt for this man he’d never met. “I can help you. You don’t need to do this.”

“Help me with what?”

“With money! With whatever you need.”

“If this is about money,” Skylar offered loudly, “I’ll help, too.”

“Who is that?” grunted Seth. He sounded lethargic, like he’d woken from a deep sleep.

“We just want to help you. You don’t need insurance. You don’t—”

“It doesn’t matter. Even if you paid every last dime of my debt, I still have to live with what I’ve done. And I can’t. I won’t. It’s too late.”

“It’s never too late, Seth. Let me help you.”

“Just come here when it’s over. Please.”

“Seth.”

“Promise me, man. Promise me you’ll come here and take care of my family. Please.”

Seth was crying. His voice was hoarse, and he coughed as if his lungs were failing him.

“Please, man. Promise me.”

“I promise, Seth. Just stop and I’ll do whatever you want.”

Now there was no answer.

“Seth?”

Thomas pressed the phone to his ear, trying to dampen the sound of the wind, but it was no use. Eventually he looked at the display again and saw it was dark. He swiped and tapped the screen, but nothing happened.

“Thomas, look out!”

He glanced up and saw he was about to rear-end a white Ford sedan that was either slowing down or stopped. He quickly checked his mirrors and veered into an adjacent lane. Jammed his hand on the horn.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he yelled involuntarily. “This is a highway!”

“Thomas, again!”

He looked back at the road and saw they were rapidly gaining on a black pickup truck rolling on four enormous tires. Thomas changed lanes, sliding just past the truck and the noise of its monster tread.

“What the hell is going on?” he yelled.

“I don’t know, but something is weird. All the cars are slowing down. Look over there. It’s the same thing on both sides of the road.”

Skylar was right. Everyone was slowing down, but no one seemed to be using their brakes. Well, wait. In the far-right lane, about fifty yards ahead of them, a small car came to a screeching stop and Thomas heard the dull thunk of bumper-to-bumper contact.

“He totally hit that truck!” Sky yelled. “Why is everyone stopping?”

Thomas had slowed down and was switching lanes almost continuously as vehicles around him came to rest. When he looked briefly at Skylar, he saw something in the sky above her, something so odd and unexpected that he could hardly make sense of it.

People were beginning to climb out of their vehicles. Others stood in the road, gawking at the sky. Thomas moved toward the inner shoulder, trying to divine a clear path, but other drivers were having the same idea. Ahead, a woman stood beside a giant Lexus SUV and gestured to him.

“Skylar,” he said. “Look in the sky on your right.”

Thomas was rapidly approaching the woman on the shoulder. She was tall and thin, wearing a yellow sundress and flip flops. Maybe thirty-five years old.

“What is that?” Sky asked.

“Looks like a star, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…except you don’t usually see stars during the day.”

They reached the woman in the sundress. She approached the driver’s side door. Her face was drained of color.

“Excuse me, sir. Do you know what’s happened?”

“I’m not sure. But I would guess it had something to do with that.”

Thomas gestured toward the new point of light in the sky, which was twenty or so degrees above the horizon, brilliant and white. It was bigger and brighter than any nighttime star but much smaller than the sun, which was almost directly above it. In different circumstances, like if he had been on his back porch, looking at it over the lake, the new star might have been the most amazing thing Thomas had ever seen. Instead, Natalie’s husband was trying to kill himself and the airport freeway was a war zone and the whole world seemed to have lost its mind. No vehicle was operational except his and people were noticing. Especially because, aside from the rumble of his engine exhaust, the airport was quiet. Eerily quiet. Nothing else mechanical was running.

Nothing.

The woman’s face was slack, her mouth wide open. She seemed to be holding back tears. Next to him, Skylar whispered words he couldn’t hear.

Something was terribly wrong about the silence. It was never quiet on this road, ever, not even in the middle of the night, because D/FW was one of the busiest airports in the world. The sound of jet engines and traffic was so ubiquitous you never even noticed it.

Until it wasn’t there at all.

“I’m sorry,” he said to the woman. “We have to go.”

Thomas inched his car forward. The woman’s eyes widened.

“Wait! Can you help me? I’m stuck here.”

Thomas kept driving, watching the stalled cars carefully. He picked up speed. Changed lanes often.

“Don’t you think we should have helped that woman?” Sky asked.

“Help her do what?”

“I don’t know. Get home. Something.”

“We only have so much room. We can’t take them all.”

Thomas realized why his car worked and the others didn’t. Honestly, he’d known it all along.

 

Read part two of this excerpt 1/10/21 on Jennie Reads

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Cox was born in Odessa, Texas and now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His newest novel is House of the Rising Sun. Richard has also published The Boys of Summer, Thomas World, The God Particle, and Rift. He’s written for This Land Press, Oklahoma Magazine, and TheNervousBreakdown.com.

When he’s not writing or reading, Richard loves spending time with his wife and two girls. And hitting bombs.

He also wrote this bio in third person as if writing about someone else. George likes his chicken spicy!

 

 

 Website ◆ Twitter ◆   Amazon ◆ Goodreads

 

Instagram ◆  Facebook ◆ YouTube ◆ BookBub

 

 

 

 

—————————————

 

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

 

THREE WINNERS

 

1st: Signed copies of House of the Rising Sun & The Boys of Summer;

 

2nd: Signed copy of House of the Rising Sun;

 

3rd: eBook copy of House of the Rising Sun.

 

Giveaway ends Midnight, CST, January 15, 2021

 

(US only)

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

 

Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page

 

For direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily,

 

or visit the blogs directly:

 

 

1/5/21	Guest Post	Texas Book Lover
1/5/21	BONUS Promo	Hall Ways Blog
1/6/21	Review	Missus Gonzo
1/7/21	Deleted Scene	That’s What She’s Reading
1/8/21	Review	Chapter Break Book Blog
1/9/21	Excerpt	StoreyBook Reviews
1/10/21	Excerpt	Jennie Reads
1/11/21	Review	Reading by Moonlight
1/12/21	Guest Post	All the Ups and Downs
1/13/21	Review	Rainy Days with Amanda
1/14/21	Review	Forgotten Winds

 

 

 

 

blog tour services provided by