"Titanshade"

Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on his travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim, as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller.

Stout applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Titanshade, and reported the following:

On page 69 of Titanshade, Carter and his new partner talk about fashion, conspicuous wealth, the smells of a big city, and corrupt authority figures. So all in all, I’d say it’s a nice encapsulation of the book.

There’s one line in particular I’d like to look at:

“The city’s a strange place,” I said. “Lots of people, lots of secrets. Learn how it operates and it’ll open right up to you.”

This is not only a bit of advice from a grizzled veteran to a newcomer, it’s a statement about what it’s like to serve and protect a community when you view yourself as an outsider. Part of the reason that Carter can be objective during his investigations is that he isn’t quite part of the populace he’s trying to defend. For him, this distance is both burden and asset.

Visit Dan Stout's website.

My Book, The Movie: Titanshade.

Writers Read: Dan Stout.

--Marshal Zeringue