Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth: A Rucksack Universe Story: Rucksack Universe

By Anthony St. Clair

She knows what he will ask, but not how she will answer.

 

A bird poops on a blue dragon.

A gleaming white Tiger Pagoda stretches high above a city of bamboo scaffolding.

The moment Jade steps into Hong Kong's otherworldly Aw Boon Haw Garden, she knows she approaches a crossroads of her life. What love will the lifelong wanderer choose: the man, the road… or something else? If only Jade had gotten that extra cup of coffee to help her decide.

 

"Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth" is a companion short story to the 2013 Rucksack Universe book The Martini of Destiny. As we journey through the mind and heart of the hero of 2014's Forever the Road and 2019's Cloud Fortress, Jade reminds us that how we live our love is not always what we expect.

 

The Rucksack Universe series combines alternate history, speculative fiction, myth, adventure, globetrotting, and intrigue—all with well-poured pints of beer. Library Journal says Anthony St. Clair's storytelling has "universe building reminiscent of Terry Pratchett," and readers say they love the Rucksack Universe's unique combination of "quirk, wit, travel, and magic."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony St. Clair
• Release date: Jun 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781940119410

Anthony St. Clair

Anthony St. Clair creates compelling fiction and non-fiction for a curious world full of everyday discoveries, endeavors, and surprises. He is the author of the ongoing Rucksack Universe series; covers craft beer, food, business, and more for various publications; and is a copywriter and content manager for select clients. When not at his desk or in his kitchen in Oregon, Anthony is on an adventure with his wife, son, and daughter.

Book preview

Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth

Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth

A Rucksack Universe Story

Anthony St. Clair

Rucksack Press

Contents

Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth

Thank You for Reading

Become a Wanderer

Also by Anthony St. Clair

Acknowledgments

Special Features

Sneak Peek

About the Author

Hong Kong’s Aw Boon Haw Garden is the most beautiful thing: legend made real. Love begins here. Hope transforms here. But among the statues of dragons and demons, take care that when you find the dreams hidden in the gardens, you do not in the process lose yourself.

– Guru Deep, Hong Kong Through the Third Eye

Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth

Grinning with eyes wide, Jade stepped through the red, curved, narrow archway, and the long blue dragon stared her down. Her own blue-eyed gaze gleamed back, nearly as bright as the azure scales on the wall opposite the archway. The dragon’s sinuous, serpentine body gleamed in the afternoon sun. Already the wet heat in the air seemed to become drier, as if some unseen heat was blazing from the dragon.

Little birds flew overhead. One of the birds must have been rather full—a large white drop zipped through the air from the bird’s arse to the top of the dragon’s head.

In other circumstances, the fires of retribution would have been fierce and angry. The flames first would have burned the trees and melted the rocks in the center of the courtyard. Then the entire Aw Boon Haw Garden would have been melted into slag, orange and gray, black and red. The offending little bird likely would have been flamed so badly, even its ash would have burned.

Jade chuckled. Thank goodness the dragon was concrete.

Following the instructions in the note Declan had left her, she descended with light steps into a concrete world of myth. Over her simple black pants, her long purple tunic-style shirt flowed with her movements—and gave a little relief from the city’s