SNEAK PREVIEW: THE MEANING OF DEATH

PROLOGUE

Los Angeles is the real Magic Kingdom. It’s a special place where millions of dreams are crushed, but thousands of dreams come wildly true. It’s that ratio that keeps them coming here from Bumchuck, Indiana and Ball Gag, Iowa. And when they get here, they’re in for a rude awakening. Rock legend W. Axl Rose, born William Bailey in Indiana, said it best: Welcome to the Jungle, baby! You gonna die!

I don’t need to tell you my name just yet. All you need to know is that I was born of this soil. Raised right here on a quiet working class street called Lesser Street in blue-collar Norwalk, California a suburb between Los Angeles and Long Beach.

I despise those who come here and ruin my city, my Los Angeles. They blaspheme by calling it L.A. instead of its proper name: Los Angeles.

They’re weak. Dreamers. Losers.

They were not raised on these streets where scary monsters came out a night. They didn’t hear stories of the Boogie Man, or the Mexican kids talking about a bruja, a witch, named La Llorona who moaned all night crying for her murdered children. Plus, it was never completely dark because of the glow from the Golden West oil refinery three miles away in Santa Fe Springs, The sky was a pulsating orange color, and the air smelled of sulfur, of cow manure from Dairy Valley, of honeysuckle, and night-blooming jasmine.

They are invaders and leeches.

I will prey on them. I am their master.

I am the Magician and tonight will be my fourth kill.

WRITERS OF BADASS CRIME FICTION YOU MUST CHECK OUT, PT. 1

As a self-proclaimed writer of badass Crime Fiction, I've run across a few others whom you must read. Most of these authors, and auteurs, are not household names yet, but they should be, cats and kittens. They should be.

First off, if you dig badass crime fiction with a sense of humor, a whole lotta noir, some scintillating sexiness, and enough badassery to shake an RPG at, here's your man:

RAYMOND EMBRACK

Embrack is the author of the immensely entertaining Peter Surf PI novels. The Surf books owe more to the exxagerated noir ethos of the movie "Sin City" than they do to Chandler or Hammett, but that's a good thing.

Embrack writes like James Ellroy would write while on an ether and mescaline binge with Hunter S Thompson. Embrack is that good.

Nowhere is Embrack's raw power and skill as a storyteller more evident than in the non-Surf novel, and in my humble opinion, his masterpiece... "The Black Opera." Imagine Ellroy's American Tabloid series condensed into one book and put on a diet of steroids, whiskey, and raw beef.

This book is so good, it needs to be put out as a mass-market supermarket paperback so everybody can read it. It's too bad that literary agents don't read, because Embrack deserves his place with writers such as Stephen King, John Grisham, and Jeffrey Deaver.

Embrack is evidence that self-proclaimed "Utterly self-published" e-book authors need not be talentless hacks. Embrack is a better writer than half the people with "real" book deals who populate the New York Times bestseller list.

Do yourself a favor... go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble.Com NOW and download The Black Opera. Then remember your old Uncle Chris at Christmas with a bottle o' something.

Good reading, kids!

Look for Pt 2 soon...