A long, long time ago, there was a character named Mistral, who was a private detective in an unnamed city. The first story with him was something called “The Air in the Jar,” and it revolved around a killer who was trying to destroy the concept of Plato’s Cave by whacking philosophy professors.

What? I was in college at the time. You should see what my thesis ended up being.

Anyway, he was an interesting character, and there was a secondary character named Clio, and the whole thing became this quintessential noir set-up, and I eventually wrote a novella called “Instrument,” which featured Mistral. At that time, the novella market was a wasteland. You did not write novellas. I tried to expand it into a novel a couple of times, which lead to writing a prequel novel, which led to other things, and oh good lord, look at the time!

Over the years, bits and pieces of this city and its characters cropped up in some of my short stories. Some of them got published. But never Instrument.

Until now.

I’m re-launching these stories (under the umbrella of “Stories from the SPRAWL”). Instrument is the first, and since it is new content, I’ve gone and made it available in print and ebook because I have that sort of mercenary relationship with your wallets. Other stories in the SPRAWL will be released over the coming year.

If you’re on my Mailing List, not only will you get notified when they come out, but you’ll also get a dose of free content now and then.

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