Voice of the City

Indianapolis, present day. Not the most burgeoning of American cities, not the place you think of when you call to mind crime, despair, and the hopelessness of urban existence. So why does Indianapolis, Naptown to some, have a superhero patrolling its streets, and why did that hero settle in Naptown after two years fighting the good fight in Chicago, just a few hours north? For the mysterious, rarely glimpsed Voice of the City made his debut in that metropolis by the lake, beating down criminals and dirty cops alike, protecting the common citizen.

Then he disappeared, re-surfacing in that glorified farm town to the south.

CIA agent Richard Short thinks he has a notion why. He thinks the Voice may have followed someone to Naptown. He may be allied with a young woman known and watched by the federal government: Sally Reiser, the so-called "seer of God," whose dark past paints a picture of violence, blood, and supernatural exploits beyond the realm of believability. She may be on the side of justice or she may be a free-ranging terrorist, but Sally is at the center of existential threats from both this world and another. Now, she's running a halfway house for formerly imprisoned gang members. Are Sally Reiser and the Voice of the City somehow tied by the bonds of destiny?

Of this Short isn't sure. Of other things, he has no clue. He doesn't know that a new threat rises. An ancient enemy has come to town to wreak havoc upon the lives of men. He's haunted us in our childhood fantasies, bringing to life that coat in the chair or that monster in the closet. Now he strives to bury the social structure of Man in a grave of blood and hate.

The Boogieman (yes, you read that right) uses all his powers of fomenting fear and doubt, all his knowledge of the dark nature of Man, to unleash overwhelming forces upon the city. Gang warfare. Vengeance. Rage. Murder. And an invasion from his nightmareverse that few humans could withstand.

But the city has defenders. Sally Reiser stands. So does the Voice of the City. Together with Short, Sally's partner Gary, a skeptical police officer, and the very gangs the Boogieman strives to ignite, the seer of God and the city's champion seek to extinguish the growing flames of hate.

But there's a catch, a weakness so profound in the Voice of the City's armor that not even the Voice knows of it. A weakness that can open up the ground beneath his feet and plummet him to immediate defeat. And it can happen at any time.

Voice of the City is a superhero/urban fantasy mash-up that takes both genres on a rollercoaster ride of action, adventure, and deep personal introspection. It tackles subjects most books avoid. Gangs. Gun culture. Mass shootings. It's a big story about little people, and an even bigger story about gods and monsters. An epic happening down on the corner.

Can the city be saved from its own base instincts, or is it too far gone?