When fiction becomes reality

Short and quick post, kids. In volume's seven and eight of my novel series, Mission, I have a story arc where two characters, Crystal and Sidnia go to the state of Florida to protect a man from protestors. In the World of Mission, the State of Florida goes by another name: No Man's State due to the increasingly hostile wildlife and locals. Florida is known to have exotic animals that have been abandoned or escaped from their owner's property and taken up shelter in the wild.

My story has some creative liberties here and there, but today or a few days ago at least when the actual incident happened, this report came in from MSN.

Yes, somehow, someway, a man managed to bring a fucking cassowary to the states. I'll give you a short summary of these birds. They're native to New Guinea and are in the same family as the emu and the ostrich as ratites as well as the smaller kiwi bird and the now-extinct Moa. The largest of these birds stand at six feet and weighs almost 200lbs.

What makes these creatures dangerous are their sharp talons, specifically the middle toe and their tendency to kick those it considers a threat. One kick alone can potentially be fatal, and as the article mentioned, such was the fate of the man who managed to bring this bird to Florida and the fates of many people and their pets even who had the misfortune of encountering one.

Who needs a knife?

What's even more disturbing is that you can own one of these with the right amount of experience, requirements and I assume a license. Now Florida has enough problems as is, why would you want to bring another calamity to its soil? In the books I mentioned, the girls encounter a rhea, while not as lethal as the cassowary is still not an animal you'd want to mess with along with a few other animals.

And with that, I can announce that the paperback versions of Vol. 7 and 8 of Mission will be a double release. It's been a while but I'm back in the game.

Keep an eye on my website for future details, and keep your eyes out for any exotic wildlife if you're in No Man's State.