Where the Skinman Roams -
One must look out for the Skinman.
Smashwords – Where the Skinman Roams – a book by Larry S Gray
for the e-book version
Amazon.com: Where the Skinman Roams: 9798774619566: Gray, Larry S.: Books
for the physical paperback book
In Skinman, the ever-shrouded-in-secrecy government experiments conducted literally underground run amok, cause harm to the unwitting townsfolk, and become the core of all the madness and mayhem in this small out-of-the-way town in southern Alabama.
In Skinman, futuristic science and ongoing technological evolution clash head-on with the mystical and paranormal, among a primitive lifestyle being experienced by folks who've never known anything else.
In Skinman, you may find yourself asking bizarre questions, many of which will begin with the word why, and you may find yourself questioning everything you thought was normal and stable and... real.
Random views from Cropper, Alabama - where the Skinman roams...
Amazon.com: Where the Skinman Roams: 9798774619566: Gray, Larry S.: Books
About the Skinman:
A mysterious creature has recently emerged in the isolated backwoods town of Cropper, Alabama; a shapeshifting troublemaking entity the townsfolk have christened the Skinman. Who is he, why is he there, what does he want; these are all important questions, but… how about this question – is their so-called Skinman real? Does he exist, physically? Or is he a symbolic manifestation the townsfolk collectively conjured up as a pawn on which to blame a recent spate of crime and other assorted oddities plaguing the typically ever-so-mellow small town of Cropper?
Or could it be that Cropper itself is what doesn’t exist, at least on this level of reality? What of that vast and magnificent underground laboratory that no one in town knows about? Could it be the aftereffects of the experiments conducted down there are causing things to go haywire aboveground? It seems they are opening doors to amazing and phantasmic possibilities, and discovering things long considered unattainable.
Does the arrival of the Skinman coincide with any of this?
Consider who lives in this small out-of-the-way town, and consider the town itself:
A preacher with multiple degrees in the sciences and a genius-level IQ. An elderly woman who believes the rain is contaminated and milk is poisonous, and who spreads doom and gloom like rancid butter on moldy bread wherever she goes. Three brothers as evil as any men can be without actually being of the Devil’s own jism. Two college boys who stumble upon an amazing anomaly while enjoying Spring Break. A woman with the ability to see things as they really are, another woman who knows of things before they happen; both unaware of how to use these gifts (or curses). An aging ex-trucker/present-day cop who has seen firsthand the dark ugly underbelly of government experiments gone wrong. A six-year-old boy who pees the bed when he dreams about monsters and dries his sheets out in the sun, so his mother doesn’t find out. And so many more…
A town built upon a corrupt bargain and then left forgotten by the rest of the nation. A town so secluded there is but one road in (and out), and that road is unfindable unless one knows exactly where to look for it. A town where most are poor, uneducated, drinking folk who don’t have to work a day in their lives. A town lacking one of the most basic aspects of human necessity. A town completely cut off from the outside world and, for all its faults, still every bit the better for it. A town with three bars that would be shut down immediately and the owners prosecuted were they anywhere else in the country. A town with an incredible secret known by less than ten out of its 900 residents.
Are some of these residents sliding between realities?
Is this the end of days? If so, is it humankind’s World War 3 or God and Satan’s battle of [at] Armageddon? Or both, with one triggering the other?
Who knows the answers to these questions?
The Skinman might know, but we sure don’t…
Order Where the Skinman Roams at the links below:
The Skinman
The Bunyans
Sergeant Caleb Ray Ross – local Civil War hero, as a statue
Right Reverend Leviticus Saul Garchmann – local preacher (and much more…)
Cornetta Raye Chipe – local woman, given to visions, chronic rants and diatribes
Tim Booling [aka Snorkeling Gay Tim] – fellow killed before start of story
Murdochia Bell Smathers – local woman, helpful to the poor
A-a Salt [Adasha Salt] – local young woman
Veruca Salt – A-a Salt’s brother
Gianni and Mariananina Salt [Salucci] – A-a and Veruca Salt’s parents
Willie (Slim) McCoy [Jr.] – local young man, strong and talented, Willy’s son
Willy (Slim) McCoy [Sr.] – local older fellow, strong and talented, Willie’s dad
Big Jim Walker – NYC pool hustler
Louie – NYC pool hall boss
Milo – NYC pool hall patron
Harry Goldrich* NYC music store owner
Roger Marion – lawyer, originally from New Jersey
Danny Bailey – local young man, ran secret booze enterprise, shotgunned to death
Emna [Emmy] Joylee Bailey – Danny’s grieving mother
Pukey Delgado – Danny’s neurotic and demented killer
Mother [Maw] Bunyan – local woman, matriarch of the Bunyan family, seer, receiver of visions
Thaddeus Bone (T.B.) Bunyan – son of Maw, one of the notorious Bunyan brothers
Cabronius Mackst (Ronny Max) Bunyan – same as above, brother
Franconius Notch (Franken) Bunyan – same, brother
Paw Bunyan – patriarch, deceased ten years
Mr. Wilson – local man with a dog
Naomi Clegg – local waitress
Butlerina Mongrilla – Maw Bunyan’s out-of-town sister
Sedgewick Mongrilla – Butlerina’s child
Curt and Rod – Ohio college kids visiting spring break @ Panama City, Florida
the Troy Boys – Dothan, Alabama college kids from Troy U, befriend Curt & Rod @ Panama City
Robinson Kerkjahn (Robbie Jim) James – Cropper town councilman
Chaim Rommel – town doctor, retired
Abel Dick – paralegal to Roger Marion
Tully Sulvestovitch – aspiring writer
Kitty Delevan Martini – local tax expert
Jebediah Raymond Rondo Rosenbottom IV – entrepreneur, local Piggly Wiggly owner
Johnny Wadd – current acting mayor of Cropper
(all seven listed last live in the ‘wealthy’ part of Cropper)
Netto, Tatum & Red, aka Magnetto Man, Titanium Man, Red Dynamite #9 Man – hackers, busted, forced to work for FBI
Bo Felding – FBI boss, supervisor of the newly drafted hackers
Crepuscule (Lil) McGill – local woman with the gift of sight
Captain Zimrod – guard at underground lab
Billy Ray Kennedy – law enforcement. Cropper Constable/the top cop
Harry Earl Broadmoor – deputy
Jimmy Ray Clatterhoople – deputy
Floyd Mott – Florida dairy farmer, owner/operator of Floyd Dairy Farms
Walt Evans – Floyd Dairy Farms milkman
Jessica Grimwalla – local bored/horny housewife
Ridgewood Rodrick Grimwalla – her husband
Josephine Slade Barbero – local rooming house owner
Pookie – Ms. Chipe’s elderly cat
Obelia Raye Hamm – local bar (Fist & Pipe) owner
Gorgebucket the Beer Dog – mascot @ the Fist and Pipe
Rex the Brew Pup – mascot @ Hog’s Crotch
Spirit the Wonder Dog – prior mascot @ Hog’s Crotch, now deceased
Henny Penny the Dustup Chick – chicken, mascot @ the Phucken Duck
Cherry Elba – bartender @ Fist & Pipe
Philmore Pheelgood – DJ @ Fist & Pipe
Grit Kristian Ashbergen – bagboy @ Piggly Wiggly
Atticus Finch Bunyan – original settler of Cropper, Bunyan brothers’ great-grandfather
Gary Lay & Mrs. Lay – snowbirds driving back to Florida from New Jersey
Rymat Kirk Nevius – older fellow, works at town hall
Dewey, Bal, and M’monya – local teens who hide out, drink, and play at night in back of town hall
Ray Gastribats – retired lawyer from New Jersey
Melic – rape victim (not real name)
Lloyd – rapist
Uncle Pete – guest @ Barbero’s rooming house
Argoyle & Jonno – his daughter and her husband
Niberticius and Tonniluccius Garchmann – preacher’s nephews, Guns n Roses fans
Noah* – original ark-builder from the Bible
Trent Redman – scientist/physicist from flash-ahead to 2034
Bob Smith
Eddie Graybeach
Georgia Derringer – Trent’s three student assistants
Kenny Luke Potts – 6-year-old who dreams about monsters, pees his bed
Devlin Raspe Potts – Kenny’s dad
Mrs. Potts – Kenny’s ma, makes her own bonemeal
Santa Claus
The last seven presidents of the USA.
I am the Skinman. Check me out at the links below. Wander with me through Cropper as I stir up the piss out back of the Fist and Pipe, over behind the Hog's Crotch and in the parking lot of the Phucken Duck. Buy me a beer. Find me a kid to scare. Get me a Bunyan so I can beat his ass. Call the Constable on me. Make it so!
Amazon.com: Where the Skinman Roams: 9798774619566: Gray, Larry S.: Books
Smashwords – Where the Skinman Roams – a book by Larry S Gray
