The Hook Plays God.

Hello again, friends.

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Sorry for being AWOL for so long; my world, and the whole world, for that matter, just hasn’t been the same for a year. As humanity was forced to hit the pause button I didn’t have any interest in writing. At all. I mean, what was there to write about? I stopped being a bellman in every way that matters (that hasn’t changed yet, by the way) and the world seemed to be crumbling all around me.

Then a single comment at dinner one night that changed… well, everything.

“Why don’t you write another book, Skippy? Why not write one you feel better about? You definitely have the time now!”

My Lovely Bride.

There it was in a nutshell. It’s no secret I’ve never been anything less than ashamed of the finished product of my first attempt at book writin’; The Bellman Chronicles was a rush job – and it shows. But as my spouse said, this lockdown, as horrible and financially devastating as it has been, was a chance to reboot my life as an author.

She’s the best, isn’t she? And so, I grabbed a notebook and began to build a world from the imaginary film festival/comic con that never stops raging in my head. First I looked at all the things I love, the things that make me The Hook:

• Comic book crossovers.
• All the works of the great Kevin Smith.
• The never-ending battle between light and darkness.
• The people trapped in the middle.
• Pondering how much darker the world seems to be these days.
• Pop culture.
• Nerdy films like Animal House, Avengers: Endgame, The Bourne Identity.
• Books like Doctor Sleep, and pretty much everything else by Stephen King.

Then I built a story based around those passions. I decided to tackle the idea that there was a reason civilization has become so much darker than it used to be. Then I poured in superheroes, supernatural creatures. demons, angels, real world archetypes and made them all as “real” (i.e. dysfunctional) as possible.

And that was when things got really interesting.

I took painful memories – and the emotions they stir in me – and made them work for me for once. Like the memory of standing in my mother’s hospital room staring at her lifeless body as I said goodbye to her for the last time; the stench of death was overpowering. But I’m not afraid to revisit that moment anymore.

My recollections of my fallen brother-in-arms Rockin’ Ronnie have proven to be equally painful. We had years of good times together, but for years all I had been seeing in my mind’s eye was his funeral and a video of his last moments on YouTube.

But I’m done being afraid of the dark moments of my past.

The only reason we recognize the dark is because we know it’s obscuring the light.

I loved both these people and while my relationship with both of them was strained at times (certainly one more than the other) they’ve helped make me into the devastatingly handsome, confident bellman/storyteller the world knows as The Hook. So the past is no longer a weight around my neck, threatening to pull me under but rather a resource to be used to bring me to even greater heights.

And that, my friends, brings us to Into The Dark: Book One of the Infinite Crossover Crisis. Here’s the synopsis as it appears on the back cover:

Are you afraid of The Dark?
You should be.

They are all around you, even in the daylight. Directing. Scheming. Manipulating. Whispering in your ear. You’d see them if you only dared to really look at the shadows, at the corners and angles where the light can’t reach.

The world you’ve been living in, one where monsters don’t go bump in the night is a lie, one created to keep the sheep content while the wolves feast.

An imbalance of unimaginable proportions has swept the world, causing the concept of good vs. evil to exist only in comic books and movies. The Balance between The Light, The Grey, and The Dark has been swept away in a river of blood.

But you can go back to your cable TV, your streaming, your Insta Tikking or whatever the hell it’s called. My team and I have your back. We’re not the heroes you’d ask for, but we’re the only ones you’re going to get. God help you.

(Actually, scratch that, She’s long gone.) Okay, fine, so there’s a good chance humanity is doomed…

Imagine a world where the controls God put into place to balance humanity’s capacity for good and evil (and even apathy), have been upended. Now darkness is overwhelming humanity. God’s AWOL and all that stands between humanity and endless torment is the most dysfunctional band of heroes, rascals, miscreants and assorted goofballs to ever walk the earth.

Yep, we’re definitely doomed.

I’m hoping my little tale will strike a chord with enough readers to help me make back what I’ve already invested in formatting and cover creation costs. Barely working for a year has left me hemorrhaging cash; this may not have been the right time to publish this book, but it felt right so I dove in headfirst.

At any rate, I hope you’ll give it a look. I’m biased, but I think it’s worth your time; my storytelling style is unique and while I have miles to go as a writer, I’m damn proud of the finished product.

Here’s the link to Amazon: Into The Dark: Book One of the Infinite Crossover Crisis – Kindle edition by Hookey, Robert. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

See you in the lobby, kids…