In Morgan's Shadow

This is not your average mystery novel. Call it Extreme Fiction Writing. Originally written as serial for the internet, In Morgan's Shadow was penned on the fly during a twenty-week period in late 2000 and early 2001 by ten very talented Spartanburg fiction writers with ten very different styles. One would write a chapter, then pass the narrative on to the next author. Each Monday, a chapter was posted on a website operated by the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

The rules were simple: you had one week to write your chapter, and there would be no discussion about what happens next, especially "who done it." That made for some highly unusual plot twists─and a heap of explaining to do by the last authors in the chain. The writers seemed to be challenging each other to be as creative as humanly possible. Top this, they said to each other, week after week.

What emerged was a bizarre and loveable cast of characters (some based, not so subtly, on familiar Spartanburg residents) who carried this story from downtown Spartanburg to Landrum to Gaffney and back. Along the way, they visited a host of local businesses, institutions, and eateries and, from time to time, poked fun at our way of life here in the Piedmont of South Carolina.

As the mystery deepened, the suspects in the murder of radio talk show host Phil Quake multiplied. Was it the enigmatic red-headed Converse student, Lynn? Was it the driver of that ubiquitous lavender VW bug? Was it the beloved village idiot, Chester? And why on earth had the women of the town taken to the woods in a strange bonding ritual?

This ten-pack of Hub City Writers have woven a wild, unforgettable tale. But perhaps what's most interesting about this book is the variety of writing styles on display here: the comedic touches of John Lane and Sam Howie; the dreamy symphony of words of Rosa Shand; the intensity of language of Thomas McConnell; the mystery-writing know-how of Meg Barnhouse; the wacky mind of Bubba Pat Jobe. There's not a false step anywhere, thanks to the rest of the crew: Deno Trakas (in his fifth Hub City appearance), Norman Powers, Susan Beckham Jackson and Hub City newcomer Rob Brown.