When I was writing Phoenix Rising, I often used some famous comic book splash pages for inspiration, especially as my Alec Ramsey’s firestarting abilities start to go completely out of control near the end.
It worked in prose but I couldn’t stop wishing for George Perez or Marshall Rogers to appear in my home and illustrate it. 🙂
Which brings me to the contest. Answer this question in the comments below: what scene from your favorite book would you love to see drawn or illustrated, either in a comic or a poster?
A winner will be announced Monday morning and will be chosen by random number generator.
To set up the sequence:
Alec and the military-style assault team assigned to assist and protect him are chasing terrorists on the Newark docks. Problems arise when the terrorists begin escaping via tugboat. Alec’s trying to stop it with his telekinesis and a wall of fire.
***************************************
The fire screamed at Alec, rolling into a ball of raging heat, wanting to consume what was in its path, more powerful than any fire he’d handled before. It wanted to incinerate the entire tug, including the bomb. But he had control. This is what he’d trained to do all his life.
He created a wall of fire on the far side of the tug, trying to make it retreat. More shouting. Again, Hans calmed the others down and the boat kept moving. Alec had to let some of the fire spin away, lest it hit the bomb. They’d called his bluff. Shit.
The tug chugged into the harbor, taking it farther from Alec’s range and closer to a big, shadowy shape out on the water. Another ship. No way he’d be able to stop the bigger ship if they loaded the bomb on it. Sweat poured down Alec’s neck and back. His breathing grew quicker, his eyesight blurrier from the smoke of the burning dock.
Hans was the calm one. Get him and the rest would panic. Alec broke off a small ball of fire from the flames above the tug and sent it crashing into Hans’ chest.Hans screamed, stumbled backwards and fell into the water. Steam hissed and was quickly snuffed by a wave.
The tug stopped moving, dead in the water. Yes!
A shadow fell over the tug. Their pickup. The transfer wasn’t at the docks like intelligence said, it would be on the water. Kowalski, who’d berated them for their mission questions, had been wrong. If Daz didn’t go after the CIA fuck, Alec would.Daz yelled out loud. Alec ignored it.
Daz’s voice buzzed in his ear from the radio. Alec tore off his helmet. Tears ran down his face from the smoke. His knees grew weak. The fire almost escaped from him, almost roared into the bomb. Dammit, I can control this. What was wrong with him? He knew better.
He dropped to his knees and pushed the fire back to the tug’s bridge. Another man was yelling now. Alec saw the face illuminated in the firelight and recognized Demeter, the fanatic. He should crisp him too, but if he let the fire go even a little, he’d lose it completely. Hell.
He raised a hand and created a roof of flame over the boat. There! Let them try to move the bomb with that there. He grinned, panic gone, and stood. He blinked and saw the flames around him had grown.They whispered to him, embraced him, until he was weightless, free, just like the fire. Nothing could hurt him, nothing could defeat him, especially not some second-rate terrorist cell.
“Firefly!”
I ’m busy, Daz.
Alec blinked and finally registered the twenty-foot wall of flames directly around him. The fire he’d created had joined with the flames from the sniper’s body and grown into an inferno. F-Team was trapped between the warehouse and a shipping container and the flames were closing in. They’d be incinerated.
In the distance, a horn sounded, close to the tug. Fuck! Daz yelled his name again, voice more desperate.
Okay, easy. Take control of both fires. He could finish the mission and save F-Team at the same time. Piece of cake.
He spun around and around in the flames encircling him, pushing them upward, away from F-Team, sending them into the sky, where they’d have no fuel and would sputter out on their own. The metal of the crane above twisted and buckled from the intense heat. His throat felt like dust. Heat enclosed him, baking his skin. He shouldn’t have made it so damn hot without realizing it. He knew better. What the hell was wrong with him?
He waved his hand. The flames around him started to sputter out. Good, F-Team was safe. The roof of flames above the tug disappeared.
No, shit, he didn’t mean those flames. He reached out with his TK toward the boat. He felt something fuzzy, like a figurative cotton ball in the air. He had no idea what the hell that was.
An explosion rocked the night air, splitting the tug in half. Alec fell face-forward to the dock. He spat out ashes, cursing. What had happened?The fire around him leapt high again, its flames a vivid blue color. He couldn’t have exploded the bomb on the tug—he’d been careful. So what the hell had done it?
He pushed himself up with his arms, bit his lip and the fire around him stole the air from his lungs and took control of him.He closed his eyes, joined the flames, felt them rise up around him, like he was flying high with it, flying to the water, flying to consume that big ship out there. Who needed control?
This was all he needed.
He could be fire.
The book “A Wrinkle In Time,” comes to mind from my childhood. I’d like to see timetravel by tesseract illustrated!
Okay, two things, the first is not contest related, but the second one is:
1 – I liked the preview. I had never heard of this book until seeing your post on Benbo, but now I kinda want this book. From the preview, it looks as if it will be an interesting read.
2 – I just finished reading a Doctor Who novel by Dan Abnett called “The Silent Stars Go By”. In it, scaly green Martian Ice Warriors have a pretty impressive fight against augmented humans called transhumans. It read like something out of Warhammer, and I think it would be awesome to see it illustrated in comic form by someone like John Byrne or one of the artists who used to work on the Doctor Who comic strips, like John Ridgway or Lee Sullivan or Dave Gibbons.
Hey, thanks from coming over to the Benbo. I try not to use that for self-promotion too much, and I know guys there sometimes roll their eyes at the word “romance.” 🙂
I like to say my idea of romance is like “The Terminator” only Kyle lives at the end. Otherwise, I’m big on smash ’em up, explosions, gunfights, and, oh, a sex scene or two.
Abnett would be someone who’d write prose that would make a fantastic comic, wouldn’t he? I really liked some of his Legion work.
I would have liked to see the Sookie Stackhouse books in a comic not the True Blood counterpart. I loved this book!
One scene from a book I would love to see as a poster would be from Wonder Boys, where Grady Tripp loses his entire novel and the pages are scattered all around. I picture him just standing below a huge vortex of pages swirling above him, far out of reach.
I luuuuved the excerpt. I don’t know how i’m going to fund my book habit, but your book just made it to my wish list. Hopefully Santa will be kind this year. As for comic book heroes, Wolverine comes readily to mind!
the naming of dog from “good omens” just to see his reaction to being named dog.
I would like to see the second book from the Black Dagger Brotherhood turned into a comic . I just want to see how they would do the dragon shift
meandi09@yahoo.com
I’d like to see Moon Called by Patricia Briggs illustrated when Mercy drives the van with a dead body and an injured werewolf inside. Poor girl!
Nice excerpt! 🙂 Linked to here on facebook — hope you get some traffic from it!
I think I would choose a scene from Birth of the Firebringer, from Meredith Ann Pierce. Jan, prince of the unicorns, faces off with a three-headed wyvern, in her cave, in a battle of wits. Her heards intertwine, weaving about hypnotically, like snakes. She and the cave both are opalescent, and there’s a golden bowl of fire in the space. At one point, Jan starts to nod off over the fire, until his horn rests across the bowl, the flames licking at it while he has visions. I bet some awesome things could be done with the lighting and colours!
Thanks, Wolfen.
You all are forcing me to make a list of books to read. Clearly, there’s some good stuff I haven’t read yet.
I would love to see J.D. Robb’s In Death series in comic book. Just because I absolutely LOVE this series and would love to see the characters illustrated.
Larissa Ione’s Demonica Series!!
I just read the exert and I want more. It has been a long time since a exert has made me want to get off my bottom and get a book. But this has my intention. Can’t wait to read more!!
Thanks, Pam!
I just finished the comic script–(and wow, do I have a lot to learn about panel by panel construction) but I was thinking this scene would be way easier to have an artist draw than write. I mean, it looked awesome in my head but I’m never sure if words do it justice.
Wandered over from the Benbo…
Scene I would like to see illustrated?
Mine would be the scene where Melisandre spawns the shadow creature from A CLASH OF KINGS. Pretty creepy.
I can’t wait to see this on season 2 of A GAME OF THRONES!
I’d love to see John Steakley’s ‘Armor’ adapted into a comic someday, as for a specific scene Felix’s first drop mission to Banshee.
I would love to see Dakota Cassidy’s Accidental series as a comic book. Especially would like to see the part where Marty gets bitten and she turns into a werewolf. 🙂
I would love to see the scene from Hammered:the Iron Druid Chronicles BY Kevin Hearne. Where Leif(vampire) and Thor(A-hole(A-hole thunder god ) fight. It was EPIC.
You are a tease! Loved the excerpt!
Ooooh, it would have to be a scene from Halfway to the Grave from Jeaniene Frost. I would LOVE to have the scene illustrated when Cat and Bones dance for the first time… wow, that would be amazing! Actually, it would also make a great graphic novel:)
wayfaringwriter at gmail dot com
Great excerpt, but a tough question. I think I’d like to see an illustrated version of Kate Ellis’ ‘The Devil’s Priest’. It’s a historical that’s unrelated to her other series, and so the least likely to ever get picked up for dramatisation (I suspect).
I’d like the scene from “Cat’s Cradle” when everything is turning to Ice-9. With the tornadoes all over the place. I think that would be pretty cool drawn out, though the whole book itself probably wouldn’t make a good comic.
Would like to see the scene in Thea Harrison’s Dragon Bound where he discovers the penny is missing.
Hey!
By the random number generator that is my son, the winner is Bryan Goff! Congrats, Bryan! I’ve emailed you off list.
Thanks so much for everyone for stopping by and commenting. And now I have a huge list of books that I obviously should find and read.
Stark Raving, at least you’ll get to see that GRRM scene in the HBO series. AT least, I hope so!
Oh so many, but the Wrinkle in Time arc is the first one that pops to mind, or any of the Andre Norton stories, or even Archer’s Goon by Dianna Wynne Jones or her Chrestomanci series.