Malcolm at Midnight and the Mystery of Zzyzx Road by A.J. Llewellyn

When I signed up for the “Beware the Beast” SUPER PAX™ Anthology I knew right away I wanted to write about two insecure, frightened men, both of whom are afraid of their inner werewolves.

I also wanted to use Zzyzx Road, a strange place in the middle of the Mojave Desert between Los Angeles on the -15 Freeway – and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Many years ago, I was a boxing writer and I drove past that street sign every weekend. I always wondered what was on the other side of it. What mystery would I find off the spooky Zzyzx Road?

Zzyzx (pronounced Zie-zicks) has apparently intrigued other drivers too because one enterprising filmmaker, Jon Penney, immortalized it in a horror movie (but changed the name to Zyzzyx),which has the distinction of being the lowest-earning movie of all time. It made $30.

Well, I never saw it but I still felt compelled to include it in a pivotal sequence in my story. I had an experience on Zzyzx Road coming back from Vegas one weekend when my tire blew out. I called AAA, and it took forever for help to come. Unfortunately my dog, Venus, was with me and I was stunned to see gigantic condors circling my car. Who did they think was near death? Me or my dog?

I was relieved when the AAA guy arrived. He changed my tire, informed me it was a donut and that it would never get me back to L.A. That was not good news. He escorted me off the shoulder of the freeway and onto Zzyzx Road. What a revelation. I’d never been anyplace like it. Dogs chained in backyards, guys cooking drugs in trailers that emitted a strong, but unidentifiable scent of cleaning products, and a general air of menace. They also sold suspicious looking tires for exorbitant amounts… I politely said “no thanks” to shelling three hundred bucks for a tire that frankly looked bald.

“This is the high desert,” one of them said. “We can charge what we like.” I agreed. Didn’t mean I was gonna pay them for it.

I declined the tire and took my time driving back to L.A. I did find one in Barstow for a hundred. Still high, but not bad. And meanwhile, an idea was born. And here it is. I hope you read and enjoy Malcolm at Midnight. I loved every moment of writing it. 

Malcolm at Midnight: Purchase Link and info: http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/2224-Malcolm-At-Midnight.aspx

Malcolm Harding yearns for freedom, for the ability to make his own choices and even his own mistakes. Instead, he’s forced to give up college to care for his mother in her secluded home in the windswept California town of Cambria. Miriam’s mind is slipping into the abyss of Alzheimer’s and she’s becoming increasingly unpredictable and violent. Unfortunately, uder the terms of his father’s will, Malcolm cannot institutionalize her or place her into assisted living.

Yet something else keeps him with Miriam—he is desperate to learn the fate of the three beloved horses he left in her care during his one and only college year. But Miriam can’t, or won’t, tell him what she did with them. She calls Malcolm a beast and seems intent on crushing his spirit, if not his mind and body as well.

Gilby McCall is a personal chef with the unusual job of preparing meals for an orthodox Jewish couple. But soon the work becomes intense and alarming when they pile extra duties on him. When he is suddenly fired, Gilby accepts an invitation to take part in a cooking contest in Las Vegas. Before he leaves, however, Fate brings him to Cambria, where he meets the handsome, mysterious Malcolm Harding.

Although both men clearly have secrets and personal problems to overcome, they are strangely drawn to one another. Yet before they can explore the possibility of a romantic relationship, sinister forces intervene, revealing the beasts hidden deep within themselves...

Genres: Gay / Dark Fantasy / Shapeshifter / Werewolf / Mystery / Detective 

Heat Level: 2 

Length: Novel (41k words / TBD paperback pages)

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Malcolm at Midnight by A.J. Llewellyn is now available at Amber Allure.

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