A bit more Red Wedge

I got an email out of the blue last year from the Red Wedge folks telling me they were printing my story. What story? I'd forgotten all about it. This is an excerpt from an unpublished and likely unpublishable novella. The novella itself felt fairly good while I was writing it, it was a dark comedy, my kind of fun.

I sat back (metaphorically) when I finished the first draft and immediately spotted its myriad problems. Long story short: there was no actual lead character in it and no overall story, just a lot of funky chaos. The victims were better drafted and more rounded than the notional detectives. Also, as you will see from the link it was also written in a brisk and simple style that I like but have worked to get away from.

I am relatively pleased with this piece, except for a few of the deeply silly section headings, which I would change if I could. There's also some mysterious, open-ended bits, like why make threats in Esperanto? What on Earth is M386?  These are questions that come from their piece being a part of something bigger, questions that, if I never come back to this, you will never learn the answer to.

Such is life, it's fast, it's funny, it's apposite and hipsters die at the end, enjoy: The Rise, Fall and Disapparation of Rupert Atwell.