Vertically Challenged Story

This is a crowdfunding project for a short story anthology that I have a story in. The anthology is called Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction.

And this is a shameless plug. See? Completely different.

Dark Matter

Rasputin “Monk” Lowdermilk wanted to end it all. But when he is run down by a car on the way to his suicide, he finds that life is just beginning.

As he recovers from Chrysler-induced head trauma, he begins to discover strange new abilities. He can draw portraits so precise they look like photographs. He can remember with flawless clarity everything he’s ever seen or heard, no matter how trivial. He can read strangers so well it verges on telepathy.

But with these gifts come strange visions tinged with menace. And the one thing Rasputin doesn’t know is that his new abilities have been noticed, by ancient and evil forces who recognise what the gifts mean and what they will become. Unfortunately, his new life is only of benefit to them if he’s dead.

Dark Matter is a cerebral mystery that plays fair—and dares you to solve it.

Strawman Made Steel

Janus McIlwraith knows New York City. From the grimy basement bars where the underclass mutter and curse to the gleaming penthouse apartments where the elite plot and control, he's seen it all, and he's never been happy about it. He's a private investigator who works the city the old fashioned way. No internet. No databases. No smartphones.

Not that he has a choice in the matter.

Because Janus knows two New York Cities. There's the one with Facebook, The Tonight Show and iPods. And there's the one he enters through the mirror, the one with genetic supermen, skyscraper canons, and a certain subatomic particle that's misbehaving...

And when McIlwraith takes on the case of the rich boy whose brutalized corpse is found in a dumpster, he little realizes how deep the case will cut―right to his very core, to the place where, like this city, his own soul is split in two.

Ancient Schmegyptians

I was enjoying a book in Townsville Library the other day (we like free) when my youngest son thrust a different book under my gaze. His was a book on Ancient Egypt. I like Ancient Egypt, and it was a small book, so it was no chore to read it. Chapter headings included the usual suspects: Worship, Recreation, Family Life, Law and Punishment… and I'd made it most of the way through when my attention was snagged by a curious note. An ancient egyptian, said the book, had each year to register their occupation. To fail to do so could mean death. The law applied to everyone, including bakers, farmers, artisans--and here comes the snag--and robbers? Yes, that's right. In Ancient Egypt, one could register to be a professional thief.

The book went on to explain that if said thief was caught with the loot, the victim was still only entitled to recover 75%, leaving, presumably, 25% for Grundy & Sons Robbery Co. How bizarre.

Professional thief with union-accredited ‘I'm nicked. I give up’ headdress.

I'm always on the lookout for societal quirks like that. It's just these sorts of oddities that can grow into interesting fictional cultures with which to populate fictional worlds. At the very least, legitimate thievery could make for some interesting career posters.

But when I later attempted to research Ancient Egypt's professional thieves I ran into a brick wall. The only mention of them I found was on a web page that referenced a book from the 1800s. I was beginning to think someone was having a lend… until I turned up digital copies of two references from the 1880s, which indeed mentioned this curious law, and even gave a name to the official in charge--the Shekh of Thieves. Truly bizarre.

I say two references, but on closer examination one book appeared to have, barring a little commentary, stolen text from the other word for word. Ironic.

The book I was reading before Jos thrust Ancient Egypt under my nose was The Neverending Story, which I think has become one of my favourite books. But more on that later…

Free SMS

Acronyms aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Anyway, Strawman Made Steel, my hard-boiled detective fiction in a New York that went to hell and returned with crazy eyes, is free until the 8th of August. It's here: amzn.com/B00DT4LO6S

Or you can press the widget thingy to the right and down a bit. Yep, that one.

I am J.K. Rowling

...okay. That might be a lie. Well, it is a lie.

But I did finally publish a detective novel.

Now, back to lunch.

AWOL

That's right. Posts have been and will be sporadic because I'm always on lunch--well, at least for the next 6 months. My family will be travelling around Australia and kindly offered to take me too. My wife is recording the schenanigans at bloggedissue.com.au ...