Critical Press Media

A monthly chapbook in digital and hardcopy, The Data Vault presents original stories and classic reprints from the creative minds that form popular culture.

In the November 2009 issue:

Winston Crutchfield takes us on an adventure  in the Atomic Earth.  Challenger City is under siege by monstrous psychic predators known as birdthought.  Something must be done to break the creatures from their hunting ground before they consume the last bastion of civilization.

Rick Raphael introduces us to a madman who’s build an atomic bomb – out of modeling clay.

Excerpt from “Rope Trick” by Winston Crutchfield:

The CCCD volunteers scrambled about their vehicle, attempting to deploy their equipment. Bill muffled a cry as the circling shadows congregated over the crew and a sharp scream pierced the wail of the alarm sirens. The volunteers broke and scattered, but too late. The shadows solidified and literally leaped off the ground to meet an indistinct haze as large as a man with a wingspan fully as long as the troop carrier in front of it. The first monster engulfed the slowest man; amber flame and dark matter shadow consumed each other, and the creature feasted in an explosive psychic wave of fear and nausea. Even at this distance, the impact knocked Bill to his knees and left him vomiting into the sand. Behind him, children whimpered, wept, or shrieked in fear.

Bill heaved phlegm and bile, clutching the leg of the structure for support. Panic descended like a hammer, and Bill fought back the only way he knew how, “Birdthought sense their prey through resonant emotional responses like fear and anger.” Bill pried his eyes open but kept reciting, “These creatures feed exclusively on psychic energy, and are formed primarily of dark matter. Birdthought hunt in packs, often with symbiotic carrion eaters like …. shards!” The oath escaped involuntarily; three of the volunteers lay dead in the clearing, birdthought feeding on the psychic residue of their victims like amber brushfires. Two people still labored on the vehicle. The last man in the helmet of a block captain bolted from the carrier clutching the oblong package of a psychic screamer to his chest. The sudden nail of mental pain in the back of Bill’s skull told him the rest.

Every purchase of the printed chapbook also includes a digital download for your immediate enjoyment.  The digital download is a ZIP file that includes DRM-free versions in print-ready PDF, and MobiPocket/Kindle PRC.  The printed version is saddle-stitched on bright white stock with a glossy cover.

More by Editor

• The Least of These – September 29th, 2010
• Under the Moons of Mars – July 22nd, 2010
• Web of the Golden Spider – May 10th, 2010
• Goddess of Atvatabar – March 22nd, 2010
• Spring Benefit Book: The Least of These – February 3rd, 2010