When a prominent Mississippi civil rights attorney asks renowned neurosurgeon Bradford Stone to help her save the life of a white racist condemned to death for the cold case murder of a black man, he has no idea that he is about to be dragged through a deadly past he thought he had escaped once and for all. Stone, the disinherited scion of a powerful Delta Planter family, has no premonition that he is about live through the hellish proof of William Faulkner's axiom that, "The past isn't over; it's not even past." Set mostly in Mississippi - primarily the Delta region where the real-life gothic exceeds the most outlandish Flannery O'Connor story - Perfect Killer tells the story of a future which can never break free of the past. The mystery is centered in the Mississippi Delta in a top-secret military project begun decades ago in a facility once housing German POWs. The program, Project Enduring Valor, is designed to create the ultimate human killing machine. For over seventy years, has sought the Holy Grail of combat medicine: a chemical compound that would turn ordinary soldiers into weapons of mass destruction, the Perfect Killers. Now, after decades of covert trial and error which have resulted in troubling side effects such as the My Lai massacre, Enduring Valor is ready to be implemented on a massive scale--despite a few troubling side-effects. Before he knows it, Stone himself in the sights of the Project's director, a retired general and war hero turned presidential candidate. To get back his life, and expose the truth, Stone must struggle with the South's racist legacy, the demons of his past and penetrate the very heart of the lethal conspiracy.From Publishers WeeklyNot many thrillers end with a bibliography of several dozen actual nonfiction books, but Perdue's prodigious and intriguing new novel (after 2004's Slatewiper) has one—plus appendixes that are probably fiction because they include quotes from the novel's star players. Dr. Bradford Stone, "legendary Marine recon operative turned healer and scientist," makes it his business to find out who's behind a massive secret plan to turn the drug Xantaeus loose on a reduced but much more effective army in places like Iraq—especially after the love of his life, a black activist in the Mississippi Delta country, is killed by a female sniper involved in the conspiracy. Stone and the murdered activist's daughter are credible characters; the plot's premise stands up to scrutiny; and Perdue brings the Delta geography to vivid life. Even though the writing occasionally slips into some awkward phrasing ("Gabriel had paid scant attention and given no real thought to those critics, preferring to believe the day of the nondepleting neurotrop would never come"), this is an exciting novel. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"Packed with action and controversy, Perfect Killer is that rarity among thrillers-it sets your pulse racing while it makes you think."--David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of The Brotherhood of the Rose on Perfect Killer Views: 49
Nine year old Ben Connor has hit the jackpot. Hidden within a box of cereal are the exact longitude and latitude coordinates for a geocache that holds ten thousand dollars. He grabs a G.P.S. unit and makes a deal with his aunt to split the money if she agrees to be his taxi. But could this treasure hunt be too good to be true? Did he really read those instructions correctly? If not, who is behind this dangerous scavenger hunt? There’s only one way to find out! Views: 49
Best friends and sometimes lovers Edward "Mitch" Mitchell and Harry "Boy" Morgan have been in terrible jams before their adventures of murder, mystery, and unstoppable sex have made The Back Passage and The Secret Tunnel international bestellers. In A Sticky End, Mitch must face the possibility that Boy is involved in the chain of events that led to the suicide of his own colleague and secret paramour, Frank Bartlett. To absolve Boy, Mitch races around London finding clues while bedding the many men eager to lend a hand or more. The policemen, working class gigolos, steam room bathers, embezzlers, and blackmailers that Mitch comes across create a tasty mystery and satisfying erotic romp. Views: 49
Best friends don't send emails once they're dead. Kate Lowry may wear fake pearls and shorts so tiny that Nancy Drew would blush, but she's on the trail to prove that Grace's death was no accident. Along for the ride are a couple of knights in (not so) shining armor: the dangerously attractive bad boy, Liam, and her love-struck neighbor, Seth. Together they discover a secret lurking in the halls of their elite private school that threatens to destroy them all. Views: 49
In Melchester, Thomas Littlejohn hunts the killer of a strangled poet The war is over and blackouts are a thing of the past, except in the village of Melchester, where the local council has refused to sully its streets with unsightly lamps. The night is pitch black, but hardly quiet. Young lovers are rendezvousing, a police constable is helping himself to a few of his neighbor's partridges, and a poet is going to visit his beloved, a new verse on his lips. She will never hear it, sadly, for the young man is stopped along his way—stopped forever, by the tight grip of the garrote. The local constabulary wastes no time reaching out to Scotland Yard, which sends its best man: the easygoing detective-inspector Littlejohn. In Melchester he will find unspeakable secrets—and one citizen whose soul is as dark as the village night. Views: 49
Anidyr Bycall is frozen in her past, regretting words never spoken to the woman she loves and the one impulsive act that cost her all her dreams. Running from the courts of public and academic opinion in Fairbanks, she has landed in Key West. The nights are hot but she is colder than the glaciers she once explored. Tending bar by night, she spends her days immersed in the research of her only remaining passion in life: the ice fields of Alaska. But trends may be improving when news from home hints that those she harmed may have moved on, and she can at least recover the papers and books she left behind. The respect and affection she once saw in Eve Cambra's eyes is gone beyond recall. When a few innocent questions raise Ani's doubts about what really happened three years ago, she realizes she may have a chance to clear her name and reclaim her career. But there's no data to prove that Eve has thawed and that the fire they once shared can be rekindled. Golden Crown and Lambda Literary award-winning author Karin Kallmaker brings her readers a romantic story of the icy north where passion may melt even a frozen heart. Views: 49
Construction workers, plumbers, gardeners or any hard working man with a tool belt play a part in many gay male fantasies. In this steamy collection we take a ride to the top of a high rise under construction for a precarious steel beam encounter, go down in the belly of a dark steamy mine, hang out with some hunky sweaty landscapers and slip into the construction manager's office for a quickie. Wherever we go, you'll find sexy, men loving men who are turned on by more than their buddies' tools, in this world the hats are not the only thing that's hard. Views: 49
Science Fiction. 4947 words long. First published in Electric Velocipede, August 2003 Year's Best Science Fiction Honorable Mention Views: 49