Smashwords — Laughing Boy's Shadow — A book by Steven Savile

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Laughing Boy's Shadow

Fiction » Horror » General

By Steven Savile
Published by Crossroad Press
Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: May 07, 2010
Words: 89303 (approximate)
Language: English

Short description

“Your problem, city, is that you have no soul. Declan Shea learns the depth of this lie through a series of brutal events, as systematically, an evil as old as the city itself strips him of every last shred of hope and humanity. A road accident, a bag lady, a bird man, renegades from L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz, all of these nightmares converge in one horrific moment under a dark bridge.

Extended description

My name is Declan Shea.

I never thought I was monster.

My life changed overnight. I was driving home from a gig when a tramp stepped out in front of my car. I killed him. I know I did. But no-one believed me. The medical staff at the hospital insisted he was the result of some sort of hallucination because trauma sustained during the accident. I tried to convince them otherwise, but the more I protested, the more obvious it became to them that I had damaged more than just my ribs in the crash, so I started to lie to keep them happy. I pretended he wasn't there. But he was. He was everywhere.... (Read more) My name is Declan Shea.

I never thought I was monster.

My life changed overnight. I was driving home from a gig when a tramp stepped out in front of my car. I killed him. I know I did. But no-one believed me. The medical staff at the hospital insisted he was the result of some sort of hallucination because trauma sustained during the accident. I tried to convince them otherwise, but the more I protested, the more obvious it became to them that I had damaged more than just my ribs in the crash, so I started to lie to keep them happy. I pretended he wasn't there. But he was. He was everywhere.

And he was determined to destroy my life and take away everything I loved in revenge.

How do you fight a monster no-one else can see?

This is what he reduced my life to. I am stopped being Declan Shea that night and became someone else entirely. I became a monster.

Laughing Boy's Shadow, International bestselling author Steven Savile's debut novel is a document humane charting the descent of an ordinary man into a murky world of very human monsters, grief and madness as he wrestles to come to terms with who he is and just what he is capable of in the name of love. Published in the US, Sweden and recently sold to Germany, this is Laughing Boy's Shadow's first appearance in Savile's native land.

"A story about Death written by a man who has clearly consorted with devils.” -- T.M. Wright, author of A Manhattan Ghost Story

"A raw, gritty novel: part social commentary, part philosophy, part fantasy. Savile handles his episodes of graphic violence skillfully, eschewing cliches and shock tactics in favor of understated, detached narration, and the result is a genuinely chilling portrait of total alienation. Savile's novel is original, smart, and well-written; his disturbing images and bleak prose and both thought-provoking and genuinely unsettling." -- Rue Morgue

"The tale is compelling. The protagonist Declan Shea’s transformational journey through the underground; his confrontation with the marvellously named Crohak and the Rookery; the iconic imagery cheerfully interwoven with allusions cribbed from L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll and Joseph Campbell make for a dark intriguing sojourn through a mythic urban landscape of bewildering wonderment." -- Fear Zone
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