Malasz

Seth Tatton is a "middle-of-the-pack attorney" struggling to help his suburban family keep up with the Joneses. Through his firm, he becomes a fixer; he gets things done no matter what the job entails. He's clean, methodical, and a stickler for detail. The opening of Windfall introduces us to Seth and his accomplice, William, while out on a job. Seth is clearly in charge and instructs William to wait in the car while he approaches a target that can help cover up a murder committed by a client. Posing as a police detective, Seth conducts the interview with aplomb. His knowledge of the law enables him to play the part, extracting all the information from the target for Seth to construct the perfect coverup. Seth's boss is part of a cabal of the wealthy and political elite who are scheming to take control of several western states and secede from the Union. Culled from the political chatter that's out there now, I wouldn't be surprised if it went down like this...

Mondays With Mephistopheles: 9am-Rhys is a short story written by Dan O'Brien. It covers one session Dr. Abraham Rogers—he insists his patients call him Abe—has with one patient, Rhys. You can probably guess from the title that Abe's patients aren't the regular human kind. However, through this session we learn that even supernatural beings have their hangups and need the help of a psychologist. Abe and Rhys have a clever exchange. Abe tries his best to get Rhys to come out of his shell while Rhys resists. Rhys counters with his acerbic outlook on humanity and modern culture, particularly with its unhealthy obsession with his kind. O'Brien's writing is solid. His characterization is splendid. But all that being said, this piece doesn't work for me as a standalone story. It reads like a chapter in a book. There is no resolution; the session ends and so does the story. I re-read the story twice just to make sure I didn't miss anything. While I liked the story...

Quinn Bolcan is a small-time ex-criminal who has the ability to drain energy from things, be they physical or magical. This talent proves to be beneficial (defusing bombs) and deadly (body heat loss can lead to frostbite). When the story opens, Quinn is unaware of his ability but, over the course of the novel, learns how to control it. Needing to get out of town (Vancouver) after a pot farm raid, he takes on the role of courier. His lawyer has a package that needs to be delivered to Montreal and it "isn't the kind you want to send by Fedex." While the story could've been about Quinn's cross-country trip (Canada is big and interesting enough), Stiles only details two stops: a bar in the Rockies where Quinn has a run-in with a supernatural biker gang and the delivery of the package in Montreal. They do factor into the novel later on though. The real action happens across the border in Vermont where Quinn accidentally defuses a nuke. The rest of the novel covers Qu...