Front cover by Jade,
New 2008 jacket.

NARC: STOPOVER
by Mel Keegan


ISBN: 0-9750884-7-5 .

136pp
cover by Jade


Price:
US$13.50
US$4.95(eBook)

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Read the first 10% of this novel online!

READER ALERT / CAVEAT: the sample readings offered here encompass about the first 10% of these works, and they're uncensored, unabridged. If you will be disturbed by candid descriptions of same-gender romance, or by realistic violence, please don't download! These samples are not intended for younger readers. By clicking to open these documents, you agree that you are of age in your local jurisdiction; you know what you are about to read; and the material will not disturb you ... 'nuff said.

Any "content warning" to readers?

Anti-drug war, related themes, realistic violence, frank description of same-gender relationships.




PUBLISHING HISTORY:

Two editions:
First edition: August 2006
Lulu.com edition, March, 2008.

IN PRINT?
Yes.

The fourth NARC book, direct sequel to DEATH'S HEAD.

Jarrat and Stone are back ... unexpectedly and outrageously ... and a whole lot of fun and thrills are being had by all! We have the best NARC front cover art done to date, a bookmark offered at half-price for the first four weeks after this Slim launches ... and the book is shipping NOW. It's done, finished, and waiting for you to click 'add to cart,' on this same page!
Where did this one launch from, out of the blue?
MK tells all, regarding STOPOVER

COVER NOTES:
Downtime becomes an explosive excursion into an industrial hell-zone...

     With the Scorpio syndicate closed down, Kevin Jarrat and Jerry Stone are on furlough, aboard the starclipper Pacifica and headed for an island resort in Rethan’s tropics.
     But when the clipper suffers engine trouble and must detour to the halfway station of Sheckley for repairs, the vacation dissolves into unexpected and unpredictable hazard.
     Stone is fascinated to take the ‘ten cent tour’ and experience the ‘gas can with lights’ where Jarrat spent his youth. The tour turns deadly when they run into escapees from Scorpio who recognize Jarrat as his undercover persona of Max Tyler, and the NARC captains find themselves making a flight right into Hades.
     Cut off from NARC, the carrier, backup and weapons, they’re on their own devices, surviving on their wits, and making it to that island resort starts to look like an impossible fantasy.


A Pocket-sized NARC page-turner, falling between SCORPIO and APHELION; we're designated it 'NARC #3.5!'

Pullquote:
Mel Keegan’s name is a byword for thrilling gay adventure in the past, present and future — MILLIVRES on Aquamarine.

The NARC page
Reader reviews of this title
Read the first segment online!
(Note: see our caveat.)




PRAISE FOR DEATH'S HEAD:
"A powerful futuristic thriller" — Capital Gay.
"Unputdownable" — Him.

Reader reviews for this novel are online on the site here (visit our Reader Reviews page. (You can post your own comments to this site via the Readers Review page. Please note that this is a "moderated forum," where comments will be monitored, and may be edited prior to posting to prevent burned fingers and trodden toes!)



SEE ALSO

WHERE IN THE WORLD DID THIS ONE COME FROM, OUT OF THE BLUE?


In fact, it's not so far out of the blue as you might assume. All MK's books have several subplots, and many of them have a kind of 'prolog' segment. For instance, the sequence in which Stoney is on the run, at the beginning of EQUINOX, and the dazzling self-contained actioner which is Chapter One of SCORPIO. In fact, STOPOVER has been hived off APHELION. This self-contained story was supposed to be a short(ish) attention-getter to grab the reader and glue him/her to the novel. It grabs like Superglue ... but it ran 44,000 words in and of itself, and in addition to the other subplots which make APHELION as rich and fully-featured as SCORPIO, it pushed the main novel over 400pp, which, at the time STOPOVER was published (before DreamCraft made the switch to using Lulu.com's printing services) wass deadly news. The book became not only heavy to handle, but so heavy to mail that the postage costs blew out to something disgusting, especially posting from Australia to Europe. It would have cost around A$24 for the postage alone on APHELION, to any address in Europe! That's horrific, by contrast to the A$11.60 to mail a routine-size novel.

So, STOPOVER had always been there; it just changed covers! Rather than being under the cover of APHELION, it's under its own. We've designated it NARC 3.5, which isn't nearly as eccentric as it seems at first. The story falls right between SCORPIO and APHELION. And this is where it gets interesting: this is no casual piece of fluff. Don't underestimate STOPOVER because it's shorter than the others ... it's integral to the on-going plot of the NARC series, and ol' MK has a surprise for readers. STOPOVER doesn't advance the plot of APHELION by one iota (which is why it could be lifted out, all of a piece, and released on i ts own). However, it advances the plot of SCORPIO a little ... and it advances the plot of (!) DEATH'S HEAD massively.

If you just did a double-take, let us assure you, you read correctly! The plot of DEATH'S HEAD itself is on the move again. Things are getting, uh, exciting. To put it mildly.

In short, don't miss this Slim. It's a great story, a wonderful read, with all the advantages of our growing SlimBook range. Here, we hand over to MK for the author's angle...



SEE ALSO

MK TELLS ALL
     Oh, Magoo, you've done it again. Or, this is another fine mess you have gotten us into, Keegan. I know, I know, I keep doing this: I've been over-plotting novels since the original; DEATH'S HEAD, which had to be so far amputated by GMP fifteen years ago, the product was hardly the book I'd set out to write. Well ... looks like I did it again, guys.
     I wound up with an APHELION which was around 40,000 words too long to fit into anything like a normal book. It would have been way longer than DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT and NOCTURNE, and this, at the same moment as Australia Post airmail rates just hiked again. Not good news. It was time to back off and take a look at APHELION before I gave DreamCraft (and readers) a couple of heart attacks. And what do you know? There was a 38,000 word 'pilot segment' sitting right there, ready to be whacked off at the roots and redeveloped/expanded to stand on its own. (It wound up at just over 44,000 words, which is the absolutely perfect length for one of our SlimBooks.)
     The fact is, STOPOVER was only marginally part of the plot of APHELION. It has more (and a LOT more) to do with DEATH'S HEAD. You'll discover why when you read the book ... I don't want to say too much at this time, because it's plot spoilers to the eyeballs. But I can give you a couple of hints. Ever wondered what went on in the Chell underground when Death's Head was destroyed, leaving behind a vacuum? Ever wondered where Hal Mavvik came from? Or what might happen when a couple of NARC guys try to take a simple vacation? Did you ever want to take a close up look at the place where Jarrat grew up — maybe find out a little bit about what makes him tick? He's been called 'mean, moody and magnificent,' (I love that description; it's from a reader review which appears on-site here, and many thanks to 'Ranger' for coining it).
     So, I lifted out the pilot segment, cut a little, added a lot, and called it STOPOVER. The title refers, actually, to the brief time Jarrat and Stone spend on Sheckley ... because it's there where 'the whole vacation plan goes south' for them. This story begins about two or three days after the end of SCORPIO. At one point, Stone makes reference to the fact that Michiko is on the carrier, Harry's working to get Marcus's brain back into functioning order, and after their downtime our heroes are headed back to Darwin's for debriefing and another assignment.
     The really great thing about doing STOPOVER extra to APHELION is that I was able to take it in slightly different directions, and at a slightly different pace, that you'd expect in one of the main novels. I could afford to 'interrupt the action' here and let them explore Sheckley ... I didn't have to worry about such peripheral material slowing down the main plot. (In a worst case scenario, someone somewhere is going to say, 'the novel is padded out, which makes it a slow read.' Barf. Well ... they'd be making a point, because I already 'fessed up and admitted that STOPOVER doesn't actually have a goddamn' thing to do with the plot of APHELION. But one reader's 'padding' is another reader's 'character development' —
     And I'll be honest again: I have been longing to find somewhere, some way, to get in there and do some character development. In 180,000 words of SCORPIO, I couldn't find a place to jam any character development in edge-wise. This was my opportunity, which also means it's a rare treat for those readers who might have been waiting and hoping to have the characters just STOP for the occasional ten pages, sit down and talk, or examine their motivations, feelings, whatever.
     I guess I've forged a rep for myself as a writer of thrillers, and that's terrific; but there is a downside. It's very hard to develop complex characters inside a plot like SCORPIO or EQUINOX, and there's times when I actually find myself longing to do a bit of old fashioned characted development.
     The other thing I often long to do is a bit of comedy. There's no place for humor in the regular NARC book. The issues at stake are too important and the stress is on for all concerned. No one has time to sleep a great deal, much less find time for humor. But with STOPOVER I was able to slow down the pace and let humor happen. I enjoyed the process of writing this a great deal ... in fact, I'd like to do it again soon.
     (There is actually another NARC story which falls into the 'SlimBook' bracket: CALL NARC ATHENA 515. I've had this one in the back of my mind for several years, and it would be a lot of fun to write. More about this one later.)

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