Book Defender

By Sue Perry

This is the fourth installment in the Frames series and you'll get a whole lot more out of it if you don't start with book 4!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sue Perry
• Release date: Dec 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215330975

Sue Perry

... Concert stage, dark except for a deep blue spotlight. Singer drops to one knee and his narration evolves from murmur to rant. "This is the story of a man who got what he wanted but he lost what he had. He got what he wanted but he lost what he had. He got –" ...It goes on forever. It's mesmerizing. Uncomfortable. Confessional.Pretty sure this memory is from the time I saw James Brown, decades ago, but the lost identity of the singer isn't the point.I've spent my life gazing across some fence or other, admiring greener grass over yonder. I've acted on so many impulses to jump the fence. No complaints, but it has sure taken me a long time to appreciate where I'm standing right now. And nowadays that blue spotlight chant fills my head whenever I contemplate a new jump.Sometimes I jump back.I was a low–budget television producer until I wrote a psychological thriller, "Was It A Rat I Saw", which Bantam–Doubleday–Dell published in hardcover in 1992. Soon after that I became the mother of twins, jumped into graduate school, and became a disaster scientist. I dabbled in academia, government research, and consulting.I stopped writing fiction for nearly two decades, until I noticed how much I missed it. I resumed writing novels with the literary fiction "Scar Jewelry" about a family with secrets that started in the era of Los Angeles punk and persist for decades. I'm in the midst of a speculative detective series FRAMES, with "Nica of Los Angeles", "Nica of the New Yorks", and "Boredom Fighter" so far. I've just completed a nine-novella series, the young adult paranormal horror romance, "DDsE".Funny. Back in the day, I had a single book idea at a time. Now I'm flooded with them, can't keep up with them, though I write just about every day.I live in southern California. I had to leave for five years to confirm this is where I belong. I live with multiple cats, comfortably close to my twins and granddaughter. Like my life paths, my friends and family are all over the damn place. I like to visit them, spend time at the ocean, explore cities, and go out to hear live music.

Book preview

Book Defender

Sue Perry

Copyright 2022 Sue Perry

Smashwords edition.

ISBN: 9798215330975

All rights reserved.

Cover by Sue Perry.

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 use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

For Jennifer

FRAMES, so far*

Nica of Los Angeles, a novel

Nica of the New Yorks, a novel

Boredom Fighter, a novella

Book Defender, a novella

*when complete, Frames will include 3 novellas and 3 novels

Book Defender

As so often happens, the children noticed what the grown–ups didn't.

The battered red truck jumped the curb and shouted, Get in! Hurry! Her driver's door slammed open behind me, buckling my knee. My first run in a week, terminated at mile three. Note to self. When a dozen pre–schoolers stare at something behind you, turn around.

I pushed my knee to straighten my leg. No pain, that was good, right? I hobbled around to climb in on the passenger side of the truck. Had I taken the empty driver's seat, that would have called attention to the fact that the truck, Tee, was devoid of a person driving her. The truck's only occupant was Dizzy, a gray and white cat, imperious even now in sleep.

Outside, beensy pre–schoolers continued to stare and their teachers glared. Don't worry, this truck would never hit a child, I might have told the teachers, but didn't. They were Neutrals. They wouldn't understand.

A boy with pitchfork cowlicks tugged a teacher's shirt. That truck talked to that lady, he pointed out.

Which could be a big deal. Around Neutrals, sentient vehicles like Tee are forbidden to converse and the consequences can be severe. Fortunately, grown–ups never listen to kids. The teacher looked exasperated at the boy's farfetchedness. I gave her a c'est la vie and the boy a thumbs–up, as Tee swerved us off the curb into traffic.

Tee's infraction had gone unnoticed by the Neutrals who could raise a fuss and it was unlikely that Travelers would be watching for miscreant trucks. Too much else to attend to, nowadays, with the war intensifying. Maybe that was why Tee was here. Maybe Anya had sent Tee to bring me back into the action. Tee was usually in the thick of battle.

What's the news from the front?

The truck replied, Which one? So many Frames have battle fronts. Tragedy everywhere. War is hell. Especially on the shocks.

Are the battles still in the far Frames? I was so restless, stuck on the sidelines, that lately I'd been tempted to visit those Frames just to see if they really were too far for me.

We're fighting in such far Frames that I barely function in them. Tee's voice got the gravelly squeak that meant she was feeling victimized. This war with Maelstrom has taught me such an important lesson. Never postpone a hot wax.

I swigged water and grinned out the windshield, then teared up as daily life streamed past. The future of daily life was up to us, the Allies. We had to fight Maelstrom in every Frame we could. Meanwhile, my clueless home Frame didn't even suspect that the fate of our universe hung by a frayed thread twisting in an icy breeze.

Here on Ma'Urth in downtown Los Angeles, daily life meant the