From the Transcosmic Realm

Tonight the waitress’ head was pounding again. Moreover, it was never a quiet night here, Blanche was certain about that! On some nights she didn’t get any free time for herself at all. In the end, why should tonight be any different? But tonight will be unlike all those other times, she told herself, making a face in silence. If tonight went just a little better than the previous day, she could rest in the morning - at least she hoped so. Then a smile crept across her face.

So many things usually happened inside that 100-story building located near the spaceport field, close to the Old City and the Bazaar, counted within the ranks of other tall modern towers. Well, it had to be acknowledged that many people had an extreme misconception about why customers went to the Mare Inebrium, or what they planned to do inside the establishment. Blancheconsidered all this as she was walking the main hall of the venue that same night.

Certainly, many of those outsiders - out of their fancy - thought of this place, perfectly situated next to the spaceport on Bethdish, as a perfect site where spies from several worlds or species might meet each other. They wondered if this was where illegal dealers of the newest weapons could speak secretly and have their bloody agreements completed away from the prying eyes of those who were after them. Perhaps unexpected travelers entered here, leaving their previous life behind and searching for a new area of space where they could live freely, and safely, from that day on, if such a thing could actually exist.

On the other hand, there were others, the rich or the common people who didn’t have all those unusual thoughts and sad problems on their mind, who simply saw this venue as an agreeable bar where wealthy regulars came day and night. Since it was open late, many customers ate and drank until morning came; people loved the food available - coming from the traditions of varied alien sectors - while the travelers waited between flights until their next spaceship was scheduled to leave the surface of this world, who knows?

Most of it all was, undoubtedly, nothing more than a series of mismatched thoughts that crossed their mind, or that they had in their head, especially when they had drunk too much. Obviously, there had been spies here in the past, the same as some bloody weapon dealers. There always were unexpected travelers coming and going – some unimaginably unusual, and one might never believe how strange they had been! Some had even spoken of Time Travelers, believe it or not… - and the likes, but this happened in many other places, too. This was what space bars were simply meant for, especially if they were located within a spaceport like that: it was a venue where varied aliens from a large number of species might stumble into each other, talk freely and get to know each other better, learning about those others’ traditions, history and troubles. What else?

Well actually, some fights were bound to happen – but the policy of the Mare Inebriumwas pretty clear: they had to be dealt with at once, and appropriately. When they did occur, vulgar words and curses filled the air – an air that so many aliens shared and breathed in most cases. There were times when the liquors ingested proved to be too powerful and hateful speeches were spewed about - but this, too, had to be stopped before it turned into a serious situation that might bring about even worse problems. At the least, such fights might hurt their business. Usually, the manager of this venue, named Max, knew how to handle such unwanted situations on certain nights - when he didn’t prefer to remain behind the bar, pouring drinks for his best friends - and he was very experienced managing the patrons.

So this is how the nights here went along, and the days, too. Every morning, every evening, all week and all month long. This was the usual business, and a very profitable one on this world.

Blanche put her thoughts aside, tidied her dress, opened wide her clear eyes and walked on hurrying herself.

*****

Daylen – an apparently non-talkative man who was sitting at a small table alone – silently looked around, and stayed pensive.

There were, in a corner, a large group of A.I.s wrapped inside their robot-bodies, full of joints, who seemed to be extremely mobile and sat in silence, without even looking at each other. The metal they were made of was colorful, and had to be more resistant than the exterior protection of a military flying tank of some powerful armies. Their features gave you the impression of something out of place, to say the least. In such bodies, motors, gears, and sensors could fit together in many varied ways. The nanotechnology inside that powered them had to be very elaborate, and the appealing shape was only vaguely biped, giving them a smooth walking action.

Actually, those artificial beings were presently sending data to each other, via radio transmitters, and were lost in talk, though it all looked unintelligible from the point of view of the other aliens and the humans present in the Space Bar itself that came and went away. Undoubtedly, those creatures – who knew from what part of the galaxy they came? – weren’t here to drink the costly beverages from many worlds that the Mare Inebrium offered to the customers. Nor were they here to eat uncommon food that other species liked, as they could never appreciate such things: they were machines after all. Well, machines more intelligent and much quicker at thinking than humans! Since this was the case, while sitting here, those A.I.s might evaluate if the vegetables in the dishes had been well prepared according to a tradition or a cake had been baked following all the necessary rules, but no more than that, Daylen thought.

What did people think of when they considered modern robots? Well, of course this depended on a single species’ experiences. There had been some aliens – like the government of old planet Kjlm and the Xthkt - who were known to have fought against hybrid creatures. These machines were part living being and part machine, like deadly insect-sized robots that had been widely produced in the past, once modern knowledge had made new kinds of robot possible. No one who had encountered these creatures had a good view about them, even decades after the war was over. Other planets had relied on such robot-like machines, surely more primitive than those real A.I.s, using them to explore sectors of space they couldn’t get to themselves. Many untamed planets used robots where living creatures weren’t able to live on the surface (think of areas where the ground was continuously being covered and replaced under black volcanic ash falls and lava – exactly like on the Moons of Dlqrwkt - or the inside atmospheric layers of the largest gas giants). So, there wasn’t an easy answer to how people felt about A.I.s.

Who knows, in reality, maybe those artificial beings in the group at that table were secretly exchanging incredibly high figures like zag numbers via High Wi-Fi or playing unusual games at incredible speed, based on abilities or unknown levels of distributive laws and math that no human nor alien customer could figure out nor appreciate. What if those A.I.s were planning to stay here all day, so they could study human behavior, observing the way other aliens ate and sipped their drinks in a venue like that ? Perhaps they were spying on different species, or the human way of life. ’How funny…’ said the voice in Daylen’s head - that actually wasn’t Daylen’s voice nor thought.

Not far from a biped that had a strange beak sat four tall and very slender Dltmivtin a small group at a circular glass table. Those four-eyed people appeared to have settled in and were not planning to leave any time soon. Strange creatures, he thought, probably they had just drunk too much for that night , but it their level of intoxication still wasn’t enough for them to leave.

*****

Just as Blanche reached the corner of the Space Bar where that human customer sat alone, his presence attracted her interest. He was handsome, with striking blue eyes. Maybe 50? - Perhaps a bit older, who knows? The man with salt-and-pepper gray hair kept staring at everything around, by moving his head from right to left so that he could change his own viewpoint. It seemed as if he had never been in a venue like this before, or maybe he had just stayed away from civilized worlds for a long time because of his job. The surprised Blanche eyed him, thinking he was out-of-place somehow. ‘And we usually have many unusual customers here, day and night, of course’. Or, maybe, the woman considered, he was a particularly adept Private Investigator searching for something, or someone, which was also possible. This was something she had already seen in here before.

At times, at least according to her experience, lonely customers that came here just wanted to talk, or to search for someone to talk with. As she approached his table, she addressed the man. “Hi there! Did you already order something to eat or drink? May I be of help?”

“I’m new to this place,” Daylen replied.

“I see. Well, maybe I can assist you. Do you prefer to start with a drink? May I suggest a bottle of rare Dlaght? It is a bit expensive, but its taste has no comparison. Or maybe some more traditional beverages from Earth like the Penderyn Royal Welsh Whisky?”

The other nodded, and said, “Why not? Let’s take both, and savor them for the first time in my life.”

Blanche helped him placing his order via a device at the table itself. “What is your field of interest, if I may ask? Are you a traveler that happened to come here during a short vacation? Maybe you’re here to start a new job Bethdish, or in this same Space Sector?”

“I’ve never been on Bethdish before,” Daylen explained showing no emotion on his face. “I work in the retrieving field, recovering space wrecks. It’s possible to find some huge treasures inside the remains of space vessels at times.”

“So, what was your last job? What did you find inside the wreck you retrieved before coming to this planet to appreciate our liquors?” she curiously asked. The woman hoped she had not overstepped common curtesy with her questions.

The man appeared a bit reluctant, looked away, and then explained: “I can’t tell you a lot about that.”

“Why? Because of amount of treasures you found there,” she smiled.

“No, it’s not because of that. Everything was different the last time…” he mumbled, eyeing her.

“So, what is it?” Blanche insisted. The woman knew that making people enjoy their time, drinking and talking, was usually good for business.

“Well, I can tell you a little about what happened, maybe,” Daylen nodded, then looked down at the surface of the small table. “Our vessel, the Kererū, with the guidance computer system in control most of the time, was moving very slowly through the meanders of a very dangerous area full of asteroids in space. Our course had to be changed continuously to protect our ship. Problems on the way such as an extremely huge rock’s location, speed, size and rate of spin, if not properly predicted, just might prove fatal. Any serious damage to our hull or its instrumentation would greatly impede further advancement, putting lives in danger.”

“I imagine yours is a very difficult job, indeed,” said Blanche while staring at the customer.

“Yes, it requires highly specialized, highly skilled crewmen like me. However, through many difficulties, that day we made it, in the end. We had gotten signs of a large wreck lost in that area of space, and we knew we had to go through it, despite the hindrances like small or bigger asteroids, and debris, so we could reach our goal. Well, when we got there – to the wrecked ship - two of us outfitted with a space exo-suit exited the hatch of our cargo bay and moved across the distance separating the Kererū from those remains of a starship. It was me and my fellow Gert on that occasion.”

“Is it there that you found some valuable objects? Maybe some lost strong-boxes like the pirates in ancient legends?” Blanche seemed to make fun of him, but she said it in a very pleasing sneer.

“Well, not exactly. However as we approached it, we immediately heard noises coming from the inside. Actually, not real noises as they don’t transmit through open space, you know. But our instrumentation recorded them, movements and the likes…so we imagined that someone might still be inside. We wondered if there might be pockets of oxygen on the ill-shaped section of that wreck, even if there were no life signs on our readings of the vessel. Gert went first.”

The woman was attentively and silently waiting for what was next.

The man reminded himself of those moments. He recalled being wrapped in a clear space exo-suits with low weight, which included a water circulation system that kept the wearer cool at all times. It consisted of a lower body piece that had a hard outer layer, and a hardened helmet with visor and many camcorders, of course, which some people had trouble with. But he and his co-worker that day were experienced space retrievers, and they had already had thousands of hours of training before starting to work for the company that was the proprietor of their vessel, the Kererū. Some difficulties with heat, cold and fatigued fingers during spacewalks were something they had been long accustomed to, in reality. The jet pack allowed them two to move easily but you had to be prepared, and well trained, in order to get the most out of your EVA equipment undoubtedly. He remembered how difficult some people found it to work in weightlessness in open space where of course - without the protection of a space suit - humans would die in less than a minute and a tear in the suit itself would be fatal. Other than that, such activities required about twice as much time to complete than on a planet’s surface. And, of course, many suffered from space sickness curing their flights. At times, it too resulted fatal!

There was not a lot of extra comfort aboard these working ships. They were not meant to be luxury liners, which rich men could buy and customize at will. There were reports of eccentric tycoons that had diamonds and other rare stones embedded into the metal surface of their space suits to turn them into an incredible work of art, which was undoubtedly pricey. Those worker ships also were not built for the military: this meant no super-protective hardness, and no weapons. However, their safety system gave you protection against space radiation at all times. Of course, some of the activities the crew of the Kererū did could not be accomplished with robotics and teleoperations alone. Nor could they be achieved while seated within the comfortable pressurized control room of their ship.

Many who stepped out into the emptiness of space for brief moments - maybe for their first and only time – leaving the protective environment of a spacecraft, usually thought that the main piece of their exo-suit to be always kept protected was the helmet, because (imagine that!) their head was in it. But they were wrong, as there was a much more valuable portion to be kept safe: in fact, located on the back of the exo-suit were the air hoses to the limited oxygen supply, and a power connector for light, communication, and propulsion units. So, while a leak in the helmet visor might be sealed using temporary tools, there was no way to get more oxygen or increase your air supply without any external assistance from the ship itself or from another fellow nearby, of course.

Over the course of the time, the adaptable human capability had allowed several millions of space retrievers like him from Earth - the same as from many other planets – to work without interruption day by day, for many hours, in the deep black sky of space. Temperatures ranged from as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit in direct sunlight of a star like Earth’s Sun, to as little as minus 160 degrees in shadow. Some men even called the unending emptiness outside of the safety of a starship, home.

There was only one way for him and his colleague Gert to keep in touch with each other and with their ship, in those conditions: it was the small earphone in their helmets. So, as the surface of the metal part of the wreck came under the two outside lights from their helmets, and their chest-mounted camera had footage of it from a closer distance, things became more obvious. They could see that this object had been in space for a very long time, as its exterior was battered and visibly damaged everywhere. Perhaps this was because of the same small rocks treacherously floating around that were in that area.

“We proceeded very attentively, once we put our feet on the uneven surface of that part of the wreck and activated the magnetic footwear we had which allow workers to walk slowly, but surely.” the man continued “We knew that applying force in one direction would turn the body in the opposite direction, and this might cause unexpected problems. Actually, every space retriever knew of that famous and funny saying that went, more or less: ‘If you activate your magnetic footwear onto the smallest size asteroid with enough speed, it will start spinning while you walk around on it’. That’s it!”

“I never heard of that,” Blanche laughed while looking at him.

“Then, on some bumpy surfaces, working as well as moving about and trying to stay in one position might become strenuous even using special tools. Be it as it is, we headed for the source of those dins unknown.” Daylen let out a long breath, thinking that in the past, spacemen from Earth started training in swimming pools while wearing space suits with extra weights to counteract buoyancy. That way, once submerged, they neither rose to the surface nor sank, though people there were not actually weightless and if a tool was dropped it would sink. On the other hand, water resistance also affected movements and work processes. But nowadays all training experience had to be done in real Zero-G, and it was there that a space retriever had to learn how to move, and survive.

“This seems a scary tale…but I’m curious. So, what was making the sounds?” the woman pressed him, making the man turn back to reality.

“In a way, believe it or not, we discovered that there was nobody inside,” he replied.

“So, what was it? Ghosts maybe?”

“No, nothing really as fanciful as that,” Daylen said with a blank look. It was as if he was repeating something he had told someone more than once. “There are things that have the power to touch the minds of anyone, and to fill a man with many worries, things that might look ghostlike and unearthly. But that wreck, well, it just rotated every two hours, and we discovered that some boxes were hitting some bulkheads, though it shouldn’t have happened because of the Zero-G inside the wreck.”

“So, was it a mystery in the end? I imagine that open space must be full of them still today.” Blanche focused on him, urging him to tell her more.

“Yes, it was a mystery as you said,” the man nodded, while averting his eyes from her. “You know, when space retrievers like us work out there, in small groups or even alone, the emptiness of the cosmos before our eyes, and all around our body, looks cold, dark, insidious, deadly and endless. The distances that keep the planetary systems away from each other, are so wide that you could feel lost in the open, undoubtedly.”

There was a long pause. Then the man went on. “Gert had more experience than me, but debris doesn’t have a mind of its own, they don’t consider how experienced - or not - you are in a field. Wreckages simply rotate in space in Zero-G and keep floating coasting into the unknown, until they hit something, or someone. And it was poor Gert who was hit by small clumps of debris that actually proved to be traveling at a speed that was so high that no protection our exo-suits were endowed with might stop it.”

“So, your partner got hit, and was wounded…?” the woman looked at him in surprise.

“Yes, but he wasn’t just wounded. That pointed debris coming from who knows where perforated his visor, pierced through his helmet, opening a hole in his head - which resulted in his death almost at once. I spotted his lifeless corpse from a distance, but there wasn’t much I might do at that point. The spin the debris had given to his dead body had also made him move away from me, and I had a lot of difficulty in retrieving his corpse. So, when I finally reached him, actually I was only able to certify he had died.”

Blanche seemed dejected at that moment, and remained speechless for some time. She had really hoped to hear a delightful tale that night, something that might lighten her state of mind during her working hours. But her questions had only made that man remember a sad occurrence, which was why, maybe, he had come to the Mare Inebrium today. He just wanted to stay to himself and have some free time to rest, probably.

“In the end, our vessel didn’t find anything valuable inside the remains of that unknown space vessel. But I lost my colleague Gert that unhappy day, which dealt a dreadful blow to our crew,” Daylen added.

“A very depressing occurrence, I must say. I’m really sorry for the loss of your friend. I could have never imagined!” the woman said.

“I, too, could never have imagined what would happen on that day. We space-retrievers know of the several dangers that wait for us in the emptiness of the universe. Actually, the more the debris around in your work environment, the more the possibilities you can be hit by some of them. Gert was just very unlucky that day, but there are many space-retrievers that have passed away because of similar problems.”

“After hearing your story, your first drink is on the house!” a saddened Blanche told him. Then she tried to make him feel better, assuming that might be possible. “So, is that it? Did you tell me your entire story? Is there anything you kept to yourself? At least, was your travel back home safe?” The woman stared at him in a forced smile.

“Yes, that’s all. A miserable story for a long night, I’m afraid”, he lied. But truly, things had gone very differently from what he had said. He had also lied about the cause of his teammate’s death in space. In reality, things had gone differently for his colleague. Very differently. He had been lost, his corpse floating forever in space, never to be found in fact. And not because of debris actually. Something else was the cause of his death that day.

Thinking back on what had occurred, the man said to himself that he should not have come there, to that area of space, to that wreckage. However, it was too late for such thoughts. The way things had gone would have made his previous life for him just impossible, actually.

Blanche took leave of the customer, and reminded him she was sorry if her questions had made him remember something so sad, and so bad. As the woman went away, Daylen thought that he knew, in reality, what was inside that lost vessel. That unknown wreckage. He did not believe in what he saw, nor did his teammate. But his colleague had died unexpectedly that day, killed by the unknown creature that they had spotted once inside, leaving only himself alive. He was spared on purpose, because of what he had to do. From that day on, it was just as if Daylen had been washed upon a new shore, in a way.

He still had no memories about how long he had remained there, unconscious and in terror. For a reason not entirely clear, he had ended up on his own at this point in space. The man remembered, of course, the large claws, the shapeless face with empty eyes, and the armor-like build of the Dimensional Shambler he had stumbled into that day, once he entered the remains of that vessel. In his head, the strange arms of that unknown creature of space still rose and waved as if they were alive, as if he still was facing it during those first moments. It was as if they alternately danced, undulated and menaced! The fear he had felt during those moments was otherworldly, his bewilderment beyond any words he might find! He felt lost, as if in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger that he could not oppose. That creature was something that went beyond comprehension, an irrational sensation, much larger than anything else in his life.

On their starship it was still evening, when they went to bring him back, though here time didn’t seem to matter at all. Eventually, he remembered hearing a voice calling although it wasn’t exactly a voice. Later, its words became intelligible, just as if spoken directly into his mind, like a deafening scream, or a sort of incitement.

The man had never heard of the old Cthulian deities before that day, so he didn’t know what it meant, or what they implied!

*****

In Daylen’s mind, beyond that of any human, the Dimensional Shambler considered that the Mare Inebrium Space Bar was situated near a massive city. Contained within those walls, it was as if it was a portal to many different worlds, thanks to the varied alien species present inside that uninterruptedly came and went. It was as if many magical lands collided in these rooms, coming from all over the galaxy to trade.

For now, the Dimensional Shambler saw the venue as a way for data to be collected, and studied, before being put to the test. And that man, the same as many different creatures whose smaller thoughts had been ruled over before today - like a dummy radio, controlled from afar - had to do as requested until they decided what to do!

‘Everyone that lives in this part of this galaxy looks so young, so unaware and so weak. After all, every species here seems so young to the eyes of Cthulian deities like us, and no one has ever lived for as long as we have,’ the creature thought. ‘We are constructs created in the deep passages of time to serve a higher power, we occupy the long, gray transcosmic eddies outside of the universe where other lifeforms exist, and our motivations and purposes remain a mystery to them. Humans can’t imagine how we select our prey. They are not even intelligent enough to figure out, or visualize, the transcosmic environment we come from. There is no alien species that can comprehend ournatural ability to enter, and exit, through the fourth and even higher dimensions. This is how we obtain food while traveling at incredible speed. We love to have a look from time to time at other dimensions like this one, and spy on lesser beings with ease. To suit our purposes, we can even make use of other creatures, be they intelligent or not - like humans - as vessels to get to our destinations whenever deemed useful. This is done before their minds and souls are eaten in the end.’

There was a brief pause in his train of thoughts. ‘Some poor, tiny and insignificant aliens might find our appearance disgusting. They might even stare in surprise at the bodies of some of the Great Old Ones, thinking they are made of unusual softness. Simple creatures might see us as incredibly tall, as huge as mountains, as big as asteroids - but their opinion holds no value. They are not the rulers of the transcosmic realm. They are not even owners of the dimension they live in. But they don’t know about that, obviously. How could they? Such beings are simply terrified by our presence, about how immensely powerful we are as we exist outside of normal space-time. So all they can do – all they have ever been able to do, since they just were primitive beings on many worlds where they worshipped us! - is follow the orders we give them. Otherwise, we can easily remove them from reality, and find new ones that will do as we want. There is no other way.’

*****

Daylen remembered that the creature he had found that day in the wreckage had made him do some unusual things in the past. He was told to put on his spacesuit and stay on an asteroid in space. He waited before a whitish figure that stood before the blackness, rotating his head left then right, then up, as he was silently contemplating the loneliness of the site while looking at the emptiness of the universe above and around him, as if that was the place the unknown being once came from. He was ordered to travel to an alien ocean and stay on its shores for a long day, watching and studying those unending billows as if it was something noteworthy to be stored in his mind while a very strange bird disappeared into the clouds, its destination unknown. Undoubtedly, these might be some important places for that creature, but the man didn’t know why they were significant. He didn’t even know why a human like him might be useful to this deity! In a way, Dimensional Shamblers like the one who now controlled him, and possibly its species, lived in a dimension that were unreachable to humans like him, and were not meant to be understood!

How difficult was to live a life like that!That creature seemed to have no compassion for humans. Daylen had to acknowledge the truth of his small role in that, taking a deep breath. He had no choice, as his will was no longer his own. Certainly, no one might imagine the unholy secret he had in his mind that was kept hidden from everyone.

The words of the creature known as Dimensional Shambler were heard in his mind again, very clearly, though he was still in the middle of that crowded Space Bar. It didn’t speak frequently, but when it did communicate, there were orders to be followed or changes in its plans. “Now you can leave this venue, and let me discover other worlds. There are so many of them in this area of space! I have seen enough through your eyes: this place is full of many varied lifeforms, and it’s good for me to know much more about alien beings in this part of the galaxy, so I can report all this to the Higher Gods.”

“As it pleases you, Master,” the man mumbled.

Unencumbered by emotions, the Dimensional Shambler added, “I was right when I chose you for my purposes. The other man, your teammate who was helping you, was not strong; he had a weak mind, and was not intelligent enough, so that colleague of yours had to be killed. You are the human I needed that day, and only you were saved thanks to my leniency - to be used in my next steps.”

Daylen stood up and left as he was obliged to move from one place to another in order to view the varied creatures living in this Space Sector so that the Cthulian deities might choose what to do about them. If they proved useful, they might not have to die. But if they were too harmful, they would be removed from reality. Just said and done!

The transition into this part of space hadn’t been easy for the Dimensional Shambler. But today it could come to know the living beings that stayed here by watching the world of those aliens, by visiting here and there through the young eyes of this man, spying everything he saw. Of course, the creature cautioned himself against being overconfident, because there might be other unknown lifeforms in this area of the universe the Old Deities knew nothing about, whose power might prove capable of battling against theirs. Perhaps there were beings who might oppose their aims with unusual means they weren’t aware of yet.

*****

It was only by chance that, at a certain point, Blanche saw Daylen moving away. The man walked with a dreamlike look on his face as if he wasn’t really him himself any longer maybe. Surely it had to be due to the terrible experience that customer had faced, and she still regretted having been curious enough to ask him questions that had brought back those sad memories of events past.

On the other hand, the befuddled Daylen didn’t see the glance the woman cast at him. It was as if he was caught in a strange dreamy state, which combined sleep and wakefulness, a condition that had long gotten hold of his body and mind. He felt as if he was in a state of low consciousness, with some repeated behaviors he didn’t entirely comprehend. At times he thought that his mind had been altered into a condition where some memories were very difficult to recall. He shuddered to think about what his future held, a future that he might never see.

In fact, the future of his body, and his tired mind, had long ceased to be within his control, certainly. He knew it. Even if no one else could imagine the hell he was living through.

THE END

Bio: Sergio “ente per ente” Palumbo is an Italian public servant who graduated from Law School working in the public real estate branch. He is also a co-Editor, together with Mrs. Michele DUTCHER, of the Steampunk Anthology “Steam-powered Dream Engines”, published in march 2018 by Rogue Planet Press, an Imprint of British Horrified Press, and of the new Fantasy/Sci-Fi Anthology “Fantastical Savannahs and Jungles”, published in march 2019 by the same Publisher. The subsequent book edited by him, together with Mrs. Michele DUTCHER, is the new Sci-Fi Anthology “Xenobiology – Stranger Creatures”, published in september 2020 by Rogue Planet Press, an Imprint of British Horrified Press. In 2021 he edited, along with Mrs. Michele DUTCHER and Mr. Curtis MAGNES as co-editor, the new Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Anthology titled “Bleakest Towers”, published by Rogue Planet Press. The first Historical/Horror screenplay written by him, titled “Tophet- An Ancient Evil”, completed in 2018, won an Honorable Mention Award at The 2018 International Horror Hotel Award - script Competition held in Richfield, Ohio. Sergio's other publishing credits are too numerous to mention as he is a VERY prolific writer!

E-mail: Sergio ‘ente per ente’ Palumbo

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