Shade City
Page 27
"What do you look for?" I asked her. "In life, I mean. What do you really look for?"
She rolled to her side and my hand brushed her breasts. Small. Perky. She was beautiful. "Sex..." she answered. I traced the back of my hand to her neck and across her cheek. "Companionship. Love."
"Me too," I said after some thought. I was miserable.
"How do you know when you've found it?" she asked. As Eva spoke, her tired eyes closed some more. Her fingers ceased their play on my skin and her arm relaxed. I put my cigarette to my lips, grabbed the thin bedsheet, and pulled it up over her naked body.
I watched longingly as Eva drifted further into an induced sleep, then blew some more sage into her face.
-Finn
AFTERWORD
Being a transplant from Miami to Los Angeles myself, Shade City is a personal story. Dante's expertise of bars and neighborhoods and culture rings of a collected wisdom bestowed upon a younger, fictional self. Of course, I've never had ghosts like Dante, but it's fun to embellish.
As far as my affinity for Los Angeles, I think Dante speaks to that well. The complexities of big cities amaze me. Diversity adds a rich tapestry to the simplest of experiences, but there's no such thing as a utopia. LA is the perfect symbol of a shiny exterior marred by dirt and wear. The staggering nightlife and glitz shine brightly, but never enough to completely remove the shadow of controversy that entrenches the city. What better stage to play out the vanities of legacy and greed?
The Dead Side Blues is about trust and the relationships that stress our bonds. Whether between friends or family, business deals or trysts, the repayment of trust stands as the greatest witness to our characters. The blacks and the whites of the world are usually easy to discern. It's how we handle the gray that defines us.
Over time, no matter our intent, our actions embed themselves into our reputations. The older we get, the heavier the past weighs, but today is always at the forefront. The here and now is always another opportunity to reclaim our honor. Managing the present is the key to creating a favorable past and to greeting the future with bright eyes. Do with that as you will.
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Afterword: The Dead Side Blues
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Domino Finn is a science-fiction and fantasy author who has a decade of award-winning experience in the video game industry in Los Angeles. He likes to write about believable characters in unbelievable circumstances. Travel, technology, and trouble are his inspirations; music and football his distractions; and alcohol, well, it depends on the number of drinks.
In addition to Shade City, Domino Finn also writes the Seventh Sons, a series about a small-town police detective who protects an outlaw biker gang of werewolves.
DominoFinn.com