Tom Lichtenberg, Secret Sidewalk, Pigeon Weather Press, 2009.
read it here or here
Tom's website: www.pigeonweather.com
Secret Sidewalk is a kind of '1001 Nights' as told by a boy to his younger brother in the hopes of getting him to sleep on one very hot night. Among the tales it contains is the legend of Beauregaard Sweet, who became invisible, but whose troubles began when he suddenly reappeared. Then everybody wanted something from him. Manny the mechanic wanted his wife. Would-be cult leader Sharad LeMaster wanted his secret. Nosy neighbor Emma Biggs wanted another shot at the TV news, and the Four Tribes wanted to send him back to wherever it was he’d gone, and all he wanted to do was eat donuts and watch reality TV. Book Two of the Secret Trilogy
This is a strange story. It starts when a younger brother can't sleep and has the older brother take him to the secret sidewalk behind some bushes near the marina where they live with their mother. As I'm sure it is suppose to be, it is difficult to tell whether this is a real world in a fantasy story or a fantasy world imagined by the older brother to entertain the younger one. There are some interesting characters and stories in the secret world by the secret sidewalk. It was an entertaining story with flying people, invisible people, criminals, and even some sex. There were tribes that each had a specific job that in turn gave them superpowers. (For example, the Compost People can turn anything into super rich dirt, the Hosers have the power of tidiness and can compress themselves into tiny packages that fit into soda cans or other small containers, and the Mountaineers, have the power of magnetism so that they can make anyone do anything and are the most powerful of all the tribes.) Strange but entertaining and appealing in an odd way. - amazon.com review
"Author of curiously engaging novellas. His stories are not driven by action but by mood and metaphysics. His premises often begin with fairly standard, often vaguely science-fiction concepts, but he spins those concepts out into melancholy, thoughtful tales in which he explores the emotion and (often) dislocation that people feel when confronted by something outside their normal experience." - Devon Kappa
free books by this author:
The three short novels comprising The Secret Trilogy share characters, plots and locales across different genres: a mystery (Squatter with a Lexus) , an urban fantasy (Secret Sidewalk), and a ghost story (Hidden Highway). A secret thread runs through the set, defying the reader to sniff it out. In the end, who can run away from that which never pursues?
This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.
This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.
Squatter with a Lexus
Secret Sidewalk
Hidden Highway
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