This strange noir mystery short story may have only been released as a solo ebook in November 2019, but this story actually has quite a history. This story was entered into a competition back in 2012 with a publisher who is no longer active. It came in as a semi-finalist, the first award I ever received for my writing. It was ultimately published twice by them in two editions. Once as part of the anthology, RealLies, which you still might be able to find in print somewhere. Then again as a standalone story. I almost ended up having a novel of mine published with them, but then negotiations fell apart and ultimately the publisher closed its doors.

Long story short, the rights came back to me. For the longest time I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. At almost 10,000 words, it was too long to really submit to most short story calls and it was far too unique to really fit into an anthology of my own work. Trolls that change form, a film noir style, and a hard boiled detective story surrounded with sarcasm and a dry sense of humor, it had a hard time fitting in anywhere.

Then in November 2019, I got curious about independent publishing. I was sad that this weird and funny story was gathering dust on my computer and I didn’t like that I associated it with its previous publisher. It needed a new place to call home but was far too strange to fit in anywhere. So I decided to self publish it.

Now I’m happy to announce that it is available in AI audiobook format, free to listen to in its entirety on Youtube. For the first time in ten years, it’s available in an audiobook format.

Rest assured, it’s still a strange and has a very dry sense of humor, but I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I hope you’ll take an hour and give it a listen, if you’re okay with trolls speaking with an AI voice!