This Excerpt Best Accompanied by Jan Hammer

/ Daryl Gregory

Here’s the way it’s supposed to work, people:

  1. Writer uploads excerpt of new novel.
  2. Reader samples, like a perp dipping a wet finger into a bag of cocaine in the hit NBC show Miami Vice.
  3. The jolt is so strong, the product so pure, that the customer vows to trade a briefcase full of cash whenever product becomes available.
  4. Ha! It’s a prop! The bag is full of flour.

Okay, I may have lost control of the metaphor there. I’ve been watching a lot of reruns. All I’m trying to say is that if you want to read the prologue and first chapter of the novel I was talking about yesterday (Raising Stony Mayhall, available June 28, 2011 in Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders, and back alleys) then here you go, in high-grade pdf or uncut  html.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go iron my Armani jacket.

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9 thoughts on “This Excerpt Best Accompanied by Jan Hammer”

  1. Great excerpt! So more playing on the edge between Science Fiction and Horror? Luckily most bookstores I visit keep those sections close. I wouldn’t want to be seen in “romance” while trying to find your books.

    What’s the deal with the crossed out Borders? And are they aware that you’ve leaked their impending demise?

    Paul

    • Yep. Borders called me, told it was all over between us. It tried to get points by saying all that “it’s not you, it’s me” crap — and I said, damn right it was you. I used to live in Michigan, loved your first store, but you’ve changed. Your inventory system is a joke, you can’t keep me in stock, and I never liked your corporate parents.

      But yeah — more genre mixing in this one, another anti-horror novel.

      • At least they had the decency to call and end it and didn’t just Twitter or text you. Personally I prefer to just stop all communication without any explanation and leave the other party in limbo for a few months.

        Paul

  2. I’m on board, man! I found Pandemonium this time last year and it’s been my go-to gift for friends. (The Devil’s Alphabet was pretty terrific, too!) I’m pre-ordering Raising Stony Mayhill and can’t wait ’till June.

    Also, any chance of a short story collection in the next year or two? I want to pass on Lord Grimm and Damascus as well.

    Cheers!

  3. Glad to have you aboard, Jake. And why yes, I AM working on a collection. (I should pay you for that segue.) It will be out sometime this year, from Fairwood Press. The book will reprint the stories you mentioned, a bunch of others, and a couple originals. I’ll post more details as I get them.

  4. Daryl,

    I’m so pleased to finally get to pre-order Raising Stony Mayhill. I also ordered extra copies for sons and friends! Can’t wait for June.

    Keep on writing – I love your books!

    Wendy

  5. I really like the prologue and first chapter. I read your first two books and love them too. I always wanted to read a different take on the zombie genre. I’ll mark this book on my calendar.

    This year is going to be an awesome year for the sff genre. A new Abraham, Rothfuss, Abercrombie, Erikson, Lynch and of course your new book. Yum.

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