Author: Paul Tomlinson

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to me?” Danny asked from across the workshop. “Because that was the worst chat-up line ever.” He grinned and winked at me.

“No, I was talking to Mr. Headspin here,” I said. “But if I had been talking to you...?”

“He’s still not into you,” Floyd said, rotating his head back to the front.

“What he said.” Danny pointed to Floyd and then shrugged an apology.

“The last thing you need is a rebound relationship,” Floyd said. “You just need something to take your mind off her.”

“Who?”

“I know you’re in pain, Quincy, and as your friend, I’m here to help you through it.”

“Did you mess with his personality?” I asked Danny.

The young mechanic shook his head. “Maybe he’s adjusting to the new body. It may take him a while to get used to the new symbiotic link.”

“About that,” I said.

“I’ve made it so he can switch the link on and off at will,” Danny said.

“He’s saying you’re redundant,” Floyd said. “I don’t need you anymore.”

“Thanks, ‘friend’.”

“I didn’t say I was going anywhere,” Floyd said. “I just wanted you to know that I could.”

“If you’ve had a better offer, feel free to take it.”

“I’m not done with you yet,” Floyd said. “You’re still a work in progress.”

“How much would you give me for him?” I asked Danny.

Danny held up his hands in a gesture of surrender – he didn’t want to be drawn into this. He turned his attention to Floyd’s old body, eager to get on with the repairs.

Floyd and I said our goodbyes and headed out into the sunlight. The people of Cicada City had given us a little money, to cover our ‘expenses’, but beyond that we had nothing. A certain redhead had taken everything. She was a much better crook than me. Floyd must have been thinking the same thing.

“I’ve been thinking about your change of career,” he said.

“What change of career?”

“The one you need to make. You’re a lousy outlaw.”

“I’m just having a run of bad luck.”

“It’s lasted thirty-two years. I got you a job.”

“I don’t need a job.”

“We have no money,” he said.

“What sort of job?”

“Truck driver.”

“What kind of truck? I’m not wearing a Mister Snowball costume.”

“We’re not selling ice cream. We are long-distance truckers.”

“A big truck?”

“Huge.”

“When can I see it?”

“I parked it behind the butcher’s shop,” he said.

“I’m not saying ‘yes’. But I do want to sit in the driver’s seat.” Who hasn’t wanted to get behind the wheel of a big rig and pull the cable that sounds the air-horns?

“As long as you promise not to drive it at me,” Floyd said.

“What makes you think I would I hit you with a truck?”

“Past experience,” he said.

Do You Want More Quincy & Floyd?

If you enjoyed A Fistful of Trouble and would like to see more books about Quincy and Floyd, you can help make that happen. And you can help new readers discover this book. How? Just write a review.

You don’t have to write one of those awful ‘book reports’ like we did at school – just leave a star rating and a couple of sentences on Amazon or Goodreads. Or a short review on your blog. Or tell your friends about it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or wherever you hang out. Honest reviews and genuine ‘word-of-mouth’ make all the difference to independent authors.

Let people know what you liked about this book, and why they might like it too. And if there was something you didn’t like, you can say that too: constructive criticism helps me write a better book next time.

But please, no spoilers!

Thanks for being one of the outlaws,

PS: For the latest updates on Quincy & Floyd go to:

www.paultomlinson.org/outlaws

Also by Paul Tomlinson

Desperate for cash, thief and confidence trickster Quin Randall does something drastic – he gets a job. He and his robot sidekick Floyd buy an eighteen-wheeler. Being truckers will be a lot less dangerous than being outlaws. Won’t it?

They’re hired to take a shipment cross country and things quickly get complicated. The cargo they’re carrying isn’t medical supplies. And their client may not actually own it. Then Quin breaks the first rule of trucking – Never pick up hitch-hikers. His passenger is a certain red-head who’s a bigger crook than he is. Is it a coincidence that she happens to be there? Probably not.

Pursued by the highway police, a gang of bikers, and a rival’s armed posse, Quin will never meet the delivery deadline. Unless he does something crazy – like take a shortcut through the Badlands, an old battlefield said to be inhabited by mutants and monsters. Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

About the Author

Paul Tomlinson was born in Nottinghamshire and has lived there for most of his life. He is the author of a series of mystery novels featuring magician-turned-detective the Great Vicari; the humorous fantasy series Thurlambria, and the science fiction novel Robot Wrecker. His non-fiction works include Plot Basics (2017), Character Creation (2018) and three volumes in the Genre Writer series – Mystery (2017), Suspense Thriller (2018) and Crime Thriller (2019). He also compiled Harry Harrison: An Annotated Bibliography pub-lished in 2002.

Novels by Paul Tomlinson

Robot Wrecker

Who Killed Big Dick?

The Great Vicari Mysteries

The Sword in the Stone-Dead

Murder by Magic

The Missing Magician

The Thurlambria Series

Slayer of Dragons

Fortune’s Fool

Village of the Waking Dead (novella)

Dead of Night