Gods New and Used

The stranger at the side of the road doesn’t know much about himself, but he knows he is definitely not Elvis. That aside, the baby driving the car has his own set of problems. Now they’re off to experience the southwest in the only vehicle that makes sense for both of them: a carnation-pink 1963 Cadillac El Dorado... MagicCon is an ordinary fantasy/science fiction convention. Three days of comic books, anime, and X-Files jokes, which is exactly what Larry and his friends are looking for. Unfortunately for Larry, a long-forgotten Roman god named Stercutus is primed to make a comeback, and this particular god’s sphere of influence really stinks... Set in and around the fictional city of San Cibola, Gods New and Used is a stand-alone companion piece to Clockwork Storybook, an online shared world anthology of urban fantasy. Mark Finn’s contributions are often larger than life; they can be both sublime and ridiculous, both wise and painfully dumb. Like the gods he portrays, Finn’s writing style ranges from heroic to slap-happy, weaving together broad comedy and genuine emotion into something that is nothing less than true to life. The stories in this collection showcase what Finn does best: corralling the supernatural and the archetypal, and bringing them down to earth, to sit next to you in the passenger seat as you cruise along a highway somewhere in the California desert. Here you will meet the embodiments of love, of thunder, and of rock and roll, and discover about them what is frequently overlooked: that the gods are often more human than we are.