Author

Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo
  • Vangie’s Ghosts blends science fiction, fantasy, a bit of horror, and stark, crisp contemporary naturalism and will appeal to fans of Lucius Shepard, Theodore Sturgeon, Mike Carey, Elizabeth Hand, and Paul Tremblay.

    Evangeline, or “Vangie” for short, is under the cruel domination of uncaring step-parents. Suspected of being autistic, Vangie’s lack of affect is actually a result of being able to see deep into the multiverse. She is bewildered by the sensory input from a plethora of alternate timestreams. Soon, she will exhibit a strange power, activated only under extreme shock conditions.

    Vangie can project her consciousness, her self or soul, from one timeline to another, fleeing danger for safety. This power will soon be exploited by a number of shady characters, as guardianship of Vangie passes from one set of exploitive adults to another.

    But as Vangie ages and lives through numerous trials and adventures, she becomes more and more self-assured and powerful—talents that will eventually bring her head-to-head against a rival of her own kind.

  • Glen and Stan, the Odd Couple of scamdom, are back from their Big Get-Even adventure with another get-rich-quick-or-go-down-in-flames scheme.

    As part of their trafficking in counterfeit merch, they are looking to turn a few pallets of Grade Z computer chips into some military hardware sure to interest dictators and despots and drug lords around the globe. Bankrolled by a greedy local crime boss, they hope to promote a half-genius, half-addlepated invention from a naive and principled inventor into a bonanza. But no one ever counts on complications arising from a wayward wife, some sexy Eurotrash go-betweens, and a lonely entrepreneurial girlfriend who finds her native tropical isle conducive to a troublesome loosening of morals. Add in a most unconventional explosives expert, and you have a caper half hilarious, half deadly, and 100 percent entertaining.

  • A disbarred lawyer and an ex-arsonist cross paths and find themselves organizing an elaborate real estate scam to bilk a shady rich speculator out of twenty million dollars. The sting is personal for ex-arsonist Stan and for a woman named Vee, who plays an essential role in the caper. Glen, the narrator and former lawyer, finds himself at first just along for the money. Eventually, as bonds deepen among the conspirators, Glen too discovers he has a lot more at stake than simply the loot.

    This cast of lively eccentrics discovers along the way that getting to the big payoff might just be more scary fun than the monetary prize itself.