black cord
Black Cord consists of a series of short stories focusing on Marlowe, a seemingly tremulous and pathetic amateur investigator living in the remnants of a decaying city now overrun by various unpleasant individuals, some of whom are human, and most of whom are not.

RATED 16+ for gore, violence, profanity, adult themes, etc.

red night
On the night of the summer solstice, half a mutilated corpse is found in the center square of the decaying city of Verity, accompanied only by a bloodied chess piece. Sensational though this killing is, the city's police force is understaffed and heavily overworked, and doesn't put much time into the case . . . until another killer makes the next move.
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minor characters

DARIEN SLATER
Newest addition to the Verity City Police Force. He's a fumbling newbie whose skill at dealing with child and female witnesses just barely compensates for his ineptness at everything else.

TANIA GOODELL
The chief pathologist at the city morgue, and one of Hale's exes. Fortunately for Hale, Goodell is one of his few exes who doesn't want his head on a silver platter. She'd be happy with just an arm.

DANIEL MURRAY
Police Chief of the Verity City Police Force. Murray was appointed by his grand-uncle, and is terrified that Hale will be promoted to Murray's position; it's just as well that Hale isn't at all ambitious.

MRS. BRADLEY
The kind, grandmotherly old lady who runs the convenience store near Marlowe's flat. She has an odd way of surviving every disaster in the city.

J. ROBERT BERNARD
Senior analyst at the Verity City Crime Lab. No one has ever heard him say anything unrelated to a case; usually he just stares at people until they figure out what he wants.

REO
A mutual friend of Marlowe's and Hale's. She seems to have information about all sorts of things she shouldn't know about, and isn't averse to sharing for a price.

RICHARD HALE
James Hale's estranged father. He's the primary reason that James refuses to leave Verity, in spite of better posts available elsewhere.

CHRISTINA ANDERSON
The current President of the Republic. Anderson's rule is more like that of an absentminded dictator than a democratically elected representative.

?
Marlowe's brother.

world

CITY OF VERITY
The city of Verity is located in the northern part of the Republic, and is generally subject to dismally cold weather, heavier taxes than its thinning population can reasonably sustain, and a criminal underground all out of proportion to the number of prospective victims on the surface. Everyone's convinced that something very fucking strange is going on in Verity, but as it's a border city known largely for the number of transients passing through on their way to better lodgings, the Republic doesn't have much interest in finding out just what that something strange is. Which is just as well. The locals know what interference from the higher-ups looks like, and they're just as happy without it, both lawmen and lawbreakers alike.

CITY OF PROVIDENCE
The city of Providence may well be the only place in the Republic that lives up to its name; in so far as the stories go, it's even more of an earthly paradise than the ill-named city of Eden. Unfortunately, all that anyone knows to go by are stories, as those who enter the city of Providence never again leave it. At least, they don't leave it recognizable as their former selves.

CITY OF FAITH
The city of Faith lies on the coast and has never seen a moment's peace, central base as it is of the Republic's few remaining military forces. Rumor has it that the President of the Republic hides there, but no one really knows. Rumor also has it that there is a particular reason the city of Faith is host to the Republic's fighting forces, and that reason has to do with whatever lies beneath the cliff upon which the city sits.

CITY OF HELLTOWN
The city of Helltown is more than a vast metropolis; it's another world that lies a mere half-step away from reality. All sorts of strange creatures call it home, and humans with nowhere else to go sometimes shelter there — that is, if they know how to get in. In Helltown, things that are lost can be found, things that are dead can be revived, broken hearts replaced, and broken minds melted down and forged again. It's a pleasant enough place, for those who can withstand the madness.

THE GOOD SHIP ARCADIA
The good ship Arcadia's catastrophic landing coincided with the end of the world. Described as a ship of horrors, Arcadia remains nonetheless largely a mystery to the rather reduced global population; all that everyone knows is that the creatures, monstrous and not, that plague the remaining cities all emerged from the intact hull of that enormous ship.