To Find the Man in Black, First Find His Tailor: A Rucksack Universe Story: Rucksack Universe

By Anthony St. Clair

Finally. Proof.

 

In the Mexico City night, the cops freed the prisoners and locked up their torturers. Nearby, the reporter picked up a torn scrap of fabric.

 

What looks like plain black silk turns out to be covered in subtle yet intricate patterns.

 

The very tongue of life, rendered in thread.

 

Something small. Torn from something larger. World-renowned roving journalist BS Trotter knows that little clues add up to big revelations.

 

And she knows the scrap in her hand could be the first piece in a puzzle unsolved for thousands of years.

 

Such a shame she has to give it up.

 

Could anything be more fantastical than a reporter of impeccable character and unlimited resources? If you like sharp-tongued women heroes and short stories with a smooth twist, get ready to bundle up with "To Find the Man in Black, First Find His Tailor."

 

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: Rucksack Press
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781940119625

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

To Find the Man in Black, First Find His Tailor

To Find the Man in Black, First Find His Tailor

A Rucksack Universe Story

Anthony St. Clair

Rucksack Press

Contents

To Find the Man in Black, First Find His Tailor

Thank You for Reading

Become a Wanderer

Also by Anthony St. Clair

Acknowledgments

Special Features

Sneak Peek

About the Author

Sometimes shadow operations are the only way to dispel the shadows obscuring the truth about the world.

—Guru Deep, Travels Through the Third Eye

To Find the Man in Black, First Find His Tailor

More horses clip-clopped by in the Mexico City night, snorting out little clouds into the chill night air as they pulled their various enclosed wagons behind them. There were a few boxy cars too, black and clunky and snorting out their exhaust. The horses looked better, but BS Trotter couldn’t deny how much nicer it was to ride in something that didn’t occasionally plop out its breakfast in front of you.

A patch of night, ripped from the sky—that’s what the scrap of black silk, ragged at the torn edges, reminded her of. Three or so inches square, the silk was blacker than the fallen night, and in the pale, warm, brown palm of her hand seemed to glow with a soft light.

BS Trotter held the fabric out at arm’s length. The silk was so plain. At a distance your eye could slide right past it. Whatever the larger piece it had been torn from, BS Trotter wondered if it had been worn by a person who was hardly ever seen. Someone who could slip through the world unnoticed, as long as being unnoticed was the intent.

And yet.

In front of BS Trotter, beyond the yellow rope stretched around the warehouse’s perimeter, tied to the big bright lights, beyond the dozens of police officers yelling and bustling, beyond the dozens of people with their hands behind their backs and the hundreds of people, wrapped in blankets, with scared yet relieved eyes that seemed to think they might never see the outside world again—beyond all that, the smoke rising from the low building was finally fading now. The fire hadn’t been very big, as far as BS Trotter could tell so far, but it had been big enough to make everybody get out. The question was, how had the fire been set? Had it been an accident? Or if intentional, what was the intent?

BS Trotter glanced from the fabric to the massive scene all around. All the people who were out—and the bad ones wearing shiny clinkety connected bracelets. Maybe that had been the point.

And yet.

Looking up at the sky, BS Trotter wondered, not for the first time, why the stars always hid from the city lights. The city was where you needed stars the most. The country always had such simple eternal assurance of a big bath of stars. But the city’s own lights must make the eternal lights feel unwanted. BS Trotter sighed, and thought—again, not for the first time—that it would be nice to interview someone about that very question. How to bring back the stars, and let them know that whether country or city, they were welcome in any night sky.

If you looked closely