The Amazing Quizmo

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

At night, Darren dons his secret identity. He becomes the Amazing Quizmo, the Great God of Answers. He presides over bar trivia contests and no one can beat him. Until a girl appears. A pretty girl. A very pretty girl who just might be smarter than Darren. And for Darren, that just won’t do.

“Rusch’s short fiction is golden.”
—Kansas City Star

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Jul 6, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452373409

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. She publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov's Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award.   

Book preview

The Amazing Quizmo

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Copyright Information

The Amazing Quizmo

Copyright © 2013 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

First published in The North American Review, May-August, 2009.

Published by WMG Publishing

Cover and Layout copyright © 2013 by WMG Publishing

Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing

Cover art copyright © Swinnerrr/Dreamstime

Smashwords Edition

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

The Amazing Quizmo

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Darren works as quizmaster at local bars. He has an empire: five bars rotate his services and one, the Triangle, promotes his appearances heavily. When he works, he is no longer Darren. He is Quizmo The Great God of Answers, and woe to all who doubt his superiority.

In real life, Darren works as a bike messenger, pedaling across Portland to deliver important packages. Usually he leaves his helmet on when he takes a package inside a building, worried that one of his regular quiz participants will see him and realize that the Great God of Answers doesn’t know how to get a Real Job.

The rest of the time, he trolls Internet cafes for esoteric information. He can’t afford an Internet hookup in his two-room apartment (a deluxe studio, the landlord calls it), so he must do his online work elsewhere.

He doesn’t approach anyone. Even when he’s running the quizzes, he doesn’t socialize. Between rounds, he plays music—mostly to annoy—and he rarely leaves the mike stand. When he’s on his bike, he says hello to no one. He delivers his packages and leaves.

This morning’s package goes to a law firm in one of the hoity toity doorman buildings that recently opened in the Pearl. The Pearl used to be the worst section of downtown. Now it’s exclusive, and pretends to be part of a larger city, like New York.

But the Pearl is not New York. Doormen still don’t know how to act. They pretend like their job is important—they half-bow to people coming in, offer to help the residents with baggage, smile at anyone dressed in a