Hey everyone, super excited to share the cover art I just got back for the first book in the Backrooms series I've been posting about. You can see Dan and Croc fighting the Lobby Stairwell Guardian, and it couldn't be more glorious. I love the fact that Croc actually has googly eyes!!! What do y'all think?
BUT I NEED HELP...
I've had a wondrously easy time wri...
2023-07-25 23:46:37 +0000 UTC View PostNineteen – Froyo for Everyone!
Half an hour later Croc and I were sitting on a bench in front of a Froyo place called Yogurt Oasis. We’d come here because Yogurt Oasis happened to be the closest store with a working bathroom, and not in any way because I begrudgingly wanted to make Croc happy. The shop was tiny and manned by only a single level 2 Dweller, cal...
2023-07-24 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostEighteen – Triple M
It was the whisper of fabric on fabric, this time accompanied by a blur of motion off to my left. I wheeled, catching the fluttering edge of a blue sheet, just before it disappeared behind one of the racing machines. Another flash of movement in the corner of my right eye revealed a small figure, no more than four feet tall, who scampered out from be...
2023-07-21 17:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostSeventeen – Gamblers Paradise
Like everything else on level three, thematically the Arcade looked like it had been ripped straight out of an episode of Stranger Things. Neon blazed, painting the walls in a tapestry of eye-searing purples, bubblegum pinks, and loud electric blues. The carpet was a deep navy and dotted with cheesy cartoon planets and distant starbursts. 2023-07-20 19:57:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Sixteen – Extreme Gains
The Compass of the Catacomber turned out to be exactly as awesome as I’d anticipated. Hell, it was probably even better than I’d thought on first inspection. The map was incredibly detailed, and it showed the location of every single Dweller, allowing Croc and I to easily avoid the fiercest pockets of resistance and obvious ambushes. It used ...
2023-07-20 19:51:03 +0000 UTC View PostFifteen – Minor Detour
If MediocreMart wasn’t the Backrooms version of Walgreens, I’d eat a flipflop. Sure, the description didn’t make it sound great, but under the right management it could be a goldmine. I accepted the job posting and turned back toward Croc.
“Found it,” I said. “MediocreMart. It’s in Quadrant 28, Sector 17. The job board lists it...
2023-07-20 19:48:02 +0000 UTC View PostFourteen – The Job Board
“You know what the best store is?” I said, turning away from the Progenitor Monolith and toward the rubbery, blue dog waiting patiently behind me.
“Wait, give me a minute, I know this one,” Croc replied as though there were a right answer. “Is it a waterpark? I bet it’s a water park.”
“What? No,” I said, shaking my ...
2023-07-20 19:43:02 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone. Hope y'all are enjoying Backrooms so far. I'm having a blast writing it and I'm getting ready to enter the third act, which means book 1 isn't too far from being complete.
But! you'll notice that I just took down a bunch of chapters (14 - 19 I believe). I realized as I was getting further into the book that Dan and Croc still hadn't ventured out to the Loot Arcade yet to red...
2023-07-20 19:07:57 +0000 UTC View PostThirteen – Compass of the Catacomber
I looked over my newly upgraded stats once more before closing out my SBR tab.
Dan Woodridge
Specimen Biotag ID #03A-01-B00R7T569C!
Variant Assimilation Level: 5
Race: Human, Standard
Current Experience: 3,715
Twelve – The Backrooms VIRUS
I heard the sharp whirl of a motor start up as digital text flickered to life on a small screen. Welcome to the Backrooms! To access your Personal VIRUS Account, please place your bare hand on the palm reader, then select an option from the menu! There was a blue square light on the gray plastic console with the green outlin...
2023-06-30 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostEleven – Frank’s Blacklight Emporium
Frank’s Blacklight Emporium turned out to be a headshop.
Like everything else inside the Backrooms, however, Frank’s was a TV stereotype cranked to eleven, hit with a potent dose of psychedelic mushrooms, then vomited out by a sentient three-D printer. Bead curtains separated the doorways, eye-jarring tie-dye shirts and f...
2023-06-28 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostTen – Relics Galore
We headed away from the courtyard with the acidic water feature and the presumably carnivorous plants and to another intersection dotted with abandoned kiosks, which sold everything from candy and cheap plastic knick-knacks to pungent-smelling facial creams and electric foot massagers. When I suggested that we loot them, Croc just chuckled and shook ...
2023-06-26 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostNine – Croc Dog
In a matter of seconds, the Croc dog was gone, and a blob of bright blue goop appeared in its place. The creature had a small army of writhing tentacles, several different mouth orifices—all filled with far too many jagged teeth—and eyes. So many eyes. It almost reminded me of the weird, blood red cloak that the Flayed Monarch had worn. The tag above...
2023-06-23 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostEight – To Greener Pastures
The stairwell was nothing special and blessedly devoid of monsters or unnamed horrors waiting to devour me the moment I let my guard down. It was just plain concrete, a simple metal handrail, and a series of switchbacks that eventually led me to an industrial door with a narrow rectangular window and a metal bar running across the front, just...
2023-06-21 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostSeven – Bathroom Brawler
The force of the blow forced the creature backward, its many arms pinwheeling to maintain its precarious balance. Still gripping the creature’s tongue, I pulled my fist back and smashed the tool into the monster’s throat again and again and again, until at last the edge of the square ripped messily through the mons...
2023-06-19 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostSix – Janitorial Handyman
I hit the wall with a whoomph and a host of white stars danced and cartwheeled across my vision. I blinked several times in utter disbelief, not trusting my eyes because what I was seeing was impossible. Standing guard over the stairwell exit was a skeletally thin creature with maggot-white skin, six arms protruding from its gaunt tors...
2023-06-16 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostFive – Endless Corridors
I spent the next several hours wandering through a seemingly endless series of twisting, turning, and interconnected corridors that didn’t go anywhere or have a discernable purpose.
It was a mind-numbingly dull labyrinth of gray carpet and yellow wallpaper, augmented by the occasional set of brown double doors that also went nowhere. I o...
2023-06-14 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostFour – Achievement Unlocked!
I don’t know how long I was out for—could’ve been two-minutes or ten hours. I didn’t have a watch on, and there were no windows or other organic sources of light, so gauging the time was impossible. It was quiet, though. Other than the omnipresent buzz of the lights above there wasn’t a sound, which was unnerving in its own way. 2023-06-12 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Three – Clash of Legends
The Monarch’s khopesh met the gunslinger’s foam anime sword in a clap of thunder and a clang that sounded like metal. Golden sparks and sizzling arcs of red electricity spit intoThe Monarch’s khopesh met the gunslinger’s foam anime sword in a clap of thunder and a reverberating clang that sounded like metal. Golden sparks and si...
2023-06-09 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostTwo – That’s so 90s!
There was a flash of metal, then something out of sight slammed into the writhing crimson ball of nightmare fuel, batting it across the room like a baseline drive. The monster—and that was really the only word that fit—collided with one of the square columns. The impact violently shook the room, cracked the column in two, and knocked free a sw...
2023-06-07 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostNoclip In, No Way Out…
All Dan wants is to find a way home. He’d settle for a beer, a bite to eat, and a place to sleep off his hangover.
But, in an endless, ever-changing dungeon cobbled together from twisted carnivals, abandoned shopping malls, janky laundromats, and condemned insane asylums, getting a bit of shut-eye is harder than it sounds.
Dan has ac...
2023-06-05 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Travelers! James here. Wanted to thank you all so much for reading my books and supporting my work. As a small thank you, here is an Advance Reader Copy for Vigil's Wrath, book 4 in the series! Y'all get it a whole month before everyone else. Hope you all have an awesome weekend and enjoy the book!
I've got new materials in-bound! Hey Travelers, James Hunter here. I know there's been a content dry spell on my Patreon account for the past few months, but I'm glad to say that I've got some awesome stuff rolling through the pipeline.
First, I'll be posting Vigil's Wrath (Book 4) tomorrow for everyone at the five-dollar tier. You'll get the book an entire month be...
2023-06-01 15:22:45 +0000 UTC View Post
It's finally here! Release day! Super excited to say that Vigil Bound 3, Vigil's Balance, is live on Amazon! The Audiobook--narrated by the awesomely talented Luke Daniels--is on pre-order and will be out in July! I wanted to thank everyone for reading and supporting my work; I apologize that these chapters weren't all posted...
2023-04-27 12:56:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone, Jeanette (James' wife) here. I just wanted to hop on and thank you all for continuing to support James even though he hasn't posted in awhile. The last few months have been pretty challenging for him. Family challenges as well as some nasty writers block created a looming deadline for Vigil Bound book 3.
Some of you may have noticed that the pre-order for that book on Amazon...
2023-03-31 13:45:27 +0000 UTC View PostThe party to celebrate the end of the Interschool Tournament of Collegial Dungeon Excellence was truly amazing. There were fireworks, a parade where the Terrible Twelfth and Chadrigoth got to practice their princess waves on various floats. The parade kind. Not the Stephen King kind.
After the parade was a tremendous dance party.
Vos Mynih, squid bard drummer and the headmaster of S...
2023-01-20 18:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday morning, Logan and his friends were all in the ring, sitting in a variety of plush, comfy chairs when the professors marched into the arena.
The rector prime, Yullis Rockheart, led the way down the aisle with nearly a dozen other professors in tow. Professor Suresh the Merciful came next followed by Professor JJ Kobold, who fervently clutched a briefcase with his screenplay tucke...
2023-01-18 18:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe first part of Tet’s big surprise wasn’t that shocking?
No one had actually expected them to survive, much less beat Lou Shador and the entire Glow Brigade on the first day of the final round. It was unheard of. Usually, it took weeks to lure a prospective dungeon team to the location, and then the battle could go on for days or even weeks more. Honestly, everyone had expected Lou ...
2023-01-16 18:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostShador stood in the ring as his rabid fanlings chased after the cores floating over the fleeing card table.
Logan lay at the wrestler’s feet while the odiferous ropes slowly squeezed him to death.
He’d become a connoisseur of nasty smells, and yet, both the wrestler and the ropes disgusted him on a deep, visceral level. He struggled against his bounds, but he was completely immo...
2023-01-13 18:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostPeppered throughout the upper rows of the coliseum were Marko’s faceless mannequins, all eerily motionless and decked out in jeans, muscle shirts, bandanas, and a shocking array of flannel. They were the perfect wrestling audience, waiting to witness the smackdown of a lifetime. Unlike the dummies from earlier in the dungeon, these were genuinely lifeless and held none of the deadly traps of ...
2023-01-11 18:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post