Fat Squirrel Publishing

Lawson Brewer glanced at his radar unit and shifted down into third. His green XJ220 Jaguar responded by leaping forward on IH 37 between Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Power poles began flipping backwards as his the speedometer crept up past 162 kilometers per hour—nearly a hundred miles per hour, Lawson estimated. He shifted into [...]

Read the full story

The more Florence Duvan thought about the stranger who was interested in appraisal values, the more curious she became. He hadn’t mentioned his full name—just introduced himself as Cabot, which she assumed was his last name. She mentioned her curiosity to Mildred, the owner of the pie shop across the street. “Everybody is asking me [...]

Read the full story

Walfer Falls, a medium sized town west of Fort Worth, sat on top of the largest gas field ever discovered. A couple of engineers and one drilling superintendent were privy to this information, and they were sworn to secrecy with hints of the kinds of unfortunate things that would happen to them and their family [...]

Read the full story

Napoleon and Darwin had stopped in Langtry early in the morning. They picked up some beer and dried sausages while they talked with the locals about heading towards Del Rio. They discussed what fish would be biting, and what insects would be the best bait in April. How much water was there along the Pecos? [...]

Read the full story

Chandler passed through the kitchen on the way to unlock the back door. He was in his boxer shorts and an oversized t-shirt. At 6:00 A.M., dawn had begun filling the back yard with its pearly essence. He opened the door and stuck his head outside, filling his lungs with the October air. A few [...]

Read the full story

Decker Curie, the Austin lobbyist, had agreed to meet Steve Malinco one last time. Steve represented a drug company that wanted exclusive access to some state-run foster programs. They claimed to have a pill for ADD in children. Curie wasn’t having any of it. She had a “tough but fair” reputation as a lobbyist. She [...]

Read the full story

Curiosity had often drawn Carson Rachild into unusual situations. Like now, she reflected, remembering the conversation with Chandler Thornton and Napoleon Forest. “If you’re going to be out counting coyotes, see if you can learn something about what’s going on with Craig Schumflatt,” Chandler had said. “We heard he was having an important powwow of [...]

Read the full story

Ash Stringman suppressed his annoyance and walked on the court where Bam Schlammer stood waving his tennis racket like a Scottish Claymore at his opponent across the net. “That ball was clearly in,” Bam yelled in an outraged voice. Two women practicing on the next court finished their volley and decided to take a break, curious [...]

Read the full story

Lark was from Adelaide, South Australia. As a result, she occasionally lapsed into a slight Scottish accent. She could trace her family’s heritage all the way back to the original settlement which was in the same time frame as the emergence of Texas. Maybe that was part of the reason that she felt so much at [...]

Read the full story

Cory Masters returned the call from his Mazda MX-5 at 7:57 P.M, just as he was crossing the river on South Congress on his way home. The message had said that Chandler was relaying the message that he, Julia, and Napoleon had received the information on Schumflatt from Napoleon’s contact. “It’s dynamite, if you can confirm [...]

Read the full story