The Ringmaster's Interview (The Ringmaster Series)

Stefan Hannberg is a food and entertainment critic. By all accounts he leads a comfortable, yet unremarkable life. Well-liked by his establishments and peers the last thing he’s looking for is adventure or excitement. Finding a scroll on his desk inviting him to meet with the Ringmaster was about to change everything and not just for him, but the world.

From the Inside Flap

Also by Colin C. Martin (The Ringmaster Series)The Ringmaster'sInterviewTales of Horror andMadnessA Thought with theRingmaster The Ringmaster'sInterview Colin C. MartinCopyright © 2019 Colin C. MartinAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced inany form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storageand retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author, except byreviewers who may quote brief passages in a review. Published September 2019 ISBN: 9798686487123This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, allthe names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book areeither the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner.Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purelycoincidental. Cover art by Dave Lipscomb Chapter images provided by Pixabay I'd like to dedicate thiswork to M.R. Stover who sadly passed away in 2019. Mat you were an inspiration,it was your example that provided me with the motivation to pick up the penmyself. This has been a fascinating and wonderful since we first started tocollaborate and build a friendship. I'll do my best to keep your legacy aliveas you gave your time and effort to help me create mine. I miss you buddy, rest inpowerACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly I'd like to thank MatStover and Rick Powell. Your storytelling has been an inspiration and hasawakened something inside me. Thank you also for taking the time to readthrough the initial drafts of this work pointing out my many, many mistakes. Wegot there in the end. To Dave Lipscomb thank youfor providing your artwork and helping to bring life to my creation. To everyone who hascollaborated with me in the past and continues to do so with my creativeendeavours, thank you. I'd like to also thank myfamily and close friends for sticking with me. I always have been and alwayswill be a weirdo! This is something I will never apologise for. I've been builtdifferently from the start, however I don't think that is much of a surprise toyou. Just know that I'm always aiming to live life to the fullest andappreciate you being in it. FORWARD The Satanic Players Society was a podcast that ran between October2014 and December 2019. When I first came up with the idea the last thing Iimagined was that six years later I'd be writing my first novella. This wasmeant to be a one off fun segment paying homage to old time radio dramas.However as the podcast progressed and the Travelling Sideshow of the Macabrecame into being I started toying with the idea of bringing these characters tolife in their own story. Originally I'd planned to write a mockumentary type of radio dramaand have the actors portray their avatars in an amusing manner and generallyhaving a laugh. I tried a couple of times to create the script, but nothingcame of it. Anyways another idea started bubbling up to the surface as timewent on and the framework for this story began to appear. When Dave Lipscombstarted drawing and providing the artwork for each of the troupes characteravatars this really made we want to tell a story about them. This time around when I put pen to paper the words came so mucheasier. I'd find myself carrying a notebook around and jotting ideas downduring my breaks. Two years later this publication came into being. I hope thatyou enjoy the finished result. THE INVITATION He stared at theparchment splayed out on his desk. The LED lamp gave a bright, almost clinicalluminescence to the ancient material. It wasn't ancient though, the scroll wasaddressed to him. It was there waiting for him when he got back frominterviewing a local restaurateur who was unveiling the new look to hispremises. He normally didn't return to the office at this hour. On thisoccasion though he wanted to finish writing up this piece and save himself thestress of a tight deadline the following day. Stefan Hannberg wrote local interest pieces for hisnewspaper, the type of stories that made people smile for a second amongst thedoom and gloom of daily life. Even though it wasn't groundbreaking work andunlikely to yield any awards of exclusives he enjoyed it. There were enoughpeople in his field chasing and scrambling for the next 'big scoop'. They bayedand bleated like sheep, using the same tag lines and catchphrases. They lookedfor similar twists to 'expose' their targets. Stefan on the other hand was well known and likedby local businesses. In the sea of mediocrity he had managed to carve himselfout a little island and was happy. This however was different, this was life changing.It didn't dawn on him when he saw the scroll, that wax seal depicting two goatsheads facing away from each other. The letters S.P.S embossed underneath didn'talarm him. It was on opening the parchment and reading the contents thatrealization finally dawned. Good evening Stefan, my good man. I hope that this littlenote finds you well. We have been watching you and your work for a while nowand have to say are suitably impressed. I would therefore like to formallyinvite you on behalf of The Satanic Players Society to come visit us and tellour story. Stefan sat back in shock, they were real? He had heard the rumors, everyone knew of themysterious radio show that would appear on the airwaves taking it's listenersto other places, realms of fantasy and imagination. Some even said that if youlistened for too long that your soul would be lost forever! This was one of thelongest running urban myths that Stefan could remember. He was slightly unnerved by the revelation that hewas being watched by these people, if that's what they truly were. Sideshowsthroughout the ages had been renowned for taking in unfortunates with physicaldeformities and making them out to be creatures of myth and legend. Everyoneknew that. There was something different about this group however, somethingother worldly.

About the Author

Colin is a lifelong lover of fantasy, horrorand science fiction, his main influencers being Sir Terry Pratchett, Raymond E Feist and Wes Craven.  Over his lifetime Colin has expressed his creativity in many forms (Model making, music andcooking). In 2014 he became involved with the contribution to and theproduction of a number of various podcasts. (Satanic Storytime, The Satanic Players Society, Living the Dream, Secret Warriors, Hidden Heroes, The Horrorific Podcast).After coming in contact with a variety ofindie authors that he started to get the urge to write himself. The Ringmaster's Interview was first published in September 2019, the first in the Ringmaster series. A British Army veteran and Data Analyst by trade Colin was brought up in East Belfast, Northern Ireland a land steeped inthe rich history of myths and storytelling which continues to inspire him tothis day.

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