Excerpt: “One more thing,” King said. “Can you pass a drug screen?” “I beg your pardon?” “You’ll have to pass a drug screen. And you’ll be required to sign a loyalty oath.” “Am I going to work on the North Slope or am I joining the American Nazi Party?” Childress flushed a dark red. “It’s…
Excerpt: The pot was seven feet tall and seven feet wide and three feet deep, a steel frame covered in metal netting, 750 pounds of dead weight empty. Kate was five feet tall, weighed just over 120 pounds and was mere flesh and bone, but she had Newton on her side, and she waited. She…
Excerpt: The killer woke and rose at once, whistling. He washed his face and brushed his teeth, slowly methodically, a deliberate ceremony to his movements. Shaving was almost a ritual, and he was very careful not to nick himself with the blade. The new clothes—Levis, a Pendleton shirt, socks, T-shirt, shorts, bought the day before…
Excerpt: “Bet your ass. So all these Park rats get up and swear on their ancestors how the Park is their home and how improving the railroad grade into a real highway is going to ruin the quality of life for everyone and how the Alaska Railroad kills all those moose every winter and what…
[from “Any Taint of Vice,” a Kate Shugak short story She drove into Niniltna and hitched a ride into Anchorage on one of George’s Suulutaq Mine crew-change flights. Kurt was waiting for her when they landed at Merrill. An ex–Park rat, an ex–bear poacher and an ex–drug smuggler, Kurt was these days a private investigator.…
Read more …the larger per capita percentage of perps and felons filled in the predator gap.
[from “The Eyak Interpreter,” a Kate Shugak short story So here we are in Anchorage, staying at Dad’s townhouse on Westchester Lagoon. Kate and Mutt are out for a walk on the Coastal Trail . There’s nothing on television and I don’t want to go anywhere until I don’t drool when I talk. Disgusting, so…
Read more …so I’m sitting here writing a post for my twenty-seven blog followers…
[from “Siren Song,” a Kate Shugak short story] The prosecution had rested the day before with an air of relief. The defense had recalled the investigating officer that morning, extracting without difficulty more evidence over time of many of Washington’s—the defense here coughed deprecatingly—family in the house at McKinley and Alder, as well as evidence…
[from “Cherchez la Femme,” a Kate Shugak short story] Most women hated Dulcey Kineen as much as their men loved her, of course. Margaret Meganack had erupted into Bobby Clark’s house when Marvin, that morning’s guest on Park Air, had strayed from the advertised topic, which was the current red salmon run or lack thereof,…
Read more …that little episode a while back involving Dulcey, Norma, and Norma’s boyfriend Chuck.
[from “Wreck Rights,” a Kate Shugak short story] Jim sighed. “My night for drunks in pickups.” “Every night’s a night for drunks in pickups,” Hazen said. “The woman driving the Ford Escort is dead. So’s the eleven-year old riding in back of her. The teenager riding next to her has at least a broken arm.…
[from “Under the Influence,” a very short Kate Shugak story] Kate stood up. Mutt cast a languishing farewell look at Jim and padded to her side. “You’re scaring me, Chopin. You’re starting to sound like a crusader.” I’ve already got a cause, he thought as he watched her walk out the door.