Orientation Day (A story in Lawyers in Hell)

Lawyers in HellOrientation Day
(A story in Lawyers in Hell)

The Chief Librarian of Hell’s Law Library was spending a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to track down every tiny crack in the Library’s rock walls.  Ever since Erra and the Seven sent a massive flood down the road that ran straight into New Hell, Demetrius of Phalerum had been chasing trickles of nasty, muddy, foul-smelling water (and who knew what else) to find the leaks and plug them until repairs could be made.  The moisture threatened the most delicate contents of the Library – the ancient scrolls, parchment and papyrus recording laws from antiquity.  Stone and clay tablets weren’t as difficult to protect as papyri, but the modern books were almost as sensitive to dampness as the oldest materials.

Demetrius was having trouble staying ahead of the water because the Library encompassed fourteen entire floors – the lowest fourteen of the Hall of Injustice, where the Administration and its myriad bureaucratic departments were located.  These particular floors had been chipped out of the solid rock by prisoners held in His Satanic Majesty’s dungeon, over a period of aeons.

Authors’ Commentary on “Orientation Day”

Lawyers in HellAuthors’ Commentary on
Writing »Orientation Day«
a story in Lawyers in Hell

Orientation Day is the first fiction story I ever wrote.  I had spent decades writing things for lawyers:  letters, memoranda, software use instructions, briefs, etc.  I became acquainted with Janet Morris (whose books I had been reading since the 70s) by posting a quote from her book “Tempus” on my Facebook page and attributing it to her. 

She contacted me for a more complete attribution for the quote and we began a correspondence through Facebook.

... Scott Perkins on self-publishing, ebooks and a changing market

Scott Perkins ... Scott Perkins ...
... on self-publishing, ebooks and a changing market

On Sunday I already talked to Scott Perkins, one of the very interesting people I meet on Facebook and immensly enjoy. In his "triple qualification" as author, seminar leader and bookseller, I had questioned him on the subject in the face of the collapse of one of the largest U.S. bookstore chains.

As an author, Scott Perkins is just as interesting to talk to, especially about the "in-topic" of the US-publishing-scene: The changing market and self-publishing.

... Scott Perkins on bookselling and a changing market

Scott Perkins... Scott Perkins ...
... on bookselling and a changing market

To describe Scott Perkins is a challenge. He is incredibly versatile (builts masks from leather, is emerging at Renaissance markets as a fool, two weeks later at a Con in steampunk style), and works as a writer and seminar leader at the "TCC Writing & Tutoring Center," a Community Center.

He describes himself as "Optimist. Realist. Cynical idealist." - And all he is. In his "triple qualification" as author, seminar leader and bookseller, we have questioned him on the subject in the face of the collapse of one of the largest U.S. bookstore chains.

Disclaimer (A story in Lawyers in Hell)

Lawyers in HellDisclaimer
(A story in Lawyers in Hell)

The last thing he remembers is the chatter of an automatic weapon.  Glass explodes from the French doors.  Drywall erupts from the office walls.  Paneling cracks and splinters from the opposite side of the room.  Knick-knacks, pen holders, picture frames rain down on him from his ruined desk.  Warm, sticky, wetness oozes from the soggy carpet beneath him.  Cold numbness spreads inward from his limbs.  Darkness grows, closes him in.

Closes him down.

*

Authors’ Commentary on “DISCLAIMER”

Lawyers in HellAuthors’ Commentary on
»Disclaimer«
 a story in Lawyers in Hell

Aaron “Monty” Montgomery was a highly-successful, well paid defense attorney for the drug cartels – until he lost a case and awoke in an elevator car headed for hell.  The regular denizens were bad enough: from impish elevator operators to a Welcome Woman who was anything but welcome; from librarians and lawyers to his first assignment.  Nothing prepared him, however, for his first opportunity: to defend Bram Stoker in a defamation suit brought by none other than Prince Vlad III Tepes Drakulya (better known as Dracula) or that it would plant him firmly in the middle of a power struggle between His Satanic Majesty and the ancient Babylonian gods represented by Pazuzu, demon son of the wind god.