by Devon Monk
In two steps he was in front of Rose's aim. In four, he was past Mae. In six, he was in front of the man.
So fast, the man hadn't had a chance to pull the trigger.
Cedar slammed a fist into the man's face, then grabbed his coat and dragged him backward into the trees. A gun went off, maybe Rose's maybe the man's. Cedar found he didn't care.
There was only one thought left to him. An instinctive need he could no longer quell. To kill. No, to destroy.
Cedar wrapped his hands around the man's throat. And let the beast within him free.
END
...To be continued in the full-length novel: TIN SWIFT, book 2 in The Age of Steam steampunk series, available through Roc books.
About the Author
Devon Monk writes The Age of Steam steampunk series, the Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series, the Broken Magic urban fantasy series, and the occasional short story. She lives in Oregon with one husband, two sons, and a dog named Mojo. When not writing, Devon can be found drinking coffee and knitting silly things. For book excerpts, news, and more information about Devon and her newest works, please visit her webpage.
After word
HANG FIRE is part of my steampunk series which begins with the full-length novel, DEAD IRON, and continues with the novels TIN SWIFT and COLD COPPER. Each of these full-length novels are available in hard copy or electronic format, and are published through Roc books.
The idea of writing a short story set between DEAD IRON and TIN SWIFT came to me one fine spring day along with another nifty idea: what if I wrote the short story like an old newspaper serial or radio play, and released one tiny chapter a day at several wonderful blogs?
I am happy to say that is exactly what happened. I wrote HANG FIRE in twenty flash-fiction sized chunks and posted one chapter a day over the summer of 2012. The electronic copy you are currently reading is all twenty of those short chapters collected together into one story.
I'd like to thank these blogs for agreeing to host the original serialized story: Candace's Book Blog, Fiction Vixen, Totes Bags 'n' Blogs, The Quillery, A Book Obsession, Fantasy Literature, I Smell Sheep, All Things Urban Fantasy, Rabid Reads, Rachel Vincent, Deadline Dames, My Bookish Ways, Magical Urban Fantasy, Literal Addiction, Larissa's Bookish Life, My Life in Not So Many Words, Dark Faerie Tales, That's What I'm Talking About, Bookshelf Bombshells, Bibliophilic Book Blog.
