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    Wagers of Gold Mountain
    Wagers of Gold Mountain
    Wagers of Gold Mountain
    Ebook30 pages26 minutes

    Wagers of Gold Mountain

    By Steve Berman

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    About this ebook

    Set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era, Ji Yuan, a Chinese youth who immigrated to America with his brother to seek his fortune but has found only disappointment. Now, his brother lays sick, dying, and Yuan must seek the help of two local spirits. But being tricksters, nothing these spirits tells the youth is ever the whole truth. To save his brother, Yuan was uncover the means to return their servant, a hatchet-man, from jail... dead or alive.
    "Steve Berman, in "Wagers of Gold Mountain," brings together two Tricksters, Chinese and American, a hapless mortal (who is more clever than he lets on), an intelligent and resourceful young woman, and the American West in the days of gold rushes past and incipient Chinatowns in a story with more than its share of atmosphere and a lot of very quiet drama." -- The Green Man Review

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLethe Press
    Release dateJul 12, 2011
    ISBN9781452452302
    Wagers of Gold Mountain
    Author

    Steve Berman

    Author of over a hundred short stories, editor of numerous queer and weird anthologies, and small press publisher living in western Massachusetts.

    Read more from Steve Berman

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      Book preview

      Wagers of Gold Mountain - Steve Berman

      Wagers of Gold Mountain

      Steve Berman

      Published by Lethe Press at Smashwords

      Copyright 2011 by Steve Berman.

      All rights reserved.

      ---

      A spinning coin danced across the polished wooden desk top. Two pairs of green eyes—one a shade of the brightest jade, the other cloudy like tarnished copper—stared at one another.

      Come now, m’dear, you do owe me another attempt to court favor. The man drew deeply on a cigar which leaked smoke worthy of the finest incense.

      The woman caught the coin, tapping the edge with a lacquered nail. The stakes?

      Perhaps love?

      Always love, she said with a bored sigh. Whatever happened to the old days, when all you cared for was wealth?

      That was before I saw you in all your varied forms, before you taught me some new tricks.

      So by your own country’s adage, you must be a new dog, Buren.

      The man showed a wolfish grin and barked a laugh. All native-born are, m’dear. We all are.

      Not love. You’re never satisfied with the outcome anyway. She spun the coin once more between them, its face shifting between a gold dollar and bronze with a square hole in the middle. I know what you truly want. She allowed the sleeve of her silk robe to slide up, exposing the creamy skin of her forearm.

      Now that remains to be seen. He cocked his head, as if hearing a sound, but the room had grown quiet except for the slight chime of the coin’s travels. The youth approaching promises to be fair game. He blew out a puff of smoke. Life and death?

      The woman raised the corner of her lips which had taken the color of spilt blood. Agreed.

      ---

      Outside of a small Union Hill storefront, Ji Yuan glanced at the gilded letters on the window, ones utterly foreign to him even after months living in San Francisco. He wished he could muster the courage to stop one of the Americans passing by and ask them if this was indeed the correct shop, the one he had heard whispered by other countrymen who worked beside him at the shirt factory,

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