Snapped Up

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, and 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.***What’s a road trip without a little diversion?A group of friends set off across the country to deliver a car for a relative, but give in to temptation and decide to have a little fun. Detouring to check out a local cryptid festival, they find themselves in the midst of a full-blown sighting……Or have they?They begin to wonder as they knock around the local festivities and one of them meets the creature face to “face,” ending up in a harrowing chase that leaves them questioning how much of the facts are fabricated.And who stands to gain…

Author Biography

Aaron Rosenberg is the best-selling, award-winning author of over fifty novels, including the Twin Cities Cryptids urban fantasy/cozy series, the DuckBob SF comedy series, the Relicant Chronicles epic fantasy series, the Areyat Islands fantasy pirate mystery series, the upcoming BEO Files urban fantasy series, and, with David Niall Wilson, the O.C.L.T. occult thriller series. His tie-in work contains novels for Star Trek, Warhammer, World of WarCraft, Stargate: Atlantis, Shadowrun, Mutants & Masterminds, and Eureka and short stories for The X-Files, World of Darkness, Crusader Kings II, Deadlands, Master of Orion, and Europa Universalis IV. He has written children’s books (including the original series STEM Squad and Pete and Penny’s Pizza Puzzles, the award-winning Bandslam: The Junior Novel and the #1 best-selling 42: The Jackie Robinson Story), educational books, and roleplaying games (including the original games Asylum, Spookshow, and Chosen; work for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight, Pinnacle, and many others; the Origins Award-winning Gamemastering Secrets; and the Gold ENnie-winning Lure of the Lich Lord). He is a founding member of Crazy 8 Press. Aaron lives in New York with his family. You can follow him online at gryphonrose.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/gryphonrose, on BSky at gryphonrose.bsky.social, on Instagram at the_gryphonrose, and on X (formerly known as Twitter) gryphonrose. 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 jwharp@skilletfire.com.