Testament

Praise for VELLUM:

"Overwhelming in its complexity, sumptuous in its recitation, this is a truly monumental work."

-- The Good Book Guide

What you have been taught, lover of the sublime, is a lie that made you live a lie...

In the 21st century, a scalpel slices bible pages, passages spliced to restore lost truth. In the days of King Herod, the messias rises, calling to black sheep: walk with me. Now, here, between two aeons and across Æternity, a beloved student rebuilds his Gospel for the era of Anonymous: anarchist, socialist, atheist, revolutionary. Forget the tale you were spun and open your ears to the teacher who said, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. From the Hebridean fishing village of Capernaum, to a Jerusalem under Il Duce Pontius Pilate.

The Empire ends today.

 

The Boy Who Loved Death

Praise for the previous short story collection, SCRUFFIANS!:

"... a wickedly entertaining collection of short fiction fantastical and queer in nature—full of “scruffians and scamps and sodomites,” with some pirates and fairies besides. These stories range from comedic romps to lyrical and meditative explorations on the nature of meaning-making, while Duncan’s engaging and clever voice resonates throughout as a strong thread connecting the various different sorts of pieces."

Brit Mandelo, Tor.com

An anarcho-socialist Big Bad Wolf blowing down the houses of the Powers-That-Be. An Erocide cop lamenting the many ways people murder love. A vampire sworn to the light of Reason, engaged in experiments of gruesome rigour. A multiversal rebel invading the movie Casablanca to save his lost love from the Nazis. From the savage and joyous to the jaded and sorrowful, whether mournful or madcap, these eighteen stories from award-winning author Hal Duncan take a twisted look at death, the truest love you'll ever have.


Table of Contents

The Chiaroscurist
The Last Shift
The Tale of the Six Monkeys'' Tails
The Face of the Divine
The Wolf and the Three Wise Monkeys
The Drifter's Tale
The Liberating of the Devil Boy*
Broken Hearts in Bullet Time
The Last Straw
Join the Club
The Boy Who Loved Death
The Death of a Love
The Toymaker's Grief
Styx Water and a Sippy Cup
Last Drink Bird Head
The Beast of Buskerville
Die, Vampire, Die!
A Scruffian Christmas

*Previously unpublished