NO GOOD DEED 1 “Can I sit with you for a time, sir?” A silky voice — alto, but strained. The young woman said, “I think a man in this place may mean me harm.” Hector Lassiter looked up from his notebook. She was 23, maybe 24. Pretty, poised and flustered. Hector had seen her … Continue reading Excerpt: Toros & Torsos
Excerpt: One True Sentence
PARIS: FEBRUARY 1924 “It is the fate of every myth to creep by degrees into the narrow limits of some historical reality, and to be treated by some later generations as a unique fact with historical claims.” — Nietzsche Snow falling on the Seine. It was half-past-two and it was quiet as it gets … Continue reading Excerpt: One True Sentence
More short fiction from Colin O’Sullivan
Read Colin's short stories WATCHER, PIRANHAS and SEGUES here: http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/tag/colin-osullivan/
For Hector Lassiter’s fans: the first chapter of RHAPSODY IN BLACK
Over the years, Craig McDonald has been asked if he would write a Hector Lassiter novel in the sense of creating a novel BY Hector Lassiter. Here, for the first time, is the first chapter of Hector's OWN debut novel, RHAPSODY IN BLACK, a novel that we see Hector drafting in ONE TRUE SENTENCE: http://bit.ly/1kUhCe6
Excerpt: Permanent Fatal Error
1 It started with an email: From: writerswife@yahoo.com Subject: Query Regarding Suggested Life of Author Everett Hyde To: Chase Alger Reply-To: Amanda Hyde Chase was accustomed to acquiring editors writing to suggest topics for biographies. The recent PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Chase’s biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had resulted in a flurry … Continue reading Excerpt: Permanent Fatal Error
Excerpt: Reach the Shining River
1. It was Wardell found the body. He was walking along a cutbank north of town, snapping heads off cattails with his cane pole and checking the river for sunfish. The corpse lay face down in the mud between the railroad tracks and the river path. A man, hard to say what age. His jacket … Continue reading Excerpt: Reach the Shining River
Excerpt: Killarney Blues
12 The sun on the lake sparkles. Only a laden, dark cloud in the distance has the audacity to ruin the perfect picture. Bernard has one eye on it, knows how things loom, how those clouds can hover, then open and pour, drench, saturate. But not yet. There’s a few more hours of this brightness, … Continue reading Excerpt: Killarney Blues
Excerpt: The Last Island
From Chapter 1 “Where you stayin’?” Martin asked me the next day at the taverna. I told him about the tiny widow. “She with Giannopoulos or Papakakis?” “Don’t know.” “Hope she’s not with Papakakis.” “Why’s that?” “You’re with Giannopoulos.” “I didn’t know that.” “Doesn’t matter, you are.” I looked about the taverna and saw the … Continue reading Excerpt: The Last Island
Excerpt: La Frontera
ONE Ana Torres could not be sure of the time, though it had to be close to noon. The sun was an unblinking white disk overhead, blanching rocks and dirt alike and cutting through her clothing like a heated blade. She was glad she was not on foot, though the sorrel gelding she rode … Continue reading Excerpt: La Frontera
Excerpt: Francesca
1 The shooting finally stopped. It was a miracle she had not been struck by any of the bullets ricocheting around the house. Not that she believed in miracles any more. Chances were she had survived only to be saved for something worse around the corner. But she did know she wasn’t waiting for them … Continue reading Excerpt: Francesca
Excerpt: Silk for the Feed Dogs
ST MARTIN’S “Send that stupid Irish bitch in here!” My pencil swerved across the graph paper, tearing a hole in it. A door slammed a little way down the corridor. The sound of scurrying footsteps. That could only mean me. I was the only Irish bitch she could be referring to. Jesus, I wasn’t ready. … Continue reading Excerpt: Silk for the Feed Dogs
Betimes Books 