We gave you a peek at the new cover art by Eric Lofgren and introduced you to the basics of Tales of the Seven Dogs Society last week.

Tales of the Seven Dogs Society is a collection of stories inspired by the Aletheia role-playing game published by Abstract Nova Entertainment. Each of these stories is a possible continuation of the events described in that book.

Today’s sneak preview is a small bit from Jim Johnson’s Lifting the Gingham Veil, which is the second story in the collection.

Lifting the Gingham Veil

“I’m certain you have many questions. Where would you like to begin?”

Keith stared at the ceiling for a moment or two, perhaps collecting his thoughts, then asked, “UFOs. What was that phone conversation all about?”

Giselle pursed her lips, then began, “There is much more detail to go into, but as you say, long story short, the Society exists partly to explore strange and unusual phenomena and also to record and track the data resulting from the investigations.”

“So we investigate UFO sightings?”

Giselle smiled at the thinly veiled skepticism in his voice. “UFO sightings, among many other things. UFOs and alien abductions are only two among dozens of paranormal phenomena.”

Keith shook his head. “Okay. So what are we, like Ghostbusters or the X-Files or something?”

Giselle frowned. “These are American movies, yes?”

“Well, a movie and a television series. What, you never watched the X-Files?”

Giselle shook her head. “No. I spent much of my youth traveling. I never had much time for television, I suppose.”

Keith nodded. “Well, I guess you could say I’ve wasted most of my life sitting in front of the TV. The X-Files was a show about two FBI agents who investigated strange stuff, what did you call it, the paranormal. Including UFOs.”

“I see. Well, the work we do here is real science, not science fiction.” Giselle tapped his knee at the last two words, and smiled to take any sting out of her message.

“All right. So, you’re saying UFOs are real?”

She shrugged, being careful to school her features into a noncommittal expression. “They may be, and they may not be. I do not know for certain.” She turned serious eyes on him. “However, I do know there are strange phenomena that are real, so I am inclined to err on the side of probability.”

Keith stared at her. “What kinds of strange phenomena?”

She met his eyes. “Keith, we seven of us are part of the Society for many reasons. One of them is that Terrance fi rmly believes that each of us has a…talent…that most men and women do not.”

Since she was looking for it, she saw the change in his expression, the sudden clouding of his eyes. Keith turned away, then slowly turned back. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Giselle smiled. “You seem a nice man, Keith, but I have to tell you. You are a terrible liar.”

Keith flinched. Giselle felt the air around them get somewhat warmer.

“Ah, all right” he said. “So you’re saying that the seven of us have some sort of… power?”

Giselle shrugged, then leaned in towards him. “Again, I cannot say with certainty. I do know that our colleagues possess certain skills and talents that are certainly not typical. We’ve only been together for a few weeks, and we’ve been busy researching one thing or another. And since we’ve had few opportunities to meet as a group, and until today we haven’t even been at our full complement…”

Tales of the Seven Dogs Society

Tales of the Seven Dogs Society was written by Jim Johnson, Monica Valentinelli and Matt M McElroy. Buy it today at DriveThruHorror.com.

Tags | abstract nova, aliens, conspiracy, modern-horror, rpgs, totsds