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    Memories of the Dead Man
    Memories of the Dead Man
    Memories of the Dead Man
    Ebook50 pages

    Memories of the Dead Man

    By Douglas Smith

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Mary and her teenage son, Jase, survive by their own wits in a post-plague Earth. On the run from a vicious gang, they are saved by Bishop, a man with mysterious powers who just may be the Dead Man, the legendary hero of the Fall of Earth.

     

    But Bishop's dark past catches up with them all, forcing Bishop to choose between his love for Mary and Jase, or revenge against the men who killed his family.

     

    Science fiction / fantasy, adventure (novelette)

     

    "All that you want in a sf short story is here from powerful characters, to action, mysterious happenings, and a dark, violent, but excellent tale. … A bittersweet ending adds to the power of the story. (A++)" —Fantasy Book Critic

     

    "…again shows off Smith's flair for the cinematic. … In his preface to the story, Smith announces his plan to write a novel about the Dead Man…I do look forward to reading it." —Strange Horizons

     

    "…has echoes of Stephen King wandering about its post-apocalyptic narrative." —Quill and Quire

     

    "…a wonderful example of the places this author is unafraid to go." —SF Crowsnest Reviews

     

    "…would make a great movie…a unique, post-apocalyptic blend of The Road Warrior and X-Men. … It was very well done." —Tangent Online

     

    "I liked the style and subtleties of the storytelling that kept me firmly on the edge of my seat. … The characters were what really impressed me, though--by a few lines into meeting each one you had a clear and definable presence in your mind." —SF Crowsnest Reviews

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDouglas Smith
    Release dateJun 1, 2011
    ISBN9781928048046
    Memories of the Dead Man
    Author

    Douglas Smith

    Douglas Smith is an award-winning historian and translator and the author of Rasputin and Former People, which was a bestseller in the U.K. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has written for The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and has appeared in documentaries with the BBC, National Geographic, and Netflix. Before becoming a historian, he worked for the U.S. State Department in the Soviet Union and as a Russian affairs analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He lives with his family in Seattle.

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      Book preview

      Memories of the Dead Man - Douglas Smith

      Memories of the Dead Man

      by Douglas Smith

      Mary and her teenage son, Jase, survive by their own wits in a post-plague Earth. On the run from a vicious gang, they are saved by Bishop, a man with mysterious powers who just may be the Dead Man, the legendary hero of the Fall of Earth. But Bishop’s dark past catches up with them all, forcing Bishop to choose between his love for Mary and Jase, or revenge against the men who killed his family.

      ~~

      All that you want in a sf short story is here from powerful characters, to action, mysterious happenings, and a dark, violent, but excellent tale. … A bittersweet ending adds to the power of the story. (A++)

      —Fantasy Book Critic

      …again shows off Smith’s flair for the cinematic. … In his preface to the story, Smith announces his plan to write a novel about the Dead Man…I do look forward to reading it.

      —Strange Horizons

      …has echoes of Stephen King wandering about its post-apocalyptic narrative.

      —Quill and Quire

      …a wonderful example of the places this author is unafraid to go.

      —SF Crowsnest Reviews

      …would make a great movie…a unique, post-apocalyptic blend of The Road Warrior and X-Men. … It was very well done.

      —Tangent Online

      I liked the style and subtleties of the storytelling that kept me firmly on the edge of my seat. … The characters were what really impressed me, though—by a few lines into meeting each one you had a clear and definable presence in your mind.

      —SF Crowsnest Reviews

      Table of Contents

      DESCRIPTION

      MEMORIES OF THE DEAD MAN

      ABOUT THE STORY

      A REQUEST

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      ALSO BY DOUGLAS SMITH

      THE HOLLOW BOYS

      THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD

      CHIMERASCOPE

      COPYRIGHT

      MEMORIES OF THE DEAD MAN

      You are done for—a living dead man—not when you stop loving but stop hating. Hatred preserves: in it, in its chemistry, resides the mystery of life.

      —E.M. Cioran, The New Gods

      YOU ASK ME

      of the Dead Man. What kind of man was he?

      Good question. But not the right one.

      Some call him a murderer, a cold-blooded killer—or worse. Some call him a hero. Jase and I made it through those days only by his hand in our lives, so you’d think I’d know where I stand on that one.

      But even after thirty years, I’m still not sure.

      I had dreams once, beyond living another day, but they’d died when I was twenty, died with my husband and daughter in the Plague. For ten years after that, I did what I had to, to feed Jase and me, to survive. That meant taking what we needed and staying in motion, one step ahead and not looking back. Not getting involved. Not trusting.

      I made an exception with him, with the Dead Man. No—not that name. You call him that. They call him that. I won’t. To us, to Jase and me, he was Bishop. He said his other name was John, but we just called him Bishop.

      Yeah, I made an exception with Bishop. But then he was an exception to a lot of rules, even before the Merged Corporate Entity rebuilt Earth under its own

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