E.H.U.D.: Prelude to Apocalypse
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Mistlethwakey: Mr. Secretary? —General Robert Mistlethwakey and Secretary of Defense Edgar Latterndale, "The Thick Plotens..."
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The first of a series of six novels, E.H.U.D.: Prelude to Apocalypse is a work-in-progress serial novel written by novice writer Hezekiah Bennetts, published on his blog, The Realms of Neldak.
The story starts when John Donalson awakens from a fifteen year coma to find his life in ruins. His brother hates him, his teenage niece is pregnant and turning to him as a surrogate father, and his fiancee is now engaged to... to... to a not very nice person... To make matters worse, John is now suffering from hallucinations of a dead child prophesying his doom...
Meanwhile, the president of the United States has been assassinated, and his secretary of defense, Edgar Latterndale, is now the chief executive. Unfortunately for the nation, he's distracted from his duties by marriage problems, health concerns, and his role in a plot to overthrow the government...
Linking these two stories together is the mysterious General Robert Mistlethwakey, and his army of roguesuper-soldiers, the Enhanced Human Ultimate Defenders, or E.H.U.D.s.
As the two stories develop, interspersed with several subplots, John is brought into the heart of a massive government coverup, Edgar is pushed into launching the United States into civil war, and the E.H.U.D.s push the whole world closer to apocalypse.
Despite the book's science fiction overtones, a good portion of its not insignificant length is spent character relationships and the socio-economic effects of a pending super-soldier invasion. Bonus points for making it all a religious debate as well.
- Canon Discontinuity: As it's in a constant state of revision, several parts of the novel have been deemed 'non-canon' and replaced with newer, 'in-canon' material.
- Colon Cancer: the full title of the book is American Inheritance: Trilogy I: Tales of the E.H.U.D.s: Book I: E.H.U.D.: Prelude to Apocalypse. Say that five times fast!
- The Dragon: Major Wendelferce, in a big way.
- Fake Memories: One of the recurring elements in the book is the way characters memories are edited by the super-soldiers, and how sometimes those edits don't quite stick.
- President Evil: Not once, but twice! Although to be fair, the first was merely morally weak, while the second was more out-and-out evil.
- Super Soldier: The E.H.U.D.s, in spades. Nigh invulnerable armor? Check. Superhuman abilities? Check. Unstopable killing machines? Well, technically check, but it's against their will...
- Viral Marketing: Word of God states in the rant that the reason the novel's online is to build hype for the finished work, as well as getting free editing advise from the target audience. Judging by the number of comments on the site, the goal has yet to be achieved...