Nice to see a familiar face around. You certainly have fanatics and idiots of all sorts portrayed fairly well. Glad Clark was a voice of reason there.

Awesome seeing some Lovecraftian gods finally. This chapter reminded me a bit of an RPG campaign from the "Call of Cthulhu" game called "Masks of Nyrathotep." I could also detect some Star Gate in there.

Definitely a weird but interesting chapter. I loved the bizarro universe evil versions of everyone. Alternative versions of the same character may be fun to employ in the future.

Hey Mike, another great update! BTW, where can I order a copy of this book, Amazon is not accepting my credit card, I do not have a dollar dinominated card. So, are their other vendors who accept foreign currency dinominated cards? Just asking... Thanks! Also, what's next for Clarke after this leg of his journey?

This story ends with a cliffhanger for some reason. It could just be the formatting cutting of the end of the "Alpine Assault" chapter. May be worth looking at.

By the way, My twin sister Rica is asking if you can come up with a rough time-line of Clark's adventures.

Seeing that the first story happened in 1879, and at this time Charles was only ten years old.

How old is Clark Really?

Was he born in the 1840s?

So, if he will come to the Philippines in the war, that will make him already 60 years old, because the war was from 1901-1907.

Isn't Clark a bit old to be still hunting at this age?

Also, if Charles was born in 1869, He'll be roughly 30 years old at this time...

Perhaps you can post an appendix to the series as a "prologue" to chapter 1.

Yes, I'm surprised that you are even interested in obscure historical lore.

You may ask:"but how does he know about all this?"

To answer your question, because my ancestors were Jewish.

That's right, though we have converted to Roman Catholicism, racially we are very much Jewish.

Michael, what most people don't realize is that being Jewish is not simply belonging to Judaism, it is also being descended from the "Semitic" race.

Our original surname was "Amanamiaz" which is a very unique surname that is only found in the Jews of Spain.

Our forefathers were called the "Sephardim" or the eastern Jews.

Most of those people who you see in Germany or the so-called Modern Hebrew in Israel are called the Ashkenazim or "Western-Jews".

My new surname "Canonizado" means "Converted" in Spanish, because our ancestors chose to convert to Catholicism rather than face genocide at the hands of the Inquisition.

We were then given a small parcel of land in a place in the primary Philippine island of Luzon called Cavite.

Most of Manila's "landed gentry" were mostly from Jewish origin,

we have decided to permanently make this country as our "real" home.

Thus, we never joined in the formation of Israel,

we believe that geographic location is not really that important since our ancestors were formerly vagabonds.

I think, this fact is the Philippine's best kept secret,

but honestly it is a mistake to simply lump all peoples together as one stereotype.

Curiously enough, the Moslem insurgency is still an ongoing problem until today,

this problem is a parallel of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

You know what's interesting, the most peaceful and prosperous time in the history of "moroland" as you Americans call it was exactly after the Massacre of BudDajo.

My grandfather who served with the

cavalry of President William Howard Taft likened the Moro Rebellion to the Indian wars, specially the Battle of Wounded Knee.

Most of the Moslems here actually acknowledge the fact that the American colonial period was the most

peaceful time in their history.

This lasted from 1907 until 1947 when America finally gave up it's last outpost.

Don't you find that ironic?

Please kindly send your responses directly to my email, the address used to create this account belongs to my twin sister Rica.

That way, I can more easily send you my original research.

I find it very surprising that the native legends of my people have made themselves known in the west.

I always thought that American popular culture

was not open to the concept of our indigenous folklore.

A very strange coincidence that you should mention the Aswang,

because this particular mythological creature was the subject of my thesis in college.

Did you know that this beast is not a form of "undead" like the typical western vampire?

Instead, these creatures are accursed individuals who were once formerly human?

Also, this particular creature is common to the not only my native Philippines, but also Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei?

It's also known in Singapore as a "Pokong".

One thing you have to realize is that part of the world, most people of the same ethnic origin have common folklore.

But here's one thing you probably didn't know,

unlike the Tikbalang

(human-horse highbred) or the Mananangal(the flying torso of a half-naked woman) the Aswang is a "modern" creature.

Both

of the two formerly mentioned creatures appear in the journals of Moslem traders who wrote chronicles as early as the 1300s.

The first ever recorded accounts of such a creature

(Aswang) came in 1612 from that of a Franciscan linguist who was translating the bible to our native Tagalog language.

This was in the island of Aklan.

Strangely enough, a small community of Spanish-Jews spring-up at the same time.

geographically, the myth was limited to a specific island for the first half of the 1600s.

Strangely enough, stories of the creature coincided with the rapid emigration of Spanish-Jewish refugees who were fleeing the inquisition.

A very controversial theory now in Asian academic circles is that the Spanish-Jews concocted the legend of the Aswang to purposely divert the clergies attention from their newly formed communities in the island of Aklan.

Well, what do you think Michael?

Does it have any literary potential?

Thanks for reading.

Hello! My Name is Victor Bienvenido Canonizado,I'm a visually-disabled (blind) graduate student from the Philippines. Just dropped by to express my admiration for your

writing-style... You are possibly one of the most skilled web-based authors that I have encountered in my time as a fanatic of fantasy/science fiction.

You should really try to finish your stories,specially this particular one that I am reviewing right now.

I am re-posting this review cause my old post was erased when some one hacked my old account.

You know,your writing means very much to me,recently

I just lost my sense of sight;and quite honestly it has been so hard adjusting to a life without being able to pick-up another printed book. Currently,I

depend on my computer to read stories to me on-line,this is with the help of a screen-reading program. And let me tell you,ever since I discovered fan-fiction

I couldn't stop reading your great stories! Please understand,your stories give me the strength to continue... (I'll not dwell on that fact too much.)

I believe your talents are a God-given gift so that you may bring happiness to those who value this particular genre.

So, Please, Please, Please, Please... Do not give up on this story...

Please don't give up...

Just one question, Do you think Clark

and your other fictional characters will ever meet via a time-travelling adventure?

Just an idea, perhaps you could send him to the Boer War in South Africa!

That will probably a cool adventure!

Kind of like that old 1990s movie "The Lion and the Terror" wherein big-game hunters are sent in to hunt down a rogue lion preventing the construction of a train-line through British-contested Africa!

And on the subject of the Philippine revolutionary war, I hope your portrayal of my people will be balanced. I only ask that you try and represent both sides of the story. If you know what I mean?

Because often, both sides have their own reasons for starting a fight.

Thanks!

I hope that you will reply,because it was very hard for me to write this review since I am hoping that you will notice this short letter out of all the

others that you get.

Please do not think that I am just spammer,cause I am serious when I make this request.

If you wish to reply,please kindly send your comments to my e-mail

It is written below with spaces and with the symbols spelled-out to avoid spammers.

(Bienvenido S. Canonizado)

Phone number:63917-433-8194

Electronic mail: s c.n e t.p h

"There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio,then are dreamt of in your Philosophy..."

My Father wants to tell you that of all your short stories, he enjoyed this one particularly quite well. Now my friend, both me and my old man are fans of yours.

All your stories are good! After six years on this site, you are the first decent author that I have red. I hope that one day you will experiment and delve into the myths and legends of my native Philippines for your "weird" western stories!

I have to say, I really enjoyed this chapter. The vibe from "Kung Fu" is apparent here. Wong Fei Hung was a kick ass choice of historical figure to include here (literally). As a fan of campy martial arts movies, hoping to see Clark meet some other martial artists of the day. Perhaps Maeda or Jigaro Kano?

I love your Clark Reeper stuff, the best thing I've read on this website so far, thanks for the entertainment...J

Honestly, of all the foes Clark has faced, and there are many, this is the strangest. Finally, a foe that is more bizarre than some of the ones I created. This was like Dumbo on an acid trip.

Wow. I didn't expect Constance to re-appear at all, much less like that. Honestly I hardly remembered her until they mentioned the vampires and drinks from all the way back in story four. Pretty interesting character what with her personal conflict about faith and the like.

I really like how you applied the fall of General Gordon to story. Those little references and events you always have in your stories make them very nicely realized.

Also I heard you were trying to publish all these stories. Any luck with that? I'll definitely try to pick up a copy.