The Octoroon Ball

A beautiful octoroon child-woman on the auction block, the dead outlaw she's in love with, a young Kipling sent to America on a secret mission by Queen Victoria, and a perfectly dead family living comfortably in a luxurious brothel that offers the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, a lighthouse on the Irish Sea, and a sunken Spanish galleon as simple nuances. Meet Tolstoy, Gauguin, and a Russian circus giant, members of the recently formed New James Gang, as they rob the Bank of New Orleans with a magical brush stroke. Then there's Lady Richter, expatriate madam, in love with the tall black piano player dead for years, but still playing in the main parlor. And Allen Pinkerton, renowned detective, transformed into a bird, thwarted again. Invigorating ski jaunts down the ice mountains of Pluto, torrid love sessions under Big Ben, and the supernatural electrical storm that disrupts the Octoroon Ball are just a few of the defining moments necessary for these people to come in touch with the bookmarks of their souls, and the strangely simple meaning of life itself.

Richard L. Breen, Jr. is a screenwriter. He has written for Universal, MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., and a number of independent film companies. This is his first novel. He lives in Southern California.