Age of Heroes Read Online Free PDF Page B

it?”
    “Clean living. Regular exercise. Botox.”
    “Ha-ha. I like what you’ve done with your hair, by the way. Makes you look... distinguished.”
    He had gone for a more sophisticated cut than previously, and switched his styling gel for a brand that gave a drier, less glossy look. Small alterations in his appearance like this were intended to give the impression that he was maturing. It was a trick he had developed back in the 1930s, when photography became commonplace and created a permanent record of how you looked, something people could turn to if they wanted to make then-and-now comparisons. Photos, unlike memory, were objective. They were evidence.
    “Maybe I’m hoping to be taken more seriously as a writer,” he said.
    Cynthia flapped a heavily bangled forearm. “Forget that BS. Literary respectability? Hah! If you’re making it big time in genre, who needs reviews in the New Yorker ? Believe me, those guys churning out the Great American Novel every five years, they’d kill for your sales figures.”
    Food arrived: great rectangular slabs of marinated sirloin and cubic chunks of boneless rib, along with a selection of banchan , little vegetable side dishes. As Theo and Cynthia tucked in, his phone rang. He checked the screen and thumbed Reject. It probably wasn’t important. Voicemail would do.
    “Glad to know I take priority over whoever that was,” Cynthia said.
    “Always, Cynth. So, don’t keep me in suspense. How did it go with Simon & Schuster?”
    “Congratulations, Mr Stannard. You are now in possession of a brand spanking new two-book deal.”
    She raised her glass of mineral water, and Theo clinked it with his diet soda. Cynthia was a recovering alcoholic, ten years sober, and out of deference to her Theo only ever ordered soft drinks in her presence.
    “Advance?”
    “Mid-six-figures per book is the offer, but I’m going to hold out for an extra hundred K for each. They want to keep you, and they know Random House are sniffing around. That’s mainland only. We retain overseas rights, of course.”
    “Of course. And they don’t mind that only one of the books is a Jake Killian novel?”
    “Jake’s the moneymaker, no question, but S&S like the synopsis for The Golden Thread very much, and they’re willing to take a gamble. The idea of an Ancient Greek murder mystery tickles them. They think it could turn into a series – a second string to your bow. Something maybe to fall back on, if the Jake Killians ever start losing traction, which they won’t. I’ve got to ask, though. We know you’re a god among contemporary crime writers...”
    “Well, not quite.”
    “Ah, modesty. I used to know what that was. Good thing you have me to blow your trumpet for you.” She had a dirty laugh. “That came out wrong.”
    “It’s easier someone else blowing your trumpet than blowing it yourself.”
    Now her laugh was positively filthy. “The issue I’m trying to address here is, you’ve not done historical fiction before. Between us, are you sure you’re up to it?”
    “Pretty sure,” Theo said. “I can do the research. And like I always say when giving pro tips, if you can’t find a suitable fact, just make one up. Nobody –”
    His phone rang again. He checked. Same caller. As before, he rejected.
    “I’m not normally this popular,” he said.
    “Did I see that name right?” Cynthia had glimpsed the caller ID. “Chase Chance?”
    “Yup.”
    “As in the Chase Chance? The Monster Hunter fella? From TV?”
    “Yup.”
    “I didn’t know you knew him.”
    “I do.”
    “How long?”
    Almost my entire life, and that’s longer than you think . “A while.”
    “Good friends?”
    “Guess you could say so.”
    Cynthia leaned a little closer, dropping her voice. “Does he have representation? I mean, he must do. He’s had at least three tie-in titles published. What I’m asking is, is he happy with his agency? Maybe he’d like to step things up, take it to the next