To survive the Tournament of Survivors, a gladiator must confront her past and defeat the mysterious force terrorizing her hometown.
About the Book
Benji “K9” Keanin attracts trouble. As one of the highest-ranked warriors of the city state of Lilithia Heights, that’s pretty much her job description. But when her fellow warriors start to fall in battle under mysterious circumstances, she starts to worry. Kidnapped by the man responsible, she finds herself improbably drawn to helping him and discovers an unlikely ally. An ally she will need as she finds herself facing the ultimate warrior’s challenge: the Tournament of Survivors. Whether she survives will depend on her ability to confront her past and unmask the force terrorizing her hometown.
About the Campaign
Iguana Books is excited to collaborate with Andy Nicol in publishing Kingdom Come. Iguana Books is a hybrid publisher based out of Toronto, ON, dedicated to producing high-quality books by working closely with its authors. If the campaign is successful, funds will be used to cover production and distribution costs, including the following:
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Cover design
- Layout and eBook conversion
- Distribution to online bookstores around the world
If the campaign reaches a minimum goal, this book may be self-published by the author; in this case, the rewards will also be fulfilled. If the campaign does not reach the minimum target, all funds raised will be refunded.
Please consider donating and help to spread the word about Kingdom Come. Thank you for your support!
About the Author
Andy Nicol has been dreaming up characters and stories since she was a child. This bent towards the fantastical has led her to pursue a variety of creative outputs. Case in point, this manuscript was submitted the same week that WWE wrestler, Bayley, chose her design for the outfit she wore for her Monday Night Raw debut.
Living in a small, canal-side town just outside of Niagara, Andy takes inspiration from the small and strange, as well as from musicians, artists, and writers of the poetic and grim. When she’s not writing or producing art, she likes to spend time with her dog and feed the neighbourhood crows.
A Note about the Rewards
Several of the rewards allow donors to make a choice between designs or request an original work of art. Should you choose these rewards, an email will be sent out asking for your choices once the book has been produced. Donors will have a choice between five different designs for bookmarks: Crow, K9, Dragon, Gemini and Broken Wings. There are two different t-shirts of the same style: Crow and K9; donors will be asked to specify size at the time of fulfillment. Should you choose a reward that includes a print of yourself as a character in the world of the book, you will need to provide a picture to work off. Finally, if you choose an original poem, you will be asked to give a statement or theme to base the poem on.
Excerpt
Matt’s hands shook slightly as he hooked the camera up to the main screen in the cafeteria. We watched in silence as the tape proved without a doubt that the twins were, in fact, the ones who attacked us. Instead of apologizing, they gave each other a look and then tossed me at Dan and Matt. The three of us crashed to the ground in a groaning heap as the brutes towered over us, ready to fight. I rolled off the boys and Dan stood up, roundhouse-kicking them both in the jaw.
I leapt at them and swung my weapon, barely catching them in the stomach, not hard enough to do real damage. The warriors around us had started either recording the fight or leaving. Now Dan was shoved back by Jekyll who reached for the knife he kept in his belt. Meanwhile, I had somehow managed to get stuck with the larger, angrier of the two. Hyde swung his pipe at me and I hopped back as he came towards me before falling over and crawling as far back as I could.
“You should have known you weren’t going to survive after encountering us—” he sneered.
“Can it, Hyde. I like a good fight but I don’t get off on slaughtering innocent people!”
“You know damn well that plague-infested freak isn’t innocent…” Hyde hissed. Like the snake he was, the statement dripped with venom, and it hurt.
“I know damn well he does what he has to, to survive!” I kicked at him, but he easily dodged my feeble attempt and raised his pipe again. I was ready to take a hit, simply out of spite, when the door was quite literally broken down. We watched as the interloper pulled the axe embedded in the door free. If I hadn’t known whom the heaving, black-clad man was, I would have stayed frozen like everyone else in the room. Instead, I shoved my blade forward, catching Hyde’s leg as I leapt up, and jumped from the floor to a table.
“You shouldn’t be here—” I yelled.
“And you shouldn’t—shouldn’t be alive…not after them,” Soul countered. He held up his axe and pointed towards the twins. “Hunters become the hunted!” A grim chuckle turned into a sick laugh, then into an all-out cackle. A sinister grin contorted his features as he rushed towards Hyde.
“S-she’s with him!” Hyde hollered, “She’ll—Ah!”
Soul didn’t give him a chance to finish as he took a great big swing at his face. Hyde dodged it and glared at us both as he booked it across the cafeteria, to the kitchen. Jekyll took the distraction as an opportunity and jabbed at Soul with a knife, which he quickly regretted when Soul parried the blow and tossed the brute over his shoulder and onto the floor. Jekyll’s knife clattered to the ground. Soul closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing as he bit his lip and hunched his shoulders, swaying slightly.
“Murderers…” he mumbled. “You should have buried me then, should have thrown the crow into a grave! Murderers! Murderers!”He slammed both hands onto the table I was standing on. I lost my balance, falling onto my back. A result of exhaustion, or, you know, a few lingering concussions.
Soul was shaking his head, violently mouthing the words.
“It’s okay, Crow, it’s okay now.” I was still lying sideways on the table as I tried to comfort him.
“…K9…” he said.
I touched his shoulder and he quickly looked from my hand to my eyes.
“It’s okay,” I repeated.
He suddenly jolted up and with his axe; he deflected another attack of Jekyll’s knives. I rolled off the table and onto the floor, as Soul twisted his body so his attacker couldn’t reach him. A second later. Hyde was back. He headed straight for Dan who was staring at Soul. I had to haul him out of the way as he stuttered, “B-but I thought…?”
“Snap out of it, Dragon,” I said, shaking him, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
He didn’t move as Hyde snarled and jabbed at me with his knife. I jumped to the left to avoid him but he cut pretty deep into Dan’s leg. Dan fell to the ground, whining. I grabbed my blade and tried to retaliate but I was no match for such brute force and was quickly overpowered. I had fallen to one knee and nearly given up when the pressure against my blade was suddenly gone. I looked up to see Hyde hunched over and staring at his shoulder where a common kitchen knife was embedded. He ripped it out with a shriek louder than Dan’s caterwauling. I scrambled to my feet to get away from the bloody gash and looked up to see a horrified Jekyll. Soul quickly grabbed his axe and started backing towards the door with a dark grin. In one terrifying second, our eyes met and then he spun on his heels and ran.