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The Shanghai Songbird Part 3
Picking Tang out was easy. He was the only customer in the teahouse with a contingent of heavily-muscled goons. They strolled in with the self-assurance of tigers, and the other customers either greeted them or looked down into their cups. Tang and three men entered the sole private room in the teahouse. The remaining four…
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The Shanghai Songbird Part 2
There was just enough light inside the nightclub to see the stage and nowhere enough to peer into the hearts of men. Lee placed a tiny mirror on the table, no larger than a compact makeup case, trying to make the best of the dim candlelight behind him. Wong didn’t mind. But in their corner…
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The Shanghai Songbird Part 1
Thomas Lee had read too many Western pulps to know how this would end. “Miss Ouyang,” he said, “I sympathise with your situation. I really do. But this looks like a job for the police.” Ouyang Li Yan didn’t frown. She was too glamorous for that. Her face melted under her thin mask of mascara…
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SteemPulp Open Call: SWORDS OF SAINT VALENTINE
Saint Valentinus of Terni was a priest, a healer, and a hieromartyr. As a priest, Saint Valentine offered aid and succor to Christians in a time when persecution of Christians was a long-standing policy of the Roman Empire. As a healer, he restored vision to the blind daughter of Judge Asterius, who had held him…
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What Do Otaku Readers Really Want?
The Japanese publishing industry is getting predictable. Every other week, there’s a brand new series starring a Japanese high schooler who is mysteriously transported to a fantasy world. There he promptly gains overwhelming powers, the antagonism of the local Demon King, and the affections of a harem of cute, buxom, mature, demihuman and underage girls.…
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Front Sight
There are three of them. Brown cardboard targets, man size. There’s a fourth figure, slightly shorter, in front of and between the second and the third targets. His mind tells him a different story. The targets are Thugs One, Two and Three, black-masked and leather jacketed, screaming obscenities and waving guns. The last one is…