(Graphics courtesy of GUNGNIR Publishing)
Wheeling out just ahead of International Roller Coaster Day on Sunday, GUNGNIR Publishing today announced it has signed a deal with award-winning screenwriter and veteran entertainment journalist Jeff Spry to develop and write Killride, a sci-fi horror graphic novel following a brilliant engineer who designs a monstrous roller coaster as atonement after a theme park disaster a decade ago. When this latest manifestation starts possessing riders, he must try to destroy his abomination before history repeats. But grief is the oldest summoning spell, and what rises inside his colossal creation is hungry, ancient, and has no intention of stopping.
“Killride is a haunting collision of supernatural horror that takes the familiar thrills of the amusement park and twisting them into something deeply unsettling with pure terror,” warns Matthew Medney, founder and publisher of GUNGNIR. “For fans of nightmare fuel and cinematic thrillers, this graphic novel combines a high-concept premise with pulse-pounding suspense.”
The plot follows Michael Wylde, once the Godfather of Roller Coaster Design and a cocky rock star on rails until a tragic thrill ride crash on one of his coasters results in a dozen casualties, including Robin, his beautiful young fiancée. Ten years later, the reclusive Wylde is coaxed back into the game by an eccentric billionaire to conceive the planet’s tallest, fastest, shape-shifting exa coaster for Pandemonia, a radical new playground for the elite featuring attractions deemed too dangerous for other parks.
Christened the SoulSteeler, this 666-foot-tall hellbound contraption infused with its mad creator’s rage, guilt, and torment begins to manifest malevolent attributes which cause riders to suffer psychological harm and even death. When Wylde is banished from the project and his life is threatened after voicing safety concerns, he must infiltrate Pandemonia during its Halloween Night grand opening to permanently disable his sentient offspring before more unspeakable atrocities arise. Will this devilish machine unmake the man, or will Wylde triumph over the twisted looping spawn?
“I’ve loved roller coasters since my first ride on the Matterhorn and Space Mountain at Disneyland as a California kid,” Spry shares. “Killride has been marinating in my mind for nearly two decades and now it’s time to unleash the beast. It’s my cautionary tale about love, redemption, runaway obsessions, our insatiable appetite for external stimulation, and technology pushed too far.
“Digital Age roller coasters have become genuine architectural wonders with their steep swooping trackwork worshipped like steel cathedrals, as daring acolytes make pilgrimages to destinations around the globe to survive these fear-feeding monuments.
“We’re currently in the midst of a new thrill ride arms race unlike the world has ever seen. More record-busting giga coasters, strata coasters, tilt coasters, wing coasters, dive coasters, and spinning coasters are being built in the world now than at any time in history. Names like Falcon’s Flight, Siren’s Curse, Tormenta, Hollywood Drift, and Bakunawa, all lurking to soon lure millions. But SoulSteeler will swallow them all!”
Killride is blessed with a stellar international creative team, fortified with vertigo-inducing artwork by Canada’s Scott B. Henderson and hypnotic colors courtesy of Brazilian illustrator Jao Canola, all overseen by Eisner-nominated executive editor Steve Orlando and publisher Matt Medney.
About GUNGNIR Publishing:
GUNGNIR Publishing is dedicated to bold, genre-defying storytelling across graphic novels and prose. Inspired by Odin’s legendary spear, the company champions visionary creators and ambitious stories that challenge convention and expand the boundaries of genre fiction.
