Nobuddies

A new day broke with retina-searing, kitschy rouge over the mountain ranges of the Grand Abyss State and put an end to a long, messed-up night. On the western side of Lake Meade's turquoise divide, high up, parked on the pullout of a thin dogleg of thready asphalt, levitated Karla's dark knight in contemplation of his shortcomings. The Phenome Man, Spirit Snuffer, Eraser Boy, and Soul Snatcher: the self-proclaimed incarnate manifestation of Bardo, known to the Nobuddies as Zootster, Zooty-Fruity, or simply Zoot.
Shielded from the onslaught of dry-freezing killer gusts behind the protective body of his mechanical soul mate, 'Love Bug,' a 1965 VW camper hippie time capsule, Zoot thawed in the first warming solar rays and soaked up the show: It was Wall Street Wonder Boy Sebastian Bigsby, fighting to escape primordial grandeur, first upright walking, finally on all fours, slipping and sliding on loose gravel. Zoot grimaced, then grinned. He had to give it to the guy: he sure was tenacious.
Panting like he meant it, Bigsby finally clawed his way up onto the security of the parchment of asphalt, immediately got his footing, and stood tall. His clean-shaven mask was peeled away by the desert like an old scab; his forty-something years had at least doubled and oozed right into Zoot's face.
Zoot mumbled: "Good morning, sir."
But Bigsby didn't reward this attempt at civility. He barked: "I've got to talk to the sheriff."
(Excerpt from somewhere in the middle of this swirling, multi-directional noir tale)

About the Author:
A.K. Kossak is an explorer of America's noir canyons, caves, and crevices. Inspired by the anarchic irreverence he encountered, he wrote Nobuddies, an edgy crime thriller propelled by characters who operate under the premise that they will always get away with murder.