The Loose Meat Sandwich King of Hamtramck
Terry Starko is hoping to change his luck by heading to, of all places, Detroit. In the hometown he’d escaped years ago is a promising job interview. Until nine months ago, Terry had the American Dream in his back pocket: the picket-fenced house, wife, kids and career, mostly due to a series of fortunate misunderstandings. Then an outsourced job and an unpaid mortgage threaten to snatch all that away. This new job just might banish the bill collectors and put the brakes on a looming divorce.
Plans to nail the interview get shoved to the back burner as soon as Terry hits Detroit. Everybody is looking for him as if he’d never left town, from his hot new step-mother to some shady characters from the Greek Restaurant Owners Association. It’s all connected to the best friend Terry didn’t know he had, a guy who sells Chernobyl Tonic Water to old babushka ladies, and who had once started a street gang war over bootleg Colorado beer. Oh, and that best friend was just found dead under suspicious circumstances. It looks like Terry might end up either in a coffin next to his best friend, or as the new Loose Meat Sandwich King of Hamtramck. Which way it goes depends on the confluence of high school basketball, a stripper running for election to the city council, and a crook who’s working to fix Detroit, one coffee shop at a time. It’s a fun, nostalgic adventure in a town where garage bands compose songs about Richard Nixon based on the Ukrainian national anthem. And finally, it answers the long-pondered question, “What is a loose meat sandwich, anyway?”
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Take a sneak peek of the Kindle version.
My favorite part of this animated commercial is the deadpan narration.
THOSE WHO TRESPASS
The Homeless Detective and his Homeless Dog
Sure, Batman and Ellery Queen can solve crimes. They’re filthy rich, with more resources than a big city police department. But what if you’re the main suspect in your friend’s murder, and you live on the streets? No job, no home, no good name to clear even if you find the real killer. The only thing Wayne hasn’t lost is his sense of justice.
Wayne Parsons is invisible. At least that’s how the regular citizens of Babcock Grove act when they pass him on the street. He isn’t unemployed. He has a job for every day of the month. They just don’t add up to one real paycheck. He isn’t homeless; there are seven different places he can bed down for the night. Just none he can call his own. Wayne is always making plans that come up just short. Maybe it’s his criminal record, maybe it’s the result of ancient geological forces, but he can’t catch a break. But Wayne has a New Plan to end his years on the streets. He’s found the perfect house to move into. Except for one thing: the owner’s corpse inside. Now he’s become all too visible. The cops need a convenient suspect, and the killer is coming back to tie up loose ends. Wayne has to use all his street smarts to solve the mystery, and to finally find a place he can call home.
Buy Those Who Trespass on amazon.com.
Get a sneak peak at the Kindle e-book of Those Who Trespass
The Shepherds’ War
Judge it by its cover
The Shepherds’ War is worth the price of the cover alone — a masterpiece of clean, intriguing design by Zenon Tomyn. Wait until you see those eyes full size the first time you open that Amazon box.
Then jump inside
In The Loose Meat Sandwich King of Hamtramck,Tony fascinated you with the story of a man whose life improved after having his identity stolen. Next he showed you a glimpse of suburban life that has nothing to do with manicured lawns and shopping malls, the adventure of Wayne Parsons, the Homeless Detective, in Those Who Trespass. Now he presents The Shepherds’ War.
Noah can’t read. He doesn’t speak and can barely tie his own shoes. But he is descended from a clan with an unusually powerful talent for herding animals – flocks of sheep, packs of dogs, swarms of starlings. Some think it to be more than talent. They suspect an unnatural power over the collective mind of the herd. In 1968, 12-year-old Noah has fallen under the control of Victor Kazlov, a Soviet agent whose goal is nothing less than the collapse of the US government. Protests over civil rights and the Vietnam War are already mushrooming in every major city. What will happen if Kazlov can use Noah’s talent to steer the protesters toward increasing violence?
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The Shepherds’ War Large Print edition
The Large Print Edition of The Shepherds’ War is now available on amazon.com. Be careful when you click — it has the same title and cover art so you might order the standard one. Make sure it says
The Shepherds’ War: Large Print Edition
A fan asked if there was a Large Print edition so her father, whose eyesight has faded with the years, could enjoy it himself. That got me thinking, and it turns out Amazon can print a Large Print edition for the same low, low price!
It was formatted to the standard of NAVH (National Association for the Visually Handicapped), the same one used for Large Print editions of Stephen King’s books. (I don’t copy his ideas — but his formats are pretty much the industry standard.)
The Finder
Spencer and Noah Return
In the long-awaited sequel to The Shepherds’ War, Noah and Spencer are all grown up. As grown up as a college student in the early 1980’s, anyway.
They survived the turbulent 1960’s. Even with their special calling to save the world using their Leksoti powers, they still have trouble solving the problems of finishing school, starting a career, and maybe discovering true love. Along the way, Spencer and Noah start a business finding lost pets, help to invent the Internet, save hostages from Iranian extremists, and, during spring break, topple the Soviet Union.
“Heartbreaking, heart-stopping, and full of hearty laughs. I loved Henchman #2!”
– pre-release review, Tony Zychal, Downers Grove Literary Journal, Jan 2018
