The Last Summer

by Jacob Jones-Goldstein, Jw Harp

Overview

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

Growing up is never easy.

Growing apart... well, no one likes the thought of that.

Three friends balance on the razor-thin edge between being boys and becoming men. They have one last summer to goof off, but they never could have imagined the turn that would take.

One night's harassing of a nearby cult compound ends up in a head-on collision with a local legend that proves all too real. Can they get the creature back to where it belongs without getting deeper into trouble?

What seemed like a lark will mark one of them for life...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781965266113
Publisher:	Neoparadoxa
Publication date:	08/21/2025
Series:	Systema Paradoxa , #26
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Jacob Jones-Goldstein, founding member of Oddity Prodigy Productions, is an internationally published author, journalist, and editor. His short stories have appeared in anthologies and magazines such as Plague of Shadows from Smart Rhino Press, Beach Pulp from Cat & Mouse Press, and Lovecraftiana from Rogue Planet Press. His debut novel, The Change, will be released in July 2025. He has edited the volumes Scary Stuff, Beneath the Yellow Lights, and Bright Mirror for Oddity Prodigy Productions, and is hard at work on their upcoming anthology 'Where Legends Walk.' In addition to fiction, Jacob writes about music for his personal site, ShoutingStreet.com, and has covered the Philadelphia 76ers for several online publications. Beyond writing and editing, he hosts the popular "The Scary Stuff Podcast," plays Magic the Gathering, Disc Golf, and way too many board games.He loves comic books, movies, exploring, cats, family, friends, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and his wife, Jennie.

Until his decades-long disappearance, JW Harp was known for his trippy underground comic strip Captain Thetan, about a seafarer who controls reality for himself and others. This otherworldly character appeared in a dozen issues of the classic rare underground zine Sandanista Romp. JW has reemerged thanks largely to eSpec Books' Systema Paradoxa series. In 2023, JW started Skilletfire Studios with comic-book author Scott Eckelaert. Under the Skilletfire Studios mantle, JW has produced the graphic novel Boylon Heights, and the Gimme Five Comics series. Since its launch, Gimme Five Comics has included work by Artyom Topilin, Elena Cerisciola, John L. French, Keith Lansdale, and Joe R. Lansdale with more to come. JW grew up in the seedy parts of South Carolina, which is all of it. He feels part Canadian and part Costa Rican these days. He lives in North Carolina. Please get in touch with him at [e-mail].