First Fight Friday: Triptych: An Omnibus of Wonder by Peter A. Balaskas

Goats solve their differences head-on. They don’t give the silent treatment or yell, they butt heads, and then it’s over.

Cowboy Marvin has learned humans resolve issues differently especially those romantically involved. His curiosity sparked, he has invited authors to stop by on Fridays and share the first fight from one of their books.

Author

Peter A. Balaskas

is here for ...

First Fight Friday

with a scene from

The Grandmaster
one of three complete works in
Triptych: An Omnibus of Wonder

Welcome to the Wagner Institute.

Since 1966, Dr. Johann Wagner has guided his team of paranormal investigators and psychologists in solving supernatural crimes.

Now a horror from his past has come back to destroy

not only Wagner, but everything he has built.

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My reasoning had departed as quickly as the train from my nightmare. I didn’t even hear how long the extermination was to go on or if and when I was to be next. Colors left my vision; everything I saw faded to a murky sepia of an aging photograph. But my composure and focus became clear; I wanted to kill…many, many times. Damned with the consequences. These monsters were going to pay and I was not going to die like my people. A week later while the rest of the camp was sleeping during the middle of the night, I had decided to escape and destroy as many Nazis as I could see. But I didn’t know how I was going to perform such a mission. Even though my powers had grown, I realized I needed some advantage—some “wild card”—to increase my chances in survival, not for the sake of living, but for the sake of killing. And during this time of contemplation, I accidentally came across a power that even my father had never possessed.

It happened one day after morning roll call. I was in a stupor, still grieving for my parents. I stopped near the prisoner barracks and saw a guard smoking a cigarette during a break. Surprisingly, no prisoner or guard was watching us. We were totally alone. I hid around the corner of the building, making sure the Nazi did not see me. On an urge, perhaps almost a self-destructive one, I projected my telekinesis energy toward him, just to see if I could somehow push him. I had never used my powers like that before and I was curious. Well, I released my energies on his legs, trying to trip him. Instead, I tapped into his nervous system, resulting in him jumping backwards and landing in the snow. It happened so fast he didn’t even have time to scream.

I was dumbfounded. I barely used a fraction of my energy. I began to wonder what damage I could really do to these monsters.

As he got up, wet from the snow, he looked around to see what mighty force had thrown him, until his eyes caught mine. I was so startled at my actions that I forgot to hide again. When he saw me, he raised his rifle and was about to shoot.

Then, my new power appeared.

While still looking him in the eyes, I directed my energy toward him with only one thought in mind: “Stop!” I did not know how, I just wanted him to stop. Well, and it may sound so horribly simple, but he did. He froze in mid-action, with his gun raised at me, as though time for him had been immobilized. The Nazi was about to gun me down like a dog and I turned him into a statue.

I moved out of his range and walked around him; he was still in a stasis. I waved my hand in front of his face, snapped my fingers, nothing. What was interesting was I still felt an energy link between myself and the guard, like a muscle still in a flexing motion. I started to feel slightly tired from the drain—again, back to the energy percentages my mother taught me. I quickly hid around the corner to the other side of the building where the guard had his back to me, poked my head out and, for lack of a better term, “reeled” in this energy blanket from his mind. The guard moved again and looked at his gun, puzzled. I heard him mumble, “Where is my cigarette?” He looked around and was extremely disorientated. Eventually, he just shook his head and returned to his barracks.

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Triptych: An Omnibus of Wonder

by Peter A. Balaskas

*The Grandmaster

Welcome to the Wagner Institute for Mental Treatment and Investigations.

Since 1966, Dr. Johann Wagner has guided his team of paranormal investigators and psychologists in solving supernatural crimes and unlocking the secrets of the human mind.

But now a horror from his past has come back to destroy not only Wagner, but everything he has built. Wagner once used his paranormal powers to escape the horrors of the Holocaust, but can his aging mind and body stop the terror that has returned to claim him?

Triptych: An Omnibus of Wonder
is available on

Amazon ~ Smashwords

Triptych features two other complete works from award-winning author Peter A. Baslaskas:

The Chameleon's Addiction

In this gothic horror novella, outsider Reynard Malory's introduction to the eccentric Boccaccio Club promises a final chance to find a place where he belongs. The price for joining this exclusive club may be more than Reynard wants to pay, but the choice may no longer be his to make.

In Our House: Tantalizing Tales of Terror

This collection of short stories takes readers on a dark journey into that shadow realm between the real and surreal, where ordinary people find themselves confronted by extraordinary things. Close the windows. Lock the doors. Check under the bed. And make yourself at home…in our house.

"In his short story collection In Our House, Peter Balaskas delights in presenting to us terrible men and then further delights in delivering to them their well-earned comeuppance. A wicked read." - David Fuller, Edgar Award Nominee

"Like Patricia Highsmith or even early Stephen King, Balaskas is shaping himself into a modern master of magic and terror." - Marlon James, NY Times Editor's Choice and LA Book Prize Finalist

Peter's Bio:

Born in Brooklyn from Italian/Greek descent, Peter is indeed a man of many professions — including a microfilm clerk, an environmental and pharmaceutical chemist, a theatre actor, a freelance news camera operator, an NBC Page for The Tonight Show, a camera technician for NBC/Universal Studios, and, from 2004-2009, Owner/Managing Editor of Ex Machina Press,LLC, the proud parent of Silent Voices: A Creative Mosaic Of Fiction, until he finally discovered his niche: freelance journalist, SEO web content copywriter, copyeditor, proofreader, and speculative fiction writer. Peter received his BS in Chemistry and his MA in English (Creative Writing/Literature) from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, as well as his Certification in Copyediting from University of California, San Diego. His early literary influences include Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King and many others.

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Friday, March 6, 2015

First Fight Friday: Triptych: An Omnibus of Wonder by Peter A. Balaskas

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