This is the seventh round of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge. For them not familiar with the challenge, a quick summary: three writers offer the fruit of their labor and inspiration based on a given title.

The Round 7 Title — Side Jobs — was chosen by Me. Gary will choose the title for the next round.

The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the G and PG rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Those ratings are guidelines but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but these days many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).

This, then, is Perry’s submission.

Oh, before we begin, I solicited blurbs from each writer. Here’s Perry’s:

Maynard Ballcock wanted only to create the perfect bourbon. History and happenstance, however, had other plans. Plans that included the making of an American president, and perhaps the unmaking.

This is the seventh round of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge. For them not familiar with the challenge, a quick summary: three writers offer the fruit of their labor and inspiration based on a given title.

The Round 7 Title — Side Jobs — was chosen by me. Gary will choose the title for the next round.

The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the G and PG rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Those ratings are guidelines but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but these days many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).

This, then, is my submission, written today (September 25^th, with only three days to spare before the voting deadline). I had three stories in various states but didn’t get inspired until this morning. Don’t worry if you’ve already voted. Just enjoy reading it . . . or not.

This story needs a bit of background because it’s set in the world of a previous story. Specifically, one of the Alphabet Challenge stories, Permeability Police (LINK). If you’re not familiar with it, I’d recommend reading it, but here’s a brief description of the world set up in the story:
The barrier between the “real” and “fantasy” worlds turned permeable, and the two worlds began to see intrusions, with fantasy creatures— some magical, some not — wandering into our reality, and regular people popping over to the fantasy worlds for a look-see. The CRAFT Treaty (Crossover Rules and Fit Together Treaty) established acceptable rules of conduct as well as an agency to review and approve all crossovers. During one crossover, some unknown sorcerer made dogs sentient. Nick, a member of the Permeability Police, has the uncommon ability to nullify magic in his vicinity. The story deals with the case of stolen magic staves.

And, here’s the blurb for this story:
Nick must solve the case of the disappearance and possible kidnapping of both his partner, Dana, and the daughter of Anubis (yes, the Egyptian god). Along the way, he joins up with Chip, the wolf, and a Griffin named DuskHunter.