The Art of Arrow Cutting

Stephen Dedman

Apr 2014 · Open Road Media

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“An agreeable blend of oriental fantasy and noir-ish sleuthing: a polished, well-organized debut, complemented by Dedman’s nice light touch on the tiller” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

It started simple enough. A tempting woman with a trifle of a problem needed a bus ticket. Luckily, sometime photographer Michelangelo "Mage" Magistrale is there to help her out. In exchange for his kindness, she gives him the key to her apartment. However this key is about to unlock an adventure of a different kind. It is no ordinary key; it unlocks any door and leads those who seek it out of greed directly to Mage. The thought of power like that can drive mortals to extremes but the mortal world quickly becomes the least of Mage's problems. On the run and under constant attack by ninja assassins, Yakuza thugs, and the most fearsome and loathsome otherworldly creations Japanese mythology can muster, Mage's only hope is to conquer the key and its power. He must master the art of arrow cutting in order to unleash his own magical power before the forces of darkness force him into oblivion. In a place where all the doors lead to fantasy, mythology and a terrifying reality, where do you run?

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Stephen Dedman grew up (though many would dispute this) on the outer limits of Perth’s metropolitan area, far enough from a good library that he had to make up his own science fiction and horror stories. He continued to do this when he should have been studying, and after false starts at two other universities, received a bachelor’s in creative writing and film in 1984. Since then, he’s held too many boring jobs and a few interesting ones, including actor, tutor, experimental subject, editorial assistant for Australian Physicist magazine, education officer and used dinosaur salesman for the WA Museum, and the manager of a science fiction bookshop. He has been writing for fun for more than thirty years, and for money for twenty; he sold his first short story in 1977, and his first novel in 1995. He quit yet another boring job in 1996 to write full time, and is currently working on two novels and writing one new story a month. Dedman is the author of the novels The Art of Arrow Cutting (Tor, 1997) and Foreign Bodies (Tor, 1999), and the nonfiction book Bone Hunters: On the Trail of the Dinosaurs (Omnibus, 1998). His short stories have appeared in an eclectic range of magazines and anthologies, including The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Little Deaths, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, Interzone, Weird Tales, and Realms of Fantasy. His work has won the Aurealis Award and Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award, and been shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
 Dedman lives in western Australia, and enjoys reading, travel, movies, complicated relationships, talking to cats, and startling people.