We’re taking a break from regular programming to finish out a thriller-adjacent side project that David took on this year.
We first introduced Thrill Ride – The Magazine in a February column entitled, “About those redactions in your service record…”
The concept is simple: a quarterly magazine with themed short stories of the thriller variety. What does that mean exactly? To quote the editor, thrillers are
…action-adventure tales. Thriller must be the core of the story. It must be high-tension and/or fast-paced. There must be a crisis.
David sold two stories to the inaugural year line up.
“The Asset” appeared in the first issue, Honor. It’s the origin story of Harrison Kohl, our way of explaining Harrison’s checkered past in the intelligence community.
The second story, “The Number,” will appear in Thrill Ride issue #4, Betrayal, which releases on December 21st.
The story is about Carol, a reluctant assassin with a green thumb, and Eddie, her…well, Carol describes her relationship with Eddie this way:
Lovers, friends, roommates, nothing seemed to really click for us. But for the last eight years, we’d settled for business partners.
One word in that excerpt carries a lot of weight: settled. Carol is not content with her life and is ready for a change. Eddie, her “partner,” not so much. That seed of doubt is the fuel that drives the ending of “The Number.”
Here’s the thing: I didn’t just pick the name Carol out of this air. Carol is a real person and the wife of a longtime Two Navy Guys reader and regular correspondent. As a supporter on the inaugural Thrill Ride – The Magazine Kickstarter, he volunteered Carol to star as a villain in my story.
And oh, what a villain Carol makes!
As always, thanks for being a supporter –
David & JR, AKA the Two Navy Guys
PS - the quote “behind every villain is a broken heart” comes from Joanne Harris in Runemarks.