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Troutdale Kingdom 11 – Serialized Novel In Progress
Rawlings tries to get his bearings. He is sure he is in a very large building. Something in the drafts of the central air tell him there are other exits besides the one Huanatoca wants him to use. He presses his ear to the door. The same low rush of vented air pervades. But far [...]
Troutdale Kingdom – 10 – Novel in Progress
He wondered if he was a patient in a hospital. Then he wondered why that was his first instinct. Couldn’t he be in his own bed? If he had the energy to roll on his side might he startle at the mountain of her long rolling hip? The long-linened climb to her shoulder Kilamanjaro? An [...]
Troutdale Kingdom 9 – Novel in Progress
She is probably off with Tiger now, throwing a stick deeper into the surf than he might. The canine roommate never fully cottoned to the human woman who had introduced the predatory concussion of high heels and the gossipy birdcall of girlfriend telephony to his and Rawlings’ soft pop rhythms. Years in now and the [...]
Troutdale Kingdom – 8 (Serialized Novel in Progress)
Revolution. Reformation. Massive perspectival overhaul. They cause is more desperate on an empty stomach. Straw-sucking from a _____ beneath the eyes of the usual Tapatio woman. She leans over the counter looking judgmental about the cloud cover in the floor-to-ceiling windows. There is a sarcastic little sneer built into the corners of her mouth that [...]
Troutdale Kingdom 7 – Novel in Progress
Monday he wakes to the usual megaphone alarum of thought prospectors and student radicals trawling the blocks below for converts. There is no wet, rough tongue on his cheek, no kibble-asking eyes, only the brief thought flashes: bomb, Dove Lewis, Troutdale. “Aw Christ.” And so his morning and life are reintroduced for him. In twenty [...]
Troutdale Kingdom – 6 – Serialized Novel in Progress
When Rawlings wakes he does not know what day it is. Bleary-eyed and cold from the window draft he stands to look outside. Rain slants, gust lateral. But for the red beacons ruby-crowning the towers of The Portland State Octaquad and a few oddfellow curtain glows in the higher floors of the adjacent Deborah Kafoury [...]
Troutdale Kingdom – 5 – Serialized Novel in Progress
Rawlings came to with a plainclothesman holding him down by the shoulders. The side of his head felt cold and wet. Nearby someone was moaning. Siren call grew louder. He tried to make out the plainclothesman nametag so he could order him to let go. The face was familiar. He’d seen it dozens of times, [...]
Troutdale Kingdom – 4
Leave D-town and Close-In be run by the commuter knights of the civil service and their brother and sisters of the service industry various. Incentivize them up the wazoo. (L.D.M. Roy: We’re going to ‘Feed the Beast’ with our new “Points in the Paint Plan.” Establish low-post position by clicking on the ‘Feed Me’ link [...]
Troutdale Kingdom – 2
“So we need you to find out what’s what out there, Rawls.” Swafford lifted his sweatsome rump from the damp-ringed desk corner. “Fuel stipend sheets are in your box. I worked out too much this morning to bring them over with me.” He stage-wiped his brow and plieed from his Rawlings cube exeunt. But not [...]
Troutdale Kingdom 1 – A Serialized Novel in Progress
Rawlings was shouting and no one cared. Jumping up and down in the truck bed. Gesticulating and frothing. Another election year nut. Shoppers clutched their bags and-or children and hurried on. Rawlings snapped. Another tipless break was almost over.“You’re the Versailles of parking lots, Troutdale! Baroque robots in thrall to secret societies! Any one [...]