Pablo D'Stair's Free Novellas

Pablo D'Stair released his serialized novella, this letter to Norman Court, in May, posting each of the twenty-odd sections at a different blog.

And what a ride it was. D'Stair possesses an original, engaging voice and, in Trevor English, has created a complex and modern character.

In the second edition of the series, Mister Trot from Tin Street, D'Stair manages to top himself. Trevor is back, this time working a shit job at the local video store. When he discovers a local high school teacher has a six porn-a-week habit, he hatches a scheme to blackmail him. But the teacher, Wynol Trot, is no pushover and the situation gets dicey for Trevor very quickly.

Two things amaze me about this book. The first the sense of suspense. There's nothing contrived about D'Stairs plots. They feel like an organic sequence of events. Unlike most thrillers (I consider this book a thriller, though many people wouldn't), the stakes are relatively low. But through the protagonist's obsessive personality and the intricacy of the games the characters play with each other, D'Stair creates a riveting storyline.

The second is that I end up rooting for this character who's an asshole. Trevor English is selfish, petty, conniving and, as Norman Court says in the first novel, just an awful person. Yet I'm rooting for him. I want him to con this teacher. Maybe it's cause there's no bullshit with him. He is his act, his grifts seem so apart of him that everyone else seems artificial. Or maybe D'Stair's a magician.

The third book in the series, Helen Topaz, Henry Dollar, begins its serialized journey today at Thunderdome. And all three Trevor English novellas are free as ebooks or only $4 for the paperback version--wow.

D'Stair also has started a confession/interview series called Why'd You Go and Do That? The first one is with top noir writer Nigel Bird, who has crafted a moving confession in his patented lyrical style.

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On an unrelated note, I've got a story up today at The Flash Fiction Offensive, The Sidewinder. I never send out work that I'm not 100 percent on, but this is a piece I'm particularly proud of. It's a sci-fi/action/noir adventure that I think you'll dig.