H/armed follows a man known as Estes, who must try and bring logic and reason to thirty-nine others, who find themselves at the bidding of a bloodthirsty Director inside a department store. This man who is heard, and never seen, warns of deadly consequences should these forty individuals not abide by his instructions for those paying to view the livestream via the darknet: If you try and escape, you die. If you do not fight, you are killed by the security team. The last to survive earns the right to leave alive.This darkly comedic, thrilling horror satire, addresses the societal norm of control through obedience. A story that uses ultra-violence to express ideas, and address stereotypes portrayed by Hollywood and accepted by the general masses. Including the state of race, gender, sexual identity, and the power of individualism against bigotry.The voices of a few cannot control the actions of the many.“Action-packed, fast-paced, violent, and full of criminals... that thrill, terrorize, and satirize.“—Library Journal"LaValley creates a non-stop, adrenaline ride of violence and mayhem, in a setting Americans know all so well. H/armed is a bloody, relentless and visceral assault on the senses. Wickedly entertaining."—Paul Hough, writer/director of The Human Race“Dustin LaValley has been bulldozing his way through the horror genre’s shadowy byways for years, kicking the readership’s ass up and down the street, walking all over it, and then quietly leaving the room with a deadpan expression. His work doesn’t tip-toe through the tulips, it roto-tills the whole flower bed and uproots everything. His creative voice is its own uniqueness; he’s not ‘like’ any other writer and there’s no other writer ‘like’ him. He defines the modern in-your-grill psycho-drama, and I suspect he will always sit high on the heap of the genre’s most daring and exciting talents.”—Edward Lee, author of The Bighead and White Trash Gothic
