Sneak Peek
Miami's Main Library, located at Bayfront Park - 1950's.
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Read excerpts from David Sayre's written works
The selection below is a preview from David Sayre's latest work, Dirty Side of the Storm, available now in paperback and Kindle formats. Signed copies of all David Sayre's novels can be purchased here in our bookshop. |
Dirty Side of the Storm
PROLOGUE
Alive on Arrival blared on the car's stereo, rattling the windows with a rhythmic vibration. Ice Cube rapped about how being in the wrong place at the wrong time could quickly turn violent when someone rolls up on you with their guns out.
The overpowering clatter of the Metrorail train rumbled overhead and its loud, piercing whine of brakes made it impossible to hear the radio.
The interruption annoyed Cachorro. "Pssss," was the sound that seemed to hiss out of him.
He reached towards the dashboard of the Honda Accord, pointed a finger at the radio and pushed the reverse button on the CD player. He backed up to the beginning of the song off of Ice Cube's Death Certificate album. The song began again, but just as Cube flowed with the rhyme "Hear six pops from a deuce-deuce", it started to skip.
"Conjo, que puta! That's the last fucking time, man. Last fucking time I lend her any of my shit! Look at that, bro," Cachorro griped as he ejected the disc and inspected it. "Shit's all scratched up. Bitch can't even put a CD in a player without fuckin' with it!"
His friend in the passenger seat, who was so slim he almost looked anemic in comparison to Cachorro's muscular, middleweight frame, simply shrugged his shoulders and added, "Whatever. I like Hammer better anyway."
Cachorro stared at his companion in disbelief. "Are you serious right now? MC Hammer?"
"What?" His friend protested, "He's good, dude."
"What is his music about? Does he say anything?" Cachorro mocked the baggy pants hip-hop star, saying, "Too Legit to Quit!" He went the full commitment by re-enacting the silly hand gestures from the Hammer video. "What the fuck is that? Now my man Cube . . . that's the shit right there. True to the Game, that's real! None of this 'please Hammer don't hurt 'em' . . . With what? His big fuckin' shiny ass pants?"
His passenger chuckled at that one. Cachorro always could make him laugh. "Besides," Cachorro continued, "I'm so tired of hearin' that shit about him being a Oakland A's batboy and now he's the king of hip hop. Carajo."
"That's cool though. That's like the American dream right there."
"Fuck that!" Cachorro was a little feisty in his retort. "My grandfather came to this country . . . that singao Castro took his cigar business away, but here he worked his ass off and built his own liquor store. Thirty-two years in business, that's the American dream, not this fucking . . ."
"Jesus Christ!"
His partner's reaction startled Cachorro and took him off his train of thought. He turned his head to see where his friend's eyes were focused. Outside, running away from a cafetería on the corner of the intersection, a young Hispanic man rushed towards their car. He wasn't even close to getting there when two gunshots popped and rang in the two young men's ears. The gunshot victim fell to the ground, first on his knees, then face first onto the sidewalk.
Several yards away from the victim were two men wearing sunglasses, one of them had his arms out in front of him, steadily gripping his firearm. The other was turned the opposite way and reached at his side to pull out his gun. Before he could aim the piece, his chest burst open and a solid gush of blood leaked down his body as another loud shot carried through the atmosphere.
"Get the fuck out of here!" the panicked passenger pleaded, his eyes welled up with tears and his tanned features turning pale. He watched as the first man in the sunglasses turned on his heels and pointed his gun at another man, now visible, his barrel still smoking.
Cachorro slammed the gearshift out of park and gunned the engine, quickly turning the wheel, driving away from the curb and merging into the lane.
They could hear the continuing gunfire, but couldn't see what was happening as they sped towards an on-ramp next to a sign that read 95.
DIRTY SIDE OF THE STORM is available in paperback at IndieBound, Amazon and Books & Books.
Signed copies can be purchased here at the David Sayre Bookshop!
Kindle edition is available at Amazon!
The selection below is a preview from the crime thriller, Some Are Shadows. David Sayre's debut novel is now available in paperback and Amazon Kindle format.
"No, Mr. Sheen. Money is no question. I just want to know what happened to Henrietta."
- Wendell Childress, "Some Are Shadows"
Prologue
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"Oh Lord have mercy, this is a dirty floor."
How strange, she thought to herself, for that to be the phrase running through her mind at these, the final moments. Not wondering what would be waiting for her after it ends, not thinking about the worry and the grief those who loved her would feel. But that the floor was dirty. And she knew it would be, but it was honestly something she had not been preoccupied with until this moment. No, the cleaning woman she had paid twelve dollars a week was not due until the following morning. Come to think of it, her housemaid was most likely the person that would find her lying here in whatever condition she would ultimately be left. |
Her last gasps of breath, a pair of gloved, strong hands forcefully gripped around the circumference of her neck, and the only thought she could entertain as she drifted into darkness was... "I am going to die on this dirty floor."
"Some people are beams of light in this world. Some are shadows. They don't always feel like they belong, or don't know how, so they stand in the back of the crowd, out of sight and off to the edge somewhere... Henrietta was always that beam of light. And I suppose I've always been a shadow."
- Serena Childress, "Some Are Shadows"
- Serena Childress, "Some Are Shadows"
In chapter four, Detective Sheen's investigation leads him to some of the background of the Etta Childs murder. He locates several articles written by a Miami News reporter named Josh Riley. Here's what Riley reported in the edition that was printed the day after Etta's demise:
February 19, 1952
LOCAL STAR TURNED MOVIE ACTRESS SLAIN
In the early morning hours of February 19th a caravan of vehicles from the police department, including the homicide squad, parked outside a residence in Brownsville. The cause for the commotion was the dead body of Negro movie star Etta Childs, discovered by her maid. Childs was found on her kitchen floor, apparently strangled.
Childs, 33, was an actress and singer who got her professional career off to a start performing at The Clover Club in Overtown. She also starred in various stage productions, including a Lyric Theater production of "Porgy and Bess". Eventually her success and word of her talent spread and she was cast as a singer in the 1949 film "Matinees and Melodies". A number of other major motion picture roles followed, such as "The Lady on the Balcony" and "Broadway Belles", as well as the lesser known "First Train Out".
Police do not yet know who is responsible for Childs' murder, or how she was strangled, but their investigation has just begun.
"Detective, someone has to speak for Henrietta. I hope you know that."
- The Lady, "Some Are Shadows"
Click the preview below to read the first three chapters of Some Are Shadows!
February 19, 1952
LOCAL STAR TURNED MOVIE ACTRESS SLAIN
In the early morning hours of February 19th a caravan of vehicles from the police department, including the homicide squad, parked outside a residence in Brownsville. The cause for the commotion was the dead body of Negro movie star Etta Childs, discovered by her maid. Childs was found on her kitchen floor, apparently strangled.
Childs, 33, was an actress and singer who got her professional career off to a start performing at The Clover Club in Overtown. She also starred in various stage productions, including a Lyric Theater production of "Porgy and Bess". Eventually her success and word of her talent spread and she was cast as a singer in the 1949 film "Matinees and Melodies". A number of other major motion picture roles followed, such as "The Lady on the Balcony" and "Broadway Belles", as well as the lesser known "First Train Out".
Police do not yet know who is responsible for Childs' murder, or how she was strangled, but their investigation has just begun.
"Detective, someone has to speak for Henrietta. I hope you know that."
- The Lady, "Some Are Shadows"
Click the preview below to read the first three chapters of Some Are Shadows!
Some Are Shadows is an American Book Fest Finalist for the Best Book Award in Legacy Fiction!
Some Are Shadows is available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon!
Paperback edition is available at Books & Books, IndieBound & Barnes & Noble!
Signed copies of the paperback edition can be purchased here at the David Sayre Bookshop!
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