Riley & Tyler

An enthralling narrative of complex friendships and relationships, father-daughter conflicts and the awakenings of one's sexual identity. This captivating novella of two sisters whose confusion and heartache of teenage life echoes the literary prose of John Green and Rainbow Rowell.

Tauy Creek Quarterly debuts today with all new stories available for purchase on your Amazon Kindle. First up, is the story of Riley and Tyler who become friends and ultimately start dating during their junior year of high school.

Order here for $1.99.

Incredible Comics #4

The small wooden cargo ship crashed into the pier around 2 o’clock. The pier had been abandoned for a couple of years so no one was around to witness the splintering of the wood into the dock. Two figures left the ship, splitting up as they entered the night. One, a small figure, lanky and quick. The other, animal-like and snarling. The creature left the dock and warehouse area and emerged onto the well-lit Water Street. The hulking dog foamed and drooled as it growled and looked around. A couple blocks down the street, the dog spotted a lone figure, a man in tattered clothes wandering the street, ducking into the alley and coming back out after a minute or so.

The dog slowly headed toward the man, picking up speed with each step. The man saw the dog just a second before it knocked him and tore into his flesh. When done, the dog ran off and disappeared into the shadows.




Harold stayed late at the Fix-It Shop the following night to finish some work he had been lax on after spending more time as Time Man. As he left the Shop, he noticed a beat officer walking down the street. “Good evening, officer. What brings you out here? This neighborhood hasn’t had a beat cop in years.”

“A man was murdered nearby, over by the piers. The department is increasing the number of beat cops until the suspect is found,” the officer explained.

“Well, I hope you catch him and welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Harold Banner.”

“Officer Gareth Murdock,” the officer smiled. The two men shook hands and parted ways.

Harold went around the corner and then ducked into an alley, slipped on his sundial and changed into Time Man. He flew into the air and circled around his neighborhood, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He landed in the alley next to his apartment building, took off the sundial and went upstairs to his apartment.

Officer Murdock continued walking his beat, soon becoming the only person in the neighborhood, save for a few stragglers, night-time workers, homeless people and a couple of prostitutes that Murdock ignored, even when one of them climbed into a car. Around one, Officer Murdock was heading back to the precinct when he heard a blood-curdling scream. He ran to where he thought the scream came from. Down the street, on the next block, Murdock found the mangled corpse of a man. “54, this is Murdock. I need an ambulance and back-up to 112th Street and Belle. Also, send the coroner,” he radioed in.




The next night, Officer Murdock started his beat on only two hours of sleep. He was only thirty minutes into it when Time Man landed beside him. “I want to help,” he said.

Murdock let out a gasp by the sudden voice. “Time Man, right? I would love the help, especially from overhead. We’re dealing with some kind of monster. The victim’s throat was torn out.”

“I think it’s some sort of animal. I don’t know what kind. Has anyone stepped forward, said that they’ve seen it?”

“We had a couple eyewitnesses say they saw two things running from the abandoned docks. One looked human and the other looked like a dog or wolf.”

“We should go look. We may find something.”

The smashed boat was still in pieces at the dock, some of it had washed out with the tide. “Why did no one report this? This had to have been heard from at least a mile away,” Murdock exclaimed.

“No one in this part of the city cares. They tend to ignore what goes on around them,” Time Man said. He went into the ruins of the ship and into the steering compartment. A body lie on the floor. Time Man went over and rolled the body over. “The captain,” he said quietly. He saw a book on a table against the wall. It was the captain’s log. He turned a few pages then turned and left the ship, carrying the book out. “The captain is in there, dead. No one else on board. The ship is from Constanta, Romania. It seems the captain took on a passenger and that passenger killed crewmember after crewmember, dumping the bodies in the ocean during the voyage.”

“What the hell?” Murdock took the log from Time Man. A scream echoed through the streets and alleys.

Murdock and Time Man looked at each other. “The southeast, along Water Street near 109th?”

“Sounds like.”

“I got this,” Time Man said and stopped time. He flew over to Water Street and saw a giant dog standing over a man who was laying in the gutter of the street. Time Man landed next to the two, the man clearly dead. “How do I stop this thing?” he asked himself.

He uneasily kneeled down and wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck and tightened his grip. He squeezed, pulled and twisted the dog’s head and tightly closed his eyes and shuddered when he heard the neck snap.

He stood up and shuddered again, shaking his arms. He unfroze time and the dog collapsed and went limp. A few minutes passed and Officer Murdock arrived at the scene. “That’s it?” he was surprised.

“Yes, this isn’t the passenger the captain was talking about so they are still out there but they don’t seem to causing any problems.”

“Yet,” Murdock said. “I’ll call this in. Thanks for helping. A lot on the force are skeptical of you but you’re okay in my book.”

“Thanks. That’s a ringing endorsement,” Time Man smiled and lifted off.

As Officer Murdock radioed in, a lone figure watched him from the top of a nearby building. She was dirty, with brown hair, wearing a tattered white ie with black designs in front and along the arms and a plain white dress that was also in tatters. When an ambulance and other police cars arrived, the girl lifted her arms, revealing leather-looking bat wings and flew off into the night.

1300: Please Make It Tens and Twenties

Why cancellation? It's not because I'm running out of ways to snark on an aging legacy comic strip nor is it because of low readership. The main reason is because of dealing with a real job and focusing with my writing, LAMNB has been bounced around like a cow in a tornado. LAMNB was created as a jump-off for my writing and it's because of that reason LAMNB has made itself obsolete. Coupled with working along with The Point of Beginning, Liberty, Capt. Brian's Whiz-Bang and the many Story Series, LAMNB has been put on the back-burner many times or even placed on impromptu hiatuses.

Rather than let this continue, I am letting Losers Are Made, Not Born end it's impressive run. When LAMNB began, there were dozens of websites commenting on comic strips that were loved and read by a multitude of people. Today, only a handful remain with a select few maintaining the popularity that they had back in 2008. I owe part of my readership to them who so kindly linked to my website and make me feel like part of a small community.

Starting in November, #ElevenSeasonsAndAMovie returns along with the new anthology series Adventure featuring brand new Story Series that I have been writing. Incredible Comics will also return and Sunday Comics goes back to its original schedule. Also, beginning in January, a new website will be created featuring the return of Capt. Brian's Whiz-Bang.

If you really need to have your Born Loser hole filled, please continue to read it at GoComics or Like the Official Born Loser Page on Facebook where THE Chip Sansom sometimes gives us behind-the-scenes looks at the creation of a Born Loser strip and small history tidbits. As always, thanks for reading and please, tell your friends about this site.

That's clearly Wilberforce and Hurricane Hattie right? Why didn't they go to Brutus' house first? I mean, Hattie practically lives there some weeks.

Sadly, Wilberforce couldn't afford a truly licensed Batman costume and had to settle for a off-color knock-off. Or maybe he's going as Bat-Manga.

1299: Candy Yield

Wilberforce knows the usage of the word 'yield' here but not vocation? Every day Wilberforce disappoints me a little bit more.

I draw a lot of maps. They usually have no point and are just doodles. I like trying to figure out how to build exits off of highways for the best route the majority of the city I draw. Now, as for maps for trick-or-treating, I was never a fan of trick-or-treating so I can't speak to that.

1298: Brutus' Wild Oats

Brutus doesn't strike me as a guy that "sowed his wild oats". Hey, a strip that doesn't have any mention that today is National Chocolate Day. Wait a minute, I just mentioned it. Oh, I've become the thing I hate.

1297: Those Menus Seem Gigantic

Blue or green. Blonds typically have one of those two colors.

It's nice to see Brutus at a nice restaurant with someone and not by himself. Sadly, it looks like dinner will be just as depressing but at least it's depressing with two people involved.

1296: Red, Red Wine

...

Oh, I get it. He had a decline in memory shortly after mentioning that drinking red wine could prevent a decline in memory. Had to think about it today. It's not my fault, I'm writing this at 12:30 in the morning.

1295: Where In the World Is Mother Gargle?

I've never understood the logistics of Mother Gargle to the Thornapples. We only see Mother Gargle when she is at the Thornapple house but we know from this recent strip that she lives in Erie (I'm assuming the one in Pennsylvania) but sometimes she's portrayed as living right there in Cleveland with them.

Bottom line, it doesn't matter where she lives because she spends way too much time at the Thornapple's house and I am 99% sure that she doesn't live with them.

1294: Those Are Called Fetishists

Seems like a waste of money to me but whatever helps you get through the day. It is interesting that Mother Gargle is treating the palmist (really? Palmist?) like she would if she was going to the eye doctor or the ear, nose and throat doctor.

Liberty #55: The Scream

Tim and Meredith laid in bed together kissing, their bodies pressed together under the covers. “Our first night in our new house,” Tim said before he kissed Meredith.

Meredith kissed him back and smiled. “We need to get to sleep,” she said. He moved off of her as she reached over to turn off the lamp. It was now dark in their room. “Tim! What are you doing? We’ve already done that and we need...ah...to get up...” The silence of their bedroom was soon broken by their kissing and moans and by their bed’s soft squeak.

It was almost midnight when they finished and started to go to bed. The room was completely silent and both Tim and Meredith were almost asleep when they heard a scream.

It was a ghastly and constant scream. They jumped out of bed and threw on underwear and robes before leaving the bedroom. They followed the screaming to the kitchen where it seemed as if the source of the screaming changed and moved closer to their bedroom. They followed the scream to their bedroom where it then moved past the kitchen to the hallway.

“It keeps moving,” Meredith said as they walked to the hallway.

“Mommy! What’s that noise?” asked Sammy, their youngest daughter. Sammy was followed down the hall by their son Scott.

“We’re not sure, sweetie,” Meredith said. She bent over and picked Sammy up.

“The source keeps moving,” Tim said, annoyed. “What the hell is going on?”

“Is it some sort of weird alarm system?” Meredith considered out loud.

“Well, that’s great but how do you turn it off?” Tim asked. “Or reprogram it?”

“Maybe it’s a ghost,” Sammy said.

“There’s no such things as ghosts. There has to be a rational explanation to this,” Meredith said. “It’s clearly not hurting anything so let’s split up and try to find it.”

Meredith put down Sammy and the four of them wandered the house, following the scream into rooms, closets and cabinets. After an hour, the screaming continued and the family was no closer to finding a source or stopping it.

“What should we do?” Meredith shrugged.

“I don’t know. I say we just go to bed. We can block out the sound and figure out what’s going on in the morning,” Tim said.

Tim and Meredith covered their heads with pillows and Scott used earbuds and music to block out the screaming. Tim and Meredith woke up occasionally and had to readjust their pillows over their ears while Scott was able to sleep through the night. Only Sammy didn’t sleep. She stayed awake, listening to the screaming.




“You’re home late,” Meredith said as Tim came through the door.

“I stopped at the courthouse after work to do some research on our house,” he said. “Have you had any trouble today with the…?” he spun his finger around and whistled.

“Nope. It’s been perfectly quiet since the screaming stopped when the sun came up. What did you find out?”

“Not much. We’re only the fourth owners from this house and it’s never been in the news, there’s not an Indian burial ground underneath us, no murders. I even cross-referenced names in the obituaries and found that no one even died in the house.”

“So the screaming is an anomaly?” Meredith sighed. “There’s no explanation for it? It just happens?”

“From what I can tell.”

“Can you contact one of the previous owners and ask them?”

“Except for an owner in the ‘70s who lived here for four years, everyone else lived here for really long times. 17, 22, four and 36 years. The scream either didn’t happen with them or they lived with it,” Tim explained.

“I can’t believe they could live with it,” Meredith huffed.

“Is it us? Did we somehow cause it?”

“How?”

“I don’t know,” Tim threw up his arms. “I’m just guessing. Maybe it’s a joke from the previous owner or the realtor?”

“Well, it’s not a very good one. Besides, we couldn’t find a source for the scream so it’s not a recording and it’s not coming from a speaker,” Meredith explained.

“If anything, it’s coming from inside the walls,” Scott said. “Maybe there’s a skull sealed up in our walls.” Everyone looked at Scott. “What? It happens. Nearly every place in Europe has a story about a screaming skull where the skull will scream if it is removed from its resting place.”

“We didn’t remove a skull,” Meredith said.

“Maybe the realtor did. It’s worth a shot,” Scott said. “It makes more sense than any other explanation we’ve come up with.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to call,” Meredith said.

“Seriously?” Tim asked in surprise. Meredith, Scott and Sammy looked at him. “Okay, fine. I’m going to feel like an idiot though.” Tim got up and called the realtor. “Hello, Jason? This is Tim O’Rourke. Yeah, the house is fine. Not complaining. I do have a question though. Did you or a contractor or somebody find a skull in one of the walls? No, I didn’t think so. I was just wondering. Thanks,” he hung up.

“Why didn’t you mention the screaming?” Meredith asked.

“I think he thinks I’m crazy enough just mentioning the hypothetical skull,” Tim said. “Maybe tonight will be smoother.”




They all went to bed early and used what they could to block out sound. Only Sammy didn’t try to muffle the scream and was still awake when it started at midnight. Tim, only using a pillow to cover his ears, woke up immediately. Meredith, using headphones plugged into a sound machine, woke up ten minutes into it. Scott, using earbuds and music, stayed asleep.

“I’m just going to ignore it,” Tim said. “It doesn’t seem as loud as last night. You can probably turn up your sound machine and drown it out.”

“We can’t do this every night, Tim,” Meredith said. “We need to figure this out and stop it.”

“I agree,” Tim got out of bed. “Maybe we can record the sound or…” Tim stopped talking to focus on a soft beeping. A piercing, rhythmic beeping was coming from the other side of the house. “Is that the smoke detector?”

Meredith listened and then another detector went off. “Yes,” she leapt out of bed and threw on a robe. Tim and Meredith ran out of the bedroom and met Scott in the kitchen. “Where’s Sammy?” Meredith asked him.

“She wasn’t in her room. I think she’s already out. The fire was in our bathroom,” Scott quickly said as he and his parents ran out of the house.

Sammy was already across the street. Her family joined her. The fire rose on the south end before spreading to the north end. The fire trucks arrived but everyone knew that it was too late.

“What happened?” Meredith asked, holding back tears.

“If it started in the bathroom, how did it start?” Tim wondered.

“I lit all the toilet paper on fire and threw in a couple of hairspray bottles,” Sammy said.

“Why did you burn down our house, Samantha?” Tim knelt down to Sammy.

“To stop the screaming.”

“Where did you get the idea that burning down the house would stop the screaming?”

“Because the screaming told me it would.”