TPV:  Welcoming back a repeat offender.  Mike Arsuaga, co-author of that great book, My Life as a Dog, now called Top Dog, but a rose by any other name would smell as sweet and that book by any title is still a great read. 

Today, however,  Mike has decided to let Desmond Simon, the host of Lagniappe, New Orleans’ most popular local talk show,  as described in Love and Death in the Big Easy do the taking. His interviews include both the famous and infamous. His guest this time is one of the latter.  Desmond, if you will…

Desmond: I’m pleased to have as my very special guest, multi-shifter, George Adkins.

(Applause as a sandy haired man of average height and build in his early thirties tentatively walks on stage assisted by one of the crew. In one hand a white cane clears the space in his path.)

Welcome Mister Adkins.

The guest faces the interviewer with sightless eyes behind a double Eyepatch.

G: Please, call me George.

D: Then, George it is. Tell the audience, George, what is a Multi-shifter?

G: (Prefaces answer with deep breath.) Well, as you know, shape-shifters have only a single animal persona, a bear or large cat –or in the case of our local clan leader, Sufi Drake Martin, a Yorkshire terrier. I’m different in that I can replicate any creature that’s ever lived.

D: Anything, no matter how large or small?’

G: Yes, even animals now extinct. And by the way, the term for my kind is simply multi. Sufi Martin, himself, coined the term.

D: Are multis common?

G: No, extremely rare, which works to our advantage. The last one before me hunted in France during the eighteenth century. I had the shifter clan and the local authorities chasing their tails, no pun intended, until that meddlesome old moose shifter produced a journal the mate of my predecessor kept.

D: A journal?

G: Yes, it documented a multi’s capabilities. And weaknesses. Without that information I’d be still prowling the streets killing at will. At least I exacted revenge on Moose for his betrayal.

D: When did you discover your abilities?

G: As with any other shifter the transformations began in my thirtieth year. I woke up one morning in the shape of a ferret. Quickly I understood I was different when I became a badger on my next morph. After I learned to control the transformations I discovered I could choose the creature, or person I wanted to become.

D: You say you can mimic other people?

G: Oh yes. While out and about, before Sufi Martin spoiled everything, I assumed the form of the spouses of attractive women and provided many passionate encounters. A more serious use of my unique talent involved becoming the people I killed so I could move freely about, unsuspected.

D: I’m told you can even assumed female identities.

G: (Grimaces) Yes but never for afternoon delight. Strictly for business.

D: As I recall you were working for the Department of Homeland Security at the time you discovered your abilities.

G: Correct. The biggest mistake of my life was coming clean with them. In a flash they had me locked away and on heavy tranquilizers. I escaped after killing three of my guards and taking the form of one. Being a native of New Orleans, I headed there, hoping to be of use to Sufi Martin, but as the drugs wore off the urge to kill took over. By the time I arrived, murderous desire supplanted any nobler aspirations to serve the Sufi. (Leans forward , adding in a confidential tone) My therapist thinks my affliction is curable.

(Desmond places a paperback book on the table before them. Camera zooms in.)

D: This is a copy of Love and Death… Is that Drake or you on the cover?

George smiles slyly.

G: You know us both. Who do you think it is?

D: I have to admit the image is sufficiently obscured that I can’t tell. Why would the authors choose you over Drake?

G: Maybe because I’m prettier.

D: (Compares cover image with guest) It’s possible, I suppose, but the same image seems to appear on the new cover of Top Dog the first book about shape shifters.

G: I thought the old title My Life as a Dog was good enough but Mike and Cynthia were concerned about the book being confused with a movie of the same name. They also felt the old cover told nothing about the story so they asked my advice. The new cover, with me again on it is the result.

D: So you say

G: Then we’ll have to leave the question a mystery, but be aware the authors have a droll sense of humor. They know I made the story come alive and not Mister and Missus Perfect. How interesting would 200 pages of “Pack-speak”, lovey dovey, and white magic be without a murderous villain to liven things up? I sure had the old DHS running for cover.

Desmond speaks in an aside to the studio audience.

D: Do I detect a streak of bitterness?

George growls under his breath.

G: Don’t rile me up, my friend. Remember what I can become.

D: Let’s talk about that. Here is file footage of your rampage through Metairie. What form were you there?

G: Some type of Raptor dinosaur. They’re the best balance between speed, agility, and ferocity.

D: Then you transform in full stride to another creature.

G: Correct, a hawk as I recall. Being able to shift on the run was the key to my invulnerability. It was almost impossible to get a clean shot. And when I was hit, I could usually regenerate.

D: Regeneration? How does that work?

G: Shifters have the ability to regenerate damaged parts as long as the part isn’t severed or destroyed. If that damned Linda Gifford hadn’t been such a good shot…

D: That’s right she shot out your eyes making you permanently blind.

George ruefully touches the double eyepatch.

G: If only a sliver of eye had remained…

D: In that event, Sufi Martin would’ve had you executed. After all you were under a condemnata.

G: But for his soft hearted wife Kady he would’ve anyway. After drilling out my eyes the crew took me downstairs for final decapitation. She interceded.

D: She’s up for election to Congress. Are you supporting her?

George Grins

G: Convicted felons can’t vote. You know that.

Desmond consults notes.

D: So why kill?

G: I’m insane remember? That’s the side effect of being a multi. Once I gave my Homeland Security jailers the slip it was off to the races.

D: Why cheerleaders?’

G: They’re one of the most protected and precious segments of society. The terror they experience when they realize the last of the many safeguards protecting them is stripped away makes for the greatest rush I’ve ever felt. Watching the life drain from them can’t be beat, but now given my condition all that’s gone. For now.

D: What do you mean, by for now? Do you have something to share?

G: Even if Drake doesn’t, Mike and Cynthia have a soft spot for me. Homeland Security has me back in custody. The department was foolish enough to approve a furlough for this interview, weren’t they? Rumor has it they’ve cooked something up for the President’s visit this coming Mardi Gras season. Perhaps I can reach an accommodation with my former employer. They need the help. DHS is an organization with aspirations greater than their abilities.

D: I can’t wait to see how that turns out. Any last words for the audience?

G: Yes, don’t count this boy out yet. The next plague germ you inhale might be me.

TPV:  Permission to breathe now.  At this point, I had intended to introduce an excerpt from Love and Death in the Big Easy.  However, since LaGrange Point, the next entry in the Subspecies series, is being released today, I’ve made a last-minute change to feature that instead.  Don’t worry folks.  The pre-empted excerpt will find itself here some time soon, I assure you.

In search of an identity

Cynthia May, lycan and adventurer, resolved to do more than play the part of window-dressing for the Subspecies Corporation, she takes on the job of space explorer to forget. To break the shackles of the past—a lost love, living in the shadow of her famous grandmother, and defying the elders—Cynthia still finds after fifteen years a sense of failure.

In search of a lover

Leo Barclay has been the long-time guy pal and fellow astronaut of Cynthia’s since the Space Academy. They’ve shared intimate moments, but nothing more than friendship flourished. Until the next mission when an anomaly in the instruments causes an inexplicable increase in mental and physical abilities by the Subspecies crew.

In search of the Unknown

When the two star-crossed lovers lead an expedition to explore the effects of the Lagrange Point, where the gravitational fields of all planetary bodies in the solar system cancel out, they discover time and space merge, matter bends, and their place in Creation’s plan revealed. Conspiracies, murder, and deceit plague the mission. The convergence of the Point reveals more than Cynthia and Leo bargain for.

But at what price?

EXCERPT:

“Are you lost, Commander?” A loud, jolly voice came from behind as she approached the bridge of the mother ship.

“Leo Barclay, you old space rat, what are you doing here?”

A wiry, straight-shouldered vampire who stood a couple of inches shorter than Cynthia’s vertical, blue-crowned loftiness threw back a russet mane of hair. Leonidas “Leo” Barclay fixed a pair of smoky, gray eyes on her. “You’ve been Earthside too long. Hello, I have a Command Pin now.” The left half of a uniform shirt thrust toward her, displaying a small gold badge in the shape of a five-pointed star. “You’re looking at this mission’s master.” Continuing to close the distance between them, he enveloped her taller, slimmer frame in two sinewy arms as she kissed his cheek.

“They must be handing out Command Pins in the birth control allocation these days,” she quipped.

“What would you know about that, you old dyke?”

Both laughed, slapping one another on the back.

“Blue hair? That’s different,” he said, stepping away for a better look.

“You know me. New mission, new color.”

“I can’t understand why you change so much. Your natural shade suited you perfectly.”

A memory of the glossy, sable tresses she had when she’d arrived on Mars crossed her mind. She scowled. “That belongs to somebody else.” The “somebody” was her grandmother.

Leo understood and changed the subject. “Have you connected with a voyage mate?” he asked, raising his eyes to meet hers.

“Not yet. I just got two elderly relatives settled in. I thought I’d check out the bridge area first. I worked up something promising before leaving Earth. We’ll see how it turns out. Why, are you interested?”

Staring at her crotch, he said, “Not unless you’re packing a penis these days. You know me.”

That she did. They met shortly after she arrived on Mars. His softness of feature contrasted with the sculpted, rugged angles of typical male subspecies. The lack of physical formidability made him less threatening, allowing her to feel relaxed. Best of all, neither judged the other’s preferences for companions. Sex never complicated the relationship. Occasional mutual masturbation didn’t count. If she ever decided to take a male companion, he’d be her first choice.

TPV:  Thank you, Mike.  The Subspecies entries so far have been great and I’m certain this li’l excerpt has whetted the ol’ appetites aplenty.  Can’t wait!  Stop by my Video d’Invite for a trailer for Subspecies, and here’s more info:

Buy Link for LaGrange Point: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=493&category_id=40&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

Check out the full synopsis and excerpts of all stories at http://mikearsuaga.weebly.com

or http://cynthiaarsuaga.weebly.com

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COMMENTAIRES

Looking forward to reading the next Subspecies novel, Mike, though I think I may have gotten behind a little.  As for Drake’s next adventures, can’t wait.  Who is that on the cover, anyway?

Toni V. Sweeney

Thanks for the kind words. The guy on the cover of "Top Dog" and "Love and Death" is a model the CA found. Don't tell George but it's supposed to be Drake.

Mike Arsuaga