now Available

Quick announcement to say the third short story set in the Exclusion Zone is now available at Amazon. GOPNIK BLUES – a cautionary tale about greed, secrets, and dirty deeds in the mysterious, most quarantined area on the planet. Good Hunting, stalkers. *** Savak Tul, smuggler, trader, and all-around shrewd businessman has a lead on […]

Zone Legends

Chapter 5 of another tale from the Exclusion Zone 5. ZONE LEGENDS The Zone run came together fast. There were palms to grease, papers to forge, patrol and drone schedules to get, but Oleg had it all done in forty-eight hours. He’d even managed to keep Major Yushinko from getting wind of it. Savak was […]

A North Korean Hand Grenade

Chapter 4 of another tale from the Exclusion Zone 4. A NORTH KOREAN HAND GRENADE Oleg’s idea was simple: Savak needed an artifact. A real one. Not one of the irradiated railroad ties they bent and magnetized to sell to tourists or reporters. This had to be a genuine specimen, something exotic to display behind […]

Nicknames

Chapter 3 of another tale from the Exclusion Zone 3. NICKNAMES The next night, Savak looked over the floor of the Bad Habits and could practically hear money flowing into his pockets. A Friday night, a payday, the bar was packed with off-duty security and Institute pencil necks all knocking back drinks and eyeing […]

Ground Floor Opportunity

2. GROUND FLOOR OPPORTUNITY Midnight on empty roads, the drive back to town was a tunnel of headlights and memories. Savak had arrived right after the first Incident five years earlier. On the run from Bratva debt collectors and puking out the tail end of meth addiction, Anton had found him shivering and starved in […]

Gopnik Blues

The start of another tale from the Exclusion Zone ONE: THE GOPNIK BLUES Savak Tul lit a cigarette and headed toward the noise coming from the rear of the garage. He dragged deep, filled his mouth and lungs with smoke, then exhaled through his nose the way he’d seen in an American gangster movie. Halfway […]

Radio Free Pavlohrad

A ZONA ALFA/KONTRABAND AAR The Cape Cod Wargame Commission met last night to venture into the Deep Zone with a game of Zona Alfa/Kontraband. For this mission, five Stalkers were tasked with repairing a radio tower to boost Radio Free Pavlohrad – a pirate station broadcasting from a secure, hidden location somewhere in the embattled […]

The Mertvyy District Run

A Zona Alfa-Kontraband mission Cape Cod Wargaming hit ‘pause’ on our current 5e campaign while John S recovered from surgery. (we had just broken through a magically sealed door to disturb what looked like a mini Beholder and we will need John’s Half-Elf Fighter) So the thrilling tales of five homicidal dirt muppets will continue […]

Sprains, Floods, and Vikings

Apologies for the thin content lately. Not only have I been hammering away at my latest fiction project but was I debilitated for a month with an injured hand, and the basement flooded. Twice. I think I spent more time mopping in the game room than painting. So, yeah… life. SYMBAROUM That said, the weekly […]

The Korshov Run

A KONTRABAND AAR Aerial drone photos show the town of Korshov riddled with Anomalies, many of them in an industrial park on the southern outskirts. With Yuri’s Crew out of contact on a lengthy expedition, the Institute contracted another veteran team: the Siri Kachky – or ‘Gray Ducks’. A stalker-heavy crew, Pavel (Hound), Boris, (Cobbler), […]