Dance of Death

By Alexandria Blaelock

When you die far from home

An abandoned Australian outback town. Pulled by four skeletal horses, the ghost of a Cobb & Co carriage careens down the street. A light breeze blows red dust from one side of the road to the other.
Li Quan is far from home. The last person in town. Grows vegetables. Feeds cockatoos.
When he dies, who will collect his soul?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BlueMere Books
• Release date: Sep 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781922744463

Alexandria Blaelock

Alexandria Blaelock writes stories, some of them for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. She's also written four self-help books applying business techniques to personal matters like getting dressed, cleaning house, and feeding your friends. As a recovering Project Manager, she’s probably too fond of sticking to plan. She lives in a forest because she enjoys birdsong, the scent of gum leaves and the sun on her face. When not telecommuting to parallel universes from her Melbourne based imagination, she watches K-dramas, talks to animals, and drinks Campari. At the same time. Discover more at www.alexandriablaelock.com.

Book preview

DANCE OF DEATH

Death looked down the listless dry street.

The sun-bleached wood of the run-down buildings was almost as white as his bones and just as glary in the sun.

What remained of the roofs were grey with lichen.

A solitary street lamp marking the coach stop leaned drunkenly on its post.

The town was as parched and dry as him.

Leaning on his scythe, he reached into his heavy black wool cowl and pulled out a plain, but serviceable wooden hourglass and held it up to his skeletal face.

Surely it was later than that?

He gave it a vigorous shake, but the build-up of sand didn’t change or move any faster.

A light breeze wrapped his cowl around his legs as it