MichaelSpearwater writer

A Wager for Wanderlust by Michael Spearwater

Travel might broaden the soul, but Ollover Sterkey'd had enough of that during his time in the army. Now that the War was five years past and the world knew peace, he was looking to find some peace of his own. Gainful employment as a valet to a minor peer seemed the next step towards that goal. Amadeo Brume, Ollover's new employer, had passion and plans, but was fast running short on time. With his troth pledged and his wedding to be in three months, he latched onto the perfect excuse for one last grand adventure, so far around the curve of the globe that they would arrive home in time for church bells. And so, Ollover was obliged to follow Brume across continents and oceans, through boudoirs and brew houses, all the while meeting new and strangely friendly people. For, like it or not, his employer's peculiar proclivities set the tone for an adventure the likes of which a humble valet might never have imagined. Fair Warning: This is a self-indulgent conceit of a novel, a fantasy imagining of Around the World in Eighty Days set in a post-bellum era and with a bon-vivant libertine of a protagonist who's ready to charm and seduce his way across three continents and a couple of oceans. And he does, frequently and enthusiastically. Ollover has his work as a valet cut out for him. Perhaps it will all end happily for them both.

Monsters Among Us : Teenage Wasteland by Michael Spearwater

The town of Alder, ID, is slowly being infiltrated by strangely amorphous little creatures that make use of any objects they come across to disguise themselves in plain sight. Two high-school burnout cases, JB and Regina, find this out by accident, capturing a monster in the shape of a trash can and bringing it home to film for hopeful internet celebrity. It's all fun and games until someone gets eaten. As the two of them work to flush out and eliminate the surprise menace, the more apparent it becomes that they can't trust anything they see. Even as they and their friends fight to understand and contain the sudden plague of bloodthirsty bric-a-brac, the creatures are growing larger and more coordinated as well. Thank goodness they're still dumb as balls, but that doesn't help when your attention slips at a critical moment and a toaster tries to take your hand off.

The Sin of Tantalus by Michael Spearwater

Not so long ago in the recent past, a company developed an artificial pheromone that improved the taste of otherwise low-quality beef or pork: Tantalus. To improve results, and thus sales, they decided to find a way to vector it directly into meat animals as a metabolic product. In hindsight, this was a really bad idea, but that didn't stop someone from spreading the vector as widely as possible. In the present, the country is currently on its fifth wave of Tantalus-related infections in as many years. As a primary side effect, an unlucky handful of consumers with the wrong genetic predisposition develop a savory scent that proves too tempting for many of their uninfected peers. The government has had to step in to ensure that fewer cannibalistic murders occur after the disastrous first wave, but the treatments are palliative at best, and much of the related legislation seems to be written by people who don't necessarily care about the victims of the situation. The population at large doesn't mind as long as there's more savory bacon and steak to eat. The story follows an infected teenager named Martin Gallegas as he tries to lead a normal life within the safety restrictions designed to help keep him alive, and so far he's managed to stay ahead of the curve. At the suggestion of a friend, he takes up video-blogging, sharing some of his experiences in the hopes that someone somewhere might benefit from it. Martin is living out his own personal dystopia in a world where he's the most delicious thing around, and there's no shortage of folk who want him on the menu. All he's got is a camera and an audience. The apocalypse will be livestreamed.