Author Archive: Thaddeus Howze

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#1 – Vince Carlucci – Private Investigator

| November 1, 2011 | 5 Comments

Name: Vincent Carlucci – private detective, former police officer

Alias: Hyde
Age: 30
Height: 6 feet tall
Current weight: 275 pounds, normally 250 pounds
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Distinguishing marks/features: long hair, beard, mustache, a bit unkempt

First Appearance:
Hyde: Portrait of a Modern Monster

History:
Vincent Carlucci, only son and heir to the famed Carlucci crime mob of Hub City was born into wealth and opulence few police officers ever know. Raised to inherit the vast business fortunes of the Carlucci family, he learned all there was to know about the criminal underpinnings of Hub City.

In his teen years an incident with a rival mob boss, Dondonivich, Vincent was held hostage and tortured, until he was rescued by the Hub City Police Department. The officer, Winston Trask, who rescued him was later killed in a gun battle with Don Carlucci’s mob outfit in a botched sting operation.

Disappointed by his father’s failure to protect him from his enemies, and the later death of his secret hero Trask, supposedly by Don Carlucci’s hands, Vincent, vowed to do right by Trask’s family and without telling his father joined the Hub City Police Department when he was old enough.

Furious, Don Carlucci disowned his son, and used his son’s joining of the police force as a signal he was getting in good with the local police agencies. Rival gangs began to give Carlucci space and his empire grew. During this time he began to try to corrupt the police department in earnest.

Meanwhile during his son’s rise to detective, one of the fastest ever, Don Carlucci, convinced the Chief of Police and two dozen of Hub Cities Finest, to switch sides. This disrupted the effectiveness of police operations and eventually casting a suspicious light on Vincent just as he was taking control of a specialized technical task force designed to hunt down high-technology criminals in Hub City.

In a highly publicized scandal Vincent lost his task force leadership position, under mysterious circumstances a year ago and disappeared from sight. When he returned, he was offered a technical consulting position with the Hub City Police Department. He is convinced his father, in an act of spite has cost him his job, but he is unable to prove it. The case he was working on was a famed serial killer, Tristian Strauss, known in the news as the “Heart-eater,” a deranged sociopath who used technology to sustain the lives of his victims while he consumed their hearts before their eyes. Carlucci was accused of botching the investigation and the Heart-eater was never found.

“So I became a private detective. Hub City had lots of crimes and I was the best detective money could buy. I had a knack for Special Crimes and eventually I got a call from Hub City’s finest. Its been three years, since I left the force. My own investigations outside of the Hub City Police taught me things were even worse than I knew. When I recovered, I was being hired by the Sixteenth as a paid consultant. Same work, slightly worse pay.”

Present Day:
Vincent Carlucci, Private Investigative Services consults with the Hub City Police Department, 16th Precinct on any and all of their technology related cases, but the most famous is the current mystery of the creature known only as Hyde. The Hub City Blues have no leads, because their primary consultant suspected and now confirms for himself that he somehow is Hyde.

Threatened by Hyde, Carlucci can do nothing for the moment, while the monster brings his own form of vigilante justice to Hub City. The only thing he can think of when he wakes after a night of Hyde’s brand of debauchery is: How do you stop a monster when he is you?

Psychological Profile:
Vincent Carlucci is a highly motivated individual. His zeal for justice made him a highly decorated officer, prone to taking risks even after the loss of his position as the Tactical Head of the Police Technical Task Force. As a private investigator his sharp instincts and understanding of the criminal mind, as well as his father’s training have stood him in good stead during his police career. His career as a private investigator has put him in the employ of both corporate clients and private ones seeking instincts like his for the darker side of Hub City. His nose for trouble has put him in conflict with most of the larger crime syndicates and he occasionally draws fire from the organized crime side of town. His anger at his father is his greatest weakness especially in the light of his mother’s recent illness and helplessness with leukemia.

About the Artist:
Moh Z Mukhtar is a young concept artist from the United Kingdom. You can find samples of his awesome work on deviantART at: http://mohzart.deviantart.com/. I chose his “Brauk” because of his haunted and disheveled look. I thought he would represent a good look for a man who was wrestling with a serious internal demon with anger management problems. The copyright for the artwork is Moh Z. Mukhtar. If you like his work and want to give him a shout (or some concept work) he can be reached at: Email: [email protected].

First Appearance:
Vince Carlucci appears in my series of short stories, Hyde: Portrait of a Modern Monster.

Created by Thaddeus Howze

2011 Challenger: Thaddeus Howze – Hub City Blues

| October 6, 2011 | 0 Comments

Welcome to Hub City Blues, a character database I am creating for the 30 Character Challenge.

This contest is designed to foster creativity in artists and writers to create new character designs. The mission: Create a new character every day in the month of November. Creating compelling characters is a part of either medium, so it’s a skill well worth developing.

I am not an artist, I am a writer. Since this contest was originally for artists trying to experiment with different styles, it works a little bit different for writers. The contest is to challenge writers to create characters with compelling backgrounds that would make people want to read about them. Not as visually satisfying as art, so I suspect it is more challenging to maintain the attention of readers (especially if they are really looking for art).

To help readers (and myself), I sometimes find artwork and create characters inspired by that artwork. It doesn’t mean I could not have done it without the art, its more that the art connects with something in my head and my character makes sense to me. Sometimes the art’s background may inspire an idea or theme that may permeate the work. Unless I commission a piece, it is rare that the work being paid homage to has any knowledge this is happening. So in respect for each work, I will be pointing back to the source of the art and the name of the artist if it can be found. I will give credit and links to artists who have inspired my creativity.

Since I am a working writer, most of these characters will be coming from works in progress, stories I am about to be publishing or novellas whose future is not in doubt. It is likely that each profile will be of different density depending on the depth of the work, and the amount of development I have done with the character in question. I may also make links to stories if they are already in play online somewhere so you can see how they were used.

The website’s name comes from a series of short stories centered in a place called Hub City, a city of the future, whose promising beginnings have been overrun and become instead, a hive of tech-saavy scum and villainy. Hub City’s police force, locally called the Hub City Blues, have done their best to control this recent invasion of organized crime, but is unable to stem the tide.

A year ago, Hub City was under siege by a new monster seeking to establish order; his order. By any means necessary. His name is Hyde. Universally feared, he is death incarnate. Criminals fear him, the police despise him and no one knows who is is or what he wants. All they know is, if you are a criminal and he finds you, you better hope you find a cop first. Otherwise, you’re dead. Hyde, Portrait of a Modern Monster.

Welcome to Hub City. Obey the laws and enjoy your trip.

Thaddeus Howze