Former UNMC staffer to read from his graphic novel

Josh Howell hit writer’s block on his novel. He hit it hard — for more than a year.

Then a friend suggested he turn it into a graphic novel and the floodgates opened in ways he didn’t expect.

It’s starting to become a favorite at comic cons across the country. He hopes his hometown, Omaha, will embrace it as well.

Howell, 30, will read from his book, “The Fierce Are Fading,” on Nov. 9 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the McGoogan Library’s South Rare Book Room on the eighth floor of Wittson Hall. The reading is open to the public; no RSVP is needed.

Howell left his position as an administrative assistant in UNMC’s Department of Emergency Medicine on Oct. 21 to become executive assistant to the director of a non-profit start-up that will work with at-risk youth in Omaha.

His book features a strong female heroine, Riley Harper, who is a floater agent with the FBI on assignment to find a serial killer in Seattle. After her partner and lover, an officer in the local police department, goes missing, she disobeys orders and embarks on a mission to find him.

What she discovers is a massive shadow organization known only to a few as THE M.O.R.S. INITIATIVE to be behind the killings. Riley partners with a female assassin and a mental patient to hunt down the mysterious organization which seems hell-bent on using human genomics and teleportation to destroy the human race.

The book is distributed through Amazon in three different forms:

• Novel: $12
• Graphic black and white novel: $18
• Color graphic novel: $45, magazine size, which Howell sells at events for $30
• Both versions are sold on Kindle for $9.99

Howell also sells a color pocket version of the book for $20.

“The book was well-received at the four-day New York Comic Con this month,” he said. He sold about 80 books from a small press booth at the convention that was attended by more than 180,000 people.

He also will be featured at upcoming comic conventions:

• Midwest Comic Con in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday and Sunday
• Comic Con at Offutt AFB, Bellevue, Neb., on Dec. 2 – 5
• Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo on April 21 – 23, 2017