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The Failed Cities Monologues I - Ethan
(8.87 MB) |
Two cities separated by 16 miles of river. One side has been written
off, zeroed out by its elected caretakers. Now men with white collars
and nighted sticks patrol the streets. They're peacekeepers, following
a new gospel, the Steel Gospel. Ethan is one of them; part clergy, part
lawman, part soldier. A shepherd in a concrete pasture, watching over
hophead flocks by night. He's also a believer. Ethan knows that nobility
and justice are the cross and shield of the street preacher. But power
corrupts, and in a city that has downsized police and politicians the
street preacher's power is 100 proof... |
Nov 6, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues II - Ferus
(5.15 MB) |
Within social circles linked by blood The Feral Twins are more than
assassins, they're celebrities. A predator pack of two that bring animal
spectacle to murder, they have no past, just question marks that hang
like sharpened sickles above their heads. Ferus is silent death, his sister's
single-minded enforcer. But there's the voice of a young boy in his head
that tells a very different story... |
Nov 6, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues III - Sterne
(7.94 MB) |
Walk the streets between the Stacks with Sterne, a pit fighter that
splits his nights between brawling for cash and spinning tales of old
school tough guys and detectives. The Stacks is considered nothing more
than a neo hippie ghetto. But to the folks that live here, the eve trippers
and broken artists and freaked out Rastafarians, it's a dreamland. And
Sterne has his tiny crumbling place in it, filled with obsession, imagination,
and some fresh wounds waiting to scar... |
Nov 6, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues IV - Truck
(4.89 MB) |
The news webs call him The Conductor. He's responsible for the disappearances
of at least thirty young women, all prostitutes. Their bodies are never
found. And oh, yes, you're about to discover why... |
Nov 6, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues V - Fera
(7.34 MB) |
Fera, alpha female of The Feral Twins. Death lives inside her, and it's
a reality she shares with all those she meets, whether they want its secrets
or not. But is Fera a predator...or just the ultimate survivor? |
Nov 6, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues VI - Constable Klimenko
(7.84 MB) |
Constable Valeri Klimenko, whose father and grandfather were both Heroes
of Ukraine, never had any intention of living up to his family's legacy.
Now he's been made a detective and forced onto the trail of the most feared
and talked about serial killer in the city's history. If it weren't for
that damned Reuben sandwich... |
Nov 13, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues VII - d'Anger
(7.41 MB) |
In the Failed Cities, being beautiful can make you a victim. Being beautiful
and smart can make you dangerous. d'Anger has a flawless form, a Botticelli
face...and an IQ of 175... |
Nov 18, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues VIII - The Maven
(6.95 MB) |
When fevered streets reach their boiling point, you bring in a mediator.
When it's looking like back alley war, you need a maven. Tonight was already
going to be his toughest mediation yet. Then his throat got put on the
bargaining table... |
Nov 21, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues IX - Sally
(3.07 MB) |
If you're new to the Failed Cities, there's only one place to go if
you want to be in the know, and it's not some digital Orwellian info-matrix.
It's a tiny tarot den in the shadiest part of town. Psychic Sally is a
palm-reader with a third eye on all the action, and for a fiver she'll
give you a glimpse into what's happened so far on both sides of the river... |
Nov 26, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues X - Ethan
(10.73 MB) |
Reverend Ethan is a man who likes to keep things simple: a collar, a
street to keep, a stick to keep them with. But tonight, with war looming
just around a battered brick corner, things are about to get complicated.
A missing mediator, a fallen street preacher left as a message, a mysterious
lady of quality bearing a warning and a gift. And that's just the beginning... |
Dec 4, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XI - Ferus
(6.09 MB) |
Boredom's a dangerous thing when you're one of The Feral Twins, and
not even arson, kidnapping, and back alley crucifixions can relieve it.
Ferus just wants one worthy opponent before the night is through. He's
forgotten what the Chinese say about what you wish for... |
Dec 4, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XII - Sterne
(9.91 MB) |
Jump into the story with Sterne. He's about to live one of his own pulp
adventures, but unlike Curly, his fearless juggernaut alter ego, Sterne
is going to find out that the real bad guys don't wear hats. And his instructors
for the evening? The Feral Twins . . . |
Dec 14, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XIII - Truck
(7.68 MB) |
Truck lives for the action, for life on the edge of a blade. But when
a routine pick-up goes a hundred miles south of wrong, that pace comes
to a crashing halt... |
Dec 14, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XIV - Fera
(6.79 MB) |
Fera and her brother have murdered, maimed, and massacred on every continent
across the globe, but it's the hard, ugly lessons she learned as a girl
that command Fera's pathology. When her intended victim for the night
is snatched away by a resourceful pit fighter, it sparks a recall that
can only lead to blood. |
Dec 24, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XV - Constable Klimenko
(9.81 MB) |
A new detective's shield, an old suit, and a lethal case no one else
wants. It's not the way Valeri Klimenko, the former constable, wants to
start out his night. But they may have all underestimated this simple
young man from the Ukraine, who's been pushed just about as far as he's
willing to go by the powers that be. |
Dec 31, 2006 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XVI - d'Anger
(5.43 MB) |
Interlude or prelude. When it's a romantic encounter with d'Anger you
can never be sure which you're caught up in. Learning about her past,
however, you might know which to expect . . . |
Jan 7, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XVII - The Maven
(7.09 MB) |
What do you do when your life and your livelihood both depend on words
and your voice has been locked away inside your own head? For The Maven,
the answer to that question lies inward. And the only thing worse than
searching for it is finding out what's waiting when he finally opens his
eyes . . . |
Jan 14, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XVIII - Operative 853
(3.27 MB) |
You're not the only one invested in the story of The Failed Cities.
The Nicodemus Consortium is very interested in what's been happening on
both sides of the river, and one of their best operatives is about to
give them a full report. Be warned that the Consortium protects their
secrecy with a vengeance. Eavesdrop at your own risk . . . |
Jan 14, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XIX – Ethan
(16.84 MB) |
There's no chapter in the Steel Gospel on the apocalypse, but that's
exactly what the street preachers are facing tonight: Their own personal
end of times. As blood and fire threaten to engulf Ethan, his brethren,
and their city, the question isn't whether or not they'll survive to see
the dawn, but whether or not the dawn will come at all. |
Jan 21, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XX – Ferus
(7.62 MB) |
Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes dead wrong. But for the first time
in their storied and bloody careers, Ferus is the one making decisions
for The Feral Twins. His strength has always been their deadliest weapon,
but only when guided by his sister's hand. Tonight, if they're going to
get out alive, Ferus will have to find a new strength... |
Jan 28, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XXI – Sterne
(11.61 MB) |
Tonight, as street preachers poise for war, Rastafarian soldiers pray
for battle, and The Stacks prepare for Judgment Day, Sterne is just trying
to write the end of his novel before The Feral Twins write the end on
him. And it's anybody's guess who'll get the last word . . . |
Feb 4, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XXII – Truck
(11.09 MB) |
Tonight's the night. Truck's sharpening his blade to a razor edge, and
a chance meeting with the reluctant Detective Klimenko has provided the
set-up for him to carve out the revenge he's been chasing after at a 100
miles an hour . . . |
Feb 11, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XXIII – Fera
(11.11 MB) |
Fera's past is written in her own scarred flesh. Tonight, watching her
lifeblood run slowly into the gutters of the Failed Cities, hear that
history recounted by Fera's own mind as she battles the one enemy that
has threatened her for so long like no other: Death . . . |
Feb 18, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XXIV - Constable Klimenko
(6.07 MB) |
What's the difference between being heroism and self-preservation? Just
ask Valeri Klimenko. While the whole city celebrates him as the man who
caught notorious serial killer The Conductor, the constable-turned-detective
sits in his darkened apartment with a glass of scotch, taking solace only
in the fact that he's lived through the week with a few scars and a few
more nightmares... |
Feb 24, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XXV – d'Anger
(8.79 MB) |
A good hustler knows when to get out of town. A good con woman leaves
on their own terms. And a femme fatale does it in style... |
Mar 4, 2007 |
The Failed Cities Monologues XXVI - The Maven
(13.86 MB) |
For street mediators and their watchers, life and death lives in a shot
glass placed over a smashed steel slug. Only one among their ranks can
wrap up the story of the Failed Cities. The Maven is about to have the
last word, and if you've come this far, you owe it to yourself to listen... |
Mar 11, 2007 |
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