Literature

For my readers,by request ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks, again, to the usual suspects: my agent, Nick Ellison, and Sarah Dickman, Arija Weddle, and Marissa Matteo at Nicholas Ellison, Inc.; Jennifer Brehl, Kate…

27BITCH’S BREW Lily had been looking all night for a way to approach Minty Fresh. She’d made eye contact with him a dozen times over the course of the evening,…

26ORPHEUS IN THE STORM SEWER Charlie parked the van sideways in the street and ran up the steps of the Buddhist center calling her name. The huge front door was…

25THE RHYTHM OF LOST AND FOUND The Emperor was camped in some bushes near an open culvert that drained into Lobos Creek in the Presidio, the land point on the…

ABSTRACT In the period after 2003, Iran was extensively involved in Iraq by demonstrating its leading role in the international context. However, Iraq has been confronted with substantial instability as…

24AUDREY AND THE SQUIRREL PEOPLE Charlie could hear things scurrying under the porch as he walked to the front door of the Buddhist center, but the weight of the enormous…

23A FUCKED-UP DAY It was a fucked-up day in the City by the Bay. At first light, flocks of vultures perched on the superstructures of the Golden Gate and Bay…

22RECONSIDERING A CAREER IN SECONDHAND RETAIL Anton Dubois, the owner of Book ’em Danno in the Mission, had been a Death Merchant longer than anyone else in San Francisco. Of…

21COMMON COURTESY Charlie was torn – he really wanted to take his sword-cane, but he couldn’t carry it while using the crutches. He considered duct-taping it to one of the…

20ATTACK OF THE CROCODILE GUY It was a brutally hot night in the City, and everyone had their windows open. From the roof across the alley, the spy could see…

19We’re OKAY, AS LONG AS THINGS DON’T GET WEIRD ALVIN AND MOHAMMED When Charlie arrived home from his mother’s funeral, he was met at the door by two very large,…

18YO MOMMA SO DEAD THAT… On her last day, Lois Asher rallied. After not having even been able to get up to go to the breakfast table, or into the…

17WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU? The next morning, Jane’s girlfriend Cassie heard someone in the hall and opened the door. Charlie stood there, covered in blood, black goo, and smelling…

Section 1: Group Discussion This section contains what was discussed during group discussion session. The general area of prejudice chosen for discussion was prostitution. Dubbed the oldest profession, there was…

16THE CALL OF BOOTY II: REQUIEM FOR A FUCK PUPPET Ray threw the door open so hard that the little bell went flying off its holder and tinkled across the…

15THE CALL OF BOOTY Fuck puppets,” Ray said out of nowhere. He was on the stair-climbing machine next to Charlie and they were both sweating and staring at a row…

14BARKING MAD Charlie opened the door and Lily breezed by. “Jane said you have two huge black dogs up here. I need to see.” “Lily, wait,” Charlie called, but she…

13CRY HAVOC, AND LET SLIP THE GOGS OF WAR! Watching Madeline Alby die had shaken Charlie. It wasn’t her death so much, it was the life he’d seen in her…

12THE BAY CITY BOOK OF THE DEAD Charlie named the hamsters Parmesan and Romano (or Parm and Romy, for short) because when the time came for thinking up names, he…

11THE GIRLS CAN GET A LITTLE DARK AT TIMES The Great Big Book of Death, as it turned out, wasn’t that big, and certainly wasn’t that comprehensive. Charlie read through…