Funeral Hats: The Lombard Alchemist Tales, #5

By J. Daniel Sawyer

Alliston Hayes loved three things: getting married, hats, and the late Jac Jarger. So when she got the chance to combine the three with the help of a demon-possessed cat and an ancient book, how could she pass it up? 
How could she know that her enthusiasm would result in "The Incident"?

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Daniel Sawyer
• Release date: Nov 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540137715

J. Daniel Sawyer

WHILE STAR WARS and STAR TREK seeded J. Daniel Sawyer's passion for the unknown, his childhood in academia gave him a deep love of history and an obsession with how the future emerges from the past. This obsession led him through adventures in the film industry, the music industry, venture capital firms in the startup culture of Silicon Valley, and a career creating novels and audiobooks exploring the worlds that assemble themselves in his head. His travels with bohemians, burners, historians, theologians, and inventors led him eventually to a rural exile where he uses the quiet to write, walk on the beach, and manage a pair of production companies that bring innovative stories to the ears of audiences across the world. For stories, contact info, podcasts, and more, visit his home page at http://www.jdsawyer.net

Book preview

Funeral Hats

A Lombard Alchemist Tale

J. Daniel Sawyer

AWP Fantasy

A division of ArtisticWhispers Productions, Inc.

© 2015 J. Daniel Sawyer

All Rights Reserved

Book Design by ArtisticWhispers

Cover art © 2016 ArtisticWhispers Productions, Inc.

Campo12Foto 2 © 2009 Jorge.kike.medina, released under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

This file is licensed for private individual entertainment only. The book contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into an information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photographic, audio recording, or otherwise) for any reason (excepting the uses permitted to the licensee by copyright law under terms of fair use) without the specific written permission of the author.

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For free fiction, podcasts, contact information and more, check out his home page at http://www.jdsawyer.net

Funeral Hats

A Lombard Alchemist Tale

J. Daniel Sawyer

Funeral Hats

A Lombard Alchemist Tale

J. Daniel Sawyer

IT WAS ALISTON HAYES'S considered opinion that there were very few occasions that the right hat could not improve. Hats added a sense of festiveness to any occasion, even if the occasion was solemn. Once in high school someone had explained to her the appeal of cocaine by saying to her: It intensifies the stuff that's already going on.

Hats were like that.

For birthday parties, hats made people silly. At weddings, they made people serious. In action movies, they made people dashing.

If you had asked Ms. Hayes to try her best to imagine an occasion or activity that might not be improved by the judicious application of well-chosen head wear, she would not have been able to name one.

This was unfortunate for her, as she did not anticipate that Jac Jarger's funeral would be one such occasion—an error in judgment that led,