On this page you can find out various information on Erik’s past, present and future writing projects. Erik has written several produced scripts and published novellas and short stories. This page focuses on the writing that is not in script format. For more information on the scripts that Erik has written, check out “The Mainstreet Players and Theatre” section of the website.
That’s Entertainment
Inside this book is a collection of scripts written by Erik Mortensen, owner and operator of The Mainstreet Players, including both his produced and yet-to-be produced works. Each play is introduced by Mortensen as he reflects on his inspiration, the writing process, and everything else leading up to opening night. The anthology offers a wide variety: one-act scripts to full-length productions, comedies of both a high and low nature, dramas dealing with contemporary social and world issues, and thrillers that will chill and excite. It’s all inside, and it will all leave you saying, “That’s Entertainment!”
Sir. Cook, The Knight? is an amusing and comedic children’s novel which plunges the reader into fantasy and adventure. It is set in the medieval age where a poor cook, Higgins finds himself unemployed and in search of a new job. He is so poor he must wear all his cooking supplies on himself and as a result he is assumed to be a knight everywhere he goes. Given the witless folks of the time Higgins is unable to be recognized as a cook and his problems only escalate when he meets a con man, Randall, who decides to start selling him off as a knight. The problem is the tow of them must begin to actually perform the quests they get roped into. Filled with non-stop misadventures and fun the book is certain to be an entertaining read. It is beautifully illustrated by Laura Harrison and has a very British styling of humour.
The book is now available for pre-order at the following link:
Avenging Abe is a historical fiction novella published by Crackjaw Publishing in 2006. The following is a synopsis from the back cover and a review of the novella by Dr. Kevin James of the History department of the University of Guelph.
Synopsis:
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was shot. His body was wrapped in a blanket and transported on horseback to Washington, where it was quietly burned in an alley behind a government building. Capt. Jason Gosse narrates the story of one of the greatest cover-ups of all time, of the consequences of taking part, and of the satisfaction of vengeance for the murder of a man and an ideal.
Review by Dr. K.J. James, Professor of History, University of Guelph:
Erik Mortensen has produced riveting fiction in this account of what the narrator, Capt. Jason Gosse, describes as possibly the greatest government cover-up and conspiracy ever perpetrated. After Gosse and his fellow Union officer Kevin Hughes are seconded to serve as an honor guard for Abraham Lincoln, they find themselves immersed in a shady world of espionage in which simple divisions of Union and Confederacy and North and South dissolve. Political intrigue, deception and the gory violence of war fill this 84-page novella as Gosse and Hughes navigate their way through battlefields and encounter even more grim and vexing terrain when they stray from them, and into a conspiracy so deep and wide that Gosse finds himself questioning not only his putative allies and enemies, but also the deep-seated convictions that led him to enlist. A fast-paced novella that underlines the ambiguity of even the noblest of conflicts and explores one man’s equivocal commitment to subterfuge in support of a principled objective the morale of the Union army and its supporters Avenging Abe marks a promising debut for a talented new author and imprint.
Online Review by Life With Kim
Avenging Abe:
Just recently I had the opportunity of having a book from Crackjaw Publishing delivered in my mail. Although the book they sent me was not exactly the type of book that I normally read, I was willing to step out of my comfort zone and try it. And I am quite pleased that I did.
This book Avenging Abe is written by author Erik Mortensen. Up until I got possession of this book, I had never heard tell of this author. But after having read his work of art, I will definitely be looking forward to other publications of his.
The Book:
The story of Abe Lincoln’s death and cover up just needed to be told. And this author did a wonderful job of telling the stories. By displaying such characters as Captain Jason Gosse and Kevin Hughes the author was easily able to tell of all the events leading up to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as well as the massive cover up after the assassination. Although there were many more key players in this story, these two characters are definitely the core characters of the book.
Basically what the reader learns is that in the year 1863 the government learned that there was to be an assassination attempt on the president’s life. So these two characters were to be used to save the president’s life. If saving his life was a failure they were then directed to help in the cover up which would fool the entire country. Throughout the book we follow their journey and their trials and tribulations by trying to follow the government’s orders in the cover up.
Each page was chalked full of action and suspense. And I honestly couldn’t wait to turn the page to see what would happen next. There were so many surprises and twists that reading it was like reading a jigsaw puzzle. Honestly this was a book that I figured I may like, but as it turned out, I loved it.
If your a history buff and would like to read all about the assassination and cover up of the president’s death in the 1800s, then I highly suggest that you get your hands on a copy of this great book.
Below are links to the Crackjaw Store and the Amazon.com page.
Crackjaw Publishing Store
Amazon.com Store
House of Broken Stone is a psychological thriller that Erik self-published through Volumes Publishing while in the 12th grade. The following is a synopsis taken from the novella’s back cover.
Synopsis:
Samuel is being released from a mental institution after twenty years. At the age of seven he was forced to shoot his father, who had gone insane, murdered his mother, and attempted to do the same to his brother. Now Samuel is going back to his hometown and his brother; however, he finds something else he didn’t expect, a horrible truth. Now, with no evidence, and a psychiatric history, Samuel is going to try to reveal the truth and ensure justice is done.
Below is the link to the Volumes Publishing Store.
Volumes Store
Three of the future writing projects that Erik has on the go are , High School Hero, River Blackwell: Marked Men and Sir. Cook, errr…I mean Higgins, the Dragon Slayer?. All of these projects are tentatively set to be released in the 2009-2010 period.
High School Hero Is an adventure comedy based around teachings of Dr. Ajay Heble in the University of Guelph’s English and Theatre Studies department. In it a highschool student, in his grade nine year, is given the instruction from his English teacher to take a favorite text and create a real world application for it. His favourite text being comic books he decides to become a hero and help out students at the school. The teacher catches on but allows him to continue feeling that more good than harm will come from it and out of academic curiosity. Soon however another older student decided to become a villian and from there the stakes and adventure continue to climb as the application of English teachings take on a whole new dimension from text analysis to living the texts.
River Blackwell: Marked Men This will be the firts novel in what is to be a series of adventure novels that also bring light to many contemporary world issues. River Blackwell is an agent who works for the UN on secret and covert operations. He is known for being bold, literally fearless and often acts with thinking about reprecussions to himself. He is intelligent, daring and often very sharp witted and he is always assigned the most dangerous and difficult missions because he is the only agent crazy enough to take them. In this particular installment he will be dealing with corrupt first world corporations which out out sourcing the third world countries for labour and creating a new form of slavery and trampling human rights. River’s main goal is to stop the situation and bing the first world criminals to justice.
Sir Cook. errr…I mean Higgins, the Dragon Slayer? This will be the laugh filled and exciting sequel to Sir. Cook, the Knight? Once again it will be beautifully illustrated by Laura Harrision. Higgins and Randall will be at it again now being pursued by the Dragon Queen and all of her dragons for slaying her son. Once again Higgins is plaguesd by the title of Sir. Cook and this time they will need more allies to help them. Including the most powerful wizard in the world, Tufter who also happens to be a narcoleptic and his magic runs amuck when he sleeps. As well as a goofy, loveable, height fearing and therefore non-flying drangon named Gumble.It is bound to be another fun and fantastic mis-adventure.
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