Plato's Cave (2.4)

By Brian Craddock

Another tale in the Refuge Collection, Plato’s Cave can be read standalone but may be best enjoyed after The Thief's Tale.
When the Mayor’s bodyguard, Marty Hayseed calls into Refuge's notorious Blue Frog Tavern, our narrator knows that trouble looms and attempts to flee unseen. There's no deceiving Marty, though, and an abduction and drive into the countryside is going to lead to disaster. Plato’s Cave explores the themes of identity, change, perception and relationships gone sour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Craddock
• Release date: Dec 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310071577

Brian Craddock

Brian Craddock is the author of Eucalyptus Goth (Oscillate Wildly Press, 2017). The Dalziel Files (Broken Puppet Books, 2018) is his first collection of short stories, many of which were originally published in Steve Dillon's Things in the Well anthologies (Between the Tracks, Below the Stairs, Behind the Mask, Beneath the Waves).He is also published in Midian Unmade: Tales of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (Tor Books, 2015), and Book of the Tribes: a Tribute to Clive Barker's Nightbreed (OzHorrorCon, 2013). His essay on Clive Barker appears in The Body Horror Book (Oscillate Wildly Press, 2017).Brian has also written for the puppet webseries The Hobble & Snitch Show (2015/2016), wherein he directed and performed.In the late 1990s, under the pseudonym Dakanavar, Brian Craddock wrote and illustrated eleven underground comics centred on the Goth subculture in Australia (respectively titled "Crimson: Riot Goth" at 7 issues, "Grave Company", "Caduceus", "Dead/Dead", and "Alida: The Reluctant Goth"), and contributed to several zines and small-press publications.

Book preview

Plato’s

Cave

Part of The Refuge Collection

by Brian Craddock

Copyright 2015 Brian Craddock

Published by Steve Dillon at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favourite retailer and purchase your own copy.

Acknowledgements

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author,

the artist, its contributors and publishers

Thanks most of all to the Sanctuary Australia Foundation for the great work in support of real-life

refugees escaping real-life horrors.

http://www.sanctuaryaustraliafoundation.org.au

This Version April 24th, 2016

Prologue

There is a (fictitious?) town called Refuge, unlike any other, yet like so many. The people of Refuge have stories to make your hair curl. Oh, and they are hungry to share their stories with you.

If you enjoyed this, and to find out more about the Mayor, the Priest and all the other lovely people and places of Refuge, please read the others which you can download here.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/22669

All author (and publisher) profits go to charity:

https://www.givenow.com.au/sanctuaryrefugeefoundation

Plato’s Cave

by Brian Craddock

When I get inside The Frog, I see the boys over at a booth and head up to the bar to grab a pint. O’Donnelly the owner is in, and as he pours me one he tells me that the mayor’s bodyguard, Big Marty, has been looking for me.

He was in earlier, he says, the head spilling over and onto his hand, not that he seems to notice. Looked a bit peeved, if you ask me.

I didn’t ask, but it’s good to know all the same. My mind is racing as I cross over to the boys, and my eyes skim the joint, just to make sure Marty’s not sitting in the shadows with that wolf’s grin on his mug. I slide into the booth and there’s a round of nods. I tilt my head in