Dead City

Here's are two excerpts from the next Grym Brothers book, DEAD CITY. And by excerpts, I mean snippet, really. Raw. Unedited. And probably out of order. Heck, for all I know they may end up on the cutting room floor, too. Anyway, here they are:

Rhodes struggles for a moment, trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy. It's not working. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting a grim reaper." 

"That's a good thing," Mort says. 

"Not even when my wife passed away six years ago," Rhodes finishes. 

"Look, Mr. Rhodes," Thane starts. "We're sorry for your loss." 

"It was, like, six years ago and we just met the guy today," Mort says. "Why are we sorry?"

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Where Jackson usually has a mess of files on his desk there’s a large calendar instead. All the paperwork’s been moved off to a pile on the floor. 

The Grym brothers grab the two empty seats. 

“Okay,” Mort says. “What’s with the feng shui?” 

“It’s not feng shui,” Jackson says. 

“Well, I’m not going to lie,” Thane says. “That’s kind of a relief.” 

“Oh yeah?” Jackson says. “Why’s that?” 

Mort points to the pile next to his desk. “Because it makes you look like an even bigger slob.” 

Thane points to his brother. “What he said.” 

Jackson shakes his head. “You two are a piece of work.” He wipes his hands across the large calendar, smoothing it out. “My Captain has been reading Efficiency books.” 

“Efficiency books?” 

“Productivity,” Jackson clarifies. 

“I don’t know what either of those words mean,” Mort says.