Tag: Bryon Quertermous

I Need a Lover

Friday and yet another work-from-home day blog. I have a department meeting this morning, and a team meeting–all before a doctor’s appointment this morning. I was thinking about attending the Crooked Lane party tonight at Bouchercon, but we’re going to see how I feel later on…whether I do want to go down there or not. Scrolling through my Facebook feed did not give me FOMO yesterday or the day before at all, either.

I am exhausted this morning. I had dinner and wonderful conversation with a friend before Noir at the Bar, and we had an enormous crowd–so much so that I kind of got overwhelmed and nervous when we got started. After that, I had a weird Lyft experience, in which my ride got canceled while I was in the car, and had to get out and start over again. This happened right in front of the conference hotel, so I thought, what the hell and went into the bar to hang out with my Queer Crime Writers gang. I also ran into some other people I really like (and Bryon Quertermous), which was also kind of nice. But that second wind didn’t last very long, and then I summoned another ride and headed home, exhausted, and didn’t get to bed until almost one–waaaaaay past my bedtime. I was surprised I lasted that long, honestly, but this morning I am exhausted, my hips and ankles ache, and while my brain is alert, my body is most definitely not. I was planning on going to the Crooked Lane party this evening, and possibly the Underrepresented Writers event, but it will absolutely depend on how I feel. I am not going to exhaust myself, and risk another relapse.

So, I have some things to get done today for work and I have a follow-up appointment with my primary care doctor. Nothing to worry about, it’s just the half-year annual check-up, and of course, discussing how I’m doing since the hospital stay. Outside of the fatigue and running out of energy so regularly, I am doing quite well. My gastro system hasn’t been an issue since I checked out of the hospital, and Monday is when I am getting my first injection (and learning how to do it myself). I don’t know how that is going to effect me, either; but I don’t think it will take me a full week to recover from them since they aren’t as intense as the infusions were.

The coffee is starting to kick in, but my legs are still tired and achy. But it’s an improvement, and huzzah for that! Hopefully being able to sleep in tomorrow (as late as Sparky will let me) will knock the fatigue out and put it to rest for awhile. Ha, I spoke too soon. As I got up to get more coffee just now, my legs had stiffened up! The joys of getting older, I guess. Heavy heaving sigh. But the weather has been exceptionally nice for Bouchercon; almost like Mother Nature is making up for the one Hurricane Ida (bitch) canceled in 2022.

And on that note, I should probably head into the spice mines and start working. Have a lovely and marvelous Friday, Constant Reader, and I’ll be back in the morning.

Mercenary

As I have said before, reading Murder-a-Go-Go’s indirectly led me to Spotify, which led me to rediscovering the magic of the Go-Go’s again after many years, and then led me on to rediscovering other 80’s music I loved, like the Cars and, just Friday, Josie Cotton. Josie Cotton is probably best known for her her cover of the Go-Go’s “Johnny Are You Queer?” (which could never be released or recorded today, but at the time was kind of in-your-face and cool) as well as fronting the band playing the prom at the end of the terrific teen movie Valley Girl (which also should have been a much bigger hit than it was; but calling it Valley Girl was an attempt to cash-in on Moon Zappa’s novelty hit “Valley Girl”, but the movie was actually so much better than that; it was one of my favorite teen movies of the 1980’s and also starred a very young and beautiful Nicolas Cage in what may have been his first starring role). I was listening to two of her albums Friday night and yesterday (Convertible Music and From the Hip) and marveling that she wasn’t a bigger star than she was; she certainly had fun, upbeat music with lyrics that bit down hard, and she also had a terrific sense of personal style that should have caught on in the age of Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.

Go figure.

Which leads me to the next story in Murder-a-Go-Go’s, Bryon Quertermous’ “Mercenary.”

cover-west-murder-go-gos-front

“They asked for my dental records,” Lodi Meyers said, “so they can identify my body if he kills me.”

Andre Taylor sat across from her at a diner on the outskirts of downtown Detroit. “You really want to talk about this now? With me?”

“I don’t have any other options,” she said, tears giving way to an angry flush across her cheeks. “They’re putting together this moronic safety plan for me while insisting there’s not enough evidence to keep him in prison.”

Andre flexed the fingers of his beefy, gnarled hands and picked up his coffee cup without taking a drink. The bleached white of the cup contrasted with the dark black skin of his hands, which were shaking enough to splash a bit of the freshly poured coffee onto the table.

“I’m really not the person you should be talking to about this.”

Lodi reached her hand across the table and clutched Andre’s wrist. “That’s exactly why we’re talking.”

Andre put his coffee cup down and stood up. “This was a mistake.”

Lodi grabbed his wrist again, this time more aggressively. “There’s a reason you showed up even though this is a terrible idea. You want to make sure I haven’t told any- one what you did.”

Bryon Quertermous has published two novels–Murder Boy and Riot Load–which are kind of hard to classify. They’re noir and hard-boiled, but there’s a twisted, slightly demented sense of humor about them that reminds me of Victor Gischler’s work (which you should also read).

“Mercenary” is a terrific tale, built around two people–a woman and a man–who are tied together by the weirdest connection (saying anything more would be spoilerish); she’s a former pain clinic manager and he’s a bail bondsman. Her husband is about to be released on bail–and plans to kill her. The rest of the tale, as she tries to convince the bail bondsman to help save her life, plays out as we find out more about their connection, why the husband is in jail, and see just how far Lodi is willing to go to protect herself and her daughter–who is in a coma. There’s a lot here, and Quertermous tells his story sparingly and carefully, with fewer words than most would have used, and yet I can’t help but feel there’s even more to be mined here; this easily could have been a novel. Instead, it’s an enormously satisfying dark tale with a sardonic sense of humor that was quite fun to read.