Paid Story
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]
- Author's Note
- Prologue
- A Love Poem
- 1. Bone Love
- 2. Washing Up In The Afterlife
- 3. The Huntsman
- 4a. Midnight Market - Part I
- 4b. Midnight Market - Part II
- 5. Mid-Death Crisis
- 6. Journey to the DPRS
- 7. The Lobby
- 8. The Overseer
- 9. Beneath The Trees, Where Nobody Sees
- 10. Basement Zoo
- 11. A Boy Named Sue
- 12. The Blind Monk
- 13. The Story Collector
- 14. The Radical Notion
- 15. Close Quarters
- 16. The Dead Sea
- 17. Splinters of Wood and Bone
- 18. The World of Dust
- 19. Aftermath
- 20. The Truth
- 21. Sky Ladder
- 22. The Gatekeeper
- 23. Bernie
- 24. A New Beginning
- Acknowledgments