The Downside Ghosts
Books One Three
Stacia Kane
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
HarperVoyager
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London SE1 9GF
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Copyright © Stacia Kane 2012
Unholy Ghosts © Stacia Kane 2010
Unholy Magic © Stacia Kane 2010
City of Ghosts © Stacia Kane 2010
Stacia Kane asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Ebook Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780007493036
Version: 2016-11-18
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
Book One: Unholy Ghosts
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Acknowledgments
Book Two: Unholy Magic
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Book Three: City of Ghosts
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Acknowledgments
Keep Reading
About the Publisher
Introduction
Dark urban fantasy.
I find those words so exciting. Because urban fantasy can be anything, really; you can do anything with it. You can write about a drug-addicted witch who works for an atheistic totalitarian magic-based Church who runs the world after a ghost apocalypse. You can write about a punk-rock ghetto run by drug lords, where the aforementioned apocalypse means basics like electricity are hard to come by. You can write about ghosts walking the earth, using weapons, killing people. You can write about those same ghosts captured and forced to live in a vast underground cavern from which escape is almost impossible.
And you can play with that. You can think of what sort of world blossoms around such basic information, about revolutionary groups and legal vs. illegal magic and the mix of tech and magic, and what knowing exactly what happens when you die does to humanity at large. You can explore how the basic characteristics of humanity, both the good and the bad, might be heightened or suppressed by such a world, and in what ways they might stay the same.
But its not just fantasy worlds and the greater issues of humanity. Its individual people. One of the things that appeals to me so much about dark urban fantasy that has appealed to me ever since I read NEVERWHERE fifteen years ago (I know theres some debate over this, but as far as Im concerned NEVERWHERE is indeed urban fantasy) is the lack of rules. It may not be a new genre, but its a genre still finding its classifications and tropes, which means theres plenty of room for experimentation. You can do so much with it. You can write very unconventional heroes and heroines, you can write very dark worlds, you can explore just about anything.