Lost Cause

by Grant Piercy

Betsy continues to protect the fugitive Alex Graves, but the authorities ransack the Control Z movement, drawing her out. She desperately seeks Chloe, who seems to have vanished. Meanwhile, a mysterious broadcast cutting into all forms of media announces a special demonstration. This is the eighth and penultimate novella of the I AM MERCURY series. I AM MERCURY is a nine-part serial suspense thriller about visions of other worlds, the stories we tell ourselves, and the things we do for love. Each short novella in the series features a different narrator, a different lens through which to view the events of the series. After the riot at Yorkville State Pen, journalists and spies spar off, protestors march forward, and dangerous games play out. What do these interlocking stories mean for each other, and how will they coalesce?

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2017

About the author

I'm a self-published writer, originally from Illinois. I grew up in the orbit of the strange planet Chicago -- just out of reach, but just close enough that it feels like home. Relocated to central Ohio to be with my wife about a decade ago, so I suppose Columbus is my home now. For a number of years, I've worked in the courseware development industry, creating educational materials for IT companies.

I've been writing since I was a kid on my Dad's Apple II -- sometimes tidbit stories based on dreams, sometimes raving, suicidal anecdotes from a depressed teenager, but most often about trying to find connection in a world in which I've often felt alien. It shouldn't have been any surprise that, after failing to satisfactorily follow through on a massive tome more in common with a conspiratorial transgressive fiction novel, I gravitated toward science fiction, especially after discovering the work of Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut.

The first book I've self-published -- The Erased -- contains strands from all of the above influences. You might feel that yearning to connect that you'd see in the work of Chuck Palahniuk, the brevity of chapters and manic weaving of elements similar to Cat's Cradle from Vonnegut, and of course, the android problem of PKD. Whether or not I actually continue on in science fiction is a different story. I've got other works-in-progress that will hopefully see the light of day soon.